THE MaHaDEO HILLS. 113 



occasions, found both bison and sambar on the very top of 

 Dhupgarh in the early morning. The descent of the farther 

 side of the hill, over long slopes of crumbled sandstone, and 

 the curious vitrified pipes of ironstone that exfoliate from the 

 decomposed surface of these hills, was fully more tiresome 

 than the ascent. Many a time after this did I tread the same 

 path to reach this valley, where bison were nearly always to 

 be found, and many an effort did I make to discover a shorter 

 and less precipitous road. But all in vain ; for the sheer 

 ravines that everywhere else hem in the flanks of the Dhup- 

 garh mountain render a passage round it a matter of in- 

 finitely greater time and toil than the way over the top. 

 At the bottom of the valley, below a shady grove of wild 

 mango trees, where the stream that drains the large valley 

 has formed a considerable pool in a rocky basin, I found 

 assembled three or four of the Raj-G6nd chiefs whose pos- 

 sessions lie in the hills to the south of Puchmurree. They 

 differed not at all from him of Puchmurree, unless that they 

 were somewhat more intelligent and polished in manner. 

 Each had brought his small retinue of matchlock men, and 

 a large gang of common Gonds and Korkus to beat ; so that 

 altogether we mustered some twenty guns, and between two 

 and three hundred beaters. The people were well acquainted 

 with all the beats and passes, having always several great 

 hunts of this sort during the year ; and everything had been 

 arranged before I came. The bulk of the beaters had gone 

 on hours before to surround the valley, and, as we were a 

 little later than was expected, it was likely that they would 

 already have commenced to beat. We lost no time, therefore, 

 in taking up our posts, which stretched in a long line right 

 across the lower end of the valley. First, however, I had to 

 furnish powder to load the whole of the matchlocks of my 



