BUCK-SHOOTING IN CENTRAL INDIA. 317 



He then asked us to come to his house, after which he 

 would show us where to find buck, and insisted on 

 our occupying his bullock-carriage whilst he walked 

 beside us. 



Before long we arrived at a sort of square fort 

 profusely loopholed. A gate between two flanking 

 towers was unbarred and we drove in. Here we found 

 the usual combination of display and dirt so common 

 among natives, being ushered into a dirty room with 

 some old furniture in it. As soon as we decently 

 could we suggested a fresh start, and the three of us 

 started in a fresh bullock-cart attended by a rabble of 



dirty servants all armed of course. I told H 



that we were not likely to do much good like this, and 

 he agreed. Presently our friend bowled over a hare, 

 which, however, went on again. I had lost sight of her, 

 when one of the attendants uttered a yell, and tore off 

 in order to cut the throat of the beast, which he had 

 seen fall. It is of course unlawful for the Mussulman 

 to eat meat which has not been so treated. The 

 animal must be alive, but this is always supposed to be 

 the case. The invocation of the name of God is 

 never omitted. 



As I had imagined, the buck seemed unwilling 

 to allow themselves to be approached by such a 

 procession, and, indeed, there were not many about. 

 Late in the afternoon we came on a small herd, which 

 seemed a little less shy. The master buck was not a 

 black one, but a very fair one, approaching a dark 

 shade of brown. They would not let us get within a 

 couple of hundred yards, but at length H dropped 



