244 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



ammunition, reposed in perfect security below. Seeing pre- 

 parations made on such a grand scale, and the great forest 

 and numerous wooded dells and ravines round about us, 

 surely, I thought, a tiger or two, or even a herd of " gour " 

 will presently show themselves, to say nothing of bears, 

 panthers, sambur and other " small deer." With this com- 

 forting reflection I betook myself to my book and cigar. 



We had mounted our platforms about an hour before 

 noon, and after reading for two or three more, I broke the 

 monotony of the occasion by a slight repast and a second 

 cigar, which, being finished, I sat for another hour listening 

 to the twittering of small birds and the rustling of dry leaves 

 as they were blown along the ground by gusts of hot wind, 

 wondering whether the affair might not prove a huge hoax, 

 the Zameendar and his retinue preposterous humbugs, and 

 the thousands of beaters a figment, the offspring of an exu- 

 berant Oriental imagination. About three o'clock, when the 

 sinking sun began to cast lengthening shadows, and narrow 

 streaks of light between the tree -tops, certain dull sounds fell 

 upon my ears, coming sometimes from the north, sometimes 

 from the south, now from the east, and anon from the west ; 

 indistinct and intermittent at first, but gradually increasing 

 in volume and vehemence, they proved loud enough to rouse 

 my host and his followers from their slumbers, into which 

 they had subsided after eating, drinking, smoking, and much 

 chattering ; but now, about four in the afternoon, they rose 

 resplendent in their flowing garments of many hues, so ad- 

 mirably adapted to the requirements of wild sports, according 

 to the general Oriental idea of the fitness of things, and with 

 many eructations and much hawking and spitting, denoting 

 contentment and repletion, they prepared themselves for the 

 business of the day. 



Up to this moment I had seen only a poor dowdy brown 

 jungle-hen pecking its noiseless way past my position down a 

 ravine in front, possibly in search of a drop or two of water, 

 but the rising shouts of the beaters now caused me to pre- 

 pare for the rush of savage beasts which must at length take 



