THE NERBUDDA 295 



fine-leaved sprays of graceful, birch-like foliage for its 

 crown. The timber of anjun is hard and heavy and fine 

 in the grain, and when sleepers made of various forest 

 trees were tried to prove their worth, the anjun sleepers 

 stood the test better than those of teak or sal, remaining 

 sound longer. There were no sal-trees nor teak in this jungle. 

 There were plenty of tracks of great bison (gaur) , but none 

 were seen, though some Gond jungle men, who followed 

 their tracks rapidly over the hard and rocky ground 

 where no special track could be seen by the uneducated 

 eye, pursuing steadily for some hours, did their best to 

 bring me up to the herd. But night came on too soon, 

 and we never sighted the great beasts. I had a shot 

 at a bear which came to drink one evening at the pool. 

 Unfortunately, the bullet struck and killed one of three 

 cubs that were quietly asleep on the bear's back, not dis- 

 tinguishable from its coarse shaggy black coat. That 

 bear came round the camp at night, when she had counted 

 her little ones and found one short, making a loud and 

 angry single call at intervals, which disturbed the camp a 

 good deal. She came close up in the morning in thick 

 bush jungle, but did not afford me another shot, and went 

 off again, grumbling frequently. 



The natives said that people who lived in this jungle 

 were required by the fairies to perform certain pujas, 

 otherwise they were generally taken with a deadly 

 malady in the chest. The season of the hot winds is 

 probably the healthiest time for visiting such places. 

 Though the heat was intense on June i, and the exposure 

 all day to a vertical sun very trying, one did not suffer 

 at all from chills at night. In fact, the night was hotter 

 than the day. Still, by wearing a thick cotton padded 

 khaki jacket and a big puggaree, wound native fashion 

 round the head during the heat of the day while riding 



