Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877Kennedy, James
History
Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877
Kennedy, James
India -- Description and travel; India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947 -- Biography; Missionaries; Missions -- India
One day we took full ten hours to go twelve miles. When we came to the
end of our stage we found we had to encamp for the night in the low
scrub of the forest, with stagnant water all around us. There was a hut
at the place with two native policemen to help travellers, and we were
told by them that there had been for some days in the neighbourhood what
is called "a rogue elephant"--an elephant which, for some reason known
only in elephant councils has been driven out of the herd, and is so
enraged by his expulsion that he is ready to run amuck at every person
and animal he sees. This was not pleasant intelligence. We found native
carts at the place, ready to proceed in the morning to a market to be
held at the foot of the hills; and after a very uncomfortable night,
much disturbed by the cries of the beasts of the wilderness, we set out,
the people shouting to scare the elephant, which, though ready for
mischief, is frightened by noise. We saw no trace of him. When the day
was well advanced we reached a rest-house close to the hills, with a
brawling stream behind it, with which our children as well as ourselves
were delighted, one of them clapping his hands and saying, "Water clear
and bright!" We had our first and rather perilous hill journey the next
day, but my account of it and subsequent journeys in the mountains must
be reserved for another time.
We went to Kumaon by the most direct route through Futtygurh and
Bareilly. We returned by a longer route _via_ Meerut and Delhi. Our
difficulties on our way back were somewhat different, but they were
quite as great as on our upward journey. Some of the streams we had to
cross were not fordable, and we had great difficulty in getting
ourselves ferried over. A few nights were spent in exceeding discomfort,
our carts not having come up with our tents, and we were shelterless and
supperless--rather, if I may coin such a word, dinnerless. One night
cover was got for my wife and children, but a missionary brother and
myself remained out all night, with no possibility of obtaining rest, as
a pack of jackals were gorging themselves on the carcase of a bullock,
and making the most hideous noises. As the night was cold, and we had no
bedding, it was perhaps well the jackals were there, as otherwise we
might have been tempted to lie down on the bare ground, which we could
not have done with safety to our health. When once we got to the Trunk
Road, which we had from Delhi to Benares, our travelling difficulties
were at an end, and we got on most comfortably.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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