THE SURJOO VALLEY. 



sportsman and keen fisherman, Lieutenant F , who has 



since become one of my truest and dearest friends, to try our 

 luck in the Surjoo, a fine fishing-river within easy reach of 

 Shore. There was also a possibility of getting a shot at 

 sambur, here called "jurrow" the big deer termed Eusa 

 Aristotelis in natural history which were plentiful in the 

 heavy jungle that covered the steep hillsides flanking the 

 river. It was rather doubtful whether the water would be 

 in good fishing order so soon after the periodical rainy 

 season, then barely over, and during which the Himalayan 

 streams are in a perpetual state of muddy spate. The long, 

 rank vegetation, too, would still be so luxuriant there as to 

 make our chance of being able to see even a big beast like 

 a jurrow in it most uncertain. But we were so weary of 

 the monotony of indoor life that we resolved to take our 

 chance, either of sport or fever, whichever it might be, the 

 latter being most probable at that season in these low-lying 

 jungles. 



After a hot tramp of about twelve miles, ending in an 

 abrupt and rough descent of several thousand feet, we reached 

 the Surjoo about noon. It looked a perfect fishing-river. 

 Here it surged and foamed among rocks and huge boulders, 

 there it widened into swirling expanses of deep water, form- 

 ing a succession of the most splendid streams and pools a 

 fisherman could desire to behold. From its shores of sand, 

 gravel, or rock on either side, rose steep lofty acclivities 

 clothed with dense jungle. This gradually changed its 

 tropical character to that of the more temperate and higher 

 altitudes, as it spread far up the mountain-sides to where they 

 became more craggy and steep. Here the fir, the oak, and 

 the rhododendron took the place of the Kyer (thorny mimosa), 

 the bright-green Sal tree, and the luxuriant tropical under- 

 growth that flourishes below. The tiger and leopard found 

 a safe harbour in the lower jungles, but from their being able 

 so easily to slink away unobserved in the long grass and > 

 dense underwood, they were very seldom met with; although 



