190 DEER. 



Tippicado, I paid the travellers' bungalow there a visit, 

 and found everybody down with fever, and a notice posted 

 up recommending travellers not to stop the night there. 

 Death was in the air, and the warning was respected. The 

 Muddoor jungle is not so deadly when the ground has 

 been well soaked by the monsoon about the beginning of 

 July, but sambur are then in velvet ; indeed, in these 

 jungles, or the Annamullays, sambur were never shot by 

 me except when required for the camp. In the latter 

 forest they were fairly numerous, and in some cases 

 absurdly tame, never having seen a human being before. 

 I remember coming suddenly on a sambur stag when 

 tracking bison one day ; he bucked and snorted across 

 the glade for twenty yards or so, and then turned round 

 to gaze at the curious looking biped in shikar clothes ; 

 he then repeated the performance, and disappeared in the 

 covert. Pigs on these occasions, too, gave much trouble, 

 being full of curiosity, and distinctly hostile in manner ; 

 and with old boars it was awkward work, as one did not 

 wish to disturb the forest by firing. 



One evening, in the Annamullays, returning from 

 Coochmullay, Ibex Hill, we came to the edge of a glade 

 in the forest, and, peeping through some bamboos, saw two 

 stag sambur within easy range. 



The Carders, pathetically patting their stomachs, pointed 

 at them to signify they wanted meat, so I fired right and 

 left. Much to my surprise, the second stag bounded away 

 apparently unhurt ; but, on going up to the spot where he 

 had been standing, I found a hind expiring in the long 

 grass. She had been standing alongside the stag, between 

 him and me, his antlers showing above her head, and her 

 body thus intercepted the bullet intended for him. On 

 approaching the stag, which was also dying, he kicked out, 



