346 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



end to him. This was a very old beast, light in colour, and 

 much scarred about the face. Many of his teeth were broken 

 and decayed. We passed on to Baug, and found a panther in 

 some cactus bushes a short distance below the caves. He lay 

 near the top of a very high bank, and as one gun was to be 

 posted above, we drew lots. The position fell to Froom, who 

 was rewarded for the toilsome ascent by getting the panther, 

 which he shot in good style as it went up the bank. We 

 hunted all the old iron-pits round Baug, but found no marks 

 of tigers ; and the only addition to our bag was a large blue 

 bull, which started up suddenly from a nullah, and was 

 dropped as he went off. 



From Baug we made a long march to the eastward, and 

 camped in the Maun river, in a country which I had not 

 hitherto visited. There was only one tree which offered good 

 shade, and the ground below it was so infested with cattle- 

 ticks, that we were continually obliged to wear our long 

 riding-boots. But our hearts were gladdened on the following 

 morning by the arrival of Dhokul, who with his men had 

 marked a tiger and a panther into the bed of the river, a short 

 distance above our camp. The tigress, for such it was, had 

 taken up her quarters for the day among a mass of shingle 

 and willows, on a bit of ground which had been swept by the 

 stream in high floods. Men having been posted in trees to 

 look out, we went at her on the elephants, and I presently 

 caught sight of her crouching among the willows, and evi- 

 dently supposing she would escape our observation. This 

 idea, if entertained, I speedily dispelled by a shot behind the 

 shoulder. Bashi also fired, and wounded her, but she doubled 

 back and got away down the river. Our men on the trees 

 now came into play, and she was observed by them to make 

 for some small patches of cypress. We followed her up at 



