TIGERS. Ill 



luxuries, sucli as his daily allowances of jagree (coarse 

 sugar) and masala (spices) for at least one month; he 

 also declared that the elephant, being an old offender, 

 knew perfectly well what was in store for him, but 

 that it would be wrong to use corporal punishment, which 

 would only have the effect of making him more vicious. 

 On arrival at the ground the Colonel was posted without 

 difficulty, but for half an hour I failed to find a climbable 

 tree. The sun was coming down like molten lead, and 

 finally in despair and exhausted by my efforts I took 

 up a position in a shady tree only a few feet above 

 the ground, being unable to reach the higher branches. 

 We could see the beaters arrive on the sky-line of the 

 hill some three hundred yards distant, and conspicuous 

 among them was my bail wallah,* a tall fellow in a 

 red turban, who had begged to be allowed to see the 

 fun. He discharged the first rocket into a cave, which 

 was immediately followed by the tiger charging him 

 and Yelliah, one of the shikaries. They, however, both 

 stood their ground like men Yelliah blazing off his 

 musket in the brute's face in concert with Kistiah and 

 Ali, who also fired off their weapons (loaded with blank 

 cartridge) in the same manner from an adjacent rock, 

 amid deafening uproar from the beaters. After dashing 

 about, and making ineffectual sallies at other points of 

 the line, he charged down the hill towards the left flank, 

 but, being headed by the stops, came straight towards 

 me after making an ineffectual spring at the last of 

 the stops, who was posted in a tree some fifty yards to 

 my left front. I then lost sight of him for a few 

 seconds ; he almost immediately emerged at a slower pace, 

 but the raising of my rifle caught his eye, and, with a 



* Bullock man. 



