226 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
was in a state of the most rapid revolution the archer 
sent his shaft directly through it. This he repeated 
several times amid the tumultuous applause of the 
spectators. Ten sparrows were next successively let 
out of a cage, six of which he shot on the wing. It 
had been previously agreed that he should receive a 
rupee for every sparrow hit by him, and forfeit a 
similar sum for every one he missed ; he consequently 
became a winner of two rupees — a good fortnight’s 
provision in India for a single man. The bow em- 
ployed on this occasion was not above three feet long, 
but extremely stiff, and requiring considerable strength 
as well as skill to discharge with its full effect. Se- 
veral of the other archers present showed a good deal 
of dexterity, one of them passing an arrow twelve 
times out of sixteen through an iron ring about four 
inches in diameter, at a distance of twenty -five paces. 
Some of the tribes of plunderers who infest the hills 
in different parts of Hindostan are uncommonly skil- 
ful in the use of the bow, often killing birds on 
the wing and hares in full career. They use no other 
weapon except the dagger and a short scimitar, and 
these latter only when they venture into houses and 
places where their arrows cannot be rendered ef- 
fective. 
