GAME IN THE SEWALIKS. 167 



often penetrate. In this comparatively low but rugged and 

 forest-clad range of hills, the jurrow (called mdha in the 

 Doon), the spotted deer (called cheetal), and the kakur, or 

 barking-deer, were plentiful; and up about the jagged and 

 precipitous sandstone summits of the range, gooral might 

 always be found. Tigers and leopards, too, were numerous, 

 though not often seen, and wild elephants were not uncommon. 

 Shooting the latter, however, has now been prohibited by the 

 Government, except in the case of a dangerous " rogue " ; and 

 very wisely, or Elephas Indicus might soon have become as 

 extinct as Dinotherium giganteum. 



But for many years pot-hunters, by indiscriminate slaughter 

 at all seasons, have been doing their worst to exterminate the 

 game in the Doon, and have so far succeeded fairly well in 

 their nefarious work for good small-game shooting, at any 

 rate, is now a thing of the past. 



I shall first try to recount the proceedings of a day after 

 small game that I find recorded in my old shooting-journal. 

 It will serve as a fair sample of many similar days' sport in 

 the Doon. 



It was on one of those fine sharp mornings which are the 

 rule in this beautiful valley during the cold season, that a 

 party of three guns, consisting of a travelling visitor to the 

 place vulgarly called a " Globe-trotter " the ^sculapius of 

 my regiment, and myself, after an early breakfast, lit our 

 " baccies " and mounted our little equine quadrupeds, known in 

 India as " tats." An hour's ride between thick clumps of tall 

 feathery - foliaged bamboos like gigantic ostrich-plumes 

 that sometimes flanked the road, or through umbrageous 

 groves of grand old mango-trees, brought us to our ground, 

 where a small crowd of beaters, gun-carriers, dogs, &c., had 

 already preceded us. Our line being formed, we forthwith 

 commenced business by beating up a few grassy fields and 

 scattered patches of bushes, from which a hare, one or two 

 grey partridges, and a few stray quails were transferred to the 



