108 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



peafowl may be seen feeding in the fields at all hours of the 

 day. There were numbers of them round Meytal, and we 

 frequently took a quiet shot at the younger birds among the 

 thorn bushes. They were excellent when roasted, and made 

 very good make-believe turkey. The Mekranees have a 

 singular method of shooting them. When the peafowl are 

 feeding in the early mornings and evenings, these men tie a 

 mask, representing the head of a panther, over their faces, 

 and crawling up to some bush or opening in the hedge, they 

 thrust their heads forward and attract the notice of the fowl. 

 The latter raise their heads and advance in an inquisitive man- 

 ner, watching the supposed panther, which they frequently 

 approach to within twenty paces, and are then easily shot. 



About a couple of miles south-west of Meytal is an ex- 

 tensive plain. The ground is so impregnated with salt as to 

 be uncultivable ; but during the monsoon a coarse grass 

 springs up, and the place is resorted to by herdsmen with 

 large numbers of tame buffaloes. The soft ground is cut up 

 by these heavy beasts, and when again hardened by the 

 subsequent action of the sun, is most disagreeable to ride 

 over. I had a very severe run over this country one morning 

 after a black buck whose hind leg I had disabled. I was un- 

 acquainted with the ground, and seeing the buck make off 

 over the apparently level plains, I signalled to my groom to 

 bring up my horse, and, mounting, gave chase. By this time 

 the buck had got a long start, and having passed near some 

 other deer which were out in the plain, they also took alarm 

 and moved off with him. Had he been shot in the body I 

 should have had difficulty in selecting him from the rest, but 

 with his damaged leg there could be no mistake, though the 

 pace at which he went kept him up with the others. I fol- 

 lowed at a hand gallop, but found I had to put my galloway 



