112 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



frequented by nylghae. We had not gone far before a large 

 cow passed across the track. We moved quietly on, and I got 

 a fair shot. She went off, however, and on my slipping the dog 

 he disappeared in the jungle, and did not return for some time. 

 Blood was visible about his muzzle, but we never got the cow. 

 Some days after, we learned that the dog had run her down 

 and killed her close to a village, and that her carcass had been 

 eaten by the Dhers and other men of low caste. Soon after 

 we came on another herd, and this time I got a fair standing 

 shot, dropping a large blue bull. The rest of the herd went 

 off through some high grass, and with iny second barrel I 

 bagged a fat cow. My companion was greatly excited. He 

 was of a practical turn of mind, and at once suggested that 

 meat so easily obtained might be turned to good account, and 

 that we ought without delay to enter into a contract to supply 

 her Majesty's navy with salt beef. 



At a village a few miles to the south-west of Dholka we 

 fell in with two specimens of the boa or rock snake. They 

 were not very large, only about seven feet long, but stout. 

 They had taken up their quarters in an old tree, which over- 

 shadowed the tents. The main trunk and many of the 

 larger branches were hollow ; and a groom, as he lay on some 

 straw near his horses, observed one of the serpents project his 

 head from a hole about thirty feet from the ground. He 

 at once called out, and my friend Bulkley fetched his rifle 

 and put a ball through the head of the snake, which, after 

 a few convulsive struggles, threw itself from the hole and fell 

 at our feet. The other showed itself a day or two after, and 

 was also slain. 



In the open plains about twelve miles to the south-west 

 of the town of Dholka were large tracts covered with high 

 grass, and these were frequently resorted to by panthers. 



