iron, and with a little touch of English powder pricked in with a pin
as priming, he is ready for execution on any game that may come within
reach of a safe pot-shot. When the gun goes off there is a mighty
splutter, a roar like that of a small cannon, and the slugs go hurtling
through the bushes, carrying away twigs and leaves, and not
unfrequently smashing up the game so that it is almost useless for the
table.

The _Banturs_, who principally inhabit these jungles, are mostly of
Nepaulese origin. They are a sturdy, independent people, and the women
have fair skins, and are very pretty. Unchastity is very rare, and the
infidelity of a wife is almost unknown. If it is found out, mutilation
and often death are the penalties exacted from the unfortunate woman.
They wear one long loose flowing garment, much like the skirt of a
gown; this is tightly twisted round the body above the bosoms, leaving
the neck and arms quite bare. They are fond of ornaments--nose, ears,
toes and arms, and even ancles, being loaded with silver rings and
circlets. Some decorate their nose and the middle parting of the hair
with a greasy-looking red pigment, while nearly every grown-up woman
has her arms, neck, and low down on the collar bone most artistically
tattooed in a variety of close, elaborate patterns. The women all work
in the clearings; sowing, and weeding, and reaping the rice, barley,
and other crops. They do most of the digging where that is necessary,
the men confining themselves to ploughing and wood-cutting. At the
latter employment they are most expert; they use the axe in the most
masterly manner, but their mode of cutting is fearfully wasteful; they
always leave some three feet of the best part of the wood in the
ground, very rarely cutting a tree close down to the root. Many of
them are good charcoal-burners, and indeed their principal occupation
is supplying the adjacent villages with charcoal and firewood. They use