vii THE TIGER 153 



I knew this must be my shikari, Sheik Jhart, and I felt sure 

 that he had missed, as the two shots were in such rapid succession. 

 If the first had struck the object, the second would not have been 

 fired so quickly ; if the first had missed, the exceeding quickness 

 of the second shot would suggest confusion. 



After waiting at least ten minutes without a sound of any 

 animal, I whistled for the elephant, and descending from my post, 

 I rode towards the position of Sheik JMn. 



A crowd of beaters were assembled, some of whom were engaged 

 in searching for the bullets which he had fired, both of which had 

 missed the tiger when within 12 yards' distance, although march- 

 ing slowly over the sands and rocks in the bed of a large river ; 

 the natives were digging with pointed sticks into a grassy mound 

 of sand. 



Sheik Jh&n described that an immense tiger had quietly passed 

 close to him, but that no doubt it had a devil, as neither bullet 

 had taken the least effect. 



This was the customary termination ; therefore no other course 

 was left than to return to camp, the result having verified the 

 prediction of the natives. 



We now steered direct for the carcase of the buffalo, about 1^ 

 mile distant. Upon our arrival in the rocky bed of a dry river, 

 where the smell of the tiger was extremely strong, we found the 

 remains of the buffalo, a small portion of which had been eaten ; 

 I was assured by those who knew the habits of this tiger that it 

 would return during the night, and that upon the following morn- 

 ing we should certainly obtain another shot. 



I amused myself during the day by visiting the various smelt- 

 ing furnaces, all of which were upon a small scale, although 

 numerous, and the method pursued was the same which I have 

 found invariable among savage people. This consists in strong 

 bellows worked by hand, the draught being sustained by continual 

 relief of blowers, while the furnaces are constructed of clay, in the 

 centre of which a small hole contains about a bushel of finely 

 broken ore. Some powdered limestone was used as a flux, and 

 the produce of a hard day's work, with five or six men employed, 

 was about 15 Ibs. of iron of the finest quality. This was never 

 actually in a fluid molten state, but it was reduced when at white 

 heat to a soft spongy mass resembling half-melted wax ; it was 

 then alternately hammered and again subjected to a white heat, 

 until it arrived at the required degree of purity. The fuel was 

 charcoal prepared from some special wood. 



In the evening I pondered over the failure of Sheik Jhan, who 



