him to kick and trample the carcase, which is as certain a thing to teach an elephant to charge as can be devised, a fault, as before observed, very nearly, if not quite, as bad as running away. I once heard of rather an awkward accident happening to a Mahout, who, it will appear, runs other risks than those from the tiger. A gentleman, by some extraordinary mismanagement, when firing at the tiger, shot the Mahout in the leg, who immediately turning round with his hands joined (after the native style when addressing a great man) and the greatest coolness imaginable, thus informed his master," Your slave is wounded." Leaving the Mahout for the present, I must proceed to explain some little points, lest I should mislead. I said some time ago that, when once acquainted with the method by which the elephant gets up and down steep places, all fear vanishes

now

what I wish to explain is, that there are predicaments which for an instant turn a man's blood cold, even after he has seen what the elephant can do.

These are narrow but deep channels cut by the heavy rains at the bottom of ravines, and sometimes covered with grass. Now a place of this kind, though a mere jump for a horse, still appears very awkward for an elephant, who has not the power of springing. There is nothing for it but to step over, and the pause before this said step is made, although it clearly shows what care the animal is taking, still causes such a strain on the nerves, that even habit cannot reconcile-at least to me. I do not profess to have the nerve many men have, and (as they say in the House of Commons) I am free to confess that whenever I saw the huge feet surely and steadily planted on the opposite side, I felt a very heavy

. load taken off, though not, after all, without a bit of a twinge when a piece of the bank just behind his paw rustled through the grass to the bottom. One can scarce imagine any place near the edge of a bank sufficiently solid to support such a weight as that of a large elephant-and probably this is the reason why the idea of danger does not wear off as soon as in other cases. This, bad enough, is absolutely nothing compared with what it is when the elephant is pressed at what he either thinks he cannot do or won't try then comes the rub-all the rest is plain sailing to this backing and filling work. The constant attempts of the animal to get away from the place, and the numberless digs at his head by the Mahout, each accompanied with a grunt such as paviours are in the habit of saluting one's ears with at every blow on the stone (at least such was the case before Macadam put all their noses out of joint), is certainly not a pleasant state to be boxed up in, especially when one cannot get rid of the idea that the elephant would try if he had any chance of succeeding, and consequently that he is forced at what he cannot overcome. Nothing but the greatest experience can tell a man the utmost the animal can do, so it may readily be understood in what a state a man must be who knows very little about his powers, and withal perched up ten feet from mother earth. To the inexperienced I cannot do better than repeat my former advice-to keep your eye on your friend, and to recollect at the same time that if the thing is not to be done, the Mahout is not such a fool as to try. To crown everything, what think you, my sporting reader, all this time, having the tiger within hail of you ready to secure-in fact, his mouth watering for a delicate bit of

white flesh, for although a beast of prey he is epicure enough to prefer a white man to a black. A circumstance fully as bad as what I have described actually happened, no very long time ago, to a friend of mine, who had, I suspect, no small hand in getting up this very Sporting Magazine; * not that I have any further reasons for saying so than the spirit he invariably shows, wherever he may be (he was very lately at Bombay), of promoting to the utmost everything connected with Sporting. I will relate the story as I heard it-there is not a doubt of the truth of it, though I may be wrong in some trifling particulars. A tiger having been reported, my friend and another gentleman, who has also seen the end of a few tigers, sallied forth on a female elephant that hitherto had been untried-at least in Candeish. The tiger was soon on foot, when, to the utter discomfiture of our sportsmen, the elephant, who amongst other accomplishments had been taught to dance, thought fit, on finding herself near the tiger, to commence a pas seul, though to what air I never could learn, unless it was "Off she goes"-for going suddenly down on her belly, she very quickly sent my friend of the howdah on to the same ground with the tiger. Both were dislodged, but his companion succeeded in retaining his hold, and eventually got into his seat, whilst my friend had only just time to get out of reach up a tree, -which I believe he never could have effected had it not been for some Bheels who caught hold of

We can honestly assure our lively correspondent that this Magazine was entirely planned and originated by ourselves. The only aid we have received in the way of advice or suggestion has been from Major G. Moore, the Brigade Major to King's Troops.-ED.

him and pulled him up, when the tiger came roaring to the spot. His companion was soon out of danger, for the Mahout, liking the nearness to the ground on such an occasion as little as the gentleman himself, her ladyship was very soon informed, not in the most gentle possible way, that it was not precisely the time to trip the light fantastic toe. Whether this was one of those elephants not unfrequently sent to this side of India with high characters as tigerhunters, I don't know; but there have been one or two lately, I hear, that are not a jot more to be trusted in the field than the one whose ill-timed tricks were played at the hazard of valuable lives.

Having now pretty well exhausted the patience of my reader on the subject of the elephant, concerning whom very little remains to be told excepting his actual appearance on the field, I must give a slight idea of the men who are employed in finding the game. No race of men of whatever country can surpass the Bheels of Candeish in this difficult operation. The difficulty needs only to be looked at for a moment to be fully comprehended. There is not a man who has set foot on India for an hour that does not know what an excessive and painful glare there is in the heat of the day thrown off the ground. Conceive, then, in the hottest part of the day in the hottest season of the year, with the wind, as hot as

blowing clouds of dust, the labour and difficulty of tracking the footmarks of a tiger over ground of all descriptions, sometimes black soil as hot as a furnace, sometimes a white sandy, and at other times grassy, country-of course, if the grass be in large quantities, without every here and there a barc piece of ground, to follow the track must be impossible

grass, however, being generally thin, there is just a possibility, and wherever this bare possibility exists the Bheels are sure to make good the track. Now in a case where the difficulty is great, it is of course necessary to stoop down as near the ground as possible, and in this way these men labour for hours, and sometimes whole days, from daybreak to sunset. Feeling, as we do, even a little glare, through a door or window, and keeping in mind the very great and particularly oppressive heat coming from the ground in the hot season, one may indeed be allowed to wonder of what sort of stuff their eyes can be made. If Dr. Richmond, much as he has seen of the ill effects of glare and dust in this country, could only witness one day's work tracking a tiger, I think he would be puzzled indeed to account for these Bheels keeping their eyesight, even for a year not only keeping it at all, but actually much stronger and more acute than any other caste of natives in the country. man fond of tiger-shooting a roving life is the one best adapted, and the lighter he travels the better: he can then change his ground rapidly in whatever direction information may be

For a

forthcoming. On arriving at a new jungle, the Bheels proceed at the first dawn to the spot at which the tiger is supposed to come nightly to drink. Should he have been there not later even than two

nights before, his track, old and partially defaced as it must be by the force of the wind blowing throughout the day, is sufficientevery man instantly sets to work, and the tracking is carefully carried on in dead silence by a simple point with an arrow or stick by the man who is leading. On coming to a fault, the whole body spread in different directions un

til again on the scent, and in this way they carry on the old track until they find the spot where the tiger was only the night before, and having thus got on to the fresh marks, proceed rapidly. The tiger being now traced to some likely cover, and the track fairly carried into it, the next point is to ascertain whether he has gone through. Should the marks be found on the further side, the work proceeds as before. Should, however, no trace of him appear in any direction, the tiger is said to be found, and information is instantly dispatched to the tents. To surround him is the next thing to be done, and no time is lost in procuring men from the nearest village. A sufficient number having arrived, a large circle is made at a considerable distance from the spot where the tiger is couched, each man occupying a tree sufficiently high to be clearly out of reach of a spring. As the certainty of killing depends in a very great degree on this circle, it may be as well to give a notion of the way in which it acts on the tiger. It will readily occur to every one that, supposing the tiger not to be disabled by the first discharge, he will immediately take to his heels and make the best of his way from such hot quarters. The object of the circle is to prevent this, and to keep him within it until killed. This is easily effected, supposing it completely formed, which must of course depend on the trees being favourably placed, no person being allowed to remain on the ground (unless it should be a steep ravine country, in which there is no danger from placing two men together on a high bank). On the approach of the tiger after the first fire, for we must suppose the elephant arrived, each man on the trees nearest the point he is making for begins to cough and

hem; should the tiger not turn back with this, which but rarely happens, it is increased to a greater noise, and finally a halloa. This last scarcely ever fails, and the tiger is seen sneaking back into the best and thickest covers he can find. The sportsmen having during this time reloaded, the elephant is again brought up to the spot pointed out by the men in the trees, and the tiger is in this manner driven from the bush to the circle, and thence back again, until a fatal shot puts an end to the sport. This, I need hardly say, not unfrequently happens at the very first discharge, and often not after even ten or twelve. Supposing the circle to be imperfect, and the tiger by chance to make for the open point and get clear, the sportsmen and Bheels join in full pursuit, either by view, if the jungle be not very thick, or else by tracing, the elephant beating every thick and likely spot, and the men ready at a whistle (the signal on such occasions), to make for the first tree to be found, which, considering the whole country is a mass of short stunted jungle wood, is constantly at hand. Should the tiger be again found, which if it be still early in the day is almost certain, every exertion is made once more to encircle him and prevent the possibility of a second With good

escape.

heavy metal, a steady elephant, cool sportsmen, and active Bheels, the odds are, unless the country be extremely difficult, at least fifteen to one in favour of any tiger being killed. The larger the animal the easier killed, is a maxim that holds good not only with tigers but in every field sport except fox-hunting, for there a fine large dog fox is a sure indication of a splitting chase. Having already, my dear Mr. Editor, trespassed more on your space than you could, I am sure, well spare, I intend, unless I should be bound over in recognisances never to take a pen in hand again, to give in your next the particulars of a party in which I was lately engaged, which, if I am not much mistaken, will prove of a far more interesting nature than a preliminary letter such as this can possibly aspire to be. As I purpose at some period hereafter to give you a line or two on hog-hunting, and, what must appear quite a novelty on this side of India, fox-hunting, I will at once make use of a name which, though not much adapted to the sport I have entered on (though I beg to remind you it is as often called tiger-hunting as tiger-shooting), will serve better than any other for the rest. So without further discussion, subscribe myself,

NIMROD IN THE EAST.

SIR,

I will offer no apology for sending the enclosed most admirable song to decorate the pages of your first volume. I have written it from memory, but believe it to be correct, as I have heard the well-known author sing it repeatedly. I had the good fortune

to be present at the chase that gave rise to it, and certainly if ever such a brute as a Boar deserved the immortality of verse, the grey veteran we killed that morning had an unrivalled claim to such distinction. He was a perfect monster-ran with the foot of the deer and charged with