ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 259 



home, offering him a sum quite disproportionate in magni- 

 tude to its monetary value. F. declined absolutely, saying 

 that every item in its degree more or less represented to 

 him his own life ; to sell would be like selling his own flesh 

 and blood, and that he could not. I only mention this 

 to show the estimate some men put upon trophies of their 

 own getting. At the same time one could give ; and that 

 F. did willingly, asking our guest, as he was that morning, 

 to choose two or three — whatever he most fancied. These 

 were two tiger skins finely set up with the heads on, a couple 

 of bison heads, and, I think, an elephant's foot or two. 

 Neither did they leave any perceptible gaps, so large was 

 the collection. 



