deep jungle, a little off the roadside. Here I laid down to rest, protected from the piercing rays of the sun by the shade of a beautiful natural bower formed by two trees, which were bent down with the weight of an immense mass of various kinds of parasitical plants, in addition to their own foliage.

The mournful silence and strange stillness that reigned was only broken at times by the distant scream of peafowl, or the shrill crowing of a junglecock, who, unsuspicious of our presence, was scratching up the ground and clacking to his hens in an adjoining thicket. The shrill and peculiarly wild notes of these birds seem as if they were ordained by Nature to accord with the calm, still solitude and sublime grandeur of scenery of "the deep jungle." They inhabit that deep jungle of which Ferishta says truly, "that death dwells in the water, and poison in the breeze; where the grass is tough as the teeth of serpents, and the air fetid as the breath of dragons." For so it is the deadliest fevers lurk in these places most beautiful to the eye, the air being poisoned and impregnated by the exhalations of decayed leaves and other decomposed vegetable matter.

I must have slept several hours, for when I awoke I found the sun sinking low in the horizon; how ever, I got up considerably refreshed for my nap, and, giving myself a shake, prepared for the task I had undertaken.

I carefully examined my arms, and, having ascertained that nothing had been seen by any of my gang, some of whom had kept a look-out, I told my people to listen for the sound of my gun, which, if they heard, they might come up, otherwise that they were to remain quiet until my return.

I ordered Chineah, Kistimah, Googooloo, and the dhoby to accompany me down the road with spare guns, in case I might want them, and when I arrived at a spot which commanded a view of the ravine I sent them to climb different trees.

Kistimah begged hard to be allowed to accompany me, as he said this tiger never attacked a man in front but always from behind; but I would not permit him, as I thought that two people would perhaps scare the animal, and his footsteps might prevent me from hearing any sound intimating his approach.

The sun had almost set as I proceeded slowly down the road, and, although I was perfectly cool and as steady as possible, I felt cold drops of perspiration start from my forehead as I approached the spot where so many victims had been sacrificed. I passed the rock, keeping well on the look-out, listening carefully for the slightest sound, and I remember feeling considerably annoyed by the chirping made by a couple of little bulbuls (Indian nightingales), that were fighting in a bush close to the roadside. Par

tridges were calling loudly all around, and as I passed the watercourse I saw a jackal skulking along its bed. I stopped, shook my jingling affair, and listened several times as I went along, but to no purpose.

Whilst ascending the opposite side of the ravine I heard a slight noise like the crackling of a dry leaf: I paused, and turning to the left fronted the spot from whence I thought the noise proceeded. I distinctly saw a movement or waving in the high grass, as if something was making its way towards me: then I heard a loud purring sound, and saw something twitching backwards and forwards behind a clump of low bush and long grass, about eight or ten paces from me, and a little in the rear. It was a ticklish moment, but I felt prepared. I stepped back a couple of paces, in order to get a better view, which action probably saved my life, for immediately the brute sprang into the middle of the road, alighting about six feet from the place where I was standing. I fired a hurried shot ere he could gather himself up for another spring, and when the smoke cleared away I saw him rolling over and over in the dusty road, writhing in his death agony, for my shot had entered the neck and gone downwards into his chest. I stepped on one side and gave him my second barrel behind the ear, when dark blood rushed from his nostrils, a slight tremor passed over all his limbs,