BY TAMARIND AND MHOWA 177 



The light is growing rapidly now, and a fringe of green 

 trees not far ahead marks the main ndla. 



As we arrive on its steep banks there is a sharp grating 

 whistle "Phrew!" and a hind chftal darts up the far side, 

 and, with a couple of bounds, disappears in long grass. 



We stand there, gazing upstream and down. The 

 plaintive cry of a distant peacock echoes through the 

 quiet woods. 



We drop on to the smooth sand of the watercourse. 

 No crackling leaves underfoot here ; and in perfect silence 

 one may wander along its winding reaches. Damply, 

 refreshingly cool it is under the arching trees as we brush 

 past green jdmtin and tamarisk coverts that fill portions 

 of the dry stream-bed. A koeFs mellow fluting resounds 

 from the boughs overhead, gilded now by the low rays 

 of the newly-risen sun. There is a corner in the sandy 

 way just ahead of us ; turned cautiously, it reveals a vista 

 of sylvan beauty. In the deep shade of the opposite 

 bank lies one of those occasional pools, and on the moist 

 sand of its margin one instant only is the picture limned 

 on the retina before the keen-eyed birds take swift alarm 

 groups a bevy of sombre peahens, their magnificent 

 mate preening the burnished armour of his plumage, as 

 he stands on a little sand bank, with the early sunlight 

 playing on him in a myriad tints of blended colour ! 



And what is that movement far down the dim distance ? 

 a chftal ! A stag too ! slowly crossing from bank to 

 bank. More of them! Cannot we steal nearer? to 

 observe, not to slay, for the jungle must remain undis- 

 turbed till we encompass that tiger's undoing. Wait till 

 the whole herd there must be at least forty or fifty deer- 

 cross and ascend the other bank; then steal down this 

 silent, sandy floor, and creep up its sloping sides. 



As we raise our heads over the tall red grasses, there 

 rises before us the drooping foliage of the big tamarinds 

 of deserted P/palda. There is the old mhowa tree its 

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