121 



THE WILD MAN OF THE WOODS. 



PERHAPS there is no profession in the world 

 that brings one more closely into contact with un- 

 civilised man than that of the mining engineer. 

 The nature of his calling the exploitation of 

 untrodden ground in the search for metals- 

 takes him away from the haunts of civilisa- 

 tion into wilds unutterable, the home of savage 

 man and beast. 



In the winter of 1890 I was engaged in pro- 

 specting for gold on the hills forming the boundary 

 between the native States of Bonai and Keonjur, 

 in South- Western Bengal. The whole of that 

 portion of the Bengal Presidency known as Chota 

 Nagpore, or more correctly Chutia Nagpur, 

 together with the Tributary Mehals of Orissa, 

 are for the most part made up of hills varying 

 from one to four thousand feet in height, and 

 covered with dense forests of sal, dhor, arsun and 

 other valuable timber. Until the opening of the 

 Bengal-Nagpore Railway, which now passes through 

 the heart of this region, this part of the country 

 was scarcely known to Europeans. Witch-burning, 

 human sacrifice (meriah\ and cannibalism were 

 until very recently universally practised by the 



