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shooting tent. I did not find that the spirits of the ruffians, their 

 bodies had become dust long before, or of their victims, for it was 

 within a few yards of this spot that most of the murders had been 

 committed, interfered in the least either with my sport or my com- 

 fort. But to return to the Chilka lake, which is salt, or brackish, 

 water throughout, is (I speak from recollection only, not from 

 a book, so may be, very probably am, wrong) about forty miles long 

 and is nowhere more than about sixteen miles, generally not half 

 that in breadth. Unless in a very few places it is shallow, hardly 

 ever beyond the reach of the long bamboo poles with which the 

 boats used on the lake, are pushed against the wind. For miles 

 together there are immense spits or shoals, of acres. of sand or mud 

 over which the water is, in spots, often not more than a few inches 

 deep, and on which water-fowl, of I believe almost every kind 

 that visits India, swarm beyond my powers of attempting to 

 describe. Scattered at intervals are several beautiful islands, most 

 of them however wooded to the water's edge so densely that it is of 

 little use trying to penetrate them. The shores of the lake how- 

 ever abound with game of almost every description (ibex, and 

 elephant excepted) known to the sportsman of Southern India. 

 Although the country adjoining the hills is at certain seasons very 

 unhealthy, near the coast there is little to dread ; and the climate, 

 from December to March is delightful ; and on the Chilka, were it 

 not that one has to cease shooting for very shame or pity, for the 

 endless varieties of water-fowl are so tame, so well-accustomed to 

 harmless fishing boats, and so little to guns, that shooting them soon 

 becomes butchery instead of sport, the amount of the bag would be 

 limited only by the supply of ammunition. I certainly cannot pic- 

 ture to myself a spot more likely to please and interest a sportsman 

 or a naturalist than this noble sheet of water which during the cold 

 season is visited by, I think, most of the migratory water birds that 

 resort to India. The Chilka might now be very easily visited from 

 Madras. A coasting steamer would drop the passenger at Munsoor- 

 cottah close to Berhampore, a small military post, then a pony or a 

 palankeen takes him to Ganjam, past the civil station of Chetterpore, 

 the head-quarters of the Ganjam collectorate, where, as in all places 

 where Indian Civilians dwell, hospitality and lovers of field sports 

 are sure to be. 



