It can never be expected that a ryot can grow indigo at a loss to himself, or at a lower rate of profit than that which the cultivation of his other ordinary crops would give him, without at least some compensating advantages. With all his poverty and supposed stupidity, he is keenly alive to his own interests, quite able to hold his own in matters affecting his pocket. I have no hesitation in saying that the steady efforts which have been made by all the best planters to treat the ryot fairly, to give him justice, to encourage him with liberal aid and sympathy, and to put their mutual relations on a fair business footing, are now bearing fruit, and will result in the cultivation and manufacture of indigo in Upper Bengal becoming, as it deserves to become, one of the most firmly established, fairly conducted, and justly administered industries in India. That it may be so is, as I know, the earnest wish, as it has long been the dearest object, of my best friends among the planters of Behar. CHAPTER XVIII. The tiger.--His habitat.--Shooting on foot.--Modes of shooting.--A tiger hunt on foot.--The scene of the hunt.-The beat.--Incidents of the hunt.--Fireworks.--The tiger charges.--The elephant bolts.--The tigress will not break.--We kill a half-grown cub.--Try again for the tigress.--Unsuccessful.--Exaggerations in tiger stories.--My authorities.--The brothers S.--Ferocity and structure of the tiger. --His devastations.--His frame-work, teeth, &c.--A tiger at bay. --His unsociable habits.--Fight between tiger and tigress.--Young tigers.--Power and strength of the tiger.--Examples.--His cowardice. --Charge of a wounded tiger.--Incidents connected with wounded tigers. --A spined tiger.--Boldness of young tigers.--Cruelty.--Cunning.--Night scenes in the jungle.--Tiger killed by a wild boar.--His cautious habits.--General remarks. In the foregoing chapters I have tried to perform my promise, to give a general idea of our daily life in India; our toils and trials, our sports, our pastimes, and our general pursuits. No record of Indian sport, however, would be complete without some allusion to the kingly tiger, and no one can live long near the Nepaul frontier, without at some time or other having an encounter with the royal robber--the striped and whiskered monarch of the jungle. He is always to be found in the Terai forests, and although very occasionally indeed met with in Tirhoot, where the population is very dense, and waste lands infrequent, he is yet often to be encountered in the solitudes of Oudh or Goruchpore, has been shot at and killed near Bettiah, and at our pig-sticking ground near Kuderent. In North Bhaugulpore and Purneah he may be said to be ALWAYS at home, as he can be met there, if you search for him, at all seasons of the year.