222 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



beast, may momentarily unnerve him ; but gradually he 

 will, with a smile, return to the old ways, and his 

 experiences of the past become but additional jungle lore to 

 enrich the memory. 



But this is wandering from our speiroceros ! Yet, after 

 all, what is it that exercises that unfailing attraction that 

 his hobby possesses for the true follower of Nimrod ? Not 

 the bare collection of trophies; not the satisfying of a mere 

 hunting instinct indeed. No ; it is something more than 

 that; something that appeals even to a mind insensible to 

 Nature's beauties, to her charms when sought in the forest 

 or on the mountain-side. It is the partial return to man's 

 pristine wild life, in a -land where the artificialities of 

 civilization have not yet greatly affected the pursuit of 

 game. It is that broad free feeling; the ability to throw 

 out a wide-sweeping arm and say to oneself, " This is all 

 mine to rove ! " ; and, besides this, the various interests 

 to be found in the country, its people, its fauna, and their 

 habits. 



When I and my companion reached our land of promise, 

 we found ourselves sadly hampered by lack of local know- 

 ledge and by our total ignorance of the habits of the 

 buffalo of those regions. The river, split up in many 

 places into gurgling channels that traversed a perfect 

 maze of luxuriant vegetation, smothering innumerable 

 islets in its embrace and hiding deep dark recesses full of 

 dark fern and moss, led us at once astray. All that we 

 had read on the subject of buffaloes from Assam and the 

 Terai as well as Forsyth's remarks on the Sambalpur 

 country led us to believe that if our great game were to be 

 found here, it would be among these almost impenetrable 

 islets. Thus we wasted time. The shy inhabitants 

 extremely retiring little creatures, true denizens of the 



