148 The Hunting Grounds 



length of the bottom of the cart was fitted with a hair 

 mattress, and the sides were well padded, so that I 

 managed, when travelling, to get along pretty com- 

 fortably. 



With posted bullocks I could generally average 

 about four miles an hour ; and, as I halted only during 

 the heat of the day, I managed to get over the ground 

 pretty quickly for India. 



My battery, on which I prided myself very much, 

 consisted of a brace of ten-gauge rifles by Purdey ; a 

 double rifle and two smooth-bores eight-gauge, by 

 Westley Richards; a double rifle by Burrows of 

 Preston ; two fowling-pieces, sixteen-bore ; a Purday 

 and a long Joe Manton, both clipping shot-guns ; a 

 long four-bore duck-gun by Fullard (after a single 

 discharge of which I have picked up seventeen duck 

 and teal) ; and a German pea-rifle. 



A large Yankee backwoodsman's axe, a couple of 

 bill-hooks, an adze, arid other tools, were fitted against 

 the side of my cart, so as to be ready at hand in case 

 of a break-down, which is an event of frequent occur- 

 rence in Indian travelling. An obstreperous bullock 

 or a careless driver is very liable to smash a pole or a 

 yoke en route; and, in many parts of the country 

 where game abounds, village smiths are difficult to be 

 met with, and I have often been saved hours, and 

 even days' delay, by having the means of repairing 

 them at hand. 



