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CHAPTER X. 



The position and general features of the beautiful valley of 

 Dehra Doon 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 ante- 

 diluvian 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 

 " happy hunting-grounds," my shikar experiences were so 

 numerous and varied that I shall endeavour to describe one 

 or two only of those best suited to give a general idea of 

 the wild sport of this locality. 



The quantity of small game was formerly far greater 

 than it was even within my own recollection, more par- 

 ticularly in the western part of the valley, where the 



