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protect the cooly from the planter, as though the latter were not entirely in the hands of the coolies.

An illustration of this which occurred during my visit may show that this assertion is not too strong. A neighbouring planter came in one morning on his way to the Court at Debrughur, whither he was bound to procure warrants for the apprehension of some absentees without leave. He incidentally remarked that all his labourers had had a fight among themselves, and accordingly refused to work that morning. It was a serious loss, as the young leaves ready to be picked that day would by the next morning have deteriorated in quality. I suggested that they deserved punishment. The planter replied that to punish them would be the same as fining himself several thousand rupees, and one day's loss was better than many. It was plain that while the coolies were attending at Court, or suffering imprisonment, they could pick no tea.

While Assam is looked upon as a land of banishment to which few Government servants like to be sent, and as long as the visits of high officials are confined to the cool and broad water highway of the Bramapootra, there is little hope that the progress of the country will be either rapid or satisfactory.

The establishment of a Chief Commissionership for Assam would be an experiment, the success of which might earn distinction for some energetic Viceroy, if the Bengal Government could only be persuaded to detach this province from its jurisdiction.

After spending some time in walking about the plan

tation, I was shown through the Godowns, where a number of people were busy manufacturing the leaf into tea. A short description of the mode of manufacturing it may, perhaps, interest some of my readers.

Outside the tea-house were large mats on which freshgathered leaves were spread, and these leaves, as they became slightly withered and tough, were carried into a room in the tea-house, where they were carefully examined, and all large and coarse leaves taken out. After this they were handed to men called rollers, who proceeded to roll them gently, in large handfuls, on a board, until they were bruised without being broken. Under this process, which requires great skill and delicacy of manufacture, both hands being used very swiftly, with a peculiar turn of the wrist, the leaves exude a juice, and assume that peculiar twisted or rolled appearance to be noticed in the article when ready for consumption. As each handful of tea showed by the twist in the leaf that it had been sufficiently rolled, it was slightly pressed into a ball and laid aside to ferment for longer or shorter intervals, according to the strength of the tea required. This rolling and fermenting process occupies, perhaps, a couple of days, more or less, after which the balls are carefully broken up and spread on mats or iron pans, which are then placed in the sun or over slow ovens, to dry off, this drying process also requiring the greatest care lest the leaf should be over baked.

After this drying process the tea is again carefully picked and sifted; all large discoloured leaves and foreign substances are removed, generally by women or

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girls, whose deft fingers work with great rapidity. In the sifting process all dust and grit is got rid of, and the tea rendered fit for packing in the large lead-lined boxes in which it is exported to Calcutta. Here it is again manipulated, probably not to its advantage, or that of the English consumer, for whom it is repacked in the familiar tea-chests.

The above is merely a sketch of the process of teamaking, but will serve to give my readers some idea of the mode of manufacture without troubling them with any elaborate details of the art.

In the centre of the plantation there stand the ruins of an ancient temple, with a splendid avenue of nahor trees leading to them. These ruins and avenue were discovered when the plantation was cleared from dense jungle, and afford one of those many evidences of the rapid growth of jungle consequent on the decay of population, for the whole of the surrounding country is a dense swampy forest of giant trees.

For several days I visited the plantation in company with my host, and while he attended to his business of superintendent I amused myself by shooting numbers of a diminutive species of quail, known as the button quail. This little bird afforded excellent sport, rising almost from under my feet. One peculiarity of this bird puzzled me very much. After marking them down I never to my knowledge made them rise a second time; but whether they ran after alighting or squatted I could never ascertain.

In my wanderings round the plantation I was often

G

struck by the immense number of parrots which inhabit the jungles of Assam.

Occasionally a cloud of these birds, of a beautiful green colour, would settle on a patch of clearing in immense numbers, and literally cover the ground, waddling about in a most awkward manner, greatly in contrast with their sharp graceful flight, as they whirled through the air with a variety of elegant evolutions.

These birds take very long flights in search of food, returning towards sun-down to their roosting-place, for which they appear to have a great affection. Their flesh is not bad eating if stewed, and parrot stew often made a pleasant change from the everlasting fish and fowl of daily consumption.

One morning, on coming in from the plantation to breakfast, we found a number of natives in a great state of excitement, who brought news of a kill a few miles from the bungalow, so we resolved to lie in wait and get a shot at the tiger if possible, and the planter seemed as well pleased as his guest to show the latter how they did shikar in Northern Assam.

CHAPTER VII.

SHIKAR IN NORTHERN ASSAM.

A Watch for a Leopard-Disappointed-Plantation Law--Wild Elephants -The Taming Process—Buffalo Stalking—The Forest—Khoonkies— The Elephant and Mhitton.

AFTER breakfast, accompanied by the people who had brought us the news, we rode to the spot indicated by the carcass, where we found a young heifer had been killed by a leopard, as my host contended, in spite of the reiterated assurance on the part of our informants that they had seen the tiger. The heifer had been blooded in the open, and then dragged under a bush by the leopard, who evidently intended to finish his dainty repast on another occasion.

The carcass was quite warm, so with the prospect of a bag, mine host gave orders for the erection of a Machan in the nearest tree to which we could repair in the evening, just before sun-down, and wait for the appearance of the spotted thief.

It was impossible to conceive a nicer spot for the haunt of a tiger or leopard. A grassy open on the banks of the river was surrounded by dense tree jungle, fringed with a wide border of tall grass, eight or ten feet high,