REMINISCENCES OF JUNGLYPUR 205 



winding mountain-path in single file, armlets and anklets 

 jingling barbarically, chattering, joking, laughing and 

 singing, with a bunch of clematis or the flowers of the 

 champa stuck artistically behind an ear or garlanding a 

 supple leg or arm, is a refreshing sight after the cowed and 

 unhealthy prudery of their Hindu sisters of the plains. 



It is evident that, in common with most hill tribes, the 

 Korkus have a considerable amount of artistic perception ; 

 and a dance, performed in their rude wattle-and-daub 

 villages at the time of that Hindu festival the Holt, when 

 they go through regular " figures " to the rhythmical ac- 

 companiment of strange melody and waving peacock-tail 

 switches, astonishes one by the unexpected grace that 

 pervades its every movement. 



I cannot say much for the Korku as a shikari, however, 

 although he is sometimes fairly good on his own ground, 

 that is to say, in the jungles in the vicinity of his home. 

 There was one particular place the Barhanpur valley 

 which nearly always held game. Only a five-mile drive 

 from one's bungalow, along an excellent road, it ran up 

 into the hills to the right for about three miles, hemmed in 

 by salai and teak-scrub covered hillsides of considerable 

 steepness, the loftiest of which ran up to about 3,400 feet 

 above the sea and, say, 2,200 above the level of the plain. 

 Several precipitous khoras, or ravines, joined it from both 

 sides, and in the centre ran a fair-sized stream in the rainy 

 weather, certain pools of which always lasted out the hot 

 season. In spite of the continual presence of grass-cutters 

 from cantonments, the natural attractions of this pretty 

 little valley were irresistible to the bears, sambar, nilgae, 

 occasional panthers, and smaller deer, which had their 

 homes in its sheltered nooks. Much of the soil was saline, 

 and it was conveniently close to the crops on the plains 

 below. 



In the same way that a favourite eddy behind a rock will 

 be found tenanted by a good fish, no matter how often its 



