202 
TIGER-HUNTS. 
having set out from camp, with the usual 
array of elephants carrying white sahibs 
and of half-naked Indian followers on foot, 
all anxious to see the show, and ready to do 
their part by pressing, like a hoy looking for 
a bird’s nest, into every bush large enough 
to conceal a tiger. 
<u ¥e found immense quantities of game, 
wild hogs, the hog-deer, and the niel-ghie, 
(literally, blue cow,—a large species of ante¬ 
lope.) We, however, strictly abstained from 
firing, reserving our whole battery for the 
nobler game the tiger. It was perhaps for¬ 
tunate that we did not find one in the thick 
part of the forest, as the trees were so close- 
set and so interwoven with parasitic plants 
and thorns that the elephants were often 
obliged to clear a way for themselves by 
their own pressing exertions. It is curious, 
on these occasions, to see the enormous trees 
these animals will overthrow at a word from 
the mahout or driver: they place their fore¬ 
heads against the obnoxious object, twisting 
their trunk around it, and gradually bending 
it towards the ground until they can place 
a foot upon it. This done, down comes the 
tree, with cracking stem and upturned roots. 
