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    LIFE IN AN
    INDIAN OUTPOST

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[Illustration: AFTER THE PROCLAMATION PARADE.]




    LIFE IN AN
    INDIAN OUTPOST

    BY

    MAJOR GORDON CASSERLY

    (INDIAN ARMY)

    AUTHOR OF
    "THE LAND OF THE BOXERS; OR CHINA UNDER THE ALLIES"; ETC.

    ILLUSTRATED

    LONDON
    T. WERNER LAURIE LTD.
    CLIFFORD'S INN






    CONTENTS

    CHAPTER I

    A FRONTIER POST
                                                                     PAGE
        Our first view of the Himalayas--Across India in a troop
            train--A scattered regiment--An elephant-haunted
            railway--Kinchinjunga--The great Terai
            Jungle--Rajabhatkawa--In the days of Warren
            Hastings--Hillmen--Roving Chinese--We arrive at Buxa
            Road--Relieved officers--An undesirable outpost--March
            through the forest--The hills--A mountain road--Lovely
            scenery--Buxa Duar--A lonely Station--The labours of an
            Indian Army officer--Varied work--The frontier of
            Bhutan--A gate of India--A Himalayan paradise--The
            fort--Intrusive monkeys--The cantonment--The Picquet
            Towers--The bazaar--The cemetery--Forgotten
            graves--Tragedies of loneliness--From Bhutan to the sea     1


    CHAPTER II

    LIFE ON OUTPOST

        The daily routine--Drill in the Indian Army--Hindustani--A
            lingua franca--The divers tongues of India--The sepoys'
            lodging--Their ablutions--An Indian's fare--An Indian
            regiment--Rajput customs--The hospital--The doctor at
            work--Queer patients--A vicious bear--The Officers'
            Mess--Plain diet--Water--The simple life--A bachelor's
            establishment--A faithful Indian--Fighting the
            trusts--Transport in the hills--My bungalow--Amusements
            in Buxa--Dull days--Asirgarh--A lonely
            outpost--Poisoning a General--A storied
            fortress--Soldier ghosts--A spectral officer--The
            tragedy of isolation--A daring panther--A day on an
            elephant--Sport in the jungle--_Gooral_ stalking in the
            hills--Strange pets--A friendly deer--A terrified
            visitor--A walking menagerie--Elephants tame and
            wild--Their training--Their caution--Their rate of
            speed--Fondness for water--Quickly reconciled to
            captivity--Snakes--A narrow escape--A king-cobra; the
            hamadryad--Hindu worship of the cobra--General Sir
            Hamilton Bower--An adventurous career--E. F.
            Knight--The General's inspection                           19


    CHAPTER III

    THE BORDERLAND OF BHUTAN

        The races along our North-East Border--Tibet--The
            Mahatmas--Nepal---Bhutan--Its geography--Its
            founder--Its Government--Religious rule--Analogy
            between Bhutan and old Japan--_Penlops_ and
            _Daimios_--The Tongsa _Penlop_--Reincarnation of the
            Shaptung Rimpoche--China's claim to Bhutan--Capture of
            the Maharajah of Cooch Behar--Bogle's mission--Raids
            and outrages--The Bhutan War of 1864-5--The Duars--The
            annual subsidy--Bhutan to-day--Religion--An impoverished
            land--Bridges--Soldiers in Bhutan--Thefeudal
            system--Administration of justice--Tyranny of
            officials--The Bhuttias--Ugly women--Our neighbours in
            Buxa--A Bhuttia festival--Archery--A banquet--A
            dance--A Scotch half-caste--Chunabatti--Nature of the
            borderland--Disappearing rivers--The Terai--Tea
            gardens--A planter's life--The club--Wild beasts in the
            path--The Indian planters--Misplaced sympathy--The tea
            industry--Profits and losses--Planters' salaries--Their
            daily life--Bhuttia raids on tea gardens--Fearless
            planters--An unequal fight                                 45


    CHAPTER IV

    A DURBAR IN BUXA

        Notice of the Political Officer's approaching visit--A
            Durbar--The Bhutan Agent and the interpreter--Arrival
            of the Deb Zimpun--An official call--Exchange of
            presents--Bhutanese fruit--A return call--Native
            liquor--A welcome gift--The Bhutanese
            musicians--Entertaining the Envoy--A thirsty Lama--A
            rifle match--An awkward official request--My
            refusal--The Deb Zimpun removes to Chunabatti--Arrival
            of the treasure--The Political Officer comes--His
            retinue--The Durbar--The Guard of Honour--The
            visitors--The Envoy comes in state--Bhutanese
            courtesies--The spectators--The payment of the
            subsidy--Lunch in Mess--Entertaining a difficult
            guest--The official dinner--An archery match--Sikh
            quoits--Field firing--Bhutanese
            impressed--Blackmail--British subjects captured--Their
            release--Tashi's case--Justice in Bhutan--Tyranny of
            officials--Tashi refuses to quit Buxa--The next payment
            of the subsidy--The treaty--Misguided humanitarians        64


    CHAPTER V

    IN THE JUNGLE

        An Indian jungle--The trees--Creepers--Orchids--The
            undergrowth--On an elephant in the jungle--Forcing a
            passage--Wild bees--Red ants--A lost river--A _sambhur_
            hind--Spiders--Jungle fowl--A stag--_Hallal_--Wounded
            beasts--A halt--Skinning the stag--Ticks--Butcher
            apprentices--Natural rope--Water in the air--_Pani
            bel_--Trail of wild elephants--Their habits--An
            impudent monkey--An adventure with a rogue
            elephant--Fire lines--Wild dogs--A giant squirrel--The
            barking deer--A good bag--Spotted deer--Protective
            colouring--Dangerous beasts--Natives' dread of bears--A
            bison calf--The fascination of the forest--The generous
            jungle--Wild vegetables--Natural products--A home in
            the trees--Forest Lodge the First--Destroyed by a wild
            elephant--Its successor--A luncheon-party in the
            air--The salt lick--Discovery of a coal mine--A
            monkey's parliament--The jungle by night                   83


    CHAPTER VI

    ROGUES OF THE FOREST

        The lord of the forest--Wild elephants in India--_Kheddah_
            operations in the Terai--How rogues are made--Rogues
            attack villages--Highway robbers--Assault on a railway
            station--A police convoy--A poacher's death--Chasing an
            officer--My first encounter with a rogue--Stopping a
            charge--Difficulty of killing an elephant--The law on
            rogue shooting--A Government gazette--A tame elephant
            shot by the Maharajah of Cooch Behar--Executing an
            elephant--A chance shot--A planter's escape--Attack on
            a tame