122 BISON. 



My sport commenced here, for the place was full of 

 rats, which kept me going the whole night, resulting in 

 five being slain. Next day a journey of fourteen miles up 

 the ghaut road which was almost impassable in places 

 landed me at Toonacudavoo, the headquarters of the 

 Government Timber Department, the last ten miles of the 

 march having been made through magnificent primeval 

 forest, studded with peaks several thousand feet high. At 

 intervals we passed clearings, where the places of the teak 

 trees which had been felled and carted off, were taken by a 

 younger growth, planted by the Forest Department, and 

 which, although only a few years old, were already 

 over twenty feet high. In addition to the teak, many 

 other valuable timber trees flourished all round, the 

 rosewood and blackwood being particularly noticeable. 

 The bamboo was plentiful, and in many places the 

 undergrowth of cannse, caladium, elephant and lemon 

 grass, was several feet high, although the rains had only 

 commenced three weeks before. The change from the 

 dazzling Deccan furnace to these fresh, green, cool heights 

 was delightful. 



At Toonacudavoo I was most hospitably received by 

 Mr. Douglas, head of the Woods and Forest Department, 

 who housed me in his comfortable bungalow, while 

 supplies were being collected, and shikaries and coolies 

 gathered from their jungle villages. The shikaries were 

 all of the Carder tribe, and were headed by their chiefs or 

 " moopens," of which there were two Vyapoori and Atlay 

 both bearing scars of the chase, the former having lost 

 an arm when elephant shooting, and the latter having been 

 gored through the thigh by a bison which he incautiously 

 approached believing it to be dead. When with me he 

 used to take very good care that the accident would not 



