EXPERIENCES IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 87 



and gold which heralds the uprising of the sun in the East. 

 We silently crossed the open grassy maidan or plain 

 which stretched between the sal forest and the camp, 

 disturbing a considerable herd of chital as we did so. The 

 grass area was near the main forest road, which ran through 

 these parts, and I did not look to find a good head amongst 

 the lot in question. On leaving the maidan we got on to 

 the fire line and pursued our way along it, making for 

 a grassy savannah about a couple of miles distant. The 

 programme was to try and secure a good head of barasingha 

 and a chital as well if possible, and then visit some caves 

 in a rocky hill and rout out a party of bears which were 

 known to inhabit them. 



Under the shooting rules which had but recently come 

 into force in these jungles a sportsman was only allowed to 

 shoot two head of barasingha, sambhar, and chital during 

 a season. And this number was subject to a maximum 

 for each forest division. Once this maximum had been shot 

 the particular species became automatically closed to 

 shooting for the year, the sportsmen in the forests and 

 those arriving subsequently being notified accordingly. 



I was consequently anxious on this occasion to come 

 across a good head if possible. And it was not quite so 

 easy a problem to solve as it had been a decade ago ; 

 although there were still plenty of good heads to be had. 



We had gone but a short way along the fire line when 

 I heard a low hiss behind me. Turning round I saw the 

 shikari stooping over a dirty greyish hump on the line. 

 I went back, but, after a short inspection of the ball-like 

 hillock, was no wiser. The shikari signified that we should 

 move a little backwards and said, " Wait, sahib." We 

 waited. 



The object I now saw had what looked like scales on its 

 surface and had a rough appearance of a rolled up mahseer. 

 After a minute or two the hillock began to move, after the 

 manner in which a hedgehog does at home, when it com- 

 mences to unroll, and I then realized what it must be. 

 Slowly it unfurled itself and turned into a longish slim 

 creature about two feet in length with a tail of a foot and 

 a half, and with an armature on its back like the scales of a 

 big scaled fish. It was a pangolin or scaly ant-eater (Manis 

 pentadactyla) . I had seen pictures of this curious beast in 

 books, but never a live one before. The natives call it, 



