THE SAL FOEESTS. 387 



and the plain much cut up by deep fissures in the black, 

 heavy soil. I saw several small herds of deer, wending their 

 way towards the clumps of sal forest on the skirt of the hills, 

 before I found any in a position that would admit of stalking. 

 At last I marked a small parcel of hinds, with two fair-looking 

 stags, disappear over a low rising ground, slowly feeding their 

 way towards the forest ; and making a long detour to gain 

 the shelter of a deep crack, which led into the valley they 

 had entered, I stalked almost into the middle of them before 

 I was aware. My first intimation of the fact was the sharp 

 bark of a hind, who had observed the top of my head over 

 the bank, and the next moment a rush of feet informed me 

 that the herd was off. Stepping on to the bank, I made a 

 clean miss of the first running shot ; but, taking more time 

 with the second barrel, I saw the hindmost stag reel and 

 almost fall over to the shot. He made off, however, along 

 with the herd ; but presently left them, and took a line of 

 his own towards the long grass-cover in the middle of the 

 plain. I soon hit on his track where he had entered the 

 grass, and found a little blood ; but as the grass was a long 

 way over my head, I sent back for the elephant with which 

 to beat him out. Following the blood-marks on the yellow 

 stems for about a mile, we started him out of a patch of grass 

 near the river, and I shot him through the back as he ran 

 away. 



The next day, being encamped at TopM, in the centre of a 

 wide valley among the sal forest, I went out' in the afternoon 

 towards the Halon river. Here the country was open and 

 prairie-like, short grass plains, dotted with clumps of sal, 

 intervening between the heavier masses of forest. The river 

 was very bright and clear, running over a pebbly bed. I 

 took out two young half-bred hounds, between the Rampur 



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