If any
clothes are put on him, he takes them off, and commonly tears them to
pieces in doing so. He still prefers raw flesh to cooked, and feeds
on carrion whenever he can get it. The boys of the village are in the
habit of amusing themselves by catching frogs and throwing them to
him; and he catches and eats them. When a bullock dies, and the skin
is removed, he goes and eats it like a village dog. The boy is still
in the village, and this is the description given of him by the
mother herself, who still lives at Chupra. She has never experienced
any return of affection for him, nor has he shown any such feeling
for her. Her story is confirmed by all her neighbours, and by the
head landholders, cultivators, and shopkeepers of the village.*
[* In November, 1850, Captain Nicholetts, on leaving the cantonments
of Sultanpoor, where he commanded, ordered this boy to be sent in to
me with his mother, but he got alarmed on the way and ran to a
jungle. He will no doubt find his way back soon if he lives.]
The Rajah of Hasunpoor Bundooa mentions, as a fact within his own
knowledge, besides the others, for the truth of which he vouches,
that, in the year 1843, a lad came to the town of Hasunpoor, who had
evidently been brought up by wolves. He seemed to be twelve years of
age when he saw him--was very dark, and ate flesh, whether cooked or
uncooked. He had short hair all over his body when he first came, but
having, for a time, as the Rajah states, eaten salt with his food,
like other human beings, the hair by degrees disappeared.
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