Transcribe Hornaday, W. T. Letter to Ward, Henry A. (1877-06-11)

Ootacamund, Neilgherry Hills, Saturday June 18th 1877

Dear Prof. Ward:

Well, I am back from my trip to Muddi Mullai Forest that I expected would turn out so well, and I am sorry to say it was almost a failure. We had a hard time getting there, and when we did get there found the natives very unkind & disobliging.

My companion, Scott, soon turned out to be a regular dead beat in every respect, brought no money with him, and as it proved, precious little provisions, he and his man expecting to live on me, as they did the other time. He was too lazy to do anything, and so under the above circumstances I soon made it so hot for him that he picked up and came home, leaving me alone in my glory. We built a sort of [??] to live in of nights, as we could not get even a roof to shelter us when it rained from the miserable natives, and there were no Europeans in the country. Well, every day I took a native & went out hunting, and killed 2 gaur and 1 [male] Rusa Aristotelus. Took a skin & skel of the former, skin of latter. It rained *every* day I believe, and it was a *dead drag* right along. I got on good terms with the natives at last