MUNDY'S PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES IN INDIA.
THIS is as pleasant a book as has lately fallen under notice. It is a book of travels, possessing nearly all the charms of that fascinat-
ing description of work. We have wild adventure, wild scenery,
strange customs, and a singular and various people. Captain MUNDY accompanied General Lord COMBERMERE, while Com-
mander in Chief of the British Forces in India, on an official tour into the interior. Their journey lay many hundreds of miles north towards the sources of the Ganges, and embraced a very interest- ing sojourn among the Himalaya Mountains : the journal in- cludes descriptions also of many of the greatest and most famous places in Mogul history, such as Delhi and Agra. Few countries
possess such attractions to the traveller as British India, more especially when the tourist has the advantage of a moveable esta- blishment, like that which accompanies a Commander in Chief or a Governor-General. Its scenery is often fine, and always new to the European ; the productions are remarkable to the unaccustomed eye; and the character and institutions of the population are well worthy of the attention of an inquirer. In no country is there more of the picturesque in costume, in building, and the appearances of nature. A rich and fruitful source of amusement and occupation to the pen and pencil sketcher is thus presented. When, too, the artist adds the sports of the field to the ordinary adventures of the traveller, his harvest is likely to be rich indeed. Captain MUNDY is a famous tiger-queller ; and his reports of his encounters in this grand field of sport are striking and amusing. The author, mounted on his elephant, Manton in hand, is a mighty Nimrod, and performs as many exploits on the tiger as Captain LLOYD against the bear. Captain LLOYD'S Northern Sports is a book re- maining agreeably in our recollection, to which we have more than once mentally compared the Sketches of Lord COMBERMERE'S .Aide-de-camp. This is no vulgar travelling : it is a procession of head-quarters, which possesses extraordinary comforts and meets with extraordi- nary attention : it is a sort of military caravan; and frequently, in the scenes sketched by the author, itself presents one.of the most picturesque objects, -with its various attendants, its .horses, its escort, its elephants, and its camels. The elephant—moving his mountainous body with solemn yet awkward deliberation (a sort of Dr. JOHNSON gait), with its mahout on its neck, and its houdah (the European's castle) on its back, or else enjoying itself during the hour of rest after its manner, covering its body with dust, and fanning its huge face with a branch, whilst devouring a delicate liffen, consisting of a dozen meal-cakes, each as big as the top of a bandbox, with half a peepul-tree, timber included, by way of legumes—always adds interest as well as strangeness to the group.
It is only by means of this extraordinary creature that the Euro- pean is able to enjoy the royal sport of tiger-hunting. Mounted on his back, he sallies forth to the jungle. The elephant smashes down and tears up all before him : the trees in his way he uproots, and raises the underwood from the surface of the soil or moss, and thus discloses the tiger in his form, or frightens him from his lair. The tiger, if in a courageous humour, charges, leaping full in the face of the patient giant ; and often severely mauls him, while the marksman from his tower is preparing a deadly aim. In this way, sometimes twelve or twenty elephants in a line beat the bush for game. They not only force the beast from his den, otherwise unapproachable, but they indicate his proximity by trumpeting. This is a sort of view-holla—or giving tongue, as is said of a hound—which is never found to deceive. The elephant has a fierce antipathy to the tiger ; and generally, if left to himself, would soon succeed in destroying his antagonist. He is, however, an educated beast ; and it is an especial point of his education to be still under attack, and leave the business of slaughter to the lorel of his castle. Sometimes, however, nature is stronger than tuition; and the elephants will all turn tail and take to flight,with Itn enormous rapidity, more like the rocking of the ocean than the galloping of a steed. At other times, they are overcome by the instinct of rage, and fall tusk and foot upon the beast; goring him with their ivory spear, or else trampling with their ponderous loot (" milling " with a vengeance), or rolling over him with their colossal carcase, reducing him to a mummy. It is this manoeuvre which renders it exceedingly desirable that the well-taught ele- phant should stand still under a charge; for a roll would probably be as fatal to the gentleman above as to the tiger below. The charges of the tiger, on the other hand, are not unfrequently at- tended by dangerous consequences to the elephant, who sometimes dies of his wounds ; more especially when the enemy springs upon his hinder-quarters, when, if there is delay in knocking him down, he experiences difficulty in shaking off his troublesome ad- herent.
Game in immense variety abounds in the upper provinces of India; and when accustomed to shoot from the houdah, the sports- man generally returns with elephant loads of hog, deer, antelopes, boar, and birds of the partridge and pheasant description. The elephant, however, seems a very necessary " monture ;" for at a less elevation the sportsman might stand a better chance of being killed than killing. The elephant of the Company's service is not a favourite specimen of this wisest of beasts; he is only seen in perfection in the service of some of the native chiefs. The lordly elephants of this description are stated to be as superior to the common Company's elephant as the high-mettled and thoroughbred horse to the common hack.
Elephant-fighting is a sport highly esteemed among the Rajahs of the interior; though it is a disgraceful employment for beasts of their wisdom. Even in combat, the elephants exhibit their unrivalled sagacity ; for, after twining their trunks together, and giving each other some tremendous tugs, they quickly discover who is the weaker party : the minority in this case takes to his heels, and gets off, with some considerably sound bangs on his rump and sides, from the pursuing tifajority. In several of the districts pene- trated by our adventurous sketcher, wild elephants were often heard, though not seen ; and the sounds they produce are thus picturesquely described—" The wild elephants trumpeting and crashing in the distant forests, as they commenced their descent to the valley to drink at the nullahs." "At night the jungles around us being on fire in several points, presented a most grand and beautiful spectacle : long streams of flame ran rapidly up and athwart the sides of the hills; and the elephants were heard screaming and rushing through the forest to avoid the invading- element." (Vol. I. p. 207.)
We cannot attempt to follow Captain MUNDY in his long and circuitous journey, nor wait to point out the numerous interesting traits, anecdotes, and observations he has " sketched in" to his work. We can do little more than give a general recommendation of it, assuring lovers of adventure and strange travel that they will be abundantly rewarded by a perusal. Captain MUNDY is an Irishman, and boasts a lively wit: his style is agreeable, and is often adorned by pleasant sallies and happy images; which prove him in possession of a true Milesian fancy, and a great stock of good-humour.
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