120 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



The Korkuni appears to be frequently of much better 

 physique than her lord and master ; and in many instances, 

 especially where an Aryan cross may be suspected, is far 

 from being ill-favoured, with smooth, finely turned, well- 

 developed limbs, and often a surprisingly fair colour. 

 They have also the free and easy carriage of hill-folk. 



To see a party of Korku women swinging down some 

 winding mountain path in single file, armlets and anklets 

 jingling barbarically, chattering, joking, laughing and sing- 

 ing, with a bunch of clematis or the flowers of the champa 

 stuck artistically behind an ear or garlanding a healthily 

 supple leg or arm, is a refreshing sight after the cowed and 

 unhealthy prudery of their Hindu sisters of the plains. 



It is evident that, in common with most hill tribes, the 

 Korkus have a considerable amount of artistic perception ; 

 and a dance, performed in their rude wattle-and-daub 

 villages at the time of that Hindu festival the Holi^ 

 when they go through regular " figures" to the rythmical 

 accompaniment of strange melody and waving peacock-tail 

 switches, astonishes one by the unexpected grace that 

 pervades its every movement. 



I cannot say much for the Korku as a shikari however, 

 although he is sometimes fairly good on his own ground, 

 that is to say, in the jungles in the vicinity of his home. 

 There was one particular place the Barhanpur valley 

 which nearly always held game. Only a five-mile drive 

 from one's bungalow, along an excellent road, it ran up into 

 the hills to the right for about two-and-a-half miles,hemmed 

 in by salai and teak scrub-covered hillsides of considerable 

 steepness, the loftiest of which ran up to about 3,400 feet 

 above the sea and, say, 2, 200 above the level of the plain. 

 Several precipitous khoras, or ravines, joined it from both 

 sides, and in the centre ran a fair-sized stream in the rainy 



