A JUNGLE RECOLLECTION. 171 



owl, and the booming noise made by the large rock 

 monkeys, were plainly audible. A pack of jackals, 

 moreover, were quarrelling, in a small ravine close 

 at hand, over the remains of a bullock killed and 

 dragged thither by a tiger on the 'preceding night. 

 I sat for some time listening, until just as the moon 

 rose the loud roar of a tiger at no great distance 

 made me start, and scan with great attention the 

 dense mass of grass and 'horinda' bushes that 

 bordered the glade. Presently the roar was 

 repeated, now much nearer, the bushes rustled 

 about ten paces off, and a large tigress stole 

 cautiously from the sheltering bushes into the open 

 ground. After glancing round her two or three 

 times, switching her tail impatiently, she stretched 

 out her neck and uttered a prolonged roar that 

 reverberated through the jungle. To my surprise 

 she was almost immediately answered by the louder 

 and deeper voice of a male tiger, who soon after 

 also emerged from the cover. He was truly a 

 splendid-looking animal, and as he stood in striped 

 beauty before me, a perfect model of strength and 

 activity combined, I thought how powerless a man 

 would be in the resistless grip of such a monster. 

 As soon as he perceived the tigress he was trotting 

 up to her with tail erect, purring loudly, exactly 

 as a domestic cat would do under similar circum- 

 stances, when suddenly a terrific roar was heard, 



