GOPEE CHUND HILL. 163 



eastern Himalayas a red-coloured variety of the surrow 

 occurs, but even more sparsely, I am told, than its darker- 

 skinned relative of the more western ranges. 



In one of my many shikar trips among the mountains 

 adjacent to Dehra Doon, I was exceptionally fortunate in 

 coming across several of these rather uncommon nonde- 

 script animals. On this short excursion I started with a 

 brother officer who, although not a sportsman, was an 

 ardent admirer of nature. Our objective point was a 

 singularly shaped craggy hill, called Gopee Chund teeba 

 (hill), which formed a prominent feature of the outer ranges 

 where it was situated. 



Amongst the native folk-lore of this locality were many 

 ! wild legends concerning this hill. It was said to have 

 derived its name from a rajah of bygone days, who, with 

 his boon companions of his court, used to carry on their 

 revels and midnight orgies in his palatial halls, which were 

 supposed to have once stood on the site of the bare grey 

 crags and high cliffs formed by landslips, where the eagle 

 now has its eyrie and the gooral roams free. But Eajah 

 Gopee Chund having suddenly been stricken with remorse 

 for his past vices and follies, resolved to become a jogee 

 (religious devotee) for the rest of his days. On his turn- 

 ing jogee it appeared that he must in some mysterious 

 manner have acquired supernatural powers, as prior to 

 setting out on his lifelong pilgrimage he converted his 

 castle and all its belongings into the rugged grey rocks 

 that now form the hill. 



By the natives it was supposed that the game on Gopee 

 Chund hill bore charmed lives. Indeed I had almost reason 

 for fancying that such was the case ; for, plentiful as game 

 was there, never before, when going over it, had I been able 

 to shoot a single head. This time, however, I succeeded in 

 breaking the spell by making two such wonderful shots, or 

 flukes, and under circumstances so peculiar, that it seemed 

 as though the spirit of the quondam rajah had transferred 



