196 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



was laid out. Every requisite that could be desired 

 we had. Tables and chairs were placed under the 

 shade of some mango trees, on which the fruit was 

 already ripening ; to their branches were suspended 

 many bottles enveloped in thick jackets, which were 

 kept constantly wet to cool their welcome contents, 

 consisting of beer, claret, sauterne, and hock. On 

 the table were all the delicacies of the season, whilst, 

 from the extemporised cooking-places, odours of 

 various stews, curries, and other compounds, which 

 only the natives of India, and especially Madrassies, 

 know how to concoct, gratefully assailed our nostrils. 

 A little distance off were ranged numerous chatties, 

 or earthenware pots, full of cool water, and soon we 

 were stripped and pouring their contents over our 

 heads. Our ablutions being over, and the head 

 servant reporting " Hazarie tyar hie " (Breakfast is 

 ready), we fell to, with the proverbial hunter's 

 appetite, and whilst satisfying the wants of nature, 

 fought our battles over again. Our meal finished, 

 we indulged in the fragrant weed, and while some 

 read, others lolled on the soft turf under the grateful 

 shade and courted Somnus ; for we knew that the 

 porcine tribe object to taking to the open during the 

 heat of the day, but prefer either the thick cover, or 

 the mudpools in which they delight to wallow. As 

 my comrades are taking their siesta I will describe 

 briefly the plains of Umsuldavy. 



To the east is the sea, the lighthouse at False 

 Point Davey being about three or four miles off; to 

 the west, a vast plain, covered either by wild indigo, 

 longish grass, or bare paddy fields, which, in a few 

 months after the setting in of the monsoon, will be 



