326 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATORA HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XL 



and an awkward mode of progression, etc. A rough guess at the age may 

 be made by observing the condition of the ears, the upper edges of which 

 lap over to the extent of an inch at the age of thirty, which increases to two 

 inches between this age and sixty years. The teeth also afford some infor- 

 mation as to probable age ; it is, however, most difficult to determine with 

 any degree of certainty the age of these animals. 

 (From the " Agricultural Ledger, 1896, No. 42,") 



No. XIV.— GUM FROM THE WEAVER'S BEAM TREE. 



(Sclirebera Swielenioides , Roxb.) 

 Can any of our members furnish me with information regarding the gum 

 thrown off by this tree^which is found in Central India and particularly in the 

 forest parts of the Gwalior State ? The aborigines eat the gum when travel- 

 ling, and say that it tends to keep off hunger and thirst, thus enabling them 

 to go for several days without proper food. The gum tastes like bad brown 

 sugar. 



C.MARIES. 

 Gwalior State Gardens, 18th July, 1897. 



No. XV.— WOUNDED TIGERS. 

 Having read with much interest an article on following up wounded 

 tigers by Mr. Gilbert, published in the Society's Journal (Vol. IX, page 61), 

 it has lately occurred to me that, without having any pretensions to the 

 experience of that gentleman, the relation of some attempts of my own 

 in the same direction, attended with more or less success, might also prove 

 of interest to others. I have not the above-mentioned article by me at the 

 present moment, but, so far as my memory serves, no mention is made in 

 it of discovering the position of a wounded tiger (or panther) in thick cover, 

 by means of village buffaloes. As most shikaris are aware, the village 

 buftalo to be met with near villages well out in the jungle, is a much 

 finer-built animal than those usually seen near towns, or where there is 

 much cultivation ; and several instances are on record where these animals 

 have combined and given an unwary tiger a very bad time of it. Sir S. Baker 

 in " Wild Beasts and their Ways " mentions an instance of this ; there is 

 also the delightful story of the death of Sher Khan in Kipling's "Jungle 

 Book." Hence it is a fairly common custom in some parts of the Deccan, 

 when dealing with a wounded tiger which has taken refuge in cover, to 

 collect as many buffaloes as possible and have them driven backwards and 

 forwards through the cover, until the wounded animal is located and his 

 exact position known — theoretically, the herd, more especially if composed 

 of old bulls or cows with calves, will, on finding the tiger, form battle 

 array, and either bear down on him en masse, or should he charge out, 



