CHAPTER V.

The Kharakpoor hills. Recent Changes in the surrounding Country. The Irrigation Works.-Picnic on the Lake.Plants on the Banks of the Lake.-Santhal Villages.— Beautiful Scenery.-Birds and Fish.-Bhim-band.—Hot Springs. Trees in the Vicinity.-A brave Hermit.-The Pleasures of an Ascetic Life.

TWENTY years ago anyone standing on the summit of the hills adjoining Kharakpoor, would have been surrounded by a dense and almost impenetrable forest, where, at sunrise peacocks and jungle-fowl were heard calling to their mates, and where in the evening tigers, leopards, and bears, came to drink the water of the little river Mun, which, rising at the hot springs in the recesses of the hills, flowed, forming many beautiful cascades by the way, between the hills, until it reached the plains near Kharakpoor. The past twenty years, however, have effected greater changes in these

108

THE KHARAKPOOR LAKE.

hills than did the twenty centuries which had gone before. Directly the railway whistle was heard on the adjoining loop-line of the East India Railway, the wild animals retired to happier hunting grounds; the peacocks and jungle-fowl followed, and soon the forest, resounding with the woodman's axe, gave way to fields of wheat, cotton, sessamum, and other fertile crops, such as may only be seen in India on virgin soil.

Nor are these the only changes which have taken place. The little river Mun can no longer sing as it goes along,

"For men may come and men may go,

But I flow on for ever."

because the narrow gorge through which it passed on its way to Kharakpoor has been closed, and its collected waters form one of the most lovely lakes in the world, rivalling, by no mere figure of speech, the renowned lakes of Killarney.

This great engineering work, which has been carried out at a cost of some lakhs of rupees, debited to the Darbhanga Raj, sets drought through the surrounding country at defiance, and will enable the happy rayat to raise a

BEAUTIFUL FLOWERS.

109

As the

succession of crops all the year round. lake is as yet in its infancy, being only a few months old, the number of European visitors who have seen its beauties may be counted on the fingers; and on January 1, the first picnic took place upon its banks, which assuredly, before long, will resound with the voices of pleasure-parties, and tourists.

Our party consisted of myself and my wife, Major Waller, the District Superintendent of Police, and Mrs. Waller, the Assistant Magistrate Mr. Primrose, and Mr. King, the officer in charge of the Kharakpoor estate. Our intention being to combine business with pleasure, and explore the lake, following the course of the stream as far as possible among the hills.

On our arrival at the lake, we found a jollyboat, manned by four rowers, waiting for us; and, whilst its prow was being decked with a garland of flowers, in order, as the boatmen assured us, to procure a propitious voyage, we examined the trees and plants which grew on the neighbouring hill-side down to the waters edge. Here we found beautiful blue and pink Barlerias growing side by side with the gaudy yellow wood-cotton flower (Hibiscus vitifolius),

110

A WARLIKE ORDERLY.

and with them the pink Amaranthus, with seedvessels like miniature Burmese boxes, and a pale blue Eranthemum, which quite deserves a place in the flower-garden. Towering above these were Wrightia tinctoria, with its curious follicles or pods, like miniature horse-collars. The Indian Olax, which my companions at once pronounced to be an oak, because the fruit closely resembles an acorn; the Jungle Crab (Zizyphus xylopyra), and the spreading Woodfordia floribunda, which may be called a country cousin of the cultivated pomegranate. Over these was creeping in beautiful profusion the Silver Creeper (Porana paniculata), known to Europeans as "the bride," but by a curious perversion of terms, the "boori," or old woman, by the natives, who seem unable to distinguish what is sweet and fair, from what is old and ugly.

We were assisted into the boat by a fine soldierly-looking Sikh orderly, belonging to the Court of Wards, who asked us what chance there was of war with Russia, adding that directly the war-note sounded, we might count on him to bring one man and horse into the field. He confided to us that he had a natural taste

THE FAKIR'S CAVE.

111

for fighting, and that fighting in company with Englishmen was the summit of his ambition.

Directly the boat started, the beauties of the lake began to unfold themselves. On one side range after range of hills arose, until they were crowned by the table-topped Marak, over one thousand five hundred feet high, which makes a most conspicuous landmark; whilst on the other hand were abrupt precipices, with gigantic boulders piled together, forming a fine eyrie to a horned rock owl, which, unaccustomed to visitors in his highland home, greeted us, as long as we remained in sight, with cries of "Who? Who?"

Twenty minutes pull brought us to what formerly was known as the Fakir's Cave. This was a small chamber in the overhanging rocks, some thirty feet above the stream, where a mendicant, for reasons best known to himself, had taken up his abode for many years, untilso the simple people say-a goddess, in the shape of a tiger, claimed him for her own. The great attraction to the place was a huge sacred tree, a Terminalia, said to be the habitation of the goddess; and the woodmen had built her a temple on the other side of the