ADVENTURES IN CAMP AND JUNGLE. 319 



Nerbudda to shoot alligators. We obtained a boat, and while 

 punting across the stream, a large crocodile came to the 

 surface about twenty yards from us. I fired with a two-ounce 

 rifle, striking him fair on the head, but he sank, and we could 

 not recover him. We then hunted about the still water 

 among the rocks, and presently saw several alligators 

 swimming about in a quiet pool. A dark object appeared on 

 the surface, and was immediately fired into by Bashi. On 

 going forward we found it was the dead body of a woman, 

 which had probably been cast into the sacred stream by her 

 sorrowing relatives ; for, like the Ganges, though in a lesser 

 degree, the Nerbudda is an object of great veneration among 

 Hindoos. We were much shocked, and left the alligators to 

 finish their meal undisturbed. 



One of our horsemen was sent in next morning from 

 Bhowtee, near the mouth of the Goee river, five miles to the 

 westward. He reported a tigress to be lying in the bed of 

 the river, where she had retired after feasting on one of our 

 buffaloes. She got away without a shot, but was fortunately 

 headed by some of our men, and returned to the covert. As 

 we moved towards her she charged viciously from a distance 

 of more than seventy yards, but the ground was tolerably 

 clear, and our elephants being steady, she did not get home. 

 Though very plucky, she was a small beast, only 8 feet 4 

 inches in length. Suspecting that we should find more tigers 

 in this country, we moved our camp westward to the junction 

 of the Goee with the Nerbudda, and sent parties of men to 

 scour the country in several directions. In the evening I 

 went out with Evans, and we got a nice buck chinkara. On 

 a sandbank by the Nerbudda we saw a large flock of 

 pelicans. 



Intelligence came next morning from three different parties. 



