Sketches of Indian field sports : with observations on the animals ; also an account of some of the customs of the inhabitants ; with a description of the art of catching serpents, as practised by the conjoors and their method of curing themselves when bitten with remarks on hydrophobia and rabid animals / by Daniel Johnson.

  • Daniel Johnson
Date:
1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sketches of Indian field sports : with observations on the animals ; also an account of some of the customs of the inhabitants ; with a description of the art of catching serpents, as practised by the conjoors and their method of curing themselves when bitten with remarks on hydrophobia and rabid animals / by Daniel Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ]:)y liim on a reduced scale. The other Rajahs^ although they have not ado})ted it as an amuse- ment, have sometimes had ret^ourse to it, in order to rid their countries of the tigers that were .• . ® troublesome; whole villages being often entirely depopulated by them. It is wonderful to see tlie number of villages (or rather the sites where they once stood,) in Ramghur^ wholly unculti- vated and deserted. About the end of May, or early in June, when all the grass, and a great part of the underwood becomes dry, and water every where scarce, it was the custom to set the jungles on fire^ for the sake of new grass, and to drive off animals of prey from the neighbourhood * Many an evening I have been amused for hours with looking at these fires, burning in every direction; some- times most furiously, at other times the flames proceed- ing calmly over the lowlands for miles in extent, whilst the mountains were burning with rage and violence: the whole producing one of the grandest sights imaginable, rendering the air throughout that country intolerably hot. Sometimes, when the wind is high, the jungle on the hills takes fire spontaneously, in consequence of the friction produced by two bamboos crossing, and rubbing one against the other, the fire from which falling on the grass, then dry, like tinder, soon kindles into a flame and spreads rapidly on all sides. ,