PREFACE 



The conquest of Nature, that has been 

 -advancing apace with the spread of material 

 civilisation, has been putting difficulties in 

 the way of man's free communion with 

 Nature. The music that cheered him up 

 spontaneously in his rural or urban environ- 

 ments at a time when he did not assert 

 his independence of Nature, has now to be 

 enjoyed through special efforts for securing 

 and preserving it within reach. The truth 

 of this will be realised to some extent by 

 visits to a city like Calcutta or London 

 where the rattling of carriage-wheels and 

 the grunting of bus-horns make it diffi- 

 <3ult to even turn one's thought to a past 

 enjoyment of avine music amidst natural 

 scenery. Many of us feel this want caused 

 by the progress of our material civilisation 

 a,nd try to make up for it by periodical 

 'excursions into villages, marshes, jungles 



