20 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SHIKAR 



The first kart that I had hit had very good horns, 

 fourteen inches, and he was a big, heavy animal, 

 though the horns of the kart look rather poor for the 

 size of their bodies : the other one was a small 

 animal with horns of about ten inches. The skinning 

 and cutting up occupied several hours. Fufna was 

 obliged to prop up the kart with stones, or they would 

 have rolled to the bottom of the hill, about another 

 thousand feet down. I went to windward and tried 

 to sit on a bank of violets, but it was too steep to sit 

 anywhere with comfort. 



Fuma's skinning knife was a piece of blunt iron, 

 and I had not brought one, so the job would have 

 taken still longer if I had not remembered my little 

 picnic set. The knife was a sharp one and the men 

 were very glad of it, but they said they had no use 

 for the fork and spoon, so I ate my bit of mutton 

 with them. 



When the skinning was over and the carving up 

 began, there seemed to be innumerable little tit- 

 bits inside, great treasures of which I had no idea. 

 These were put aside and afterwards carefully packed 

 round the coolie's waist and tied by his rope, a thing 

 always worn by coolies in readiness for carrying their 

 loads. 



By this time the men were rather thirsty, so a few 

 yards of intestines were cut off, slightly cleaned out 

 and given to the coolie, who was sent off a long way 

 down the hill to find water and bring it back as 

 soon as possible. A knot was tied at one end of this 

 primitive water vessel, the other end was used for 

 drinking, and it held a fair quantity. I was offered 



