3o6 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



of the Doon the rhinoceros was never met with, nor 

 had been for many years, in any part of the forest 

 to the westward of the Ganges ; and to the east of 

 the Ganges it was rarely found except in the district 

 of Phihbect, which is situated close adjacent to the 

 frontiers of Nepaul. In the course, therefore, of about 

 half a century the rhinoceros had retired eastwards for 

 a distance of over two hundred miles. 



During this period the forests, owing to the increase 

 of cultivation, had certainly very much diminished in 

 breadth ; also the wild animals within them had 

 been shot and hunted to a far greater extent than 

 in previous times. But these changes had not 

 caused the disappearance of the other animals. The 

 tigers, the deer, and the herds of wild elephants 

 roamed the forests as before, though in rather dimin- 

 ished numbers, Why then should the rhinoceros have 

 vanished ? 



Next as to the elephant. There are two great forests 

 in India ; they are known among the natives, if I re- 

 member the names correctly, as the Chunglee Bun 

 (forest) and the Patree Bun. The one is the forest 

 which stretches along the base of the Himalaya ; the 

 other forms a belt across the continent of India. It 

 extends, running in a south-westerly direction, from 

 the river Ganges to near Bombay. It covers those 

 ranges of hills and low mountains that separate Hindo- 

 stan proper from the peninsula below it. 



Three centuries ago both these forests abounded in 

 elephants ; the forest below the Himalaya does so still. 

 From the other forest the elephants have entirely or 



