VI 
THE TIGER 
223 
there were no tracks in the channel-beds, it might 
be safely inferred that there were no tigers in the 
neighbourhood. Nevertheless I continued daily to 
beat every acre of ground, and we seldom returned 
till about 4 P.M., having invariably started shortly 
after daybreak. 
It would be natural to suppose that the elephants 
would have become accustomed to the scent of tigers, 
from their daily occupation, and that their nerves 
would have been more or less hardened; but this 
was not the case ; on the contrary, some became more 
restless, and evinced extreme anxiety when a pig or 
hog-deer suddenly rushed from almost beneath their 
feet. This timidity led to a serious accident, which 
narrowly escaped a fatal termination. 
We had been fruitlessly beating immense tracts 
of withered grass about 10 feet high, in which were 
numerous pigs, but no trace of tigers, and at about 
noon we met some natives who were herding cattle 
and buffaloes. The presence of this large herd 
appeared to forbid the chance of finding any tigers 
in their vicinity, and upon questioning the herdsmen 
they at once declared that no such animals existed 
in the immediate neighbourhood; at the same time 
they advised us to try fresh ground upon a large 
island about two miles distant up the stream. 
We crossed several channels, after scrambling 
with the usual difficulty down the cliffs, quite 35 feet 
high, of crumbling alluvial soil, and at length we 
reached the desired spot, where a quantity of tama¬ 
risk filled a slight hollow which led from the river’s 
