Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore: With chapters on coffee planting in Coorg, the Mysore representative assembly, the Indian congress, caste and the Indian silver question, being the 38 years' experiences of a Mysore planterElliot, Robert H. (Robert Henry)
History
Gold, Sport, and Coffee Planting in Mysore: With chapters on coffee planting in Coorg, the Mysore representative assembly, the Indian congress, caste and the Indian silver question, being the 38 years' experiences of a Mysore planter
Elliot, Robert H. (Robert Henry)
Caste -- India; Coffee; Karnataka (India) -- Description and travel; Karnataka (India) -- Politics and government
"When I was returning," writes my friend Mr. Brooke Mockett, "one day in
the beginning of the monsoon of 1891, from visiting a plantation of mine
near the Ghauts, I deflected somewhat from my route to visit an adjacent
range of minor hills, and presently entered a shallow valley, on the
opposite side of which the forest land was fringed with some scrubby
bushes mingled with ferns, outside of which was a stretch of open grass
land. As I entered the valley I saw on the opposite side of it a solitary
bull bison grazing along towards the open grass land. This, at the rate he
was moving, he would soon reach. I therefore took up a position so as to
get a shot at him when he got fairly into the open land, where he would be
immediately below and opposite to me. Two Hindoo ryots--always called
goudas in Manjarabad--from a neighbouring village were with me, and were
keeping a sharp look out. We were all quite concealed in the long grass.
Presently one of them whispered, 'Look, look, there is a tiger stalking
the bison,' and, after peering into the bushes for a few seconds, I at
last made out the tiger, which was about 200 yards further along the
valley to the east of the bison, towards which it was stealthily creeping.
I at once decided not to interfere at present, but to leave the animals
alone and watch the result. The tiger struck me as being a small one, and
the goudas thought so too. It was probably the same one that had some
weeks before killed a three-parts-grown bison, the remains of which we saw
when on the way to the spot. The bull was a magnificent animal, and just
in his prime. It was a most exciting scene; the ponderous bull grazing
quietly along the valley in utter ignorance of danger, and feeding so
industriously that he never once lifted his head from the ground, while
the tiger crawled towards him in a manner that was exquisite to see. Belly
to the ground, its movements resembled rather those of a snake than an
animal as it wound its way through the scrub, gliding through the ferns,
and taking advantage of all the bushes. Occasionally it sat up to peer
cautiously at the bull, and then sinking down it again glided on. Except
now and then, when the bushes were low, I doubt if it could see the bull,
nor could the latter scent the tiger, for the bull was feeding down the
valley in the teeth of the strong monsoon winds, and the tiger was
following in its tracks.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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