TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



having so misused him, the confiscation of the offending 

 weapon seemed to us quite a natural precautionary measure. 



But what we failed to understand, either at the time or 

 later, was the subsequent action of the " authorities " 

 with reference to our luckless tutor, who, doubtless much 

 to his amazement, too, was summarily dismissed ! This 

 to our budding notions of justice and fair dealing seemed 

 altogether wrong, for — as we well knew — he had not 

 participated in the pastime of his own free will, nor had it 

 afforded him amusement, on the contrary, for the part 

 he had played was scarcely an amusing one. 



But to return to events more modern. My head- 

 quarters in the Khandesh district were at Dhurumgoan, 

 where I lived in the palatial mansion built by Outram of 

 Indian Mutiny fame. It was naturally much too large 

 for me, indeed some idea of its size may be gathered from 

 the fact that it is now a cotton factory ! Fortunately, 

 in India, bachelors are not expected to furnish their abodes 

 on a European scale. 



My duties were not of a very onerous description, my 

 time being chiefly occupied in studying native languages, and 

 preparing for Departmental Examinations. Nor was there 

 much of office work in those days. Many a land or other 

 dispute, which would now run to reams of paper and many 

 months' delay, were then settled under the village banyan 

 tree by Colonel Probyn, who, in his capacity of Bhil Agent, 

 adjusted quarrels too, and released many a hard-pressed 

 debtor from the clutches of the exacting money-lender. 

 Indeed in the year 1870 the pressure of Gujar * money- 

 lenders in the Western District, aroused so much ill-feeling 

 that but for Colonel Probyn's intervention and his great 

 personal influence, a general rising of the Bhils would 

 undoubtedly have taken place. 



As a great portion of my Indian life was passed amongst 

 these people, and consequently many of the adventures I 

 am about to relate are connected with them, a short 

 account of this tribe may prove of interest. 



Though found in small numbers in every part of Khan- 

 desh, the bulk of the Bhil population inhabit the western, 



* Generally capitalists and landholders in North-west Khandesh. 

 18 



