62 HISTORY OF THE TIGER. 



strictly abstained from firing, reserving our whole battery 

 for the nobler game, the tiger. It was perhaps fortunate 

 that we did not rind one in the (hick part of the forest, as 

 the trees were so close set, and so interwoven with thorns 

 and parasite plants, that the elephants were often obliged to 

 clear for themselves a passage by their own pressing exer- 

 tions. It is curious on these occasions to see the enormous 

 trees these animals will overthrow on a word from their 

 masters, they place their foreheads against the obnoxious 

 plants, twisting their trunks round it, and gradually bend- 

 ing it towards the ground, until they can place a foot upon 

 it. This done, down comes the tree with crashing stem and 

 upturned roots. The elephant must be well educated to 

 accomplish this duty in a gentlemanlike manner: that is, 

 without roaring sulkily, or shaking his master by to violent 

 exertions. 



" On clearing the wood, we entered an open space of 

 marshy grass, not three feet high ; a large herd of cattle 

 wefe feeding there, and the herdsman was sitting singing 

 under a bush ; when just as the former began to move before 

 us, up sprang the very tiger to whom our visit was intended, 

 and cantered off across a bare plain, dotted with small 

 patches of bush jungle. He took to the open country in a 

 style which would have more become a fox than a tiger, who 

 is expected by his pursuers to fight and not to run ; and as 

 he was flushed on the the flank of the line, only one bullet 

 was fired at him ere he cleared the thick grass. He was 

 unhurt, and we pursued him at full speed. Twice he threw 

 us out by stopping short in small stripes of jungle; then, 

 heading back after we had passed, he gave us a very 

 fast trot of about two miles, when Colonel Arnold, who 

 led the field, at last reached him by a capital shot, his 

 elephant being in full career. As soon as he felt himself 

 wounded, the tiger crept into a close thicket of trees and 

 bushes, and crouched. The two leading sportsmen over- 



