6 The Hunting Grounds 



After our inspection we adjourned to the Killa- 

 dar's house, which appeared to have been formerly 

 the gateway of an old Hindoo temple, but all 

 the images had been destroyed and replaced by 

 stone slabs bearing Persian inscriptions. We were 

 shown into the " dewan-khana," or guest-room, 

 where a very nice dinner, in the native style, was 

 served, and our host conversed with us whilst we 

 partook of his hospitality, and appeared much 

 amused at my awkward attempts to convey the 

 food to my mouth with rny fingers, a feat which 

 I was not then accustomed to perform, although 

 it is the ordinary mode of eating among all classes 

 and castes in India. I had my turn when he 

 came to visit us, afterwards, and attempted to eat 

 with a knife and fork for the first time. 



After we had dined, sherbet and sweetmeats 

 were handed round, with hubble-bubbles and 

 hookahs (water-pipes), and the Killadar informed 

 us that his shekarries 1 had not returned from the 

 jungles, whither he had sent them to try and find 

 out the whereabouts of a large tiger, who had 

 been committing a good deal of depredation 

 among the herds in the low country ; but that if 

 we would like a day's sambur 2 shooting, he would 

 accompany us on the morrow, and show us a 

 place where we should be nearly certain to find. 



1 Slickarries, hunters. - Sambur, elk (Rusa Aristoteles}. 



