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at the hot-wells, and frequently caused an alarm; the thatched 
cottages were so close and uncomfortable, that we generally 
placed our beds under a contiguous mango-grove, until one night 
a royal tiger, attracted by the smell of a goat which had been 
recently killed and hung upon a tree, rushed close to my bed, in 
the road to his prey: the noise awakened us in time to secure a 
retreat to the cottage before the return of the monster: the moon 
shone bright, and in a few minutes we saw him pass us with the 
carcase of the goat: which had he not found, one of our party 
would most probably have been his prey. 
Many natives of the Concan are keen sportsmen, and form 
hunting parties, with dogs; nothing in appearance like our sport- 
ing, but resembling the common pariar dog, except that a few had 
long; hair on the tail and ears. Each man is armed with a stick of 
hard wood, called burbur, which grows in the jungles: the tree 
bends inwards towards the root, and instead of cutting they break 
it off, so as to bring away part of the root, to form a head;' with 
this weapon they are admirably dexterous; killing quails, par- 
tridges, and pigeons flying; hares running; and breaking the legs 
of the fleetest deer. A set of these men killed, in this manner, 
three hares and several quails, in less than an hour. Observing 
one of the party in a small glen by himself, very intent upon some 
object, we imagined he saw a hare; on approaching the spot, he 
warned us by a sign to come on softly, pointing to the root of a 
milk bush; he then quickened his pace, took up a large stone, and 
suddenly dropping it on a partridge, instantly killed it, with no 
small degree of exultation. 
Bancoote river abounds with a variety of fish; and is the 
