WILD DOGS. 131 



who found them affirmed, as no one but myself was shooting in the forest 

 at the time, and I had drawn a bead only on one tiger. Unfortunately, the 

 last two tigers were in a state of utter decomposition when found, so it was 

 not possible to see if the carcases bore the marks of bullets. I did not see 

 the carcases myself, as I had shifted my camp, but the skulls and claws of 

 the tigers were brought to me. 



The Chenchus possess the largest breed of buffaloes in India, and probably 

 therefore in the world. These buffaloes are semi-wild and extremely fierce, 

 and graze out all night in the forest. There are certain forest fruits of 

 which they are inordinately fond, and when these are in season the buffaloes 

 will stand under the trees all night and eat the ripe fruit as it drops to the 

 ground, I may add parenthetically that there is a forest fruit of the 

 shape and size of a wood-apple, with a very powerful, pungent, aromatic 

 smell, which: tigers and wild dogs, eat greedily ; this is also the favour- 

 ite fruit of the Chenchu buffalo ; but singularly enough the bear, which 

 devours every other kind of forest fruit, will not touch it. The favourite 

 fruit of bears and wild dogs alike is that of the female blackwood tree. 

 It is a great mistake, therefore, to assume that carnivorous animals, and 

 above all the ferce naturae, will not eat fruit. Tigers also eat salt-earth, and 

 on occasion they will even eat a piece of cowdung ! The jackal is a promis- 

 cuous fruit-eater, and in particular affects the wild BrazU cherries which 

 abound on the Mlgiris, To return, however, to the Chenchu buffaloes. The 

 pugs of tigers on the forest paths in the morning showed that tigers passed 

 almost nightly through their very midst, not only without molesting the buffa- 

 loes, but without even frightening them home ; the buffaloes maintained their 

 ground notwithstanding the presence of the tigers of which they must have 

 been aware. On the other hand, I have known the same buffaloes to be driven 

 in at night by a pack of wild dogs. Only on three occasions have I known 

 these buffaloes to be killed by tigers. On two occasions, the buffaloes were 

 surprised away from the herd and killed without difficulty, as far as I could 

 see (each time by a single tiger) ; on the third occasion, the tiger was assailed 

 by the whole herd of the buffaloes and killed. 



The Bairnuti Forest Inspection Shed is situated in the midst of a vast 

 jungle. I was sitting in the verandali about five o'clock one beautiful evening, 

 reading the Pioneer, and ever and anon glacing at a herd of buffaloes which 

 were feeding on the fallen fruit of a large fig tree which strewed the ground 

 on the skirt of the forest, about a stone's throw from where I was seated. 

 The fig tree afforded an aesthetic sifjht, with great masses of ripe golden 

 and crimson-hued fruit gleaming through its emerald-green foliage ; the 

 thud of the rapidly-falling fruit as they struck the ground was diversified by 

 the shrill screams of innumerable pea-fowl, and the belligerent crowing of 

 rival jungle cocks. It was a scene to delight the heart of a sportsman, and I 

 enjoyed it to the full, " Tonk," belled a sambar in startled alarm, apparently 



