126 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



the tongues and marrow-bones, and a steak out of tlie 

 undercut of the bison — all delicacies of the first water 

 for the table of the forest sportsman ; and the remainder 

 of the flesh was given up to the hungry multitude. As 

 night fell, they lit fires where the bison had fallen, and 

 near the village where they had brought the deer ; and for 

 hours after continued carrying about gobbets of the raw 

 meat, which they hungup on the surrounding trees, broil- 

 incf and swallowino^ the titbits durinc: leisure moments. 

 This was only the joreliminary to the great feast, however 

 — the dozen of oysters to whet the appetite for turtle 

 and venison. Soon the trees were fully decorated with 

 bloody festoons, and the savages set to work in earnest 

 to goroe themselves with the half-cooked meat. The 

 entrails were evidently the great delicacies, and were 

 eaten in long lengths, as Italians do macaroni. The 

 o-orging seemed to be endless, and I sat outside my little 

 tent for hours looking on in wonder at the bloody orgie. 

 The bonfires they had lighted threw a ruddy glow over 

 the open glade, and on the crimson junks of flesh 

 hanging on the trees, bringing the dusky forms of the 

 revellers into every variety of picturesque relief, and 

 forming a wild and Eembrandt-like picture which I 

 shall not soon forget. Till a late hour many new 

 arrivals continued to add to their numbers, winding 

 down the steep path that leads over the Rorighat, with 

 lighted torches and loud shouts to show the way and 

 scare wild beasts. All were welcome to a raw steak and 

 a pull at the pot of Mhowa spirit that stood beside every 

 group. Ere long they began to slug, and then to dance 

 to a shrill music piped from half-a-dozen bamboo flutes. 

 The scene was getting uproarious as I turned in ; and 

 my slumber was broken through the greater part of the 



