SPORTSMEN IN INDIA. 263 



for carrying off morbid matter, by promoting the free 

 action of the skin. Thus men of sporting tastes are gener- 

 ally the best and healthiest men in tropical stations; 

 their love of field sports causes them to be much in 

 the open air, and therefore necessarily causes them to 

 incur much exposure to the sun; yet the whole ex- 

 perience of Indian life shows that these men almost 

 always keep in good condition, when men of inactive, 

 stay-at-home habits, sicken and suffer both in health 

 and in spirits. It seems as if man, following the 

 primeval habits of his race as a hunting animal, thus 

 most perfectly acquires that physical training and 

 endurance which fits him to prevail in that great struggle 

 for existence which is always everywhere going on. 



The surface of the Bush Country may be roughly 

 divided into three great classes of land: ist the 

 Heavy Forest, 2nd the Jungle, and 3rd the regular 

 "Bush," or open park-like country from which this 

 region takes its name. As regards the first of these, 

 the heavy forest lands, they are principally confined 

 to alluvial tracts where the soil is damp and fertile, or 

 else to well watered ravines and valleys among hills. 

 In such situations stretches of forest more or less 

 equatorial in their character, are frequently found, 

 especially in its lower latitudes adjacent to the equa- 

 torial zone; and everywhere throughout the Bush Region, 

 magnificent timber of most valuable character, is found 

 growing in favourable situations, throughout the best 

 portion of the heavy forest. 



As we remove further away from the equator, ever- 

 green trees gradually become fewer in number, and 

 those of a deciduous habit assume a prominent feature, 

 especially on mountains and other elevated places. 



