348 WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS. 



barrel smooth-bore gun, the other with a Brown Bess carbine, 

 fired together, and the panther fell dead. The two balls, at a 

 distance of about sixty yards, had struck him behind the 

 shoulder, within a couple of inches of each other, and on 

 examining the slain beast, we thought the shooting was a 

 credit to the men of the Malwa Bheel Corps. 



Finding no more signs of game at this place, we deter- 

 mined on hunting the Maun river very carefully as far as 

 Munawur, as we thought we should probably find something 

 in the large patches of cypress which covered its bed. We 

 therefore sent off the camp to Munawur, and next morning, 

 mounting our elephants, we moved down the broad bed of the 

 stream ; while our men, keeping along the banks on both sides, 

 carefully examined the ground for footprints. We started 

 one panther, which, on being wounded by me, crossed over to 

 Evans, who shot him dead. After this we saw nothing save 

 jackals and the footprints of hyaenas, till we had nearly 

 arrived at the end of our beat, and were within half-a-mile of 

 the village. A few detached bushes stood out in the waste of 

 shingle, and as they passed these, some of the men heaved in 

 stones, and a fine panther bounded out. As he was too far 

 for accurate shooting, we reserved our fire, and the panther, 

 leaving the river, went slowly up the sloping bank. When 

 he reached the sky-line we saw him halt for a moment, and 

 then, with his long tail whirling in the air, he charged to the 

 front and disappeared. The growls of the panther were 

 followed by loud human shrieks, and on going forward, we 

 found a man of the Bunjara tribe who had been sharply clawed. 

 He was on his way to the village bearing his child on his hip, 

 and followed by his wife, when the panther met him suddenly 

 on the footpath, and charged as above described. Having 



