262 THE FORESTS OF UPPER INDIA 



but not badly wounded ; the dogs are loosed, and, mount- 

 ing, we are off in pursuit, and the dogs strain every nerve 

 to overtake him as he darts along the ridge. We keep 

 him in view till he is run into, and venison is secured, and 

 a nice pair of horns cur\dng like a lyre, with slender points. 

 The chinkara [Gazella Bennetti) , or ' ravine deer ' of sports- 

 men, is almost the same as the Arabian gazelle, which 

 figures in Oriental fairy tales as the pet of the harem. 

 It is common in Central India, always frequenting open 

 ground, where ravines and thorn-bushes exist, in small 

 herds of two to four together. 



The forest is traversed and mapped, the timbering noted, 

 and other observations made, and we get into camp in 

 time for breakfast. The afternoon is perhaps occupied 

 by a ride round on a long-striding sawari camel with a 

 saddle holding two, the wooded country being sketched 

 with the map and prismatic compass, a gun or rifle being 

 always in the sling and ready for use if game turns up. 



We generally encamp near some village, where the 

 inhabitants cultivate the lands reclaimed from jungle. 

 They are often fortified, with very ancient and crumbling 

 mud-walls, and usually there is a picturesque temple and 

 tank, where the rain-water has been held up by ancient 

 embankments or bands. 



They all have their headmen, sometimes a tahsildar 

 or native tax-collector, and zamindars or landowners, 

 who let out the fields to rayais or cultivators. There is 

 also the baniya or shopkeeper class, the members of 

 which are also money-lenders, who advance the money 

 to sow the crops, in cash or partly in kind, thus making 

 a double profit and becoming rich. They mostly, as in 

 other countries, buy up the land and become zamindars. 

 The Bundelas are a fine, tall, and handsome race. They 

 dress in the brightest of colours and wear big puggarees. 



