TIGER-HUNTING IN CHINA 233 



results from this day's work, nor indeed for many 

 days to come, for the smoke of the torches appearing 

 through the fissures in the rock, and the sound of the 

 spears feeling about near the exit, told that the men 

 had passed through the passage. We explored sev- 

 eral other caves before returning to the village, but 

 to no purpose. 



I now decided, and the men agreed with me, that 

 this wholesale exploration of caves was a poor thing, 

 since, if a tiger should happen to come to one of 

 them later, the smell of the torches would prevent 

 his entering, and he would doubtless at once move 

 to some other part of the country. The animals are 

 continually roaming about and may appear in a 

 certain district at any time, so that there is nothing 

 to do but wait. Accordingly, in the evening I pur- 

 chased from a shepherd six small goats and placed 

 them around the country within a radius of a mile 

 or so, attaching each before the opening of some 

 promising cave, and as we returned to camp we 

 could hear their bleating coming from all directions. 

 Should a tiger arrive within reach of that sound, I 

 knew that we should have something to work on. 



The next week was a monotonous one. Every 

 evening we attached the goats, and every morning 

 at sunrise brought them back untouched to the vil- 

 lage; these were the only events of the long, hot 



