124 TWO YEAKS IN THE JUNGLE. 



several times when I was off in the jungles and nearly starved out ; 

 he lent me his elephant-gun, and taught me how to use it on 

 elephants ; and when my cook ran away he immediately sent me 

 his. He also lent me one of his private peons when I was crowded 

 with work upon elephants, and, in short, he helped me with more 

 useful ai'ticles than I cai-e to mention altogether. A traveller can- 

 not afford to caiTy with him aU the comforts and conveniences 

 proper for a stationary camp-life, and his assistance was, therefore, 

 invaluable. He knew the natives, the wild beasts, and the forests 

 as intimately as a farmer knows his barnyard and its inhabitants, 

 and the interesting incidents of jungle Hfe he related to me would 

 fill a volume.* 



His bungalow was quite a museum in itself, stocked with a 

 magnificent array of trophies of the chase which proclaimed the 

 genuine "old shikaree." There were tusks and tails of more than 

 one lordly elephant that had fallen before my friend's smooth-bore. 

 Well-mounted heads of bison, sambru', muntjac, sasin antelope, 

 axis deer and wild boar hung on the walls until they were crowded. 

 Perched up on a book-case sat a very fine and rare monkey, the 

 wanderoo {Silenus veter), along with a small crocodile, shot at an 

 elevation of fifteen hundred feet, and stufled bii*ds both great and 

 smaU. On the floor were spread, in the most indifferent way, skins 

 of bear, hyaena, leopard, and deer, but of the half-dozen tigers 

 killed by mine host only the skulls and claws remained. In out-of- 

 the-way corners of the bungalow I presently turned up divers and 

 sundry skulls of bison, antlers of sambur, and about fifty black 

 monkey skins. There were chests full of the best-made Indian 

 bird-skins I ever saw, drawers full of eggs and nests, and piles of 

 original scientific " Rough Notes " of all kinds. A well-stocked 

 zoological library was the crowning feature of this interesting col- 

 lection of trophies and scientific specimens, and I did not need to 

 be told that this hunter-natui-aUst had joined the Forest Depart- 

 ment to indulge his love of nature. 



* Since my visit to India, Mr. Theobald encountered and killed on the 

 Ponnasy Hills (Collegal Taluq\ a famous rogue elephant, who began his 

 career by killing nineteen other captive elephants, and making his escape. 

 Since that time he killed three natives and several head of cattle, besides de- 

 stroying large quantities of standing crops and terrorizing the district for sev- 

 eral years. He was a giant in size, and for the gallant exploit which ended 

 his career the Madras government voted Mr Theobald a reward of two luin- 

 dred rupees, with permission to retain the tusks. The latter were fifty-eight 

 inches long, and weighed together seventy-five pounds — a very large pair. 



