JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 259 



and charming than a banian-tree, with its huge fantastic 

 stem, and roots hanging down like ropes, many of them 

 struck again in the soil, forming, with the spreading 

 branches, rows of cloister-like pillars and arches, beneath 

 which a whole regiment might camp in deep, cool shade. 



The jungles proper, however depleted of useful timber, 

 only need time and protection to produce a fine growth 

 of young trees, such as teak {Tectona grandis), sissoo, 

 saj, and other kinds. The beautiful siassa {D alter gia 

 lati folia), or Bombay rose^wood^ is also indigenous, and 

 ebony (Diospyrus) is very common, though only in the 

 sapling stage — an extraordinary black, broad, leathery- 

 leaved tree. The march to Jhansi was through a jungly, 

 open plain, with villages interspersed, and game of all 

 sorts was often seen — antelope (hiran), gazelle (chinkara), 

 blue bull {nil ghao), spotted deer {chital), and other game, 

 including the beautiful little four-homed deer {chausingha), 

 hares, pea-fowl, and partridges. 



My camp is pitched near a village under an enormous 

 pipal-tree. The camels, which have carried tents and 

 baggage, are lying tethered by a neighbouring tree, and 

 are munching their bhusa of barley straw, occasionally 

 grunting or gurgling in a sleepy way. The horses are 

 tied to pegs before and behind, and are being groomed by 

 their syces, while the grass-cutters empty before them 

 their loads of diib grass, scraped up by the roadsides with 

 an iron digging tool, roots and all, from which the dust is 

 well shaken. 



The cool evening shadows rapidly lengthen, and the 

 sun disappears hke a crimson bowl under the horizon in 

 a blaze of scarlet mist ; darkness comes on at once, and 

 the still air as quickly falls in temperature from about 

 80° to 40^. This is the time to guard against the chill 

 which produces fever. One soon finds the necessity of 



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