298 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
retires during the heat of day. Like most wild 
animals it is nocturnal, and will wander great 
distances to obtain some favourite food. It is a 
terrible nuisance to the cultivator, as no ordinary 
fence will secure the crops ; the sambur will over¬ 
leap anything below 6 feet. 
When the cinchona was introduced into Ceylon 
it became necessary to protect the young plants by 
wire fences, as the sambur committed great 
depredations in the young plantations, although they 
ceased to eat the leaves when the plants became old. 
Although this deer exceeds all Asiatic varieties in 
weight, it is one of the most active. It is a beautiful 
sight to watch the irresistible rush of a sambur stag 
down the steep side of a rocky forest-covered hill, 
when it breaks back through the line of beaters. 
The animal, weighing nearly 600 lbs., descends at 
full speed an incline that it would be impossible for 
a horse to clamber, even without a rider. 
It is the game most beloved by the native 
shikaris, who thoroughly understand its habits. 
Some of these men are deadly shots in their peculiar 
style of hunting, and it has recently become 
necessary to enact special laws throughout the 
Central Provinces of India, nominally to protect the 
wild animals ; but I much fear they will favour the 
native shikari, who never will be captured in the 
act, while they will irritate needlessly the European, 
who would otherwise shoot fairly. 
A sambur stag is not fully developed until ten 
years old ; that is, in the full growth of body and 
