TIGER-SHOOTING. 179 



to 'look out.' He heard me just soon enough, 

 and had only time to get behind the trunk of a 

 large ' mhowa-tree,' when the tigress galloped past 

 him, within a few yards ! 



I heard him fire two shots in rapid succession, 

 and soon made my way up to him. He said 

 that, after his shots, the tigress went on, but 

 very lame; and he had lost sight of her at a 

 spot where the little plateau he was on sloped 

 down to some open ground, covered with 'bher'* 

 bushes (a thorny plant that attains the size of 

 a may-tree in England, and which bears a little 

 round, yellowish fruit that has a bitter-sweet 

 taste), around whose base patches of rumnah- 

 grass, some three feet high, were scattered here 

 and there. 



On reaching the spot where the ground sloped 

 downwards, we saw the tigress lying under a 

 bher-tree out in the open, some two hundred 

 yards from us. Davidson was all for opening fire 

 on her there and then, but I would not assent 

 to this ; and, after some argument as to the best 

 course to pursue, we decided to walk up to her 

 till within some thirty or forty yards before 

 firing, that is, if she would allow us to take such 

 liberties. This we did ; and got up to within 

 some thirty yards of where she was lying, gazing 



* Zizyphus jujuba. 



