HOW I KILLED THE TIGER. 15 



are called palkee-bearers, who make it their pro- 

 fession from generation to generation. On what are 

 termed dak or (post) roads, relays of bearers are 

 stationed every ten, fifteen, or twenty miles, as the 

 case may be. But in the part where I was there 

 were no dak roads, so that the bearers you started 

 with had to do the whole journey. The same set of 

 bearers will easily do thirty or forty miles, and this 

 upon a diet of boiled rice only. We think it rather 

 a feat to walk forty miles merely carrying our own 

 bodies. What should we think of carrying a heavy 

 palkee that distance with a big man in it ? 

 Mentioning the palkee brings to my recollection a 

 night journey I was taking through a very jungly 

 part. When I awoke I found my palkee on the 

 ground. After waiting a bit, I slid back one of the 

 doors, and sung out to the bearers. No answer 

 came. " Darkness there and nothing more." I 

 thought it useless to put myself out, so turned 

 over, and went to sleep again. The bearers did 

 not return till daylight, when they told me they 

 had discovered that a tiger was following them, 

 so they put down my palkee, and bolted to the 

 nearest village. The tiger, I suppose, did not 

 much like the look of the palkee, and so passed 

 on. 



The next morning when I awoke I felt horribly 

 seedy, and could eat nothing, barring a dry 



