Ranching, Sport and Travel | Page 6

me a number of the stoutest coolies on the
garden. The men seemed to rather enjoy the sport, though a lick from a
lathi (a formidable tough, hard and heavy cane) was far from a joke.

Finally the bustee-wallahs agreed to stop operations and await legal
judgment.
After eighteen months I was suddenly left in sole charge of all the
Company's gardens, the Burra Sahib having finally succumbed to drink;
but I was not long left in charge, being soon relieved by a more
experienced man. Shortly after I was ordered to Scottpore Garden in
Cachar, the manager of which, a particularly fine man and a great
friend of mine, had suffered the awful death of being pierced by the
very sharp end of a heavy, newly-cut bamboo, which he seems to have
ridden against in the dark. He always rode at great speed, and he too, in
this way, was a victim of drink. The tremendously high death-rate
amongst planters was directly due to this fatal habit.
Scottpore was a new (young) garden, not teelah, but level land, having
extremely rich soil. The bushes showed strong growth and there were
no "vacancies"; indeed it was a model plantation. Unfortunately, it had
the character of extreme unhealthiness. Of my three predecessors two
had died of fever and one as before mentioned. The coolie death-rate
was shocking; so bad that, during my management, a Government
Commission was sent to look into the situation, and the absolute
closing of the garden was anticipated. The result was that I was
debarred from recruiting and importing certain coolies from certain
districts in India, they being peculiarly susceptible to fever and
dysentery. Almost every day at morning muster the doctor reported so
and so, or so many, dead, wiped off the roll. Naturally the place
suffered from lack of labour, a further draining of the force being the
absconding of coolies, running off, poor devils, to healthier places, and
the stealing of my people by unscrupulous planters.
On several occasions, when riding home on dark nights, have I detected
white objects on the side of the road. Not a movement would be seen,
not a sound or a breath heard, only an ominous, suspicious silence
reigned; it meant that these were some of my people absconding, being
perhaps led off by a pimp from another garden--and woe betide the
pimp if caught. I would call out to them, and if they did not respond
would go after them; but generally they were too scared to resist or to

attempt further to escape; so I would drive them in front of me back to
the garden, inspect them and take their names, try to find out who had
put them up to it, etc., and dismiss them to the lines in charge of the
night-watchman. You could not well punish them, though a good
caning was administered sometimes to the men. Thus the plantation,
instead of presenting a clean, well-cultivated appearance, had often that
of an enormous hayfield; nevertheless the output and manufacture of
tea was large and the quality good. All that I myself could and did take
credit for was this "quality," as the prices obtained in Calcutta were the
best of all the Company's gardens.
At Scottpore there was no lack of neighbours. My bungalow was on
two cross-roads, a half-way house so to speak; consequently someone
was continually dropping in. Frequently three or four visitors would
arrive unannounced for dinner; the house was always "wide open."
Whisky, brandy and beer were always on the sideboard, and in my
absence the bearer or khansamah was expected, as a matter of course,
to offer refreshments to all comers. The planter's code of hospitality
demanded this, but it was the financial ruin of the Chota Sahib,
depending solely on his modest salary.
At Scottpore I went in strong for vegetable, fruit and flower gardening,
and not without success. Visitors came from a distance to view the
flower-beds and eat my green peas, and I really think that I grew as fine
pineapples and bananas as were produced anywhere. The pineapple of
good stock and ripened on the plant is, I think, the most exquisite of all
fruits. A really ripe pine contains no fibre. You cut the top off and sup
the delicious mushy contents with a spoon.
In such a hot, steamy climate as we had in these tea districts, the
rapidity of growth of vegetation is, of course, remarkable. Bamboos
illustrate this better than other plants, their growth being so much more
noticeable, that of a young shoot amounting to as much as four inches
in one night. It sometimes appeared to my imagination that the weeds
and grass grew one foot in a like period, especially when short of
labour. The planter usually takes