76 TIGERS. 



past within twenty yards of him in a shady part of the 

 nullah. He was armed with a light sporting Snider rifle, 

 loaded with very sensitive shells, which not unfrequently 

 burst on the skin on impact, and he therefore did not fire. 

 We visited the spot, which gave no advantage of height 

 or cover to the firer, and unanimously decided that he 

 had acted wisely ; with a more dependable rifle, however, 

 the case would have been entirely different. It was 

 marvellous how he had escaped being seen by the brute, for 

 the tree he was standing by was not more than six inches 

 in diameter, and there was no intervening long grass or 

 other covert to screen him. While here, one of the 

 servants was badly bitten by a krait a very poisonous 

 snake as he was lifting a gun- case in the tent. In order 

 to protect the leather from white ants, this had been placed 

 on four stones, in the customary way, and the reptile had 

 taken refuge underneath, remaining there until I killed it 

 with a stick it was not much over one foot in length. 

 The wound was cauterised, and ammonia administered 

 internally and externally ; we then took the man outside 

 and kept him running between two housekeepers at intervals 

 of a few minutes for over an hour, giving him nips of 

 brandy now and then. He had got over the drowsy state 

 by the end of that time. Half an hour afterwards we went to 

 see how he was getting on, and found the servants had pro- 

 cured a native, who had the reputation of being able to charm 

 away the effects of snake -bite. This man was hard at work 

 waving a branch of neem tree (something like our ash) and 

 muttering incantations. He recovered completely in the 

 course of six hours, and no doubt the charmer got the 

 credit of the cure. 



Next morning we marched four miles to Kowlass, and 

 had just pitched our camp on a slope near the old fort, 



