THE TEAK REGION. 225 



original selection of a jungle life ; and there is not one 

 of them whose health did not, after a few years, give 

 way under the combined assaults of malaria and a fiery 

 sun. 



Vast tracts of the most sterile portion of this region 

 are absolutely without water during some months of the 

 hot season ; and in many others there is no more than 

 perhaps a single small pool, in some shaded hollow of 

 the rocks, for many miles on end. The only animal 

 which can inhabit such wastes as these is the nilgai, 

 which can and does pass many days without drinking ; 

 and scattered herds of them are accordingly found even 

 in the driest parts. The bison wanders over the whole 

 of the forest and hilly portion of the tract, wherever 

 the absence of man and cattle, and abundance of 

 bamboo cover and water, afford him the needful con- 

 ditions. The deer tribe comprises the Sambar {Rusa 

 ■aristotelis) and the Axis or Spotted Deer [ylxis 

 maculatus) in large numbers, and, more rare, the 

 Barking Deer {Cervulus aureus), besides the little 

 four-horned antelope already mentioned. The Hog 

 Deer [Axis porcinus) does not, I believe, occur so 

 far to the south-west as the trap country. The spotted 

 deer is never found except in the neighbourhood of the 

 larger rivers. Abundance of water and green shade 

 appear to be first conditions of its existence. A few 

 barking deer are found scattered all over the tract, 

 though never very far from water. 



Sambar are rarely found in the very dry interior, 

 but sometimes travel to rest during the day to a long 

 distance from the water hole or stream where they drink 

 at f night. On the level table-land they are not very 

 numerous, preferring the slopes and summits of the 



Q 



