Jungle By- Ways in India 



ticularly characteristic of the Indian hot weather. 

 In the early morning and evening the lights on 

 this beautiful panorama are soft and tender. Now 

 everything is hard and clear-cut and gleaming, 

 for the sun is directly overhead, throwing no 

 shadow except that which each one of us stands 

 upon, and the hot wind is blowing with a steady 

 persistence and fierceness. Very unwilling will 

 ' stripes ' be to move at such an hour, and prob- 

 ably exceedingly angry when forced so to do. 



But if it is exciting beating in line for tiger, it is 

 even more intensely so when, placed in one's 

 howdah in some favourable spot just at the edge 

 of a patch of grass, one catches sight of the 

 slowly advancing line of beating elephants. Only 

 a howdah or two is amongst them, occupied by 

 those who are in charge of the line, and respon- 

 sible that the individual elephants keep their 

 distance and do not straggle and allow gaps to 

 intervene through which the tiger could sneak 

 out. The rest of the elephants are pad ones, or 

 have their mahouts alone on their heads, or per- 

 haps a wildly excited grass-cut perched up aloft 

 on their backs. 



As they draw near, watch the line ! You cannot 

 help but admire the sagacious beasts, each one 

 fully aware of the nature of the matter in hand, 

 as they move slowly along to the voice of their 

 mahouts, submerged to the shoulders in the long 

 grass. The howdahs slowly sway from side to 



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