A MISERABLE COMMUNITY. 321 



must sleep, judging by the condition of their huts and little 

 wildernesses of gardens. 



On these great marshes whistling teal and many kinds 

 of water birds breed in countless numbers ; and when the 

 waters commence to subside at the beginning of November, 

 and the cool northern breezes assist the flight southwards of 

 tens of thousands of wild-fowl from their Siberian homes, 

 their entire surface become alive with rustling wings and 

 quacking throats. By the middle of December these "jheels" 

 are in their prime, affording excellent sport till March, when 

 they become too shallow in many parts for even light canoes. 

 Hitherto these favourite resorts of wild-fowl have not been 

 much disturbed by the suppliers of the Calcutta market, but 

 with the extension of the railroad eastward they will cease to 

 be so, and that ere long. 



With the intention of shooting over one of the best of 

 these "jheels" named the " Moolna," C., E. and I anchored 

 one day in January our large and comfortable " boleah " or 

 state barge (as I suppose it would be called in England), a 

 little above the mouth of a narrow creek, the outfall through 

 which that "jheel" is drained into the broad Balasur, and 

 thus we avoided the foul stench and the unwholesome in- 

 fluences of the water of the marsh. In addition to our large 

 boat in which we slept anchored out in the stream, we had a 

 second and smaller one which did duty as our kitchen ; while 

 a couple of tents pitched on the high bank of the river, 

 afforded a pleasant retreat during the day, and became our 

 dining room. A good deal of rain had fallen for three days, 

 after an unusually sultry fortnight for that season of the 

 year, rendering the weather cold and cloudy, and very suit- 

 able for sport. 



After making all the arrangements necessary for an early 

 start the next morning, we left camp about three in the after- 

 noon in quest of snipe and plover, round a marshy plain 

 not half a mile distant. We commenced badly by getting 

 gradually waist-deep into weeds and muddy water, through 

 which we forced our way with the utmost difficulty and 



Y 



