WHAT I SAW ONE MORNING. 203 



before him, but further on, the jungle became so thick it was 

 too dangerous to proceed ; at one place just below me I could 

 see where he had rolled down, and I was in hopes he had 

 fallen over the precipice. The only thing now to be done 

 was to go home, and come out and look for him later. I went 

 to the spot where he stood when I fired at him, found where 

 the shell had exploded on a rock ; but it had first evidently 

 gone through his intestines, for there was more of that most 

 foetid substance which we had found in the shola. I am 

 pretty certain the tiger did not charge at us, but hearing the 

 explosion of the shell behind him, he had bolted in the only 

 direction left open to him. 



One day I was out after a wounded stag and was 

 crossing the hill near Ouna-mund shola when I saw the men 

 making signs to me , and the little dog boy came running up 

 to me saying "plenty tigers," and pointed down below, and 

 there to my astonishment, down in the valley were five tigers 

 calmly walking across, one of them just leaping over the 

 narrow stream ; they went into a small shola, remained there 

 for a short time and then went over the hill into Seven Stag 

 valley, there were two full grown tigers and three young ones 

 the size of large panthers ; they were quite unaware of our 

 presence near them. 



One day in February, 1868, I was out after sambur 

 when, at some little distance, I saw some hinds and calves 

 standing in a mud pool, looking at what appeared to be a 

 large deer lying down in the swamp some 60 yards from 

 them ; on putting my glasses up I saw it was a magnificent 

 tiger who was intently watching them. Suddenly he sprang 

 up and made three or four tremendous bounds towards them, 

 but finding, I suppose, that he could not reach them, he 



