72 TIGERS. 



places near water, within a radius of six miles, but as she 

 would not touch any of them, we beat all her favourite 

 haunts for two consecutive days on the chance of finding 

 her, as we reasoned that the presence of her cubs would 

 impede her, and induce her to lie up in such places. All 

 this being in vain, we marched to Nagadurra, and as no 

 garas were reported, had two days' casual beating there, 

 but no tiger appeared, although this was one of her usual 

 halting places on the way from Sunkerrumpett ; when she 

 temporarily left that area, for fresh scenes of blood in 

 the northern parts of her domain. On the afternoon of 

 the second day we found three bears in a pile of rocks, and 

 had a merry hour baiting them with fireworks, but could 

 only get one to bolt, which came out within a yard of me, 

 and was promptly shot by Manley. Next day, at Pocha- 

 pooram, we beat a long stretch of scrub jungle and rocks, 

 the reputed resort of the man-eater, only turning out some 

 bears and pigs, but on the return journey to camp we were 

 requested by the inhabitants of a village to beat an 

 adjacent patch of rocky ground, where they stated the tigress 

 had killed a woman not half an hour before we arrived. It 

 was an isolated patch of scrub jungle and rocks, about two 

 acres in extent, situated in open ground within three 

 hundred yards of the village, and fully six hundred yards 

 from the jungle we had been beating, which was the 

 nearest covert. Placing stops, whose guns were loaded 

 with blank cartridge, out in the open ground in this 

 direction, to head the tiger back if it attempted to break 

 there, we took up posts on suitable rocks, having 

 directed the beaters to advance from the village end of 

 the patch very slowly towards us, and to use plenty of 

 rockets to clear the way. These orders were earned out 

 to the letter, but the beat was a blank one ; they were then 



