162 SHIKAR SKETCHES. 



like as it was on the day it happened some six- 

 teen years ago. It was on this wise : 



Myself and a brother-officer (Captain Clay, 

 above referred to) reached during our trip a place 

 called Marouda, situated oil the banks of a river, 

 a tributary of the Wein Gunga, if I remember 

 rightly, in the Chan da district. We here heard that 

 a tiger, tigress, and three cubs frequented a strip 

 of jungle on the banks of the river; the tigress, 

 moreover, had by native report been magnified 

 into c a man-eater,' and was said to have killed a 

 man the day previous to our arrival. This, 

 indeed, proved to be the fact ; but that the poor 

 wretch lost his life was due entirely to his own 

 carelessness and fool hardiness. The man in 

 question had a small patch of cultivation border- 

 ing the cover in which the tigers generally lay 

 up. The cubs in their gambols had done con- 

 siderable damage to the crop, rolling about in it, 

 and breaking down the plants. In order to 

 prevent their making his field their playground, 

 the owner, in spite of being advised to the con- 

 trary, announced his determination of setting fire 

 to the long grass at the edge of the jungle. This 

 intention he accordingly proceeded to carry into 

 effect, and had hardly kindled the flames which 

 were to ensure him from future damage when the 

 tigress, who had been lying up within a few 



