33 TWO TEAES IN THE JUNGLE. 



and bath-room — furnished with floor matting, plain but substantial 

 chairs and tables, and a bedstead upon which the traveller spreads 

 his bed, for every one in India carries with him his thick cotton 

 rizai, or comforter, blankets, and pillow. Attached to every dak 

 bungalow upon the important lines of travel, is a cook-house, a 

 complete set of table furniture, and an old gray-bearded Moham- 

 medan, who has charge of the whole establishment, and who will 

 supply the traveller with meals, if required. Each traveller pays 

 one rupee per day for occupying the bungalow, and " the old man " 

 will supply the provender by private contract at from two to three 

 rupees per day. The rule is that any European traveller is enti- 

 tled to shelter in the dak bungalow for at least twenty-four hours, 

 and if no other traveller demands his place, he is at liberty to re- 

 main three days. The Etawah bungalow is clean, airy, and cool, 

 standing in a thick grove of mangos, a perfect haven of rest for a 

 dusty, heated, and hungiy wayfai-er. 



I had barely finished bathing and breakfasting, when Mr. 

 Eraser, the assistant magistrate, dropped in to help me get ac- 

 quainted with the place and to offer whatever assistance I might 

 require. In the afternoon I went over to his bungalow, where we 

 sat on the verandah and shot small birds in the trees near by, until 

 the midday heat was over, when we took a rifle and started down 

 to the Jumna prospecting. The river is two miles from the 

 European cantonment, but a fine metalled road winds down from 

 the level plateau into the ravines, and through them to the bridge 

 of boats. Near the river I had a snap shot at a jackal, but missed 

 him. Just opposite the point where we first reached the river 

 bank were two saras cranes, stalking along the river margin, at the 

 farther side of a sand-bar one hundred and fifty yards in width. 

 Mr. Eraser knelt down in the wheat and knocked one of them over 

 very neatly, with a bullet through its breast. It proved to be the 

 male bird and a very fine specimen. Earther up we saw three 

 large gavials lying on a sand-bar in the middle of the river, but 

 could not succeed in getting a shot at them. Above the bridge of 

 boats we found a five-foot gavial lying upon another sand-bar, which 

 Mr. Eraser shot through the shoulders and killed instantly. This 

 made two valuable specimens for the first day, which was enough 

 to bring good luck. A party of native boys carried the crane and 

 the gavial up to the dak bungalow, and I skinned them both the 

 nest morning. 



I saw that I had found good collecting ground at last, and lost 



I 



