188 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



giving her the coup de grace. From this adventure I again 

 learnt the great importance of thoroughly beating any covert 

 in which a tiger or panther was supposed to be lying up, and 

 of never relaxing my attention till the last corner had been 

 carefully beaten out. We supposed that this tigress, when 

 disturbed by us, was probably intent on watching the herd of 

 goats ; but whatever her intentions towards them, we had, at 

 least, earned the gratitude of the cowherds of the district. 



I was glad to make for some shady trees overhanging the 

 river, by the side of a long pool, where I dismounted, and sat 

 down on the sand, while the mahouts removed to a short 

 distance, and stood with their elephants in the deeper water. 

 Meanwhile my men busied themselves scooping out wells in 

 the sand, near the water's edge, for the natives of India are 

 fully aware of the value of filtered water, and never drink 

 direct from the pools in the jungle. Scraping out the sand 

 and gravel with their hands till they got below the water- 

 level, they dexterously splashed out the mud from the holes, 

 and then, having allowed them to fill gradually with clear 

 water, the men sat round and drank freely, using the broad 

 leaves of the kakra tree as drinking-cups. The pipe was then 

 passed from hand to hand, each man taking about three draws, 

 and filling his whole body with smoke in the operation. 



I was in the full enjoyment of my own pipe, when one of 

 the elephants, uttering a fearful shriek, rushed from the pool, 

 and narrowly avoided trampling on some of the men. A red 

 bullock had been crossing the sandy bed of the river, some 

 300 yards above us, and, I suppose, was taken by the elephant 

 (who had been rather excited by the morning's work) to be 

 a tiger of gigantic proportions. In vain the driver shouted 

 and held on to his ear with the boathook-like goad. The 

 frantic brute rushed out of the river and up the bank. For- 



