96 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



of the Mil, wMch is covered witli bamboo clumps and with 

 a low thicket of the bastard date.^ I have frequently, on 

 other occasions, found both bison and sambar on the very- 

 top of Dhiipgarh in the early morning. The descent of 

 the farther side of the hill, over long slopes of crumbled 

 sandstone, and the curious vitrified pipes of ironstone that 

 exfoliate from the decomposed surface of these hills, was 

 fully more tiresome than the ascent. Many a time after 

 this did I tread the same path to reach this valley, where 

 bison were nearly always to be found, and many an effort 

 did I make to discover a shorter and less precipitous road. 

 But all in vain ; for the sheer ravines that everywhere else 

 hem in the flanks of the Dhiipgarh mountain render a 

 passage round it a matter of infinitely greater time and 

 toil than the way over the top. At the bottom of the 

 valley, below a shady grove of wild mango trees, where 

 the stream that drains the large valley has formed a 

 considerable pool in a rocky basin, I found assembled 

 three or four of the Raj-Gond chiefs whose possessions lie 

 in the hills to the south of Puchmui-ree. They differed 

 not at all from him of Puchmurree, unless that they were 

 somewhat more intelligent and polished in manner. Each 

 had brought his small retinue of matchlock men, and a 

 large gang of common Gonds and Korkus to beat ; so that 

 altogether we mustered some twenty guns, and between 

 two and three hundred beaters. The people were well 

 acquainted with all the beats and passes, having always 

 several great hunts of this sort during the year ; and every- 

 thing had been arranged before I came. The bulk of the 

 beaters had gone on hours before to surround the valley, 

 and, as we were a little later than was expected, it was 

 likely that they would already have commenced to 

 beat. 



We lost no time, therefore, in taking up our posts, which 

 stretched in a long line right across the lower end of the 

 valley. First, however, I had to furnish powder to load 

 the whole of the matchlocks of my native friends; and 

 had I not guessed that such would be the case, as usual, 

 I would certainly not have had sufficient in my flask. 

 ^ Phoenix sylvestris. 



