and in all cases where there is a big party a naka should be sent on
ahead.
Tigers can be, and are, shot on the Koosee plains all the year round,
but the big hunts take place in the months of March, April, and May,
when the hot west winds are blowing, and when the jungle has got
considerably trampled down by the herds of cattle grazing in the
tangled wilderness of tall grass. Innumerable small paths shew where
the cattle wander backward and forward through the labyrinths of the
jungle. In the howdah we carry ample supplies of vesuvians. We light
and drop these as they blaze into the dried grass and withered leaves
as we move along, and soon a mighty wall of roaring flame behind us,
attests the presence of the destroying element. We go diagonally up
wind, and the flames and smoke thus surge and roar and curl and roll,
in dense blinding volumes, to the rear and leeward of our line. The
roaring of the flames sounds like the maddened surf of an angry sea,
dashing in thunder against an iron-bound coast. The leaping flames
mount up in fiery columns, illuminating the fleecy clouds of smoke
with an unearthly glare. The noise is deafening; at times some of the
elephants get quite nervous at the fierce roar of the flames behind,
and try to bolt across country. The fire serves two good purposes. It
burns up the old withered grass, making room for the fresh succulent
sprouts to spring, and it keeps all the game in front of the line,
driving the animals before us, as they are afraid to break back and
face the roaring-wall of flame. A seething, surging sea of flame,
several miles long, encircling the whole country in its fiery belt,
sweeping along at night with the roar of a storm-tossed sea; the
flames flickering, swelling, and leaping up in the dark night, the
fiery particles rushing along amid clouds of lurid smoke, and the
glare of the serpent-like line reddening the horizon, is one of those
magnificent spectacles that can only be witnessed at rare intervals
among the experiences of a sojourn in India. Words fail to depict its
grandeur, and the utmost skill of Doré could not render on canvas, the
weird, unearthly magnificence of a jungle fire, at the culmination of
its force and fury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account