THE TIGEK 245 



loud shout in the neiglibourliood sent her off at full speed 

 for camp, and, a deep weedy tank lying in the way, she 

 marched right into it, and began to surge up and down in 

 the water, her unwilUng rider piteously screaming at every 

 plunge. He was half drowned and nearly finished with 

 fright before we could release him by sending in two other 

 elephants with their drivers, who drove her with their 

 spears into a corner and secured her. 



The keeping of an elephant is very costly, coming in 

 Central India to about £80 or £90 a year. The Grovernment 

 has, however, great numbers of elephants, many of them 

 trained shikaris; and there is seldom much difficulty in 

 obtaining the use of one for a few weeks. They may also 

 be frequently borrowed from wealthy natives ; but in that 

 case will seldom be found to possess the hard condition 

 necessary for severe work in the hot season. In the later 

 years of our forest work we always had several Government 

 elephants allowed for the carriage of baggage and riding 

 purposes, and, as I always kept one of my own besides, I 

 could generally muster enough to drive effectively any tiger 

 ground in Central India. But I rarely took out more than 

 one elephant besides my own when shooting alone, finding 

 that quiet hunting was far more successful than the bustle 

 of many elephants and the rabble of men that usually 

 accompany a tiger hunt. 



In the end of April and May of 1862, 1 bagged six tigers 

 and one panther in the Betul jungles, wounding two more 

 tigers which escaped. I was unable regularly to devote 

 myseH to tiger-shooting, having much forest work to do, 

 and my shooting was also much interfered with by acci- 

 dental circumstances. A sprained tendon laid me up for 

 fifteen days of the best weather (the hottest), and there 

 was so much cholera about that many of the best places 

 had to remain unvisited. Another party were also shooting 

 in the same district ; and, though they arrived after me in 

 the field, contrary to the well-understood rule in such 

 circumstances, proceeded ahead and disturbed the whole 

 country by indiscriminate firing at deer and peafowl. It 

 is scarcely necessary to say that when after tigers nothing 

 else should be fired at. The Lalla came out strong under 



