Tiger Shooting. 19 



letter my adventures and begged them to come to 

 me at once, as I felt sure we could bag one, if not 

 two, tigers. Instructing the sowar that the " chit " 

 was of the greatest importance, he mounted and went 

 off at full gallop. I then explored the locality and 

 found the dead bullocks one partially eaten and the 

 other all but untouched collected wood which would 

 help to rig up a machan, and then sat down to an 

 early breakfast, but whilst I was still eating, the "ghari- 

 wan " arrived with a fresh pole and a relay of cattle. 

 The cart was soon after repaired, dragged across 

 the watercourse, and sent off to a distance. This 

 done, with the help of a villager or two I erected 

 two machans about eight feet high, for the trees were 

 not large, and besides I anticipated no danger. The 

 carcases were then dragged into the open in front of 

 my perches and covered over with long grass to hide 

 them from the birds of prey which otherwise would 

 not have long left a scrap of them remaining. About 

 4 P.M. I was glad to see several coolies arrive with 

 pittaralis (leather-covered baskets, which they sling 

 across their shoulders on a bamboo) containing things 

 necessary for a dinner, as w r ell as wines, beer, &c., 

 the latter being immediately after their production 

 submerged in the stream as an impromptu excellent 

 substitute for icing. About 5 P.M., two of my friends 

 arrived. I will denote them as A and B ; the third 

 had gone ahead to our future camp, where we were to 

 join him. The adventures of the previous night we 

 discussed over our early dinner, and mounted our 

 machans just as the sun was setting. As Eama- 

 sawmy was afraid to go alone to the village where the 

 other people had gone, B took him into his perch. The 



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