AEPENDIX. 343 



spots ahead. The latter was the kind of an entertainment which 

 was reserved for us. 



Our party was most hospitably received by the Maharajah, who 

 upon being informed that two of us were American gentlemen, 

 who had come fifteen thousand miles to enjoy a tiger hunt, made 

 immense preparations for a battue. The " Shikari," or professional 

 himter, of some of the villages in the neighborhood was sum- 

 moned ; his services, together with those of several hundred natives, 

 commanded, and all the necessary preparations made. After a 

 sumptuous repast we retired to our beds for the night, with visions 

 of driving whole herds of tigers before us, and slaughtering them 

 as we would rabbits at home. My hopes were so high and my 

 imagination so excited by the novel situation that I must confess 

 I was rather restless that night ; but finally morning came, and 

 with it the inspection of the preparations. Three elephants stood 

 caparisoned with rude " howdahs," while a fourth bore the impos- 

 ing trappings of the Maharajah ; this was "for the two American 

 gentlemen," upon whom the Maharajah was evidently determined 

 to make an impression, while the others were occupied by the rest 

 of the party, and, as we afterward discovered, were considered more 

 secure and better adapted for the sport. "We learned that a " shoul- 

 der-of -mutton " shaped piece of jungle, or bottom land, had been 

 selected for the beat, and had already been surrounded by the na- 

 tives who were to drive it, and after hastily partaking of a break- 

 fast we mounted our elephants and set off for the neck, or locality 

 where the river on one side and the high bluff on the other 

 brought the jungle to a narrow point. Here we arrived at about 

 ten o'clock, and the elephants were ranged in a Y-shape, at dis- 

 tances of perhaps one hundred yards, extending completely across 

 the neck. Here we waited for a long time without hearing any 

 noise or manifestation of the beat, and we began to think that 

 there had been some misunderstanding, and that, after all, we were 

 to have no sport. Messengers were despatched to see what was 

 the cause of the delay, and to try and expedite matters. Finally ; 

 we began to hear a distant sound of " tom-toms," or native drums, 

 together with an occasional shot. Then the " mahouts " (drivers) 

 of our elephants drew more carefully into line, and all of us grew 

 very attentive to the possibility of soon seeing a tiger. Nearer 



