II 



A SKETCH IN AN INDIAN JUNGLE 



1867 



THIGHTEEN years ago, just before sunrise, and not a thousand 

 JLJ miles from Calcutta : in the immediate foreground a swiftly 

 rushing and beautifully clear mountain stream, noisily splashing 

 here and there against an immense boulder, and lashing itself 

 into foam and spray on its well-worn surface, as if in anger at 

 the obstacle which it itself had brought there during its fiercer 

 moods when, swollen by the rains into a powerful torrent, it had 

 swept everything before it rocks, trees, and whole clumps of 

 bamboo, anything and everything in the greatest confusion, 

 down through the narrow valleys and mountain gorges on its 

 way to the great rivers of the plains. Only a small stream now 

 remains in place of the raging torrent of the days when it had 

 cut the high bank on this side so sharply, and hollowed it out so 

 deeply ; and when it ran its mad course over that wide expanse 

 of rock and stone-covered sand which now stretches away dry on 

 the other side as far as the edge of the forest that long dense 

 belt of high tree jungle opposite, which gradually rises to clothe 

 the lofty mountains of the lower ranges of the Himalaya. 



Now, in the early morn a whitish mist still covers the valley 

 as with a shroud, and heavy clouds rest upon the higher peaks ; 

 soon these begin to lift, and the mist to disperse with the first 

 rays of the rising sun. The effect is almost magical as the sun 

 god appears ; the damp mist, highly suggestive of malaria, 

 rheumatism, and other unsatisfactory ailments, is gone at once ; 

 the heavy clouds speedily retire to the higher ranges ; the sunny 

 line creeps downward steadily, and widens quickly, covering 

 with its golden light a sea of jungle of infinitely varied green. 



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