198 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



ground more easily. The sal-trees seem to suffer very 

 little from the fire, their bark being thick and sappy, and 

 their leaves tough and high up above the flames ; but in 

 reserved forests it is advisable to exclude fires, in order 

 to give seedlings a good start. Further south we come 

 on glades in the forest in long strips, the whole plain south- 

 ward being a sea of still unbumt grass. Trees, also, of 

 various kinds begin to take the place of the sal. There 

 are saj, semal, dhak, khair, sissoo, and jamun, besides 

 other kinds. 



In these glades, where the grass is not more than 4 or 

 5 feet high, many deer find covert. The elephant moves 

 so silently that the herds of deer couched in the grass 

 almost permit him to walk on top of them. Then, with 

 a rush, they slink off, scarcely showing their spotted backs 

 and slender, graceful horns above the covert. There is 

 the axis, or spotted deer, about the size of the fallow, but 

 with round — not palmated — horns. These were so 

 numerous that every few minutes one could see the motion 

 of the grass, where numbers were started. Pigs, also, and 

 hog-deer are started. The former lie in the grass, an 

 old one, perhaps, with a ' sounder ' of ten or twelve half- 

 grown young pigs. They make mounds of cut grass and 

 sleep in the nests thus formed. The grunting and the 

 determined rush of a sounder through the grass are dis- 

 concerting to most elephants. Nilghai also one occasion- 

 ally met. Their dark-blue backs are more easily seen 

 galloping through the jungle. An occasional tiger who 

 is out stalking the deer may by chance be stumbled upon. 

 I have myself shot a very fine tiger from a pad, by a lucky 

 shot as he rushed across a path. 



Here is a wonderful preserve of big game. During the 

 rains they have perfect safety, and without elephants no 

 man can find his way through this sea of grass. 



