Ranching, Sport and Travel | Page 2

at one
of the gardens till a vacancy should occur. Calcutta, by the way, is or

was overrun by jackals at night. They are the scavengers of the town
and hunt in packs through the streets, their wolfish yelling being a little
disconcerting to a stranger.
It was a long twelve days, but again a very interesting journey, in a
native river boat, four rowers (or towers), to my destination. I had a
servant with me, who proved a good, efficient cook and attendant. It
was rather trying to the "griffin" to notice, floating in the river, corpses
of natives, frequently perched upon by hungry vultures.
The tea-garden selected for me was Narainpore, successfully managed
by a fellow-countryman, who proved to be a capital chap and who
made my stay with him very pleasant. Narainpore was one of the oldest
gardens, on teelah (hilly) land and quite healthy. There I gave what
little help I could, picked up some of the lingo, and learned a good deal
about the planting, growth and manufacture of tea. Neighbours were
plentiful and life quite sociable. Twice a week in the cold weather we
played polo, sometimes with Munipoories, a hill tribe whose national
game it is, and who were then the undoubted champions. The Regent
Senaputti was a keen player, and very picturesque in his costume of
green velvet zouave jacket, salmon-pink silk dhotee and pink silk
turban. In Munipoor even the children have their weekly polo matches.
They breed ponies specially for the game, and use them for nothing else,
nor would they sell their best. Still, we rode Munipoor "tats" costing us
from 50 rupees to 100. They were exceedingly small, averaging not
eleven hands high, but wiry, active, speedy, full of grit, and seemed to
love the game. As the game was there played, seven formed a side, the
field was twice as large as now and there were no goals. The ball had to
be simply driven over the end line to count a score.
It may be remarked here that the great Akbar was so fond of polo, but
otherwise so busy, that he played the game at night with luminous
balls.
These Munipoories were a very fine race of people, much lighter of
colour than their neighbouring tribes, very stately and dignified in their
bearing, and thorough sportsmen. Many of their women were really
handsome, and the girls, with red hibiscus blossoms stuck in their

jet-black hair, and their merry, laughing faces and graceful figures,
were altogether quite attractive to the Sahib Log.
But to return to tea. Our bungalow was of the usual type, consisting of
cement floor, roof of crossed bamboos and two feet of sun-grass thatch,
supported by immense teak posts, hard as iron and bidding defiance to
the white ants. The walls were of mats. Tea-gardens usually had a
surface of 300 to 1000 acres; some were on comparatively level ground,
some on hilly (teelah) land. These teelahs were always carefully
terraced to prevent the wash of soil and permit cultivation. The plants
were spaced about three to six feet apart, according to whether they
were of the Chinese, the hybrid, or the pure indigenous breed, the last
being the largest, in its native state developing to the dimensions of a
small tree.
I may as well here at once give a short sketch of the principal features
of tea planting and manufacture, which will show what the duties of a
planter are, and how various are the occupations and operations
embraced. One must necessarily first have labour (coolies). These are
recruited in certain districts of India, usually by sending good reliable
men, already in your employ, to their home country, under a contract to
pay them so much a head for every coolie they can persuade (by lies or
otherwise) to come to your garden. The coolies must then bind
themselves to work for you for, say, three to four years. They are paid
for their work, not much it is true, but enough to support them with
comfort; the men about three annas (or fourpence) a day, the women
two annas (or threepence). As they get to know their work and become
expert, the good men will earn as much as six annas a day, and some of
the women, when plucking leaf, about the same. This is more than
abundant for these people. They not only have every comfort, but they
become rich, so that in a few years they are able to rest on their
earnings, and work only at their convenience and when they feel like it.
They are supplied with nothing, neither food nor clothing; medicine
alone is free to them. The native staff of a garden consists of, say, two
baboos, or book-keepers and clerks, a doctor baboo,