428 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA. 



of water, though in the rainy season elephants, buffaloes, bison, 

 and innumerable red deer are reported to frequent the forest. 

 In this march the dainty footmarks of a few four-horned ante- 

 lopes at the water-holes, the voice of the cuckoo in the early 

 morning, and rare glimpses of some hornbill or woodpecker 

 glancing among the foliage of the sal, was allthe sign we saw 

 of the presence of animal life. 



It is very difficult to ascertain distances in these extensive 

 level forests, where there are no eminences from which the 

 country can be examined ; and we had some tremendous 

 marches in consequence of relying on statements of distance 

 made in " coss " by the Bhumi^s. Considering that their coss 

 is derived from so indefinite a basis as the distance at which 

 a yell from a hill-top can be heard, it is little surprising if the 

 coss itself should be uncertain. This is their table of long 

 measure : 



2 yells - 1 daab (or " bittock "), 



2 "bittocks"=l coss, 

 12 coss = 1 day's march. ; 



which seems to be about thirty miles. 



In the jungles of Kenda and Pendrd, which form the most 

 easterly section of this forest, and lie right under the range of 

 the Mykal hills, great numbers of wild buffaloes were reported 

 to us ; but we had not time at this season to stop to look 

 after them. Doubtless it is chiefly to these regions that they 

 retire from the Man did uplands when the latter are invaded 

 by the grazing of domestic cattle. 



So far as we could learn, an area of about 1200 square 

 miles was occupied by herds of wild elephants, whose numbers 

 we estimated, from all accounts, to range from two hundred 

 to three hundred. They undoubtedly did very serious 

 damage to the crops in the neighbourhood ; and for many 



