190 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



tributed amongst the men and a handful of 

 coppers among the women and children soon 

 placed them at their ease, and they were ready 

 to answer our questions. For some little time 

 we watched them cutting up the carcases. The 

 liver, heart, and other tit-bits were first re- 

 moved, and cut up into small pieces and 

 skewered on little sticks and put out in the sun 

 to dry. A certain portion of flesh was put aside 

 for present consumption, and the remainder cut 

 into narrow strips, and hung on a frame-work of 

 green branches under which a fire was kindled 

 and plentifully heaped with green sal leaves, the 

 smoke from which, they said, preserved the meat, 

 so that it would keep for months. It never went 

 bad. In reply to questions put by me, one of the 

 men replied : " Why should we live in houses when 

 we have the forest trees ? They shelter us from 

 sun and rain, and give us food ; what more do 

 we want ? In the rains we have roots of all kinds ; 

 in the dry weather we have wild fruit and the larvae 

 of the red ant, which is good to eat, as it makes 

 us strong. Then there are monkeys and wild 

 pigs, and sometimes a deer. No, we never want ; 

 the jungle people never starve ; the forest is a 

 beautiful mother. We never live in huts ; we 

 sleep under a tree in fine weather, or within the 

 shelter of a rock when it rains. We never go far 

 from the streams, as there is no forest where 

 there is no water. From Surguja to Bonai, from 

 Mohurbhunj to Palamow, we wander along the 

 river banks, and we are content. We go to the 



