DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25988#0180
156 Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone. ch. y.
by the herds of buffaloes which come out of the woods and
destroy the fields. They erect strong fences, but the buffaloes
generally break them down. They come in herds of five hun-
dred head, ancl if ten or a dozen are shot the rest are not in-
timidated. They are very hard to kill; no arrow has any
effect on them. Even four or five shots from a matchlock,
which would easily kill a tiger, often fail with them. Many
villages are deserted on account of them. Bankmooma is in
this predicament. They are far larger than common buffaloes.
There is an account of a similar kind called the Grore; one
distinction between it and the buffalo is the length of its
lioofs.’
The villagers waged a more successful war with the tigers.
At Odeypoor, the heacl-quarters of a Grond Raja, he writes, 4 The
Eaja’s son came to visit me. He is a poor sickly lad. I talkecl
with the Grond about killing tigers. They do it with arrows
poisoned with a low plant called mcihoona, which is fastened
in the arrow. A tiger clies of the wound in a few hours. They
would use the same poison in all the-ir wars, were it not for the
expense. As it is, each man has one, and some two. A good
archer here cannot hit further than at fifty paces.’
The travellers diverged ffom their line of march to visit a
spring which had burst forth only a few years previously, ancl
was claimed as a new source of the Nerbudda. This strange
eruption was regarded by the natives with superstitious awe,
and had already become a place of pilgrimage.
4 We at last reached the new Nerbudcla, which we founcl by
the perambulation to be exactly sixteen miles from Khyraghur
(the people had told us it was a Crondy coss). We crossecl a
nulla, and immediately beyond it found the opening. It is
situated in the middle of a field, the soil of which is like that
of the surrounding country, blackish and fertile. The earth
has been cleared away round the mouth of the spring to the
height of about five feet, and for a circuit of ten feet diameter.
This space is filled with sliallow water, under which is an irre-
gular opening about six feet long and five feet broad, fillecl also
witli clear and beautiful water. It appears to be about eight
by the herds of buffaloes which come out of the woods and
destroy the fields. They erect strong fences, but the buffaloes
generally break them down. They come in herds of five hun-
dred head, ancl if ten or a dozen are shot the rest are not in-
timidated. They are very hard to kill; no arrow has any
effect on them. Even four or five shots from a matchlock,
which would easily kill a tiger, often fail with them. Many
villages are deserted on account of them. Bankmooma is in
this predicament. They are far larger than common buffaloes.
There is an account of a similar kind called the Grore; one
distinction between it and the buffalo is the length of its
lioofs.’
The villagers waged a more successful war with the tigers.
At Odeypoor, the heacl-quarters of a Grond Raja, he writes, 4 The
Eaja’s son came to visit me. He is a poor sickly lad. I talkecl
with the Grond about killing tigers. They do it with arrows
poisoned with a low plant called mcihoona, which is fastened
in the arrow. A tiger clies of the wound in a few hours. They
would use the same poison in all the-ir wars, were it not for the
expense. As it is, each man has one, and some two. A good
archer here cannot hit further than at fifty paces.’
The travellers diverged ffom their line of march to visit a
spring which had burst forth only a few years previously, ancl
was claimed as a new source of the Nerbudda. This strange
eruption was regarded by the natives with superstitious awe,
and had already become a place of pilgrimage.
4 We at last reached the new Nerbudcla, which we founcl by
the perambulation to be exactly sixteen miles from Khyraghur
(the people had told us it was a Crondy coss). We crossecl a
nulla, and immediately beyond it found the opening. It is
situated in the middle of a field, the soil of which is like that
of the surrounding country, blackish and fertile. The earth
has been cleared away round the mouth of the spring to the
height of about five feet, and for a circuit of ten feet diameter.
This space is filled with sliallow water, under which is an irre-
gular opening about six feet long and five feet broad, fillecl also
witli clear and beautiful water. It appears to be about eight