JUNGLES IN CENTRAL INDIA 271 



would make short work of a strange pariah ; if he made 

 himself at all obnoxious and then ran away, they were 

 after him as a coward, and gave him one chop across the 

 loins with their vice-like jaws, which generally did for 

 him. 



Lalitpur is a large district south of Jhansi, \\dth con- 

 siderable forest tracts by the rivers, where teak is in- 

 digenous. At Deogarh is a very curious old fort enclosing 

 a tableland of about 100 acres, overlooking the Betwa, 

 quite in ruins and overgro\Mi with jungle. The tank still 

 remains, and is covered with wild fowl. At Dudhi is a 

 beautiful Jain temple of great antiquity and quite perfect ; 

 the carved figures in the doorways and over the walls 

 are in very hard stone, and finished with great taste, 

 displaying most spirited processions of females and 

 ancient deities. There are rocky hills with a considerable 

 variety of trees, but there has been much destruction of 

 timber to supply the iron smelting which was carried on 

 by the native lohars at Nuthi Khera and elsewhere. The 

 old mining pits are met with, where very rich dark-red 

 ore abounds, but are now scarcely worked. The manu- 

 facture of catechu from the khair-tree is still carried 

 on by the natives, and gums and frankincense are ex- 

 tracted from the trees. 



In the ravine districts of Lalitpur, where wolves were 

 not uncommon and sometimes carried off children from 

 the outskirts of villages, I came across a band of four 

 great wolves one day in bare, broken ground. Looking 

 over the edge of a ridge, I sighted the band in the next 

 hollow, engaged on the carcase of a deer they had doubt- 

 less run down. Instantly pulling myself back under 

 cover of some thorn-bushes, I watched them at about 

 100 yards, waiting for my rifle to be brought up by my 

 shikari, as I had only a shot-gun in my hand. They were 



