Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/101

 of tiger's paws in his garden. His account rather gave me a curiosity to see the sort of plain where such animals may be found; and with a chaprāsī, and a bearer carrying a large chatr, I took the road to the rocks. After a very long walk, we came to a most suspicious-looking spot, surrounded by very high jungle-grass, beyond which stretched the deep woods and hills of Rajmahal. "In this direction," said my chaprāsī, "is the very spot frequented by tigers, here they may be found;" and we pushed through the heavy jungle grass from nine to twelve feet in height, and so thick it was almost impenetrable. "Here is some water," said the man, "and here, on its edge, the prints fresh on the marshy soil of the feet of a tiger! Look, look, mem sāhiba, it is true, it is true, here they are!" I forced a passage for myself through the grass, and saw the foot-marks. "He who has never seen a tiger, let him look at a cat; and he who has never seen a thief, let him look at a butcher ."

My anxiety to see a bête sauvage, a royal Bengal tiger, in his native wilderness, making me forgetful that his presence might prove dangerous, induced me to scan the jungle on every side. "Are we likely to see a tiger?" said I to the man. "Not at this hour, mem sāhiba, see, the sun is high in heaven;" pointing to the hill, "they are up there in the recesses of the mountain, in the shade of the deep forests; when the shadows of evening fall, if the mem sāhiba will return to this spot she will be sure to see the tigers, at that hour they come down to quench their thirst at this water." At night, on my return to the boats, I remembered the words of the chaprāsī, but did not feel inclined to go out on such a "will-you-come-and-be-killed" expedition.

On this spot the baghmars, (tiger killers,) set up the spring-bow with a poisoned arrow: the bow is made of strong bamboo, supported on two cross sticks, to one end of which a string is fastened that crosses the wild beast's track; as soon as the tiger touches the cord in crossing it to the water's edge, it releases the bow-string, and the arrow, being immediately discharged with great force, enters the body of the beast just about the