AN EXPLORATION IN THE FAE EAST 351 



whicli tte country can be examined; and we had some 

 tremendous marches in consequence of relying on state- 

 rnents of distance made in " coss " by the Bhumias. Con- 

 sidering that their coss is derived from so indefinite a basis 

 as the distance at which a yell from a hill-top can be heard, 

 it is little surprising if the coss itself should be uncertain. 

 This is their table of long measure : — 



2 yelk = 1 daab (or " bittock "), 



2 " bittocks " = coss, 

 12 coss = 1 day's march ; 



which seems to be about thirty miles. 



In the jungles of Kenda and Pendra, which form the 

 most easterly section of this forest, and lie right under the 

 range of the Mykal hills, great numbers of wild buffaloes 

 were reported to us ; but we had not time at this season to 

 stop to look after them. Doubtless it is chiefly to these 

 regions that they retire from the Mandla uplands when 

 the latter are invaded by the grazing of domestic cattle. 



So far as we could learn, an area of about 1200 square 

 miles was occupied by herds of wild elephants, whose 

 number we estimated, from all accoimts, to range from 

 two hundred to three hundred. They undoubtedly did 

 very serious damage to the crops in the neighbourhood; 

 and for many years the annual tribute of the Thakiirs 

 whose possessions they disturbed had been remitted on 

 this account. The people were totally unable to defend 

 themselves from such powerful foes, and most of the vil- 

 lages I met with on the borders of the jungle are furnished 

 with platforms in high trees, to which the people were 

 accustomed to retreat on the occurrence of an invasion. 

 Shooting at wild elephants only increases the damage they 

 occasion, by breaking up the herds and spreading their 

 ravages over a larger area; and, besides, to shoot an ele- 

 phant is like hanging a man, the worst use that can be 

 made of him. After a good deal of reporting and corre- 

 spondence, the Government of India was induced to send 

 down one of its regularly organised elephant-catching 

 establishments to these wilds, which attacked the herds 

 during the years 1865 to 1867. The system pursued in 



