A Canvas Canoe 307 



was added, and little summer palaces of wonderful 

 Indian architecture were dotted here and there on 

 the surrounding hills where the best views of the 

 lake could be obtained. It was here the "Alys" 

 next saw the light. Our host the Resident's camp 

 was on the top of the barrage, while the Maha- 

 rajah's successor stopped in one of the white 

 summer-houses. He was a keen sportsman and 

 tiger-slayer, and each day of our stay there was 

 devoted to drives for tiger and panther or the 

 lordly sambur, or expeditions on the lake after 

 the wild-fowl which frequented the farther end 

 in thousands. There were other boats on the 

 lake, but where these could not go the "Alys" 

 could, and sometimes afforded us a shot at geese 

 we should not otherwise have had. But wild was 

 no word for them ! 



Imagine, then, the start on such an expedition, 

 while the cool morning breezes were still fanning 

 the lake. As we approached, the great white 

 pelicans, sailing majestically on the water like a 

 fleet of warships, would first rise and slowly circle 

 round the lake. Farther on, regiments of gleam- 

 ing flamingoes, standing knee-deep on a sandbank, 

 would spring into the air. The geese, with a roar 

 of water lashed into foam by thousands of pinions, 

 would be the next to get up, while the sarus 

 cranes, in pairs as usual emblems of conjugal 



