262 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA 



about. Attempts to cultivate the quinine-yielding cin- 

 chona made on a small scale have failed, owing probably 

 to want of the needful attention and knowledge, rather 

 than to unsuitability of the place and climate. The 

 potato, and all sorts of European vegetables and flowers, 

 have been found to thrive admirably at Puchmurree. 

 Another house has been built, and many European and 

 native oflQ.cials have enjoyed excellent health during visits 

 to the place for some years. 



I shall not say much of my long ride of a hundred 

 miles to Jubbulpur in the soaking rain, through the stifi 

 black mud and unbridged streams of the Narbada valley. 

 It was very miserable, with the chills of ague in one's 

 bones. With the exception of a few days, when I had 

 the excellent society of my friend Captain Pearson, I 

 had not seen a white face during these six months of 

 jungle wanderings; and though by no means tired of 

 the wild, independent life of a forester, or of the company 

 of the hill people and the kindly little band of dependants 

 I had gathered about me, the society of a pleasant station 

 like the Jubbulpur of those days was an agreeable change. 



