casi 
= Te ee ree otto eeerteRTUTSISesrserreNesrornesi es reseear= 
262 ‘ BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
concussion from my symptoms, was kept deliciously cool with an 
eau-de-cologne and water bandage. For three or four days I con- 
tinued ina very exhausted state. I was incoherent and more or less 
off my head. I well remember how, inmy frightful dreams, the 
panther constantly came at me again, and how fiercely I struggled to 
get my hands and feet (which I imagined tied) free, and how 
ultimately I awoke bathed in perspiration, having got rid of my 
horrible nightmare. From the poisonous wounds sinuses formed 
which had frequently to be laid open with the lancet. On the 27th 
day I was out of bed and moved to Bombay to join a new appoint- 
ment, One wound gave trouble longer than the others, but 1 aving 
been turned inside out, as the Doctor termed it with the lancet a second 
time, all proceeded satisfactorily, and, thanks to the great care and 
attention of my medical adviser, within two months from the occur- 
rence of the mishap, the wounds were healed up and even a sling was 
dispensed with. 
Here a word of advice to those who, like myself, have the 
misfortune to be mauled. Remember that tecth and claw wounds 
of these large felines are poisonous, from their eating flesh and 
carrion, and that being punctured wounds they must be kept open 
at the mouth and made to granulate from below; so sure as they close 
over at top sinuses will form and the wound and sinuses must be 
laid open with the lancet. I should have been spared much pain if 
I had borne the above in mind, and not hurried to have the wounds 
closed over for me to get about. 
Asked how it occurred, all I can reply is that I can’t say with 
certainty whether a cartridge missed fire, or whether, when I 
hurriedly seized the rifle from the hands of the bearer, I seized the 
unloaded one. It is possible that the village Kotwal, hearing of 
two panthers, and the utter rout of the beaters, lagged behind with 
the loaded rifle and allowed the unloaded one to come on with me. 
When I was mauled the rifle was knocked out of my hands, the hat 
off my head, and even the watch and cartridges out of my pockets, 
and I did not see the rifle again until I rose from my bed three 
weeks after the accident. It ig consequently impossible for me 
definitely to explain’ the mishap, though, when I examined my rifle, 
I certainly found the claw-marks cf the panther on my twelve-bore 
rifle, while I am under the impression that it was my central 
fire express that I loaded before commencing my ascent of 
the hill, 
