242 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



where " fern flowers and grasses creep, fantastically 

 tangled," amid gigantic forest trees, and the grace- 

 ful bamboo contrasts with the darker foliage of the 

 wild fig, and the thickets of rhododendron and 

 wild camellias. The wave-like looking sea of deep 

 forest was diversified with white lichen- covered 

 precipices, and darkly-frowning crags of every ima- 

 ginable form and shape, some thousands of feet in 

 height, which seemed to shake their fern -fringed 

 foreheads at the passing traveller as he followed 

 the winding road leading down the ravine, every 

 bend of which, like a turn of the kaleidoscope, re- 

 vealed something new and pleasing to the eye. 



Upon the summit of a rugged and almost inac- 

 cessible peak, which cast its dark shadow on our 

 path, is the small hill-fort, Hulli kul Droog, built 

 by Hyder All, which long since has been abandoned 

 to the birds and beasts of the forest. 



As I rode along I frequently heard the sharp bark 

 of the elk above the murmur of the mountain-stream, 

 which glistened like silver in the rays of the moon 

 as it glided over rounded masses of granite and 

 smooth angular pieces of green stone, or, leaping 

 in little cascades, dashed foaming down the steep 

 ravine ; and at times I distinguished the distant 

 hoarse roar of the tiger reverberating through the 

 woods, which was immediately followed by a dismal 

 howling chorus from a troop of jackals. 



It was past midnight when we arrived at the 

 bungalow at Metrapolliam, a village on the right 



