290 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
congratulations of my friends, when they had heard 
the account of my escape ,* and giving the poor Hindoo 
a gold mohur,* he departed, so well satisfied that he 
declared he desired no better fortune than to encounter 
a tiger every day with a broken leg, if the reward of 
despatching it should be equal to that which he had 
just received. 
We now prepared for our departure from this 
interesting island. It was still early, and the sun 
was very powerful, especially in the valleys, where 
its rays were caught and reflected by the bare face 
of the mountain ; still, as a great part of our 
route lay through narrow paths, thickly overshadowed 
by the almost undisturbed growth of centuries, we 
were not much incommoded. Some of our party 
amused themselves with shooting, but I was not 
among the number, having already had sufficient sport 
for one day, and not having recovered from the ex- 
citement produced by the morning’s peril. 
We halted a day at Tanna, where there were some 
European officers, who received us with great hospi- 
tality ; and when they heard of my encounter with 
the tiger, related several escapes still more narrow, 
thus completely blunting the edge of my adventure, 
which to me had been one of much alarm notwith- 
standing. Here we passed the night, and on the fol- 
lowing morning returned to Bombay. 
As the period of the monsoon was now near, I 
determined to take the opportunity of exploring this 
island and its immediate dependencies before the rains 
* The value of the Bombay gold mohur is about thirty-five 
shillings. 
