190 



" it was but the old story of the hog-hunter, who, when twitted 

 " with riding more steadily than he had been accustomed to over 

 " the rotten cotton ground of the Dekkan, excused himself in 

 " acknowledging that it was so by making this remarkable confes- 

 " sion : "The fact is, my dear fellows, that now-a-days, whenever 

 " I am galloping over this infernal ground, I see the faces of my 

 " wife and children peeping out of every cranny and hole as I go 

 "along." 



" This, my first tiger I had ever seen, reminds me that oft'times 

 " some lady friends have expressed great desire to be shown a 

 " tiger, and one even went so far as to declare her wish to shoot 

 " one : their idea was that nothing could be easier than to go out a 

 " few miles with an experienced sportsman, and be shown tigers to 

 " any amount. When I tell them that for over nineteen years I 

 " wandered through forests, over mountains, searched hill and 

 " dale for all those years, and never set eyes on a tiger till I met 

 " the one above referred to in the Southern Mahratta country, they 

 " will see it is not so simple a matter as they imagine. Never- 

 " theless, tigers are often met with when least expected ; there 

 " was a story prevalent here many years ago, that a Bengal 

 " Civilian out shooting, was sitting watching a wood being 

 " beaten, when out walked a tiger ; the gentleman stole away, and 

 " hid himself till the tiger had passed, and then resumed his post, 

 " but he had not long been there, before another tiger appeared, 

 " and *still closer to him. This was too much, so away Mr,* 

 tf went, and was not to be persuaded to watch any more that day. 

 " A similar story is told of our present Advocate General, who 

 " when out for woodcock, suddenly observed a tiger coming his 

 " way ; he too declined further acquaintance, and took himself 

 " home with the remark that " he came to shoot cock, not to be 

 " eaten by tigers ;" but to return. Another instance of a tiger 

 " unknowingly stalking a man, happened a few years ago, when a 

 " sportsman returning in the dusk, mounted on a dark-colored 

 " pony, was followed by a tiger, who on the side of the hill, kept 

 " parallel with the rider, evidently mistaking the pony for a sam- 

 " bur, and so continued alongside some sixty or eighty yards oif 



Vide page 199. 



