300 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
immediately the rifle was raised to guard the narrow 
passage to my tree. It was not convenient that he 
should come along that path, and when I fired he 
bounded down the cliff, and disappeared at a gallop 
in the long grass quite unscathed, as subsequent 
tracking proved. And so ended my tiger-shooting 
in India with a most interesting episode, for I had 
not before seen a tiger express his disgust and wrath 
so unmistakably as had this one, and I had not often 
witnessed such a clever and speedy departure in 
precipitous ground. 
From Amdngarh we went to Chila, and spent 
some days with Mr. B. Osmaston, bidding adieu to 
the forests on the Ganges, where there was not a 
walk but recalled some recollection of early days of 
hunting with horse, dog, and rifle, of man-eating 
tigers and wild-elephants, so that sometimes time 
was put back for a quarter of a century, when the 
memory of olden days revived with the sight of 
some familiar spot. Elephants and tigers there 
were still sufficient, but the former were not aggres- 
sive, and the latter were too polite to feed in the 
company of man; however, we shot a panther that 
sat coolly regarding our progress through the forest, 
and two days after our departure Mr. Osmaston met 
and slew the ten-foot tiger that had afforded us a 
week’s amusement on his trail. And so we finally 
left the forests of Northern India, and took train to 
Bombay on special deputation to report on forest 
establishments there before leaving the country for 
good. 
The forests of Bombay are diverse; there are the 
riparian forests of Scinde, the desert forests of the 
