_December_ 31, 1849.--Eight miles to Sotee, over a country well
studded with trees, and generally well cultivated. The soil is, all
the way, doomuteea. The road, the greater part of the way, lies in
the purgunnah of Nyn, held by Jugunnath Sing, a Kumpureea Rajpoot,
and his nephew, and the collateral branches of their family. They
have a belt of jungle, extending for some twelve miles along the
right bank of the Saee river, and on the right side of the road, and
within from two to six miles from it--in some parts nearer, and in
others more remote. Wild hogs, deer, neelgae, and wild cattle abound
in this jungle, and do great injury to the crops in its vicinity. The
peasantry can kill and eat the hogs and deer, but dare not kill or
wound the wild cattle or neelgae. The wild cattle are said to be from
a stock which strayed or were let loose in this jungle some centuries
ago. They are described as fat, while the crops are on the ground,
and well formed--some black, some red, some white, and some mixed--
and to be as wild and active as the deer of the same jungle. They are
sometimes caught by being driven into the Saee river; but the young
ones are said to refuse all food, and die soon, if not released.
Hindoos soon release them, from the religious dread that they may die
in confinement. The old ones sometimes live, and are considered
valuable. They are said to be finer in form than the tame cattle of
the country; and from July to March, when grass abounds, and the
country around is covered successively with autumn and spring crops,
more fat and sleek.
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