80 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



Sanctuary has come in. Equally rightly so. The old un- 

 trammelled freedom has gone. Had it not done so the game 

 would have disappeared for good. To this point we shall 

 return at a later stage of these notes. 



It was early morning in a fine jungle not a hundred miles 

 from Seonee, the time of the year August, and the monsoon 

 had been blowing and the rain falling more or less con- 

 tinuously and heavily for several weeks. The morning in 

 question, however, broke clear and bright and appearances 

 pointed to a welcome break in the long-continued spell of 

 cloud and gloom. 



I had left the small bungalow in which I was putting up 

 before dawn as I wished to get up to the top of a neighbour- 

 ing hill so as to obtain a good view over the neighbouring 

 forest if the fates were propitious and the clouds and mist 

 permitted, and enjoy the wonderful sight of the teak trees 

 in full bloom. It is a thing to have seen, and a picture to 

 meditate over, the great teak forests when in their monsoon 

 panoply of creamy white inflorescence. 



On reaching the top of the ghat on this clear morning 

 the sight was stupendous. Mist and cloud lay in the deep 

 valleys, it is true, but the upper portions of the hills were 

 covered with a creamy white canopy under the rising sun. 

 Leaning on my rifle I stood and gazed on the scene with 

 rapture and forgot all about the quest upon which I was 

 bent. The great teak forests in flower ! I had often heard 

 that they were a marvellous picture at that season. But 

 my anticipations were more than fully realized by the 

 beauty of the panorama they presented. How long I re- 

 mained there I was unaware at the time, but at length my 

 attention was caught by a loud, though somewhat nervous 

 cough, from the local shikari, who had been kindly sent up 

 to me by the Forest Officer of the District. My attention 

 secured he intimated by a glance at the sun that it was 

 time to be moving if we were to achieve one of the aims of 

 the expedition. I had been told that in the neighbourhood 

 there existed the ruins of an old fort, now engulfed in the 

 great jungle. This part of India is full of these structures, 

 the strongholds of bold adventurers of old times. Such 

 places had always roused my curiosity, historical ruins 

 possessing a fascination all their own. And here in the 

 great Indian jungle such remains possessed the added 

 interest that their history was often lost in a mist of legendary 



