THE HIGHER NARBADA. 357 



have, I confess, only tried it a few times. Some 

 sportsmen have been very successful in this machan- 

 shooting by night ; but it would be poor fun even if 

 one killed a tiger every night. 



Sambar were extremely numerous at that time on 

 the hills on both sides of the valley, but particularly on 

 the north side. Shots at them could be procured by 

 driving almost any of the hills with beaters, and I killed 

 a number of them both this way and by stalking. 

 Although it was near the end of the month of April, 

 when, according to theory, both sambar and spotted 

 deer should have cast their horns, yet, out of the 

 immense number of both species that I saw in this trip, 

 only one sambar, and two or three spotted bucks, were 

 without horns. Some of the most interesting sport I 

 have had in this valley has been in coursing the sdmbar 

 with dogs. During this trip I fell in with a gang of 

 Gond woodcutters, who possessed a number of fine large 

 red-coloured dogs, with the aid of which they were able 

 to run down and spear many deer and wild pigs. 



This red breed of pariahs is certainly the indigenous 

 one of these parts, whether or not, as I suspect, descended 

 from the wild species which frequent these jungles. 

 The large parti-coloured animals, seen about Hindu 

 villages in the open valley, were probably imported 

 along with their masters. The wild dogs live in packs 

 of fifteen or twenty, and prey exclusively on game, 

 running down all sorts of deer like a pack of hounds. 

 Where a pack has been hunting for any time, most of 

 the game naturally disappears. This applies to the tiger 

 even, which they are said to attack wherever they meet 

 him. Tigers would naturally follow the herds of deer 

 on which they prey, if they were moved by the wild 

 dogs ; but there is such a consensus of native opinion as 



