2 94 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



good Hiodi'is, will not sell cattle avowedly to be tied up 

 for tigers ; nor will your Hindii sliikaiis tie them up 

 with their own hands, though few wdll object to super- 

 intend the operation. The flimsiest disguise is, however, 

 sufficient to quiet the consciences of the cattle men, who 

 will sell a herd of young buffaloes in open market to 

 your Mahomedan shikari dressed up as a trader in kine, 

 though they may have known him for a bloody-minded 

 baiter for tigers all their lives. I remember being very 

 hard up for a bait once in the Nimar district, having 

 come to a place where tigers were very destructive when 

 I had none of my own. All I could say would not induce 

 the Gaolis (cow-keepers) of the place to sell me a single 

 head during the day-time, the owner of the village 

 being a Bagh^l Rajpiit, a clan which claims descent from 

 a royal tiger, and protects the species whenever they can. 

 1 was standing outside my tent in the evening, when the 

 village cattle were being driven in, having given up all 

 idea of halting for the tigers another day, when a fine 

 tall young Gaoli stepped up with a salaam and said, 

 " Sahib, I have lost a very fine young buffalo in the 

 jungle, and it will very probably be snapped up by the 

 tigers ; but if you would send some one along that road 

 perhaps he might find it, and we will be pleased if your 

 Highness will keep it, as you are going away from this 

 to-morrow." He grinned a broad grin as he finished, 

 and I spotted his game ; so sending along the " Lalla " 

 about a quarter of a mile we found a very sufficient 

 young wall-eyed buffiilo tied by a piece of straw rope to 

 a little tree ! We had barely time to get the little brute 

 put out in a proper place before nightfall ; but he was 

 duly taken, and we shot a fine tigress, and wounded and 

 lost a tiger, the next day ! 



The morning after the baits have been tied out a 



