Sporting Trips of a Subaltern 



late from the mess, I forgot this, and nearly trod 

 on him. This caused a terrible disturbance, and 

 my apologies not being accepted, I decided to 

 get in through another room for a change. Next 

 morning I was rudely awakened by the upsetting 

 of my "kitmagar" with the early morning tea. 

 We afterwards established more satisfactory rela- 

 tions, and he became quite safe with white men 

 and others he knew, but I really felt quite sorry 

 for unknown black intruders into my compound. 

 He was always rather a white elephant, as it was 

 impossible to take him to the polo-ground or 

 anywhere. He never grew to the great size I have 

 seen them, and lacked the ruff round his neck, 

 so I found he was not pure bred. I kept him 

 six months at Meerut, and meant to take him 

 home, but he couldn't come to the shoot I did 

 en route, and I thought that arriving by himself 

 he would cause alarm and despondency in a 

 peaceable English household, so I eventually gave 

 him away in India. 



In the more sheltered valleys we came across 

 some pretty little villages. One of these, Gunge 

 by name, was a fair size and boasted a temple. 

 The people here seemed quite unused to the sight 

 of a white man, and I find the following entry in 

 my diary: "Inhabitants unintelligent; crowded 

 round camp with eyes and mouths open, and had 

 to be driven off with sticks " a procedure that I 



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