FORESTS OF GORAKHPUR AND NEPAL TERAI 233 



Most of the forest trees are evergreen, so-called, but in 

 truth they are deciduous, casting the entire crop of leaves 

 and bursting into fresh, tender foliage every winter. The 

 fig-trees are remarkable examples of this transformation. 

 I have camped under the dense shade of a spreading 

 pipal, and in three days' time every old leaf was fallen 

 to the ground, dry but still green, pushed off by the bud- 

 ding of the new growth. The delicate, beautiful young 

 leaves had all come out almost in one night, and unfolded 

 to their full size. Unlike the habit of European leaves, 

 which turn colour before falling, the Indian ones often 

 come out bright red and orange and change afterwards 

 to deep green. 



In choosing a place for a camp, it is difficult to avoid 

 damaging the crops of peppers, which the natives cultivate 

 much in mango groves. The smaU-leaved variety here 

 grown produces the celebrated Nipali mirch, whose small 

 yellow pods are of much more delicate flavour than the 

 large red kinds. 



I must now bring the reader to the Sunari forest on 

 the Nepal frontier. A sluggish stream with high mud 

 banks, winding in endless coils at the edge of a wide 

 plain. To the west a belt of forest of great extent, 

 consisting of dense growths of sal timber, over 400 to 

 the acre, interspersed with many other usual kinds of 

 trees, the stems, which were not more than 8 inches 

 thick, standing so close together that an elephant could 

 with difficulty force his way between. On an open 

 space by the river, camp was pitched. The rain, which 

 had been falling steadily for two days in a light, drizzling 

 manner, reminded one rather of Ireland. March i had 

 come in, certainly not like a lion, but in a manner unex- 

 pected and most unpleasant, the temperature being cold 

 and everything damp and wet, though the ground was 



