ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 279 



pleasant odour arising from below, from which he inferred 

 that the tiger was dead. We at once went to the place, and 

 climbing down the rock came to the main entrance, where a 

 close inspection of the cave at once explained to us how the 

 tiger, which lay under a mass of huge fragments of rock, had 

 been unaffected by the smoke and fire with which we had 

 assailed him on the previous evening. In the middle of the 

 cave, resting on his back, lay the dead body of the tiger, a 

 very large male. He had probably died when we heard the 

 cry among the rocks below us. The night had been very hot, 

 and the carcass had become swollen with gas till it looked 

 positively monstrous. Beside him was a ghastly mess of mas- 

 ticated buffalo, which he had disgorged in his dying agonies. 

 I entered the cave with several of my men, who proceeded to 

 turn over the huge beast. In so doing they pressed upon the 

 carcass, and the gas escaping from the bullet-holes nearly 

 choked us. I was nearly stifled, but, holding my breath, I 

 made a rush at the main entrance and gained the open air. 

 It required a long and a strong pull at the brandy-flask to 

 restore my equanimity. 



After allowing some time for the atmosphere to clear, we 

 re-entered the cave, but found it impossible to lift out the 

 tiger. We therefore resolved on skinning him as he lay. This 

 operation I left to the men, and we remained outside till it 

 was completed. On cleaning his skull, I found he had been 

 fired at on some previous occasion. The ball had struck him 

 across the face in front of the eyes, passing through the bones. 

 The side on which the ball had entered was marked by a clean 

 round hole. On that on which it had passed out a large frag- 

 ment of bone had been carried away ; but nature was busy 

 repairing the damage, and the bone was throwing out growth. 

 I have this skull now in Scotland. It was possibly the recol- 



