THE HIGHER NARBADA 289 



tMnking him to be one of those red pariahs strayed from 

 some village. There is of course the considerable dis- 

 tinction, that the wild dog cannot bark, while the tame 

 one can. But how readily the voice of the latter reverts 

 to the howl of the wild animal must have been remarked 

 by every one who has passed by a village when they came 

 forth to salute him. 



But to return to our muttons. I arranged with the 

 owners of some of these red dogs to have a morning's 

 sambar hunting with them, assisted by two capital hounds 

 of my own. Scouts were out before daybreak, and marked 

 down a herd of about twenty sambar on a spur which 

 jutted out into the plain from the main range of hiUs. 

 This spur was covered with Mhowa trees, the deciduous 

 flowers of which have a strong attraction for all sorts of 

 deer, as well as bears and Gonds. The former come long 

 distances at night to eat the flowers that drop in great 

 profusion as soon as ripe. Bruin, if too late for the feast, 

 having no objection to scramble up and get some for him- 

 self. The plan was to send a strong body of beaters round 

 to the neck of the spur, while we were to post ourselves 

 with the dogs where it ended in the plain. I call it plain, 

 but it was so only comparatively speaking. Broken and 

 treacherous " cotton-soil " it was, intersected by numerous 

 nalas, and about as bad ground to ride over as could well 

 be wished. 



We were wending our way down a somewhat precipitous 

 pathway that led from the village to the scene of operations, 

 when the Gond to whom I was talking dropped behind on 

 some pretence or other, and shortly afterwards we passed 

 one of the primitive altars they erect near almost every 

 pathway. This consists of a platform of hard mud, on 

 which are constructed, of the same material, small models 

 of the necessary implements of their simple life, such as a 

 cooking-place, flat plate, etc. Near the platform is a 

 stake planted in the ground, from which project two wooden 

 arms, drilled with holes; through these a peeled wand is 

 passed, the top of which is decorated with a streamer of 

 red cloth. Close by is a cairn of stones, to which every 

 passer-by adds another. These altars are generally erected 

 to the names of some one of their race who bore a saintly 

 tr 



