FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 229 



almost frosty. The country looked beautiful and park- 

 like, dotted with great spreading pipal and mahua trees, 

 and there were frequent groves of mango-trees near the 

 villages, planted in rows, and called am ka hagicha ; the 

 name ' mango tope ' is not known to the natives. There 

 was much cultivation, the crops of wheat and barley 

 already covering the ground looked splendidly luxuriant ; 

 flax was already in flower — bright blue ; dhal, bajra, and 

 other kinds of millet grew tall, and the whole country 

 looked smihng and prosperous. A square tent with 

 verandah all round was pitched under some spreading 

 mangoes. The smooth ground was dry and hard. The 

 elephants, camels, and horses were picketed not far off, 

 and the natives were busy cooking their mid-day meals 

 of rice or chapatis on little fires of dried cow-dung. The 

 day was hot and sultry, and the sun blazed down most 

 powerfully from a cloudless but peculiar gray-blue sky. 

 The shade of the thick-foliaged trees was quite dark on the 

 ground, but mottled by streaks of sunlight glancing 

 through the leaves. The soft whistle of the golden oriole 

 and the green coppersmith bird in the branches over- 

 head, and the monotonous cooing of ringdoves and green 

 pigeons, betrayed their presence, though their bright- 

 coloured forms could not be seen in the shady thick 

 boughs. Numbers of inquisitive pink-faced monkeys 

 peeped down at the tents below and threw down sticks, 

 but were not inclined to mucli exercise in such oppressive 

 heat. Little ' devils,' or whirlwinds, causing the dust 

 to rise in pillars, occasionally disturbed the sleepy quiet- 

 ness of the time of siesta, and walked across the plain, 

 taking up dry leaves and scattering them again with 

 sticks and straws. 



About three in the afternoon an ominous soughing 

 of the heated air came up at times from the north-west. 



