HERE the tiger, driven from his lair in the jungle by the long line of elephants, endeavours 

 to make good his retreat by swimming the river. Unlike the cat, he has no dislike to water, 

 but will readily take to it when pursued, or of his own accord when in search of food, frequently 

 even entering it in order to attack boats, though well manned. In the present instance he 

 seems to have but a-poor chance of escaping, for the elephants are close upon him ; though, as only 

 a small portion of his body is exposed, he is by no means an easy mark, while, should the ball 

 strike the water, its course is pretty certain to be diverted. Now-a-days an express bullet 

 hitting him in a vital point will either kill him or so wound him that, even if he gets to the 

 bank, he will be tracked by his blood ; but the musket of former days was a very uncertain 

 weapon, and the tiger, even though struck in many places, would frequently escape. The river 

 here is evidently not at its height, for the stretch of sand in the centre foreground will in the 

 monsoon be completely covered, and the peasant's hut removed till the dry season enables him 

 to put it up again and raise a scanty crop on the ooze left by the shrunken stream. The 

 building on the farther bank is a Hindoo mandar, or temple, with its long flight of steps down 

 to the water, to which, especially if it be that of the Ganges or the Jumna, the devout Hindoo 

 comes to perform his religious rites, or to bring the corpse of a relative to its sacred home. 



C 



