1/4 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



effect on the countryside to that of autumn frosts in 

 England. There the excess of cold, here the excess of 

 heat, strips most trees of their foliage, and withers the 

 grass, leaving a few evergreens. here and there among wide 

 stretches of bare-twigged coppices; and the heat-haze of 

 India produces an effect not unlike that seen in frosty 

 woods at home, when a blood-red sun is rising through 

 misty vistas of leafless trees an example of the truth of 

 the adage, " Extremes meet." 



Such is the general appearance of the jungle this 

 morning. 



Camp is pitched not far from a small village, in a plot of 

 garden land. The fresh, newly-grown foliage of large 

 tamarind trees shades our little 8o-lb. tent. Hard by there 

 is a fine old masonry well, with the inevitable mot y or 

 water-raising apparatus. Unless engaged in a beat for 

 tiger, the hot hours of the day and it is blistering hot 

 now between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. are usually passed in 

 camp. 



Tents especially the modest shelter of the wandering 

 shikari are of course unbearable at these hours ; but by 

 erecting a mandwa, or thickly thatched roof on tall 

 uprights, the camp table and bed may be set in the breeze, 

 hot though it be, and the time passed not unpleasantly, in 

 scanty attire, with a siesta thrown in to compensate for 

 early and late hours. There may be the old jungle diary 

 in which to jot down some interesting experience the 

 sketch-book private correspondence a novel the photo- 

 graphic apparatus. Meanwhile the bullocks pace slowly at 

 their allotted task at the well, and the heavily rising leather 

 water-bag discharges its cool contents with a soothing gush 

 into the reservoir, and from it along grass-fringed channels 

 to irrigate the little plots of summer vegetables. An old 

 man sleepily drives the bullocks, crooning a monotonous 

 air the while, and urging them with occasional eldritch 

 yells. 



