228 MISCELLANEOUS. 



being prepared, I strolled down the river in pyjamas, with 

 a local shikari, to have a look at the part where the 

 alligator was reported to stay. It was a deep sullen pool 

 at a bend of the river, about a quarter of a mile from camp, 

 and which extended about seventy yards to a sand bank in 

 the middle of the stream. On this bank, which was an 

 island, the mugger was in the habit of basking every day. 

 I went down the steep bank to the water's edge, and was 

 looking for tracks when the shikari called me up, saying, 

 " Come up, quick the mugger will knock you into the water 

 and kill you." On ascending, he explained that this brute 

 was in the habit of knocking goats into the stream with his 

 tail, when they were drinking, and then eating them, and 

 that he had killed one the previous day in this manner. We 

 proceeded further down the river to try the Express at 

 some ruddy sheldrakes,* and on the way back to camp saw 

 the alligator basking on the sand bank. Although they are 

 lethargic brutes, they are often difficult to approach, and it is 

 no easy task to get within 100 yards of them, but this one was 

 successfully stalked, and at eighty yards' range I fired. His 

 body immediately assumed a crescent shape, the head and 

 tail being elevated, but he was too hard hit to leave the spot, 

 and died in a few minutes. He was then towed ashore, 

 and we had a post mortem on him, which resulted in a 

 quantity of pebbles and a woman's toe ring being 

 found in his stomach. The ring was promptly claimed 

 by one of the villagers, who stated that it belonged to 

 his wife, who had been carried off by this brute some 

 three weeks previously. 



This story was corroborated by some of those present, 

 but the claim was withdrawn for three rupees, and the 

 .souvenir is now in my possession. This alligator was 

 * Or Brahmini duck Casarea rutilans. 



