ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 203 



Political Officer with the force under Colonel Stuart, for the 

 siege of Dhar and the relief of the besieged garrison of Nee- 

 much. He subsequently accompanied the force to Chundairee, 

 in Bundelcund, where he guided the stormers up the breach. 

 In this affair he was severely wounded, and for his gallantry 

 he received the Victoria Cross : no man ever earned it better. 



My official duties and the disturbed state of the country 

 during the period I was in charge of the Province of Mmar, 

 did not allow me much time for field sports. My head- 

 quarters were at Mundlaisir, on the Nerbudda, but I also re- 

 tained the Maunpore district. Before leaving my house there, 

 I had built a trap for panthers, which I left with Buggoo Sing, 

 who succeeded in catching several. The trap was composed 

 of bars of stout wood, three inches apart, in the form of a 

 box, seven feet in length, four in height, and four in width. 

 At one end was a compartment to hold a live goat, the bars 

 at this part being sufficiently close to exclude the paw of a 

 panther. The partition bars were of iron, so as not to impede 

 a full view of the goat from the door, which was at one end, 

 and working perpendicularly in a slide. To the door was 

 attached a trigger, communicating with the centre of the trap, 

 so that any beast rushing in at the goat would free the door, 

 which would drop down behind him. I should not have 

 resorted to this contrivance had I been able to shoot these 

 panthers, but they lay during the day-time concealed in rocks 

 and caves, and could not be got otherwise. 



Another trap was made of rough jungle-wood, tied with 

 strips of bark, in the form of a triangle, eleven feet in length 

 and six in breadth at the base. Across this triangle were 

 tied other sticks, and on these were laid heavy stones. A 

 forked stick, five feet in height, was then planted in the 

 ground, on which worked a twelve-foot sapling, one end 



