36 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



On the next expedition the party consisted of 

 Mr. Wood, Major Lumsden, and myself. Wood 

 shot a tigress and a young tiger in a beat in which 

 we were seated in machans, but I think these 

 were the only two shots which were fired at tigers 

 in the course of the expedition, which was compara- 

 tively unsuccessful and uneventful. 



I had, however, a very interesting experience 

 with panthers. We were on our return from the 

 expedition, and, having heard that there was a 

 panther in the vicinity of our camp, decided to 

 sit up. We accordingly tied out three goats 

 in the evening in the sal forest, and sat over 

 them in machans for some hours. It was a very 

 hot evening, and the perspiration on my hands 

 attracted a large number of bees, which made 

 matters very uncomfortable. I had heard, how- 

 ever, the sharp warning bark of a kakar, and 

 in the stillness of the forest I thought that I 

 heard two animals moving in the undergrowth, 

 so I sat on full of hope until it was nearly dark. 

 The others had no encouragement, and went 

 home early. When Mihtab Khan arrived with an 

 elephant to fetch me, I said that I had heard two 

 animals, and the mahout, stating as a fact what 

 appeared to him to be probable in the way that 

 Indians frequently do, said that they were pigs. 

 I thought that he had seen pigs, and got on to 

 the elephant, and a village yokel untied the goat 

 and followed us with it along the path in the forest. 

 Presently he gave a cry of alarm, and we stopped 

 and inquired what was the matter. He said 

 "Mujhe gher liya " (It surrounded me). The 

 mahout asked what it was, and he said that 



