A ROOKERY OF VULTURES 133 



party consisted of twelve elephants and a crowd 

 of " retainers." 



We reached Dogari Camp late, after an intensely 

 hot and tiring march. 



On Wednesday we had a big tiger drive and a 

 very unlucky one. We saw four tigers but only 

 one, a batcha, was shot, by Gordon. 



Although tiring, these moves from camp to 

 camp are full of interest. The country is some- 

 what unlike any other part of India which I have 

 been in and the people seem different to the 

 Indians of elsewhere. The whole produces a 

 curious sense of expanse and originality. 



During our peregrinations I saw for the first 

 time what I can only describe as a rookery of 

 vultures. They had built their nests in a clump 

 of large high trees, an<J were cawing and feeding 

 their young just like rooks. The stench from the 

 " rookery " was quite unbearable at close quarters, 

 and most disagreeable even a long way off, when 

 carried by the wind. I was told that vultures not 

 infrequently build in the vicinity of a burial- 

 ground. They had done so in this instance. 



This district for a considerable portion of the 

 year is very unhealthy, cholera, the plague, and 

 smallpox being prevalent. The sanitary adminis- 

 tration seems sound enough, but it is heavily 

 handicapped by the prevailing (illegal but irra- 

 dicable) practice indulged in by the natives of 

 burying those who die of the diseases I have 

 enumerated in the dry sand-banks in the river- 

 beds. They believe that the flood in the rainy 

 season will wash away contagion. So it may, 

 but only very much to the detriment of those 



