Archive image from page 121 of The diary of a sportsman. The diary of a sportsman naturalist in India . diaryofsportsman00steb Year: 1920 92 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST onwards again. On the way we passed through an area of burnt forest and very parching work it had been, mouth, nose and eyes becoming clogged with the fme powdery dust which rose on all sides at our every stride. These forest fires, or rather the work of extinguishing them, is about the most onerous of the jobs the Forest Officer has to tackle in India. They occur in the hot weather between early March and the time when th
Archive image from page 121 of The diary of a sportsman. The diary of a sportsman naturalist in India . diaryofsportsman00steb Year: 1920 92 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST onwards again. On the way we passed through an area of burnt forest and very parching work it had been, mouth, nose and eyes becoming clogged with the fme powdery dust which rose on all sides at our every stride. These forest fires, or rather the work of extinguishing them, is about the most onerous of the jobs the Forest Officer has to tackle in India. They occur in the hot weather between early March and the time when the rains break in June and early July. The forest during this period becomes like a tinder—full of inflammable spear grass two to three feet high, or in other parts elephant or tiger grass, fifteen to twenty feet high, with bamboos and other inflammable matter in abundance. Owing to the carelessness of travellers lighting fires to cook their food, smoking in the forest, or to wilful incendiarism by cattle owners or others, great tracts of forest may be burnt out at this season, backed as the fire is by the prevalent hot winds. Great sheets of flame sweep onward consuming everything, dry leaves, twigs, grass, and darting and curling up the tree-trunks and bamboos, the latter under the heat bursting with the crack of a rifle shot. It is a wonderful sight, but dangerous work trying to put out a big fire, as, without exercising care, one may get cut off by the flames creeping round without one being able to perceive it till too late. Shortly before reaching the burnt-out patches we were suddenly startled by the sharp barks of the muntjac or barking deer coming from a point about twenty yards away. I crept forward and a rush sounded in the jungle, and again the sharp barks recommenced, but still quite close. I continued moving cautiously forward and suddenly halted. Before me in a small form in the grass lay a tiny, light yellow-brown object, pure white beneath. It was a tiny deer.
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