304 Sport and Life in the Further Himalaya 



species of serpentine, while here and there the 

 sandy bays would be littered with crystals and 

 bright-coloured pebbles. We had another day's 

 run in the little " Alys " before we reached the 

 end of the lake and the first signs of human 

 habitations we had seen for six weeks, and here 

 she was taken out of the water, her dark green 

 almost unrecognisable from incrustations of salts, 

 but otherwise none the worse for her journey 

 in unexplored waters. 



In the Bhil country of Dungarpur, far away 

 from the Himalayas, a fortified Kajput city nestles 

 among the jungle-covered hills. Hills these in the 

 true sense of the word, and not as commonly used 

 by the Anglo-Indians when speaking of the vast 

 northern ramparts of India. On one side a big 

 lake forms the defences of the city, the bastioned 

 walls terminating on the water's edge. Palm-trees, 

 temples, palaces, old ruined tombs, make up the 

 glowing picture of an Eastern city. A wide flight 

 of steps leads up from the lake into the market- 

 place, and on this the scarlet skirts of women 

 drawing water show vivid patches of colour. Pea- 

 fowl wander about unnoticed, and snake-birds sit 

 with wings extended like bronze images on the 

 sacred cupola in the middle of the lake. An 

 elephant lying flat on his side in the water, his 



