The remnant of that skull is now in my possession. The lower jaw absolutely disappeared, being reduced to pulp. All the teeth were cut away from the upper jaw, together with a portion of the bone, and several shot had gone through the back of the throat and palate into the brain. This was a striking example of the utility of a handy smooth-bore in a howdah for close quarters. If I had had my favourite '577 rifle weighing 12 lbs., I could not have used it with one hand effectively, but the 7 lb. smooth-bore was as handy as a pistol. The wind-up of the hunt was very satisfactory to my men, all of whom had worked with much intelligence and skill. There were so many wild pigs throughout the churs below Rohumari that the tigers declined to kill our baits, as they could easily procure their much-loved food. Every night our animals were tied up in various directions, but we found them on the following morning utterly disregarded. This neglect on the part of the tigers imposed the necessity of marching in line haphazard for many hours consecutively through all the most likely places to contain a tiger. Many of the islands were at this dry season separated from each other by sandy channels where the contracted stream was only a few inches deep; it was therefore a certain proof, should tigers exist upon the islands, if tracks were discovered on the sand. During the night it was the custom of these animals to wander in all directions, and it was astonishing upon some occasions to see the great distances that the tiger had covered, and the numerous churs that it had visited, either in a search for prey, or more probably for a companion of its own species. If 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.