MAHSER FISHING 71 



The country adjoining the Ram Ganga was full 

 of tigers and other animals, and even on the 

 Giri in the middle and the lower reaches of the 

 river the fisherman was in touch with wild life. 

 On one occasion, when I arrived at the Anu 

 camping-ground, I was informed that a man 

 and his wife had been attacked by a bear as they 

 were collecting wood in the jungle, and that the 

 man was dead and the woman's life was despaired 

 of. On another occasion, when I arrived at 

 Sattibagh with my friend Colonel Triscott, who 

 often accompanied me on fishing expeditions, 

 we were informed that a panther was giving 

 trouble in the vicinity. The animal passed up 

 a nullah at the back of our tents on the first night 

 that we were there, uttering the curious sawing 

 roar which is characteristic of a panther ; and a 

 night or two after this he took a boy out of a 

 hut within 200 yards of the tents. The boy was 

 sleeping in the hut with his uncle in charge of 

 some goats, and the panther dashed in through 

 the door and seized the boy by the head, as he 

 was lying among the goats, and dragged him out. 

 It is probable that the boy was seized in mistake 

 for a goat, as, when an outcry was raised by the 

 boy and his uncle, the panther dropped him and 

 bolted. The boy was brought to our tents at 

 dawn in a semi-comatose condition, bleeding 

 from wounds made by two of the canine teeth 

 in the cheek and the scalp. The other two 

 canine teeth appeared to have missed their hold. 

 Colonel Triscott had a medicine-chest, and was 

 handy with his fingers; so he washed the boy's 

 face, cut away some of the hair, checked the 



