CHAPTER V 



A description of my shikaris A reliable quartette The wild man of the 

 woods A true Aborigine My first introduction to him The palaver 

 Brother Shikaris Become the best of friends His progress in life 

 The tiger, and how to get him The best season for tiger-shooting 

 Baiting the jungles Looking up the baits Tracking by foot- 

 prints Stops on trees The drive Monkeys and peacocks as guides 

 Random shooting to be avoided Following up a wounded tiger 

 Dangerous but necessary Precautions to be taken The art of track- 

 ing How to be acquired Difficult at first Hyena or panther How 

 a tiger can be distinguished from a tigress An adventure on the 

 Satpuda hills A tigress and her cubs Arranging the beat The 

 tigress viewed A beater charged Seeks refuge in a tree Seized by 

 the leg I go to the rescue The wounded man sent into camp 

 Tigress takes cover Refuses to come out We attack her in her 

 stronghold A furious charge and subsequent retreat Darkness sets 

 in We leave her for the night. 



THE names of the four shikaris referred to were Etoo, 

 Gungdya, Bapu and Sabha, and a pluckier or more 

 reliable quartette would be difficult to find. Etoo was a 

 Havildar, or Sergeant, in the Bhil Corps. He belonged to 

 a family of shikaris, and his father before him had been 

 Probyn's favourite gun-carrier in the days of muzzle 

 loaders. His son, Gungdya, a chip of the old block, was 

 also a private in the corps, a quiet unassuming man, but 

 cool and self-possessed withal. He was also an excellent 

 shot. 



Bapu, a real wild man of the woods, I picked up one 

 day in rather a curious fashion when shooting in the 

 Barwanee jungles of H.H. the Holkar. A true aborigine, 

 he had literally lived all his life amongst wild beasts, and 

 possessed the most extraordinary knowledge of their habits. 

 As a tracker he was unequalled. It was about Christmas 

 time in 1888 that I first met him. I was out one evening 

 in the hills looking for sambar, when I saw in the dense 

 jungle below me what at first appeared to be a bear, 

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