Jubbulpore

“ In Jubbulpore a small clan of persons known as Pāik or foot-soldier return themselves as Rājpūts, but are no doubt a mixed low-caste group. Again, some landholding sections of the primitive tribes have assumed the names of Rājpūt clans. Thus the zamīndārs of Bilāspur, who originally belonged to the Kawar tribe, call themselves Tuar or Tomara Rājpūts, and the landholding section of the Mundas in Chota Nāgpur say that they are of the Nāgvansi clan. ”

“ In Jubbulpore Mr. Pancham Lāl records that among the four subcastes of Rekwār, Bant, Barmaian and Pabeha a woman of one subcaste will not partake of any food cooked by one of another division. A man will take any kind of food cooked by a man of another subcaste, but from a woman only such as is not mixed with water. A woman will drink the water held in the metal vessel of a woman of another division, but not in an earthen vessel ”

“ In Bilāspur they also carry litters and work as navvies and stonebreakers like the Kols. Here they will eat pork, but in Jubbulpore greater regard is paid to Hindu prejudice, and they have given up pork and fowls and begun to employ Brāhmans for their ceremonies. The men of the caste will accept cooked food from any man of the higher castes or those cultivators from whom a Brāhman will take water, but the women are more strict and will only accept it from a Brāhman, Bania, Lodhi or Kurmi. ”

“ A native association, established in 1869, supports an orphanage, with help from government. A zenana mission manages 13 schools for girls. Waterworks were constructed in 1882.
The District of Jubbulpore lies on the watershed between the Nerbudda and the Son, but mostly within the valley of the former river, which here runs through the famous gorge known as the Marble rocks, and falls 30 ft. over a rocky ledge (the Dhuan dhar, or “misty shoot”) . Area, 3912 sq. m. It consists of a long narrow plain running north-east and south-west, and shut in on all sides by highlands. ”

“ Jumbo knows how to bathe and swim; I may say he is a “great swimmer.” He makes a bigger hole in the water than most other animals, and he certainly throws water up into the air higher than any other animal, with his great water-spout trunk.
When in London some years ago, it being inconvenient to take Jumbo down to the river, it was arranged to construct a special bath for him and Alice, his wife. I just wish I had the boys and girls who have done so much shouting for Jumbo in this country, with me there to see Jumbo and Alice bathing. ”

“ Well, I looked down from my elevation and saw Jumbo deliberately and coolly putting his trunk around the body of an infant that escaped its mother’s apron-strings and had run and fallen in front of Jumbo. Jumbo is a very careful walker, and always looks where he is going, and, like some others of God’s creatures, is rather slow in his movements, but both very sure footed and thoughtful. ”

“ I want you to think of Jumbo as a kind, affectionate creature; never mind his being an awkward, overgrown “old boy”; don’t look at the exterior so much. “Fine feathers make fine birds,” is an old saying, but remember, when you see a little girl anyway in trouble, you should go instantly to the rescue, and remember that poor Jumbo did the same thing. ”

“ Jumbo, I say, has been a busy, industrious creature all his life, especially since I brought him from his sick bed. He is like many a noble-minded man, who has been stricken down with sickness and raised up again, like old Job, to bless and magnify his creator. ”

“ The horses and cattle now graze in full enjoyment of life. The tall springing grass hides the beautifully spotted jaguar, who lurking in safe concealment, and measuring carefully the distance of a single bound, springs, cat-like, as the Asiatic tiger, on his passing prey.
Sometimes, (so the Aborigines relate) , on the margin of the swamps the moistened clay is seen to blister and rise slowly in a kind of mound; then with a violent noise, like the outbreak of a small mud volcano, the heaped-up earth is cast high into the air. ”

“ Z. Jujuba is a tree averaging from 30 to 50 ft. high, found both wild and cultivated in China, the Malay Archipelago, Ceylon, India, tropical Africa and Australia. Many varieties are cultivated by the Chinese, who distinguish them by the shape and size of their fruits, which are not only much valued as dessert fruit in China, but are also occasionally exported to England. ”

“ Jumbo was a prince among elephants, a magnificent example of the possibilities of animal life, and a type of a race that is slowly but surely passing away. Jumbo’s early infancy was undoubtedly spent in the wilds of Central Africa. In 1861, when he was about four feet high, an elephantine toddler, Sir Samuel Baker saw him in the possession of some Hamran Arabs, who were taking him down the Settite River for delivery to a collector named Johann Schmidt. ”

“ De Gubernatis, the Fruit of Kings, on account of the great size of its fruit. According to the Vishnu purâna, the continent Jambudvîpa took its name from the tree Jambu. The fruits of this tree are in point of fact very large, but the fruits of the Indian mythological Jambu attain to the size of an elephant; when they have ripened they fall from the mountain, and the juice which exudes feeds the river Jambu, whose waters are consequently richly endowed with salutary properties, and can neither be tainted nor defiled. ”

“ Dry food is preferred at all times; and if green barley and juwaree [34] (here called jougan) are given in its stead, the animal then receives no grain. At other times, a horse has from eight to nine pounds of barley once a day. Clover and artificial grasses are cultivated in Bokhara and on the banks of the Oxus, and, when procurable, always used in a dry state. The stalk of the juwaree, which is as thick as a walking-stick and contains much saccharine juice, is a more favourite food. ”

“ Flowers of this Yucca develop as tight clusters of greenish-white buds at the ends of the branches, but do not open wide as do the flowers of other Yuccas. Joshua-trees do not bloom every year, the interval apparently being determined by rainfall and temperature. Birds, a small lizard, wood rats, and several species of insects are closely associated with the Joshua-tree, making use of it for food, shelter, or nest-building materials. Indians use the smallest roots, which are red, for patterns in their baskets. ”

“ Botanists, however, have observed that the species is common in rocky places in Italy,946 and that, moreover, it has not yet been found wild in Syria, although it is cultivated there, as in the whole region extending from the Mediterranean to China and Japan.947
The result of the search for the origin of the jujube tree as a wild plant bears out Pliny’s assertion, in spite [Pg 195] of the objections I have just mentioned. According to plant collectors and authors of floras, the species appears to be more wild and more anciently cultivated in the east than in the west of its present wide area. ”

“ I shouted with satisfaction, and Jumbo barked his approval.
“We have not yet finished our sport,” said the doctor; “we must kill half-a-dozen before breakfast. Go, good Jumbo, and entice a few more up here.”
Jumbo understood his master, and was proceeding to execute his orders, when we heard my uncle’s voice shouting to us to return, in tones which showed that he had good reason for doing so. Making our way through the tangled forest, we soon reached the camp, where we found every one astir, our mosquito-curtains and sleeping-rugs packed up, and the men busy loading the boat. ”

“ The natives, however, found that the ravages of the monkey, the elephant, and the hippopotamus were such as to spoil their rice fields, and turned their attention to the cultivation of sorghum, for which they have a preference.
"The bazaar at Ujiji is well supplied. Fresh fish of various kinds is always procurable, except during the violence of the rains; the people, however, invariably cut it up and clean it before bringing it to market. Good honey abounds after the wet monsoon. By the favor of the chief, milk and butter may be purchased every day. ”

“ The rain and melted snow swell the two great rivers on the east and west of Bengal--the Patna and the Brahmaputra--and the tremendous volume of water carries down decayed vegetable and animal matter which is ultimately spread on the flat areas of Bengal as alluvial deposits, and thus provides an ideal layer of soil for the propagation of the jute plants. ”

“ In the North, nature has already provided us with foundation material for the improvement of Juglans regia. We have many promising varieties that have appeared more or less fortuitously here and there over the country. It is conceded that all of these do not possess the full range of desirable qualities, but they are sufficiently attractive certainly to challenge the best efforts of the plant breeder. We are encouraged too by such experiences as has come to us in the crossing of regia with allied species. A number of crosses of regia and nigra are recorded from the Pacific Coast. ”

“ The leaves of the Jagua, which are few in number (scarcely so many as seven or eight) , are sixteen or seventeen feet long, and rise almost vertically into the air; their extremities are curled like plumes; the ultimate divisions or leaflets, having only a thin grass-like parenchyma, flutter lightly and airily round the slowly balancing central leaf-stalks. In all palms the inflorescence springs from the trunk itself, and below the place where the leaves originate ”

“ But the jujube has the disagreeable habit of sending up root sprouts which are a nuisance to destroy and, because the tree is grafted, the sprouts are worthless seedlings. It has occurred to me that this bad feature of the jujube might be partly offset if cuttings of the improved varieties could be made to grow by means of some of the root inducing chemicals. ”

“ Among the strange cries were those of the sapajous, the moans of the alouati monkeys, the howlings of jaguars and pumas, the shrieks and grunts of peccaries, the calls of the curassow, the paraka, and other fowls. Jumbo added his voice to the turmoil, barking furiously; but suddenly he ceased; then again began to howl, and tried to jump into his master’s hammock.
“He knows that a jaguar is approaching,” observed the doctor. “I only hope that the brute will show his ugly nose here.” ”

“ A few members of NNGA have manifested an interest in the honey locust and the Chinese jujube. Both of these trees grow well in this region with a minimum of care. The Oriental persimmon, like the nut trees, requires more than casual attention and ordinary growing conditions.
The Chinese jujube, a little known but hardy and attractive tree may deserve more attention in the southwest. I have trees of the Li and Lang varieties which bear annually and have never been bothered by insects or disease. ”

“ The zea maize, or common jágung, is a hardy plant, and [Vol I Pg 135] grows on any soil. In common with every other production of Java it thrives there most luxuriantly; nor is there any reason to believe, that the Javan soil is less adapted to it than that of Spanish America, where Humboldt estimates its produce at a hundred and fifty fold. It is planted in fertile low lands in rotation with rice, and in high situations without intermission, often forming in the latter the chief, if not the only, support of the inhabitants. ”

“ At 4,900 feet, Jubrung occurs.—Clematis Cana, Luculiæ sp., Conyzoidea nivea, Kydia calycina, Mimosa arborea, began at 4,800 feet: Gaultheria, arborea, Gordonia, descend to the bottom: Crawfurdia speciosa, Oxyspora, Aspidium, Macrostomium, and Polypodioides, Saurauja hispida, Hypericum, Spiræa bella, Gillenioinis, Quercus, Rubus, and Viburnum cærulescens. A tree yielding lac, which had lately been cut, and Meliaceæ, Rhus triphyllum. Hence some snow was visible on a lofty ridge above our heads, at least 9,500 feet, the snow descending a considerable way down ravines. ”

“ Men are ploughing the wet soil of the sawahs with buffaloes; women—often with their babies slung on their backs with their long scarfs—are hoeing, or weeding, or reaping. As the average monthly temperature does not vary more than two degrees all the year round in Java, the process of preparing the ground, sowing, and reaping go on simultaneously in the ricefields. Every now and then we come across a queer little Noah's-ark cottage in the midst of bananas and bamboos, with a tall palm or two waving overhead. ”

“ The jujube (Zizyphus) produces a wholesome and agreeable fruit, but as a rule most of the species possess bitter or astringent properties, and some are purgative. The 2 genera found in New Zealand both extend to Australia, and 1 of them (Discaria) is found in South America as well.
1. POMADERRIS, Labill.
Shrubs, more or less covered with hoary or ferruginous stellate tomentum. Leaves alternate. Flowers pedicellate, in small cymes usually forming terminal or axillary corymbs or panicles. Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, limb 5-toothed to the base, deciduous or reflexed. ”

“ Humboldt remarks that “a few drops of vegetable juice recall to our minds all the powerfulness and the fecundity of nature. On the barren flank of a rock grows a tree with coriaceous and dry leaves. Its large woody roots can scarcely penetrate into the stone. For several months of the year, not a single shower moistens its foliage. Its branches appear dead and dried; but when the trunk is pierced, there flows from it a sweet and nourishing milk. It is at the rising of the sun that this vegetable fountain is most abundant. ”