THE SAL FORESTS. 391 



phants do not now come so far west as this ; the country to 

 the east of Amarkantak (the source of the Narbada), or at the 

 most the Samni valley, a little nearer than that place, being 

 their most westerly range in this part of India. Formerly, 

 however, the whole of this country, and far to the west of it, 

 was the home of the wild elephant. The etymology of many 

 names, such as the " elephant enclosure," the " elephant pool," 

 etc., would suffice to indicate this ; but besides we have it dis- 

 tinctly recorded, in that valuable work the " Institutes of 

 Akber," that in the 1 6th century elephants were found and cap- 

 tured in the Narbada valley as far west as the Bijagarh and 

 Handia" Sirkars,* which lie partly to the west of the meridian 

 of the present military stations of Mhow and Asirgarh. This 

 is probably the most westerly range of the wild elephant that 

 has been recorded ; and their subsequent disappearance over 

 so large a tract of country speaks volumes for the advance- 

 ment which has taken place in that period. 



The night I was at Topla, two tigers roared loudly round 

 about the camp. We were pitched in a little glade in the 

 sea of grass, and the effect in the clear cold night was very 

 fine. The night voice of the tiger has a very impressive 

 sound, conveying, though not nearly so loud as the bray of a 

 jackass, the idea of immense power, as it rolls and trembles 

 along the earth. Four months later, when I was encamped 

 near Md-tin, in the forests of the far east, I listened one night 

 to the most remarkable serenade of tigers I ever heard. A 

 peculiar long wail, like the drawn out mew of a huge cat, first 

 rose from a river course a few hundred yards below my tent. 

 Presently from a mile or so higher up the river came a deep 

 tremulous roar, which had scarcely died away ere it was 



* Gladwin's " Azeen Akbery," vol. ii. p. 249. 



