AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAK EAST. 427 



could move at all, I descended tlie hill, and marched on 

 an elephant for Matin. At a place called Sirki, fifteen 

 miles from LaiifLi, a tiger had just been killed with 

 a poisoned arrow. His companion was reported to be 

 still in the jungle, and I foolishly went out to hunt him 

 in the heat of the day, ending in my being brought 

 fainting back to camp. When I reached Matin, I was 

 again very ill. It was far hotter than in Laiifdgarh, 

 lying as it does in a low valley surrounded by hills. 

 B. did not rejoin me for the next eight days, and I 

 had a very dreary time of it indeed. There was 

 abundance of game about, and several cow elephants 

 drank daily at a pool not a mile from camp. Shooting 

 females, or anything but old males, had been pro- 

 hibited by the Government, as there was an intention 

 of establishing a Miedda here to capture them alive. 

 But there was an old "rogue" about who had killed 

 several persons not long before, and I sent some Bhiimias 

 out to search for him. The second night after my 

 arrival I was sleeping outside for coolness, when I was 

 rudely awakened, and sat up to listen to the crashing 

 and trumpeting of a herd of elephants on the slope of 

 the hill above the villao;e. All night longf, till within a 

 few hours of daybreak, they kept on breaking the 

 bamboos and crying shrilly at intervals. Our tame 

 elephants were very uneasy the whole time ; and I took 

 the precaution of securing them by additional ropes, 

 and stationing people with spears beside them to sup- 

 press any attempt at an emeute. In the evening I went 

 out to the place, and found the hill-side completely 

 levelled, bamboos torn down, crushed between their 

 teeth, and many of their young shoots eaten away, and 

 many trees of the Boswellia and other scantily rooted 

 species overthrown and stripped of the tender bark of 



