1 50 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



finding and stalking in the more orthodox way. These 

 peculiarities of sambar shikar make it sufficiently arduous 

 and exasperating to offer attractions when tamer sport has 

 begun to pall on one. Anything like big bags are practi- 

 cally out of the question ; blank days are conspicuously to 

 the fore ; and since it is peculiarly difficult to make au 

 accurate estimate of the size of the stag's horns, the great- 

 est care has to be exercised to avoid the slaughter of full- 

 grown stags with small heads. The ten hours of a cold- 

 weather day in the bracing air of these hills seem dis- 

 appointingly short when spent in the pursuit of wary old 

 "Dhank." " 



The beat began, as I have said, and, after a while, an 

 excited yelling began, ceased, and I learnt that two stags 

 had broken back. This should have warned us, but the 

 beat was resumed on the same lines. I could see a man 

 here and there, as the beaters came along the woody hill- 

 side ; then they reached the spot I had marked as likely, had 

 almost passed it, when there came a yell of excitement 

 and a crash ! Up jumped a big black stag right among 

 the howling Korkus, three hundred yards away, and 

 rushed back through the line ; stood an instant- a perfect 

 picture with the sunlight glinting from his polished 

 horn tips ; then dived under the trees, showed his yellow 

 rump an instant, and was gone! He had been lying 

 in that patch of long grass, under the thickest shade 

 he could find, and when I examined the placed it 

 was reeking of that peculiar sickly-sweet odour which 

 big stags have at this time of year. This stag left 

 little trace of his retreat, but the lie of the ground 

 pointed to his having gone round the shoulder of the hill 

 towards a big khora which runs up from the lower- lying 

 Barhanpur valley. Some hours were spent in working 



