14 The Hunting Grounds 



tion. Memo. All this is useless, if you do not use 

 straight powder. 



When we arrived at the cultivated ground in 

 the bed of the glen, we found marks showing that 

 a large herd of sambur had been very lately feed- 

 ing on the young shoots of the Indian corn, for 

 the slots were quite fresh, and Walter pointed me 

 out the difference between the tread of the harts 

 to that of the hinds, the former being much larger 

 and broad, and round at the point, whereas the 

 latter is long and narrow. 



One impression, which was very deeply indented 

 in the ground, measured three inches and a half at 

 the heel, and the hind feet appeared to have been 

 brought up to the same mark as that made by the 

 fore, on which account Walter concluded the slot 

 to belong to a heavy hart, who was most likely 

 the leader of the herd; so we agreed to follow 

 it up. 



We were accompanied by a curious nondescript 

 kind of dog, a cross between an English foxhound 

 and a Bringarry greyhound, which had its ears 

 and tail cropped close to the roots, to enable it to 

 get through the jungle. He was Walter's inse- 

 parable companion, and the most highly edu- 

 cated dog I ever saw ; like his master, being per- 

 fectly au fait at every kind of sport. In the jungle 

 he never left his master's heel except when set by 



