130 GAME ON THE SEWALIKS. 



of my house, where it had killed one of my servant's 

 goats. 



The prettiest sport of the Doon was the stalking in the 

 Sewaliks. But the spear-grass that grows most abundantly 

 there, as also on the lower ranges, is, when long and dry, 

 dreadfully troublesome. The sharp barbed points of the 

 thin hard seeds, from which it derives its name, catch in 

 your clothes, and work themselves by myriads through 

 them, and even down into your boots, until they reach your 

 skin, which they often penetrate. In this comparatively 

 low but rugged and forest-clad range of hills, the jurrow 

 (called mdlicl in the Doon), the spotted deer (called cheetal), 

 and the kakur, or barking-deer, were plentiful; and up 

 about the jagged and precipitous sandstone summits of the 

 range, gooral might always be found. Tigers and leopards, 

 too, were numerous, though not often seen, and wild elephants 

 were not uncommon. Shooting the latter, however, has now 

 been prohibited by the Government, except in the case of a 

 dangerous " rogue " ; and very wisely, or Eleplias indicus 

 might soon have become as extinct as Dinotheriuin (ji- 

 ganteum. 



But for many years pot - hunters, by indiscriminate 

 slaughter at all seasons, have been doing their worst to 

 exterminate the game in the Doon, and have so far suc- 

 ceeded fairly well in their nefarious work — for good small- 

 game shooting, at any rate, is now a thing of the past. 



I shall first try to recount the proceedings of a day after 

 small game that I find recorded in my old shooting-journal. 

 It will serve as a fair sample of many similar days* sport in 

 the Doon. 



It was on one of those fine sharp mornings which are the 

 rule in this beautiful valley during the cold season, that a 

 party of three guns, consisting of a travelling visitor to the 

 place — vulgarly called a " Globe-trotter " — the ^sculapius 

 of my regiment, and myself, after an early breakfast, lit our 

 " baccies " and mounted our little equine quadrupeds, known 



