sun. into the wilderness, to throw off the lethargy of months, and to breathe with freedom. Our home, for some time, would be the forest, a delightful prospect but for fever and leeches; nothing could exceed the beauty of the luxuriant foliage which shaded us from the noonday The tall poma trees (Cedrela toona) and the giantlike himolu (Bombax malabaricum), towering above trees of smaller growth, let down from their branches festoons of ratans, which hung gracefully on the lesser trees, as though placed there by the hands of wood nymphs. Often as we walked along under these dense masses of foliage, the sound of our footsteps would disturb a colony of hulluk monkeys, which scampered off, uttering the mournful screams of hullu, hullu.' So quick are these little black apes in their movements among the branches, that though I have often seen the branches of the trees trembling beneath the weight of their bodies, I never saw one in a wild state. They are grotesque little creatures, standing, when full grown, from sixteen to eighteen inches high, black, with very long arms, and when tamed make very gentle and amusing pets. Confinement seems rather fatal to them, as they are difficult to rear. Though so very nimble among trees, they are very helpless on the ground, as they walk upright, and the natives, especially the Mishmees, who hunt near the foot of the hills, catch many of them during the dry season, when they have to leave the forest and go in search of water. There are, besides these, many varieties of monkeys in the Assam jungles, of which the most troublesome are the large grey sort already mentioned. Just before mid-day, as we were quietly pursuing our march, the coolies in front suddenly shouted to us, and this warning was immediately followed by angry snorts and a tremendous stampede on our right front, and before I had time to look round Chowsam pulled me back, and each made for a tree,* and the whole party in this manner just managed to escape out of the way of a herd of mhitton,† which, having drawn together in a compact body, crashed through the forest direct across our path, and, with heads down until their nostrils almost touched their breasts, bore down all the smaller trees in their way. I could easily have planted a ball in the fine old bull which piloted the herd as I covered the shoulder of the fierce animal, and it required an effort to restrain myself from pulling trigger. It was well that I had sufficient discretion to resist the temptation, for of all denizens of the Assam forest none are more dangerous to encounter afoot than the bull mhitton. Buffaloes will generally run, when hit, in covert, but the bull mhitton charges on first sight of the enemy, and if wounded becomes a most determined assailant, and from the tenacity with which he will follow up his enemy is more to be feared than the rhinoceros. As the noise of the retreating herd died away in the depths of the forest all our party mustered again, and we halted for the mid-day meal. A space several yards in diameter was speedily * Illustration. + Bos frontalis: an animal somewhat resembling a cross between a bull and a buffalo. cleared of dwarf jungle by the effective knives of our men, and we sat down to dried fish and cold rice. In the excitement of the mhitton charge and the chaff which ensued amongst our party-each one whimsically describing with pantomimic gestures the celerity with which his neighbour had made himself scarce-I quite forgot the leeches until a series of sharp pricks on the neck and legs roused me to a sense of their attentions. One of the Khamtees disposed of three that were comfortably enjoying a bloody repast from the veins of my neck, and by dint of partially undressing half a dozen more that had commenced operations on my legs were dispossessed, each leaving behind them a long tiny stream of blood. Of all the hardships and unpleasant sensations experienced in the Assam jungle none have left a more disagreeable recollection than the attacks of land leeches. Often, on sitting down, I could count a dozen of these little animals hurrying from all directions to their prey. In length they are about an inch, while their thickness does not exceed that of an ordinary sewing needle. Their mode of progression is curious in the extreme. Fixing one extremity by means of its bell-shaped sucker firmly on a leaf or on the ground, the leech curves itself into an arch, the other end is then advanced till the creature resembles a loop, again to expand into an arch, but the movement is quicker than words can describe it; the rapidity with which they thus progress along is quite startling. As they occasionally rear themselves perpendicularly and sway about from side to side, taking a survey round them in quest of prey, the observer |