164 



CHAPTER XL 



DEHRA DOON FOSSIL REMAINS IN THE SEWALIK HILLS VARIETY OF 

 GAME SPEAR -GRASS A DAY AFTER SMALL GAME "KELPIE" AND 

 "BROWNIE" A SPORTSMAN'S LULLABY AN EL DORADO OF WILD 

 SPORT CAMP IN THE EASTERN DOON SELF-DENIAL ELEPHANT 

 SAGACITY A PLUCKY MAHOUT A QUEER ADVENTURE WITH A CROCO- 

 DILE PYTHONS THE WAY WE HUNTED THEM HOG-DEER THE 

 " CHEETAL" OR SPOTTED DEER IRREGULARITY IN SHEDDING THEIR 

 HORNS FOUR-HORNED ANTELOPES THE SWAMP DEER. 



THE position and general features of the beautiful valley of 

 Dehra Doon 1 have been mentioned in a foregoing chapter. 

 As it lies within the Sewalik hills, which may be classed 

 among the outer ranges, the sport to be had in its wild tracts 

 of forest and swamp may, I think, be called Himalayan. 



When I first knew the Doon, game of many sorts and 

 sizes was abundant, from a button quail to a wild elephant, 

 or from a minnow to a mahseer of a hundred pounds. From 

 time out of mind it must have been a favourite haunt of 

 wild animals, for many fossil remains of huge antediluvian 

 creatures the mastodon, for example have been found in 

 the Sewalik range, which bounds the valley on its south side. 



From the beginning of June until the end of October the 

 heavy jungles and swamps of the Doon, like those of the Terai, 

 are deadly, but for the rest of the year they are comparatively 

 free from malaria. 



During the many years I passed at intervals in these 



1 I cannot bring myself to spell it Diin, according to the new-fangled 

 method ; it deprives the name of half its old romance. 



