through
its officers, experimental farms, etc., tries to get good sire stock
for both horses and cattle, but as long as the dams are bad--mere
weeds, without blood, bone, muscle, or stamina, the produce must be
bad. As a pretty well established and general rule, the ryots look
after their bullocks,--they recognise their value, and appreciate
their utility, but the cows fare badly, and from all I have myself
seen, and from the concurrent testimony of many observant friends in
the rural districts, I should say that the breed has become much
deteriorated.

Old planters constantly tell you, that such cattle as they used to get
are not now procurable for love or money. Within the last twenty years
prices have more than doubled, because the demand for good
plough-bullocks has been more urgent, as a consequence of increased
cultivation, and the supply is not equal to the demand. Attention to
the matter is imperative, and planters would be wise in their own
interests to devote a little time and trouble to disseminating sound
ideas about the selection of breeding stock, and the principles of
rearing and raising stock among their ryots and dependants. Every
factory should be able to breed its own cattle, and supply its own
requirements for plough and cart-bullocks. It would be cheaper in the
end, and it would undoubtedly be a blessing to the country to raise
the standard of cattle used in agricultural work.

To return from this digression. We plodded on and on, weary, hot, and
thirsty, expecting every moment to see the ghat and my waiting horse.
But the country here is so wild, the river takes such erratic courses
during the annual floods, and the district is so secluded and so
seldom visited by Europeans or factory servants, that my syce had
evidently lost his way. After we had crossed innumerable streams, and
laboriously traversed mile upon mile of burning sand, we gave up the
attempt to find the ghat, and made for Nathpore.

Nathpore was formerly a considerable town, not far from the Nepaul
border, a flourishing grain mart and emporium for the fibres, gums,
spices, timbers, and other productions of a wide frontier. There was a
busy and crowded bazaar, long streets of shops and houses, and
hundreds of boats lying in the stream beside the numerous ghats,
taking in and discharging their cargoes. It may give a faint idea of
the destructive force of an Indian stream like the Koosee when it is
in full flood, to say that this onc