14 DESCRIPTION OP A HUNQUAH. 



Of late years it has seldom been followed, 

 except by the Rajah of Bundbissunpore, and 

 by him on a reduced scale. The other Rajahs 

 although they have not adopted it as an amuse- 

 ment,, have sometimes had recourse to it in or- 

 der to rid their countries of the tigers that were 

 troublesome,, whole villages being often en- 

 tirely depopulated by them. It is wonderful 

 to see the number of villages [or rather the 

 sites where they once stood,] in Ramghur, 

 wholly uncultivated and deserted. About 

 the end of May,, or early in June,, when all 

 the grass,, and a great part of the under- 

 wood becomes dry, and water every where 

 scarce; it was the custom to set the jungles 

 on fire* for the sake of new grass, and to drive 



* Many an evening I have been amused for hours with 

 looking at these fires, burning in every direction ; some- 

 times most furiously ; at other times the flames proceed- 

 ing calmly over the lowlands for miles in extent, whilst 

 the mountains were burning with rage and violence. 

 The whole producing one of the grandest sights imagina- 





