"Me rather, all that bowery loneliness,
The brooks of Eden mazily murmuring,
And bloom profuse, and cedar arches charm."
Tennyson might have written that of the Terai in midwinter. And its people conform, as might be expected, to their environment. Life among them is found at first hand: their loves and hates are ingenuous, and present social aspects that must vanish before the march of civilization.
The critics may object to the manner of the courtship of Tara, as not being in accord with the marriage customs of the natives of India. To them I would reply, that the experience of a dozen years spent in intimate relations with, and in close observation of, the Kumaon Padhans, has satisfied me that these children of nature are guided strongly by their natural feelings; and that, in the selection of their wives, they are as often swayed by their affections as we are.
C. W. Doyle.
Santa Cruz, California, January, 1899.
Contents
[Preface]
[CHAPTER I. A Jungle Vendetta]
[CHAPTER II. Hasteen]
[CHAPTER III. The Hunting of Cheeta Dutt]
[CHAPTER IV. The Spoiling of Nyagong]
[CHAPTER V. The Woman in the Carriage]
[CHAPTER VI. For the Training of Biroo]
[CHAPTER VII. Chandni]
[CHAPTER VIII. One Thousand Rupees Reward]
[CHAPTER IX. The Rope that Hanged Bijoo]
[CHAPTER X. Cœlum, non Animum Mutant]
[CHAPTER XI. The Lame Tiger of Huldwani]
[CHAPTER XII. How Nandha was Avenged]
[CHAPTER XIII. An Affront to Gannesha]
[CHAPTER XIV. A Daughter of the Gods]
[CHAPTER XV. "Ich Liebe Dich"]
[CHAPTER XVI. The Smoking of a Hornets' Nest]