XXVI 
THE SPOTTED DEER 
345 
meat should always be preserved in wild countries, 
as there is frequently a feast to be followed by a fast. 
Although the appearance of flesh thus roughly treated 
is not exactly encouraging to a delicate appetite, it 
may be rendered excellent by beating it between 
two stones until well pulverised, and then trans¬ 
forming it into a curry, with the addition of a couple 
of hard-boiled eggs or vegetables. The venison of 
the spotted deer is seldom or never fat, although 
the animal is exceedingly round and fleshy. I have 
never found that good pasturage has improved the 
quality of the meat, which is rather wanting in 
flavour, and not to be compared with that of the 
black-buck or the hog-deer. 
The horns exhibit the effect of pasturage, as 
those of India are much superior in average length 
to the antlers of Ceylon. In the latter country the 
effect of a poor and inferior soil is marked among 
all wild animals, as there is an absence of lime and 
phosphates, which deprives the elephants of ivory, 
and dwarfs the horns of buffaloes and deer. I have 
observed in India a superlative shyness in the 
cheetul, which is the result of the unremitting 
pursuit of the native shikari. This fellow is 
specially adapted by nature for destroying the 
spotted deer. The habits of the animal induce it to 
inhabit the thick jungles upon the banks of streams. 
These are fringes seldom more than 150 yards in 
width. The shikari accordingly squats upon the 
ground, concealed as already described by a few 
bushes, while he sends a couple of boys up wind to 
