ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 149 



proving that this special panther was one of the rarest and 

 most beautiful of the species ; and very strange it was that 

 just then a large reward was being offered by the Govern- 

 ment for a specimen, dead or alive, of a black panther. 



The animal had doubtless taken himself off at the first 

 streak of dawn, very much the better for his good square 

 meal and warm night's rest. Perhaps, with an eye to repeat- 

 ing the experiment, he had not gone very far either ; but 

 most surely no harm should have befallen him under our 

 roof, he having ' eaten our salt ' in the form of dog biscuits, 

 which we felt quite glad should have been left in his way 

 overnight, and of which just a remnant remained to prove 

 that he could eat no more. 



A panther coming to the bungalow thus for food and 

 shelter was a very unusual and incautious act on the part 

 of one of the wariest of animals, only showing him to have 

 been at his wits' end for a living. He would be used to a 

 certain amount of wet and cold, the monsoon being heavy 

 here as compared with some places, but this was an excep- 

 tional season — not a dry inch anywhere — and all the denizens 

 of the forest were suffering. 



For six weeks we tasted no bread, except what was 

 home-made, as the road was impassable for the coolies upon 

 whom we depended for some of our supplies. They had 

 thirty miles to travel to the nearest stores, and the few 

 Europeans in the place joined in a sort of club to send for 

 things in this way every fortnight. Neither could we have 

 potatoes ; as a substitute we ate, and thankfully, the boiled 

 seeds of the jack fruit, 1 which are not unlike chestnuts in 

 taste. 



This district was at all times and in all parts what we 

 called a ' panthery ' region. The native town of Mananta- 



1 Artocarpus integrifolia, a native of the Indian Archipelago, cultivated 

 in Southern India. The fruit is a favourite article of food with the natives, 

 as are the roasted seeds. 



