350 THE HUNTING GKOUNDS, ETC. 



in preserving the skins of two bison, which they had 

 killed the day previous. 



During the afternoon, heavy banks of dark clouds 

 arose, which I knew prognosticated a storm ; so we 

 strengthened our hut, and spread extra combleys on 

 the weather-side, so as to make it impervious to the 

 weather. Hardly were our preparations completed, 

 when the sky became uniformly black and gleam- 

 less, except when illuminated at intervals by the 

 flashes of bluish-white lightning, and the thunder, 

 reverberating among the mountains like the rolling 

 of distant artillery, now came nearer and nearer, 

 until it seemed to peal directly overhead, whilst the 

 rain, in a perfect deluge, poured down upon the hot 

 earth with that peculiar hissing sound heard only 

 in the tropical climates. Later in the evening, the 

 storm passed over, and the night became bitterly 

 cold, dense vapours rising from the ground, which 

 could not be otherwise than unhealthy ; so it was 

 determined to commence a retrograde movement. 

 We accordingly started early the next morning for 

 our hut in the valley below, packed up our traps, 

 and halted for the night at the public bungalow 

 near the village ot Annamullay. The next day we 

 pushed on to Coimbatore, where we remained a 

 couple of days, as B— — was suffering from diar- 

 rho3a, and then returned to my domicile at Ootaca- 

 mund 



