of the Old World. 47 



his hands together in token of respect, and begged 

 us to excuse his not having made more prepara- 

 tions for our reception, stating " that he had only 

 received intimation of our coming the day before, 

 and that, on account of this short notice, he had 

 become "lachar" (desperately miserable) when he 

 thought that, perhaps, we might want something 

 that he had not had time to provide. 



As the old man had provided plenty of "gram" 

 (beans) and forage for our horses, with a fine 

 table sheep and fat fowls for ourselves, we declared 

 ourselves satisfied, upon which his face brightened 

 up, and stroking down his long gray beard, he 

 exclaimed several times in a very complaisant 

 manner, "Allah talah !" " Al-humda lillah !" (thank 

 God! God be praised!). 



" I should much like to halt a few days here," 

 said Mac, the senior subaltern, addressing Captain 



W , who commanded the infantry detachment, 



"for there must be splendid shooting in those 

 dense ravines." 



"Yes," answered W , "it looks quite <a 



tigerish spot.' What say you, old man? Have 

 you not plenty of ' shekar' ! here?" continued he, 

 addressing the Patel. 



" Yes, sahib," answered he, " there is plenty of 

 shekar to be found in these jungles. Tigers, bison, 

 bears, panthers, elk, milghau, antelope, and spotted 



1 "Shekar," sport. 



