AMONG THE SUK 



267 



bufFalo-liide, one end firmly fastened to a tree trunk big and 

 heavy enougli to resist every effort of tlie captured animal to 

 escape. The natives hunt elephants for the sake of their tusks 

 and flesh. Strips of buffalo-hide spread out to dry and other 

 tokens proved that we were near native hunters, who had 

 probably fled at our approach. 



On July 7 we camped, after an extremely arduous march 

 along the slope of the mountain, by a beautiful mountain brook 

 called the Sekere, in a now uninhabited district, though deserted 

 dhurra plantations betrayed that it was only scarcity from the 

 delay of the rains which had driven the natives to seek food 

 elsewhere. We had had a very different experience lately, for 

 we had been wetted through by the drippings from the bushes, 

 and in the evening heavy showers quenched the last spark of 

 humour left in our poor fellows, who, huddled about their fires, 

 strove to keep up their spirits on their half rations. 



An equally trying march along the picturesque mountain 

 slopes brought us, the next day, to the settlement of Maricha. 

 Close to our right rose an unbroken series of rugged mountains 

 some 3,000 feet high, belonging to the Suk range, whilst on the 

 east of the Trrawell plain the chain, running from north to 

 south, narrowed to a breadth of some thirteen miles. The 

 Trrawell, which here receives many brooks and rivulets, flows 

 through a dark greyish-green, impenetrable, and uninhabited 

 primaeval forest, which, however, evidently harbours a great 

 many elephants, as the natives have quantities of ivory for sale 

 every year. 



Maricha is situated on a little stream, which just now was 

 much swollen. It is peopled by Suk, who devote themselves 

 chiefly to the cultivation of dhurra, but the corn still stood 

 unripe in the fields, making us anxious about the state of 

 the plantations further south ; the more that all the wild fruit, 

 berries, and edible weeds would be sure to have been picked 



