AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAE EAST. 419 



skirts of the hill. The harsh grating roar of the panther was 

 heard nearly every night ; Sambar deer were sometimes seen 

 picking their way up the hill from the plains in the early 

 morning ; and once I saw a black bear hurrying up the rocks 

 to his cavern long after the sun had risen. Gangs of Hanu- 

 man monkeys stalked about the ruined ramparts and the preci- 

 pice they crowned. On the top were many hares, peafowl, 

 and painted partridges ; and my dogs had endless chases after 

 the yellow wild cat,* and the tree cat,f which were both more 

 numerous on this hill than anywhere else I have seen them. 

 Once when strolling round the camp in the dusk, looking for 

 a shot at the green pigeons which every night came to feed 

 on the wild fruits, I saw a pair of gleaming eyes looking down 

 on me from the dark shadow of an overhanging banyan tree ; 

 and a charge of No. 4 brought down among the dogs a fine 

 red lynx4 which they soon despatched in his wounded con- 

 dition. It takes hard fighting for the best of dogs to kill an 

 unwound ed lynx, as my pack knew to their cost. 



I pined sadly over my imprisonment on the top of this hill. 

 The climate was milder by many degrees than it had been 

 below, with no hot wind even at this height of the summer 

 season ; and was in particular delightfully cool at night. But 

 there were only a few weeks remaining of the dry season ; and 

 we had to march nearly two hundred miles after leaving the 

 elephant country to get into Jubbulpur ; so as soon as I could 

 move at all I descended the hill, and marched on an elephant 

 for M&tin. At a place called Sirki, fifteen miles from Laafd,, 

 a tiger had just been killed with a poisoned arrow. His 

 companion was reported to be still in the jungle, and I foolishly 

 went out to hunt him in the heat of the day, ending in my 



* F. chous. f Paradoxus musanga. 



| F. Caracal. 



e b 2 



