CHAPTEE VI. 



THE TEAK REGION. 



The Trap Country Condition of the Teak Forests Other Timber Trees The 

 Tapti Valley The Frankincense Tree Aspect of the Forests in the Trap 

 Region Jungle Fires Ancient Settlements The Korkus of the Tapti 

 Valley Difficulty of Exploration Wild Sports The Sambar Deer Its 

 Habits and Food Death of the Bori Stag Horns of the Sambar Curious 

 Occurrences in Shooting Incidents in Tiger Shooting Stalking the Sam- 

 bar The Hatti Hills The Bheels A Bheel Fort Mahomedan Archi- 

 tecture Difficulty of finding Sambar Dhiaotea Disappearance of the 

 Sambar Return to the Plains The Valley of the Vultures Return to the 

 Sambar Ground Shoot a Stag Miss Another The Four-horned Ante- 

 lope Bison Scouting The M Shrimp "and the " Skunk " Find a Herd- 

 Kill a Bull A Dangerous Position A Solitary Bull We miss the Water 

 Another Bull Killed A Herd of Sambar Account of a Bag. 



On the 28th of March, having seen our forest lodge in a 

 fair way to completion, I left the Puchmurree plateau, and 

 entered on the first of many long journeys of exploration 

 among the forests of the Seoni, Chindwara, and Betul districts. 

 I have already described these as being situated on the great 

 central table-land of this mountain range, from the centre of 

 which juts up the still higher formation called the Mahadeo 

 (or Puchmurree) group. The general elevation of the table-land 

 is about 2,000 feet above the sea ; but this general level is 

 broken by numerous minor projections, besides the great one 

 of the Mahadeo range, which generally exhibit the peculiar 

 flat-topped outline of hills of the trap formation.* The 



* Many of these isolated hills, being flat-topped and surmounted by precipi- 

 tous scarps, and frequently furnished with depressions in which rain-water 



