94 TIGERS. 



ghauts, and at other dangerous places near their 

 accustomed haunts. 



At the time when the tigers infest any particu- 

 lar road or pass, a Buoyeah* erects a temporary 

 hut near, and remains in it every day, from morn- 

 ing until sun set. The travellers assemble at this 

 hut, until ten or a dozen are collected together. 

 The Buoyeah then kills a fowl, over which he 

 says a prayer, offering it as a sacrifice to the 

 Deity in behalf of the present company, that they 

 may not become food for tigers ; for which, each 

 person gives him something, according to his 

 circumstances, from the value of a few cowries, 

 (shells) to a rupee. They then travel on with 

 perfect confidence, and should any one of them 

 be killed by a tiger, the Buoyeah says that his 

 sins were too great for the Almighty to admit of 

 any intercession for him. 



The formation of a tiger's fore leg and foot is 

 so exquisitely contrived for the purpose it is in- 



* Buoyeahs are a low cast of Hindoos, inhabitants of the 

 hills. Most of them are supposed to become tigers in an- 

 other world, and to possess the power of charming them in 

 this. 



