148 CANE-BRAKES. 



party, when we commenced a regular and careful beat round 

 about the place where the tigress had been seen. But not- 

 withstanding some of the elephants showing the usual and 

 unmistakable signs of a tiger's proximity in acknowledg- 

 ing the scent by smartly tapping the ground with their 

 trunks, from which they at the same time emitted a peculiar 

 metallic sound and the noisy commotion among the jungle- 

 fowl, and a troop of monkeys that were chattering and gib- 

 bering away as they swung themselves from branch to branch 

 in the trees, which also betokened the presence of Madam 

 Stripes in the vicinity, we failed to find her. The jungle 

 was so thick and tangled that our progress was necessarily 

 very slow, which delay she had evidently taken advantage 

 of to slink away. 



All hope of finding the tigress being at an end, we pro- 

 ceeded to cross the Ganges where it was fordable by the 

 elephants, and commenced beating up the cane-brakes, or 

 " bent jungles " as they are commonly called. The canes in 

 these brakes have a remarkably beautiful appearance, grow- 

 ing in widespread tangled masses, or trailing in graceful 

 festoons from the trees, their glossy dark-green fronds re- 

 sembling drooping plumes of feathers. But of all bad 

 ground for a line of elephants to get over, commend me to a 

 bent jungle as being the worst. The canes are so closely 

 interwoven, and so covered with strong hooked thorns, and 

 the places they grow in are so soft and swampy, that it is 

 sometimes quite impossible for an elephant to force its way 

 through them. For dislodging tigers from such spots, a 

 kind of firework called anar, which makes a deal of noise 

 and smoke, is used. But even this often fails to drive them 

 fairly out of these sanctuaries, in which they are very fond 

 of lying up during the intense heat of the day. 



It has been said that of the risks run in tiger-shooting 

 from elephants, the danger from the tiger itself is the 

 smallest. This is a matter of opinion. But there is no 

 doubt about there being other dangers quite as great attend- 



