TJIE NARBADA VALLEY. 85 



many footprints of tigers. Tliere Wcas evidently a good 

 deal of forest game about. The valley is one of those 

 tracts on the border between open plain and dense 

 jungle, where much of the nocturnal life of the forest 

 creatures is passed. In such a tract the traveller will 

 often be astonished at the quantity of signs of animals 

 he will see in the morning all about his night's camp, 

 while not a wild creature of any sort will he find in 

 the neighbourhood if he goes to look for them after 

 the sun is up. The fact is that deer, bears, pigs, etc., 

 travel such long distances at night to their feeding 

 grounds, and depart again to the remoter hills so early 

 in the morning, that unless a very early start be made, 

 nothing but the tracks they have left behind will ever 

 be seen. The tigers and panthers, again, which prey 

 on them, although not usually retreating so far, yet 

 seek the most secluded thickets and ravines of the 

 neighbourhood at an equally early hour, and in the 

 cold weather are so much on the alert, and can so 

 easily hide in the thick vegetation, that the chances 

 with them, except by sitting up over a bait at night, 

 are equally poor. The native shikari, watching by 

 night, kills a great deal of game at this season. But 

 it is very slow and cold, as well as rather poaching 

 work, and few Europeans are cat-like enough to succeed 

 in it. Now, as most Europeans who attempt shooting 

 at all in India (and who does not at first ?) only go out 

 during the cold season, and never go deeper into the 

 forest than this semi-cleared belt, the reason of much of 

 the want of success complained of is not far to seek. 

 To ensure success the animals must be followed up into 

 the deeper jungles. 



