THE ANIMALLAI HILLS. 123 



mounted and rode on alone. After a long, hard cHmb up the steep 

 and rocky pass, we reached the summit at an elevation of about 

 two thousand feet, and began to descend the gentle slope. Then 

 the road led through lofty bamboo and teak forests, across rocky 

 ravines and mountain toiTents, up hill and down, until at last, at 

 the very end of a long ridge, seven miles from the top of the 

 pass, we emerged from the thick forest, and the forest camp, called 

 Too-na-cad-a-voo, lay before us. At the veiy point of the ridge 

 stood a dozen bamboo huts and a comfortable thatched bungalow ; 

 a little river swept past them on the left and tumbled down a 

 precipice, just beyond which rose a lofty cliff of smooth gray rock, 

 with a fringe of feathery bamboos all along its base by the river- 

 side. On the light I'ose a conical mountain-peak. Between the two 

 mountains we looked over the camp and far across an unbroken 

 sea of green forest, which in the distance was bounded by a lofty 

 mountain-range. What a spot for a camp ! A moment later I rode 

 down to the door of the bungalow, and received a most cordial 

 welcome from the officer in charge of the forest, !Mr. Albert G. R. 

 Theobald. 



Now and then we meet a man whose looks and tones and words 

 strike the cord of our sympathies so forcibly that we feel instinct- 

 ively a kinship and confidence, and we say to ourselves " I shall 

 like him." Such was my experience with ]\Ir. Theobald, and at the 

 end of an hour I felt that I knew him as an old friend and comrade 

 in arms rather than an untried stranger. From the first moment 

 we became fast friends, which feeling only deepened with time and 

 further acquaintance. I found in him one of nature's noblemen, as 

 frank, free-hearted, and steadfast as ever breathed. 



In the course of time I discovered that he was a real genius, of 

 the type so generously credited to the "Yankee." Besides pos- 

 sessing a very considerable fund of medical information and sur- 

 gical skill, he was a good gunsmith and watchmaker, a first-rate 

 photographer and taxidermist, and a very keen sportsman and 

 naturalist. What an invaluable man he would be in an African 

 exploring expedition ! His natural ability as an experienced forester, 

 and his varied accomplishments, entitle him to a higher position 

 in the Forest Department than he now holds ; but he is still a 

 young man. 



During my entire stay upon the Hills, Mr. Theobald never 

 wearied in his efforts to assist me, in every possible way. He 

 doctored me when I was ill ; he divided his provisions with me 



