THE HIGHER XARIJADA. 315 



had retired to dine at their leisure. Of one the head 

 iilone was left, and the head and fore-quarters of the 

 other. The carcases had evidently been most scienti- 

 fically cleaned out by these professional butchers before 

 setting to work, the dung and other refuse being care- 

 fully piled up at a little distance, so as not to come 

 between the wind and their nobility during the repast. 

 Vultures, kites, and crows had already commenced to 

 demolish the remainder — a sure sio-n that our crame had 

 left the immediate neighbourhood. 



Taking up the tracks, we followed them fur about 

 half a mile along the ravine towards the river. The 

 prints of the old lady and her daughters were nearly 

 the same in size, and scarcely distinguishable. The 

 Gonds who were tracking declared that they could tell 

 that the cubs were both females. This, I confess, I was 

 somewhat incredulous of, although I had frequently had 

 occasion to admire their extraordinary skill in trackinf ; 

 and I thought they were merely trusting to the well- 

 known preponderance of female over male cubs,* to get 

 a little kudos in the event of their prediction turning 

 out true. This was subsequently the case, but I have 

 since learned that the footmarks are really distinguish- 

 able. On inquiry, I found that while the foot of the 

 male leaves an impression nearly round, that of the 

 tigress is almost oval. On seeing them both together 

 the difierence is at once perceived. This is likewise 

 true of the male and female panther. With a single 

 exception, the footprints of all these great cats can be 

 distinguished with certainty after a little practice, which 



* Xatives account for this by saying that the old male tiger kills 

 all the male cubs he comes across when they are young ; and thoy 

 describe so similarly, in different parts of the country, the manoeuvres 

 of mamma to protect her young " hopefuls" against their unnatural 

 papa, that I have little doubt of the truth of the story. 



