180 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



and down again ; a feat wliicli, althougli it has 

 often been attempted, was never accomplished in 

 the memory of the oldest inhabitant, or of the old 

 Nawab who had been confined there as a state- 

 prisoner for upwards of five-and-twenty years. A 

 gallant officer of the 4Stli had a brass plate fixed on 

 a rock about half way up, to commemorate his hav- 

 ing ridden a horse named " Firefly " up to that point. 

 " Gooty," although he measured barely thirteen 

 hands two inches, was famous in diflicult country, 

 and would follow a boar con amove, doubling like 

 a greyhound after a hare. " 3Iais revenons a nos 

 moutons." We passed through a good deal of low 

 brush jungle and rumnah grass, alive with small 

 game ; for in less than four hours we were satiated 

 with our sport, having killed three couj)le and a 

 half of " fiorikin," (or lesser bustard,) the finest bird 

 for the table in India, thirteen leash of hares, nine 

 brace of gray partridge, and three of gray quail; and 

 as the sun's rays were burning intensely powerful, 

 and our beaters began to show unmistakable signs 

 of distress, we adjourned to the shade of a widely- 

 spreading peepul-tree, and were enjoying our "kieff," 

 (a Turkish word signifying a state of dreamy exist- 

 ence, when the body is motionless, all the senses 

 are at rest, and the mind dormant,) and discussing 

 cheroots and brandy-panee, when a villager who 

 was passing by informed us that he had just seen 

 a large herd of antelope on a " maidaun " or plain 

 about two miles further on. 



