190 AMONG THE "NULL." 



left to rot in the sun. And as these poachers never take the 

 trouble to break up the dam, a great stretch of water below it 

 is ruined for fishing until the rainy season commences, when 

 nature comes to the rescue with her flood of water, which 

 soon levels all obstructions. The spots chosen for this nefari- 

 ous proceeding are, of course, those which admit of a pool 

 being easily drained by diverting the course of the stream. 



The following day we made an early start, our intention 

 being to ford the Ganges and beat up some swampy cane- 

 brakes on the farther side of it. As we moved leisurely on 

 the elephants towards the ford, which was a mile or so 

 distant, I diverged into a " null " jungle, along the edge of 

 which we were skirting, in the hope of getting a shot at some 

 jungle-fowl I heard crowing there. " Null " or " nurkul " 

 is a long reed-like grass, common in the Terai and Doon 

 jungles. It is generally a sure harbour for game of all sorts 

 and sizes. I have frequently seen these reeds growing so 

 tall that, when standing in the howdah, I was unable to 

 reach their tops with my gun held up at arm's-length. Even 

 an elephant looks comparatively small in a null jungle. 



"Well, my elephant had not got far into the null when I heard 

 a deep angry growl, which was immediately followed by the 

 shouting of men, evidently in a state of alarm. Pushing on to 

 the place from whence the sounds came, I found two natives 

 " treed," and hullooing away at the top of their voices. They 

 said they were collecting wild honey, when they had suddenly 

 come on a tigress and two cubs, and had at once climbed up 

 the nearest tree. This information was not easily elicited 

 from them, for they seemed to be as much frightened at the 

 sudden appearance of the elephant as of the tigress. 



I lost no time in getting back to inform the rest of the 

 party, when we commenced a regular and careful beat round 

 about the place where the tigress had been seen. But not- 

 withstanding some of the elephants showing the usual and 

 unmistakable signs of a tiger's proximity in acknowledging 



