THE HIGHEE NARBADA 287 



the tiger disappearing as before. A bright idea now struck 

 the Thakur, who had somewhat recovered his senses, and 

 cutting two sharp stakes with his knife, he sHpped down 

 the tree and pegged both hands of the corpse firmly to the 

 ground. Scarcely had he regained his perch when the man- 

 eater again appeared ; and, concluding from the absence of 

 the signal that the danger no longer existed, proceeded 

 quietly to resume his horrid feast. He had buried his 

 jaws in the neck of the corpse, when the matchlock of the 

 avenger flashed forth its contents. Struck full on the 

 shoulder by the two bullets with which Padam Singh had 

 loaded his weapon, the dreaded man-eater rolled over 

 dead on the body of his last victim." 



It is singular how widely spread is this superstition 

 regarding the mahce against their fellows entertained by 

 the spirits of persons killed by wild beasts. According 

 to Sir J. Lubbock, many other savage races, besides those 

 of India, have entertained it; and it will be seen further 

 on that it forms the ground of a singular ceremony among 

 the wild Bygas of the Mandla district. 



The panther of course never came to the carcase of the 

 pony. I never saw an animal do so yet; but I have, I 

 confess, only tried it a few times. Some sportsmen have 

 been very successful in this machan-shooting by night ; but 

 it would be poor fun even if one killed a tiger every night. 



Sambar were extremely numerous at that time on the 

 hills on both sides of the valley, but particularly on the 

 north side. Shots at them could be procured by driving 

 almost any of the hills with beaters, and I killed a number 

 of them both this way and by stalking. Although it was 

 near the end of the month of April, when, according to 

 theory, both sambar and spotted deer should have cast 

 their horns, yet, out of the immense number of both species 

 that I saw on this trip, only one sambar, and two or three 

 spotted bucks, were without horns. Some of the most 

 interesting sport I have had in this valley has been in 

 coursing the sambar with dogs. During this trip I fell in 

 with a gang of Gond woodcutters, who possessed a number 

 of fine large red-coloured dogs, with the aid of which they 

 were able to run down and spear many deer and wild pigs.^ 



