268 A Sportswoman in India 



shores of India. Here there were springs ; the sides 

 of the nullah were very steep and most beautifully 

 green and fresh ; it looked quite lovely after the baked 

 and brown appearance of the rest of the country, 

 and we feasted our eyes upon the moss and wet rocks. 

 It was very like a Yorkshire beck or a Scotch burn, 

 and in the rains the waterfalls there must have been 

 grand spectacles for the bears and tigers. 



The Godavari is an extraordinary river a thoroughly 

 Indian river. The first I saw of it was from the top of 

 a high hill, and it lay about thirty miles in the distance. 

 The shikari pointed it out with great pride. Its 

 average width there was, I suppose, about two miles ; 

 but at that time of year the river-bed was dry, and 

 almost the whole of the two miles was sand like the 

 sea-shore, the water being barely two hundred yards 

 across. We rode over it easily it was fordable any- 

 where ; and finally we camped on the banks. 



There were enormous fresh-water prawns in the 

 stream about six inches long, exactly like an ordinary 

 prawn ; a native zemindar sent us twelve as a present, 

 and eight potatoes, which last were considered most 

 valuable. The prawns struck us as being a little 

 " cold-blooded " at first, but curried afterwards they 

 were excellent. 



I suppose that in the rains the whole bed of the 

 Godavari is full, and it must then be a most lovely 

 sight ; near our camp it was quite four miles across 

 from bank to bank. We had two of the most 

 appalling thunderstorms I have ever seen, while we 



