64 Memoir of Capt. Jas. Forsyth, by the Rev. Jas. Forsyth. 



of it in a short excursion, which he had made in the valley of the 

 Narbudda and its tiger haunted ravines, in order to test the 

 power of his newly-invented shell ; and with recollections of the 

 sport he then enjoyed, he eagerly accepted the appointment, and 

 applied himself diligently to prepare for its duties in all ways, 

 particularly by the study of Forestry and Forest-Botany. 



The portion of the vast tract specially allotted to James and 

 his companion, Captain Burton, as a scene of their labours, 

 stretched onward along the SatpUra range of hills, from the 

 Mahadeo section to the Mykal, terminating in the Amarkantak 

 district and its remarkable Promontory. And the yearly re- 

 ports made by them to their chief, and appended to his 

 progressive report, bear ample testimony, in the multitude 

 of details of all kinds which they contain relative to the 

 several objects of the survey, to the labour and care they had 

 bestowed on the duties assigned to them. They had indeed a 

 large band of trained assistants and native labourers to help in 

 the work, but all had to be personally superintended by them- 

 selves, and this often in large tracts where neither elephant nor 

 horse could be of service, and all had to be gone about on foot. 

 The explorations could only be carried on in the cold season, that 

 is at furthest six months. The intervening time was partly occu- 

 pied in extending their reports, but in great part also in those 

 hunting expeditions which the band of explorers were encouraged 

 to undertake, for the deliverance of the natives from the terror 

 and ravages of the tyrant of the jungle, and other ferocious and 

 destructive beasts of prey, which had multiplied greatly during 

 the war of the mutiny, and become more daring and fierce 

 in consequence of the disarming of the natives. My son had 

 preserved his health wonderfully throughout these explorations, 

 until the last, which led him ' ' to the far East " into a district deeply 

 infected with malaria, arising from the foetid tanks and crumb- 

 ling ruins, the relics of the grandeur- of decayed dynasties, when 

 the native tribes were Powers, and had their kings and palaces. 

 The region thus infected was the resort of the Buffalo and the 

 wild Elephant, and he had anticipated with ardour the oppor- 

 tunity of trying the power of his rifle on such gigantic quarry. 

 His ardent hopes, however, were ere long put an end to. He and 

 his companion had only had a few perilous, although successful, 

 encounters with a herd of buffalos, when he was laid prostrate in 



