130 DESTRUCTIVE PARASITES. in its deadly embrace; and many a time I have breakfasted beneath its arbours in the shade formed by the leaves growing so thickly on its twining trunk and branches, that even the midday sun is unable to effect an entrance. These creepers when in bloom in April add greatly to the beauty of the landscape, though no good forester should allow them to remain. But forest conservancy is unknown to the apathetic natives, and only the more zealous Europeans who have charge of the Court of Wards, are beginning to trim the woods, and give the most useful timber trees a chance of getting free from their deadly enemies the serpent-creeper, the mistletoe, and the loranthus parasites. THE MAUVE-FRILLED MANTIS. 131 At 10 o'clock we started off again, and now the most interesting part of the journey began, for the country was quite new to me. We soon got into high grass where we could hardly see our hands before us; and the drum which we carried with us had to be beaten incessantly to prevent our party separating. Here I caught specimens of the extraordinary Helmet Locust (Tetratodis monticollis), which is one of the wonders of the insect kingdom. These dry metamorphic hills develop the order authoptera, and in a single day's hunting I have procured more than twenty different species, many of them exhibiting the most fantastic forms. This is the home of the Mauve-frilled Mantis (Empusa gongylodes), which loses all its bright colouring when dead. One of the engineers working on the Kharakpoor Irrigation Works sent me two in a cage, thinking they were birds. They flew on to a boquet of flowers which his wife was holding in her hand. The Saw-frilled Mantis (Rhombodera serricollis) flew occasionally on my dining-table, attracted by the light; and the Peacock Mantis (Harpax urbana) was generally to be found watching like an ogre for any stray beetle or fly which might come within its CHAPTER VII. The Bamboo Cart.-Roads in Monghyr.-Fertile appearance of the Country in February.-Jackals feasting in Graves.-Government Estate reclaimed from the Ganges. -Poverty of the People.-Severe Bit.-Cruelty of the Natives. Quail.-A Primary School in Monghyr.Swarm of caterpillars.-Litigation caused by the Ganges changing its course.-Confidence of the Natives in the Courts of Law.-Toddy Palms; Insects found on them. -Wasp killing a Snake.-Trees by the road side.Birds. Ignorance of the Natives regarding the outside World. Their knowledge of Simples.-The Molanaggar Monastery. Curious Scene there.-The Bench at Sheikhpura. A Native Gentleman's House and Garden.Early Reminiscences of an Indian Court. ON the 1st February 1877 I left Monghyr at daybreak to visit the ancient town of Sheikhpura, forty miles distant, at the western extremity of the district; and to sit with a bench of Honorary Native Magistrates, who had recently been appointed by Government. THE BAMBOO CART. 141 My cart, of which an illustration is given, cost four pounds, new; and was well adapted to the Monghyr roads. It carried myself, my servant, a basket of food and clothes, and my gun. It could, if necessary, be lifted over a ravine, or carried across rivers in any country boat; and, besides these recommendations, if it got out of repair, which very seldom was the case, any village carpenter or smith could mend it. It had no iron springs, but the seat, resting on the pliable bamboo, which formed a continuation of the shaft, prevented any uneasy motion or jolting. My Bamboo Cart. From an engraving in "Land and Water." When I first came to Monghyr the district roads were in a very bad state, but the roadcess, introduced by Sir George Campbell in 1873, gave us about ten thousand pounds to keep them in repair. The native carters used 142 INSPECTION OF ROADS. to bless my method of driving over the roads instead of inspecting them from inside a palkee or from an elephant's back. Every jolt of my bamboo cart was noted as a black mark against the supervisor, and each person in charge of any public thoroughfare had a lithographed notice pasted in his note-book, to the effect that he would be expected to resign his appointment if ever I was compelled to alight from my cart in consequence of the badness of the road. The result of the periodical inspections was magical; and the poor native carters, who classed bad roads among the evil decrees of fate, bowed down to the ground whenever they met me driving. The road to Sheikhpura, after leaving Monghyr, led over a vast low-lying alluvial plain, inundated by the Ganges in July, August, and September, during during the rainy season, and celebrated for the mirages which appear after the waters subside. On the 1st of February, as I drove along, the fields were covered with wheat, just coming into ear; peas, barley, flax, and gram, which affords both food for horses and for man. In many of the fields these crops grow mixed together after the |