gles are full of the ghosts of slain men and animals, and afford more
variety in hauntings than any other localities. The spirits of such
cruel creatures as lions, tigers, leopards, are very much earth-bound,
and may be seen or heard night after night haunting the sites of their
former depredations.

The following case of a tiger ghost was narrated to me years ago by a
gentleman whom I will style Mr. De Silva, P.W.D. I published his account
in a popular weekly journal, as follows:--

_The White Tiger_

"Tap! tap! tap. Someone was coming behind me. I halted, and in the
brilliant moonlight saw a figure hobbling along--first one thin leg,
then the other, always with the same measured stride--accompanied with
the same tapping of the stick. I had no wish for his company, though the
road was lonely, and I feared the presence of tigers, so I hurried on,
and the faster I went, the nearer he seemed to come. Tap! tap! tap! The
man was blind and a leper, and so repulsively ugly that the niggers on
the settlement regarded him with superstitious awe. I had a horror of
tigers, but of lepers even greater. And I loved my wife with no ordinary
love. So I hurried on, and he followed quickly after me.

"The night was brilliant, even more so, I thought, than was ordinary,
and the very brilliancy made me fear, for my shadow, the shadow of the
trees, shadows for which I had no name, flickered across the road, were
lost to sight to return again, and the jungle was getting nearer. The
open country on either side ceased, one by one tall blades of jungle
grass shook their heads in the gentle breeze, and the silence of the
darkness beyond began to make itself felt. A night bird whizzed past me,
croaking out a dismal incantation from its black throat; something at
which I did not care to look clattered from under a stone I loosened
with my foot, and sped into the shade, and I hastened on.

"Tap! tap! tap! Faster and faster, and faster came the blind man. I
could smell the oil on his body, hear his breathing.

"'Whoever you are, sahib, stop!'

"There was fear in his voice as he whined out these words, a fear which
increased my own; but I pretended not to hear, and pressed on faster.

"The darkness grew; high over my head at either side of the road waved
the grass, rustling to and fro, and singing to sleep the insects
nestling on its green stalks with its old-time song of the jungle.

"The grass ahead of me slowly parted; my heart beat qu