Jungle By- Ways in India 



at a glancing streak of yellow suddenly appearing 

 out of and disappearing into the grass so like in 

 colouration to itself. Or ready for that far more 

 exciting moment, the direct charge of a real fight- 

 ing royal tiger who means business. Body and 

 mind are braced up to breaking-point with the 

 concentration necessary to emerge successfully 

 from this ordeal, for on your hand and eye depend 

 your elephant's safety. Should the tiger make 

 good his charge and get home on the elephant's 

 head or quarters, both you and the mahout are 

 likely to have a rocky time of it for the next few 

 moments, whilst the chances are that your ele- 

 phant will have finished his career as a shikar 

 one. For an elephant once mauled by tiger 

 usually refuses to face ' stripes ' ever after. And a 

 ' bolter,' when a tiger is charging, is about as un- 

 comfortable a mount to sit upon as could be 

 found in a long day's march ; and more especially 

 is this the case when one is in a howdah, for you 

 cannot slip out of this with the same ease as you 

 can slip off the pad. 



As we move slowly along, it is difficult to keep 

 one's eyes from the beautiful panorama before us. 

 We are slowly swaying and swishing through a sea 

 of thick, tall, yellow elephant - grass, which in 

 places rears its last season's flower-stalks far above 

 our heads. This grass clothes the edge of the 

 nullah in a dense mass, and as we emerge from 

 it into the rao bed we see in front of us a vivid 



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