Pelts 



to a small native state situated some 30 miles 

 away on the borders of the district. We had 

 had one or two showers of rain, the forerunners 

 of the monsoon, and the air was wonderfully 

 cool, after our recent experiences in the station 

 of 117° in the shade ! 



We were all in high spirits at getting away 

 from the station again out to camp, and the last 

 dak, which we all rode, was a glorious one, the 

 road taking us out of the wide plain through 

 wild and rugged rocky hills which had a most 

 ' bearish ' look about them. Of vegetation they 

 were innocent. Black and dark and forbidding, 

 they stood out against the flaring, flaming red 

 of the sunset in the west, whilst to the east, blue 

 and purple in the distance, lay a long mountain 

 crest known as the Golden Range, at the time 

 unpleasantly connected in people's minds with 

 the Bengal Gold and Silver Bubble. 



Oh, the sunsets of the East ! Can skill with 

 pen or brush ever pourtray them in anything 

 like their wonderful intensity ? Ephemeral they, 

 for as one strives with strained and fixed gaze 

 to take in all their beauty, lo ! they change and 

 melt, soften and disappear, and leave us with cold 

 greys or blues or blacks. 



We reached camp at 7 p.m., and were a merry 



party at dinner that night. The next morning 



an early start was made for the second camp, 



which had been pitched by our hosts, the tents 



V 2B9 



