214 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



places. Under these trees can be seen a double row of 

 white tents with a large oblong marquee in the centre, 

 surrounded by lines of picketed elephants, horses, and 

 camels, and the usual crowd of native servants bustling 

 about, and fires burning, where cooks are busy, sitting 

 on their haimches, and bheesties bringing their well- 

 filled masaks of clear water from the well. 



The place was called Uncha Ganw, or ' lofty village,' 

 but there was no village visible, only a few chappars or 

 grass huts, where gualas herded their buffaloes ; and uncha 

 did not signify more than an elevation of a few feet of 

 dry soil above the dead level of the swamp. 



The elephants were made to kneel down at the doors 

 of the tents, and each sahib dismounted, willing servants 

 handing in guns and small articles. The sun was now 

 setting, and the blazing sky had become suffused with 

 the opalescent tints of dusk, reddening to a hazy deep 

 crimson near the western horizon, to be followed by 

 rapid nightfall. It was a real pleasure to wash off the 

 dust of travel under the flow of the bheesty's masak 

 inside the khanats of the wide tent. The bearer was par- 

 ticular to have every article of evening attire laid out, and 

 the studs ready, in a shirt got up as well as if it were done 

 by a Parisian blanchisseuse. The gong having sounded, 

 the guests assembled in the verandah of the large tent, 

 where chairs were set on a thick carpet, while inside could 

 be seen through the chinks a long dinner-table glistening 

 with glass and silver and shiny linen. The head khansa- 

 mah, a portly person with curly black hair and beard well 

 turned up, and spotless white dress and flat turban, 

 bearing the crest of the noble house of Dalhousie, an- 

 nounced with stately dignity that the Hazur's soup was on 

 the table. The head of the table was occupied by our 

 most genial host, Colonel the Hon. Henry Ramsay, C.B. 



