74 



like in fact, " all legs and wings" 'this once accomplished he may 

 ride for hours and for days together without feeling fatigued. 

 Some of the pleasantest days I have ever passed, were spent in 

 Bundlekund, while marching in January, the coldest time of the 

 year, from Saugor to Futtahpore, when sometimes my only com- 

 panions from dawn to dusk would be my riding camel and a 

 retriever. If I wanted to shoot, I had only to dismount and fasten 

 the camel to some " acacia" or " mimosa," or whatever the proper 

 term for the tree may be, on which, regardless of thorns, she grazed 

 contentedly until my return when she would without a murmur 

 obey the order to " sit down" and allow guns or game to be packed 

 on her. Her only failings were an objection to country carts, 

 which in a narrow road caused a constant application of the hunt- 

 ing spur to her shoulders with a trial of temper to her rider, and 

 a dislike to dogs at which she used to kick or strike most violently. 

 Free use on my part of stick and spur, however overcame her dis- 

 like to my retriever, and I have often been much amused when in 

 passing through some walled Bundlecund village, he gave chase to 

 a dog to be, in his turn, hunted back by a pack of the pariah's rela- 

 tions. He knew to a yard where support was to be found and 

 always ran between the legs of the camel who, fearing her rider, 

 merely winced at him, waiting to punish the first pursuer who was 

 pretty sure to be caught, amongst her long legs and, with jerks very 

 trying to the rider, sent forward with her hind and backward with 

 her forefeet, so violently that, if not crippled for life, he gave up the 

 chase at once. 



A camel must be a very tender-skinned animal, for the slightest 

 prick with a hunting spur, will cause blood to spring from the 

 shoulder, the place where the rider's heels naturally come to. This 

 enforced acknowledgment of the rank of my dog was the only act of 

 intelligence I have ever known any camel display. Much as we were 

 together, I could never get the one I have just mentioned to feed 

 from my hand, an expression of confidence in me that I have gained 

 from every animal I have tried to be on good terms with, except 

 all the camels I have ever been acquainted with, some members 

 of a herd of Burman buffaloes I possessed while I was at Tounghoo 

 and " Evangeline" the wild dog mentioned at page 52 of these notes. 



