ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 101 



him. We now came on a country fairly stocked with 

 hares and partridges, but as deer were likely to be scared 

 by much firing, we did not interfere with them. In a patch 

 of scrub jungle, we came on six or seven chinkara, and I shot 

 the best buck. The rest ran a short distance and stood, when 

 the Collector rolled over a doe in good style. Our bag was 

 now, one nylghae, one antelope, and three chinkara, so we 

 thought we had fairly earned our luncheon. Not far off was a 

 well shaded by trees, where some cultivators were busy with 

 their bullocks, irrigating a field. Here we halted. Our own 

 bullocks were unharnessed and watered, and while we emptied 

 the luncheon-basket, they and our horses took their mid-day 

 feed of grain. Then a smoke and a confabulation, and we 

 again turned homewards. On our way we shot two more 

 chinkara, and picked up the blue bull which we had shot in 

 the morning. Altogether, the load in the cart was about as 

 much as it would hold. The blue bull was taken charge of by 

 one of my gun-bearers, who removed the skin by cutting it 

 down the back of the neck and spine, thereby preserving un- 

 damaged the stout skin of the chest and throat, which is prized 

 as a defence against sword-cuts and arrows. After a long day 

 in the sun, a tub and clean clothes were very refreshing, and 

 the hour before dinner was pleasantly passed in arm-chairs, in 

 an open spot, where we assembled to smoke our pipes, and go 

 over the adventures of the day. 



There was a sure find for pigs at Vinjool, about eight miles 

 from Ahmedabad ; but the country was difficult, and hog 

 were only got by hard riding and good luck. 



Part of the ground was much cut up by rice-fields, formed 

 into terraces, with mud-banks between them. These fields 

 were baked in the sun till they became hard as bricks ; and 

 woe to the unlucky man who got a cropper among them. We 



