| Description | He has deprived Alick of an account of a leopard hunt, a rare event with no true jungle nearby. If a leopard does appear, an expedition is mounted. He notes a favourite haunt of tigers at Kadamsar, to the west. As many as five tigers at a time have been seen there, but it would take sixty to one hundred elephants to beat them out of the grassland. Occasional hunters come, but William has not yet seen a tiger hunt. One day as he was riding to cutchery a man came to say that he had wounded a leopard, to the south. William sent a chit to Nicholas [Stewart] to bring an elephant he had recently bought and as many guns as possible. The elephant arrived at 4.00pm, after court, but without guns, only muskets and revolvers. William describes the place occupied by the leopard, and the hunt, where Stewart rode his elephant to beat, while William and Miller manned the bank above. He gives an account of firing at the big cat and the use of the elephant, which was clawed, but which allowed Nicolas Stewart to hit the leopard with a shot. As darkness drew in the leopard was still alive and the elephant would not charge it again. William climbed a tree and fired his revolver into the thicket where the animal was supposed to be, but they eventually gave up. Returning to the spot three days later, the leapoard was found dead, but too decomposed to take the skin or skull, He notes going to Berhampore, and an earthquake felt on 24 August [the Prome earthquake?]. He is sending Alick a draft for £25 which he must spend as he sees fit, and he compares Alick's Cambridge University examination with his and John's lesser trials at Addiscombe and Haileybury. Alick is taking disappointment philosophically, he has heard, but he must not make a Kirke White of himself [the poet Henry Kirke White, who died at twenty-one years of age at the University]. Grote has warned William that he might be sent to the North West, but William thinks not. He believes he will have no chance of meeting Johnnie [John Herschel] when he arrives in India, noting his leave situation. He has an excellent double barrel for John, so he should not buy another. He gives thanks to Looey [Margaret Louisa Herschel] for a letter and an excellent photograph of Reginald. |