412 The Hunting Grounds 



assisted me, otherwise I should have had no chance 

 of catching him, notwithstanding I was in fair run- 

 ning condition. He proved to be a splendid speci- 

 men, the wings measuring more than four, feet and a 

 half from tip to tip. His weight I imagined to have 

 been but little short of forty pounds, as he was in 

 excellent condition, and by far the largest bird of the 

 species I have hitherto seen, although I have killed 

 many on the plains in India. 



Having dined, we started again en route, and, on 

 leaving the fort, made our way along tracks with 

 which both Cassim and our guide appeared familiar, 

 but which it would have been hazardous for a stranger 

 to have attempted to follow without the aid of an 

 experienced guide, as the country is so intersected by 

 innumerable watercourses, meandering through dense 

 labyrinths of wood, each of which so closely resembles 

 the other that a traveller once bewildered could hardly 

 ever extricate himself, landmarks of any kind being 

 few and far between. Now and then even our guide 

 appeared puzzled, and had to climb some huge boulder 

 of rock, or lofty tree, in order to make sure of the 

 route, by observing the appearance of the mountains 

 which formed the horizon of this sea of woods. On 

 such occasions as these, had I not been an old forest- 

 ranger accustomed to pilot my way by compass 

 through trackless woods, I might perhaps have shared 

 in the feelings of some of my followers, who, from 



