te in a collection of mud-
built closely packed huts, showing a gregarious disposition, and great
aversion to living alone. I do not remember to have passed one solitary
house. As the whole of the country is richly cultivated, the distance of
their dwellings from the scene of their daily labour must in some
instances be considerable.

The Gandaki, over which we were ferried, is a large stream rising in
Nepaul, and as broad as the Gograh. We went some distance up its banks,
in the hopes of finding wild-pig, but were unsuccessful.

The minister, however, being determined not to go home empty handed,
doomed to destruction a huge alligator, unconsciously basking on a sand-
bank. Accordingly, arming eight of us with double-barrelled rifles, he
marched us in an orderly manner to the bank, when, at a given signal, 16
balls whistled through the air, arousing in a most unpleasant manner the
monster from his mid-day slumbers, who plunged into the stream and
disappeared almost instantaneously, and the Minister Sahib, coolly
pulling out the wallet which contained his tiffin, remarked that we might
profitably employ ourselves in that way until he came up to breathe, when
he should receive another dose. Retiring therefore a few yards from
me--for a Hindoo may not eat in the presence of a Christian--he and his
brothers were soon deep in the mysteries of curious viands. Perceiving,
however, that I was not prepared for an alfresco luncheon, he shared with
me some grapes, pomegranates, etc., as well as a piece of green-looking
meat, which I found very delightfully scented. As we were in the middle
of our repast, our wounded friend showed his nose above the water, when
he was immediately struck by a splendid shot from the minister, who was
in no way disconcerted by having his mouth full at the time. Lashing the
water furiously with his tail, the alligator once more disappeared: he
came up shortly after, and the same scene was enacted three times before
his huge form floated lifeless down the stream.

CHAPTER IV.

_A picnic on the Nepaul frontier--A boar-hunt--The Terai and its
resources--Our shooting quarters--Incidents of sport--A tiger-hunt--The
great elephant exhibition of 1851--Camp Bechiacor_.

Pitched under the shade of some wide-spreading mangoes are a variety of
tents of all sizes, from the handsome and spacious marquee to the snug
sleeping tent; near them are picqueted a number of fine-looking Arab
horses in