Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/502

438 their goats, but they sold us the milk of the dam that had lost its kids.

We were up with the morning star, and by daylight had our bandy repacked, our cattle yoked, and resumed our journey; but our speed did not improve. As we neared the Neilgherries, our road grew more hilly, rough, and precipitous; and the posted bullocks were utterly worn out. It was painful to be drawn by them, but to stop where we were was impossible. We were now in the midst of the jungle, a wilderness thinly or densely wooded, and the home of bears, tigers, leopards, and wild elephants. Men have frequently been carried by tigers from the public road; and not long since a young English officer was here killed by an enraged wild elephant which he had imprudently attacked. We had not the pleasure of seeing any of these savage rangers of the forest, for we passed through the jungle by the high road and in broad daylight, when they usually hide away in their lairs.

At length we found ourselves actually at Seegoor, with the massive mountains, whose summits had caught our eye and cheered our way from time to time, towering high before us. To our great joy there, too, was a light