FIRST DAY'S MARCH. 139 



my tent was struck, the elephants loaded, and we marched at 7 a.m. I 

 halted the column for a moment as we left the camping-ground to shoot 

 some jungle-fowl (Gallus ferrugineus) which were pecking in the recently- 

 reaped rice-fields. I determined that I must have blood on starting on 

 such an expedition, so I hunted them into a thick bush from which an 

 elephant dislodged them, and down came the two cocks in a cloud of 

 feathers. This species does not occur in the south of India ; it is almost 

 identical with the common red domestic fowl of Bengal villages, though 

 somewhat smaller. 



Our order of march throughout was for me to lead the column of 

 elephants on my riding -elephant — the coolies being always well ahead 

 of us, as they usually started some hours before — and for the sergeant to 

 be the last man of the column. Several elephants carried tents and 

 supplies ; my servants and dogs were disposed upon others ; the native 

 doctor surmounted his pills and instruments on the back of a third ; and 

 three carried coops of fowls and ducks, which cackled loudly when they were 

 bumped against trees and thickets. 



The first day we inarched till 5.30 p.m., ten and a half hours, about 

 twenty-five miles. In some places we followed the beds of shallow, 

 gravelly streams, very shady and pleasant. The jungle was occasionally 

 open forest, and the marks of sainbur (Rusa Aristotdis) were exceedingly 

 numerous ; but from 1 1 a.m. till we halted, our route was through one 

 unbroken stretch of grass, the path leading over small round hills, the grass 

 being everywhere upwards of ten feet in height. This was country which 

 had been cleared and cultivated at intervals from time immemorial, relaps- 

 ing for a few years into waste. In the distance, a long and regular line 

 of blue hills, the Bhangamoora range, bounded the horizon before us. 

 Our goal was beyond this, as no elephants were to be found in the grass- 

 country which extended to the hills. The Chengree lay between the Bhan- 

 gamoora range and the next, the Kalamoin. Our course all day was N.E. 



I was glad, on ascending a saddle about five o'clock, to see the advanced- 

 guard encamped in a green valley where the grass was short, embosomed 

 in hills, and just before me. The smoke of the fires already started was 

 filling the valley with a soft blue haze, whilst a busy hum rose from the 

 throng. I descended the hill, and found a good camping-place some two 

 hundred yards from the men ; and as the baggage- elephants came up one 

 by one with tents, &c, and deposited their loads, they were shackled and 

 turned loose on the sides of the hills for half an hour's grazing before being 

 secured for the night. They had fed throughout the day's march, and 

 only required a little fodder to make them comfortable. 



