436 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



the flesh should be cut into long thongs about 1 inch thick. A 

 framework of green rods should be made about 4 feet high, beneath 

 which a smoking fire should be well sustained. The strips of flesh 

 should be laid upon the frame, and the smoke will prevent the 

 flies from laying their eggs ; which they otherwise will certainly do 

 before the sun has power to sufficiently dry the meat. 



The smoke improves the flavour, and, when the flesh has been 

 thus exposed for ten or twelve hours, it may be hung upon bushes 

 in the sun, on the following day, until perfectly dry. A stock of 

 dried meat should always be preserved in wild countries, as there 

 is frequently a feast to be followed by a fast Although the 

 appearance of flesh thus roughly treated is not exactly encouraging 

 to a delicate appetite, it may be rendered excellent by beating it 

 between two stones until well pulverised, and then transforming it 

 into a curry, with the addition of a couple of hard-boiled eggs or 

 vegetables. The venison of the spotted deer is seldom or never 

 fat, although the animal is exceedingly round and fleshy. I have 

 never found that good pasturage has improved the quality of the 

 meat, which is rather wanting in flavour, and not to be compared 

 with that of the black-buck or the hog-deer. 



The horns exhibit the effect of pasturage, as those of India are 

 much superior in average length to the antlers of Ceylon. In the 

 latter country the effect of a poor and inferior soil is marked 

 among all wild animals, as there is an absence of lime and phos- 

 phates, which deprives the elephants of ivory, and dwarfs the horns 

 of buffaloes and deer. I have observed in India a superlative 

 shyness in the cheetul, which is the result of the unremitting 

 pursuit of the native shikari. This fellow is specially adapted by 

 nature for destroying the spotted deer. The habits of the animal 

 induce it to inhabit the thick jungles upon the banks of streams. 

 These are fringes seldom more than 150 yards in width. The 

 shikari accordingly squats upon the ground, concealed as already 

 .described by a few bushes, while he sends a couple of boys up 

 wind to enter the jungle, and then come down the wind upon his 

 position. The cheetul, having scented danger, begin to move. 

 They do not wildly dash forward, but cleverly retreat, stopping 

 continually to listen ; they turn up this nullah for a while ; then 

 cross over the dividing ridge ; now they descend into the neigh- 

 bouring nullah, and steal away down that. The shikari knows 

 their probable path, and presently a shot from his matchlock kills 

 a fine buck within 8 yards of the muzzle, where the herd has been 

 listening for the danger from the other side, unconscious of the 

 living trap in front. 



