180 INDIAN BIG GAME 



and lonely grandeur. It has all and more than 

 the charm of the lakes in the Trossachs, with the 

 additional attraction that the banks and sur- 

 rounding heights, instead of being monopolized by 

 the Glasgow Corporation, are in the saner keeping 

 of sambhur, bison, and wild elephant. 



Here, as well as on the Cardamums, I was up 

 with elephant, and examining them daily, but 

 found no tusker good enough to shoot. I might 

 only fire at one. On the Peryar all travelling 

 was by water in a dug-out canoe. We frequently 

 saw sambhur and elephant in this way, and on one 

 occasion ran into a herd of twelve elephants swim- 

 ming, but there was no good tusker among them. 



The elephants swam very freely across the 

 numerous arms of the lake, which were generally 

 several hundred yards wide, and our normal 

 method of picking up fresh tracks was to paddle 

 round the edges of the lake and disembark when 

 tracks were found. 



We used to start at about 4 a.m., and those not 

 rowing were glad of a couple of blankets. On 

 our right, low over the lake, the Southern Cross 

 showed brilliantly. Broken by the ripple of our 

 bows, a bright streak of water pointed to the 

 morning star, shining as I have never seen it 

 shine elsewhere. 



Finally I had given up all hope of an elephant, 

 and my car was at the door to take me to the 

 nearest rail en route to England, when my host 

 suddenly heard news that the big tusker was once 

 again in the neighbourhood. So we had a thir- 

 teenth-hour hunt, starting off at peep of dawn in 

 D.-D.'s car. 



