64 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



everything else, but of which I was unable to obtain a single speci« 

 men. It was the Platanista Gangetica, or fresh-water porpoise, nu- 

 merous in the Ganges, Jumna, Gogra, and Brahmapootra, but ex- 

 ceedingly rare in museums on account of the difficulty of capturing 

 it. Professor Ward wished me to capture specimens, if it could 

 possibly be accomplished during the time we had allotted to that 

 region, but without a long net and a light boat it was impossible. 

 Had I but known the situation, I would have brought a stout net a 

 hundred and fifty feet long, and ropes and harpoons in plenty, by 

 the aid of which we could have captured Platanista enough for 

 all the great museums of America and Europe. As matters stand 

 at present, the scientists of Calcutta vainly ofifer the fishermen of 

 the Gauges £5 each for specimens. We saw dozens of them in 

 the Jumna below Etawah, passing up and down, appearing at the 

 surface every forty or fifty yards as they swam along, rising for a 

 second only to instantly disappear. It would have been folly to 

 fire at them, for after a long series of trials on the coast of Florida 

 and in the Orinoco I am convinced that porpoise shooting is a delu- 

 sion and a snare. No animal that I ever hunted has baffled me 

 like the fresh-water porpoise {Inia) of the Orinoco, and the Platanis- 

 ta. With experienced Venezuelan fishermen to help me, I have 

 tried time after time to harpoon and to shoot Inia, but without 

 success. They do not stupidly play around the bows of one's boat 

 as marine porpoises do, inviting harpoons into their vitals ; they 

 simply rise for a moment, now here, now yonder, anywhere except 

 just where you expect them. When I go to the Jumna again I will 

 take a net, stretch it across the river according to a certain plan, 

 and then have my revenge. 



ViUages were numerous along the river, and, in the course of 

 our bird-hunting, we had occasion to visit or pass through a num- 

 ber of them, usually to procure a drink of water. We were always 

 received very civilly by the natives, and some one would be deputed 

 to bring us a clean brass chattie full of fresh water. 



But woe imto us had we had the ignorance or the audacity to 

 put one of their vessels to our lips. It would have been worse de- 

 filed than if a hog had stuck his snout into it, and no matter 

 whether the vessel were of cheap earthenware or brass of high 

 value, it would have to have been broken in pieces, thrown into the 

 river, or melted down. Ordinarily the Christian traveller bends 

 down, puts both hands to his mouth so as to form a trough into 

 which the water is poiired from the chattie held aloft, and so the 



