Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/476

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416
NOTES OF TRAVEL.

To Seringapatam.

The conveyance which carried us from Bangalore to Seringapatam, and thence to the mountains, bore the somewhat ironical appellation of a “shigram-po,” or “quick-go;" for, to our sorrow, we found it a most painfully slow-go, and, at times, a no-go. It was a square, two-wheeled affair, with a raised floor on which we laid our mattrass, and under which we packed our boxes, provisions, and cooking utensils, and was drawn by two bullocks. The Indian bullocks are commonly pure white, with horns rising directly above their foreheads, and curving gracefully backwards. The hump between the shoulders, and the long dew-lap hanging half-way to the ground, with the peculiar curve of the horns, make them look very unlike our American cattle. When well kept and trained, they are beautiful creatures, quick, and perfectly obedient to the driver, who guides them by a small cord attached to one horn of each animal. We, however, found the posted bullocks furnished us completely worn out by over-work; often at the commencement of their