296 A HERDSMAN CARRIED OFF. 



lyenpoor, five miles from Morlay, but I did not hear of this till two days 

 afterwards. 



On Christmas-day I thought I would look up the jungles in the lyen- 

 poor direction, so took an elephant and some trackers in hopes of learning 

 something of the tigress's habits. The unfortunate man's wife, with her three 

 small children, were brought to me as I entered the village. The woman, 

 with the strange apathy of a Hindoo, related what she knew of her hus- 

 band's death without a tear. I gave her some money, as she would have 

 to expend a small sum in accordance with caste usage to rid her of the 

 devil by which she was supposed to be attended on account of her husband's 

 having been killed by a tiger, before she would be admitted into her caste's 

 villages ; and then, accompanied by the headman and others, went to the 

 scene of the last disaster. A solitary tamarind -tree grew on some rocks 

 close to the village ; there was no jungle within three hundred yards, only 

 a few bushes in the crevices of the rocks ; close by was the broad cattle- 

 track into the village. The unfortunate man had been following the cattle 

 home in the evening, and must have stopped to knock down some tama- 

 rinds with liis stick, which, with his black blanket and a skin skull-cap, still 

 lay where he was seized. The tigress had been hidden in the rocks, and in 

 one bound seized him, dragged him to the edge of a small plateau of rock, 

 from which she jumped down into a field below, and there killed him. The 

 place was still marked by a pool of dried blood. She had then dragged her 

 victim half a mile, to a spot where we still found his leg-bones. 



After walking about for two hours with the trackers, in the hopes of 

 seeing recent marks of the tigress, but without success, the village cattle 

 were sent for and herded into the jungles in the hope of attracting her if 

 near. The poor beasts were, however, so frightened by the constant attacks 

 of tigers, that we could scarcely get them to face the jungle, and a partridge 

 rising suddenly was too much for their nerves, and sent them, tails up, to 

 the village before they had been out half an hour. After some time tliey 

 were got back. About 1 p.m., as they were feeding near a cover in a hollow 

 encircled on three sides by low hills covered with bamboo, and a very pretty 

 spot for a tiger, a wild scurry took place as a large tiger rushed amongst 

 the foremost of them. Strange to say they all escaped, two only being 

 slightly wounded ; a few plucky buffaloes were in advance, and inter- 

 fered considerably with the tiger's attack, as these animals never hesitate 

 to do. 



Up to this time I had been walking, rifle in hand, amongst the cattle, 

 but the heat was considerable, and at this unlucky moment I was some 

 little distance behind getting a drink, or I might have had a shot. As the 



