1 48 CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS, &C.
2 which they take great pride. With Runjeet
3 Singh admiration and love for these animals
4 reached a passion, the knowledge of which in-
5 duced the British government some years ago to
6 send him some fine specimens of the cart-horse,
7 in comparison to which the finest Punjaubee
8 horses are but dwarf ponies.
9 The birds of the country are numerous and of
10 great variety of character. Besides the common
11 domestic fowl, the sparrow, the crow, the hawk,
12 the magpie, the pigeon, and similar habitual
13 tenants of the farm-yard, there are in the forests,
14 fields, and lakes, pea-fowl and jungle fowl, par-
15 tridges, pheasants, quails, parrots, the wild duck,
16 the teal, snipe, curlews, herons, cranes^ eagles,
17 pelicans, vultures, falcons, nightingales, the mock-
18 ing-bird, owls, &c. The rivers swarm with fish,
19 such as mullet, carp, &c., with a great variety
20 totally unknown even by name to the European.
21 As in all other parts of the warm and glowing
22 East, reptiles are* abundant, but the number of
23 venomous serpents happily bears no proportion
24 to the vast tribes of innocuous snakes. The bee
25 and the silk- worm thrive in the Punjaub, and the
26 fruits of their industry constitute valuable articles
27 of trade and home consumption.