have
been pushed up here by the Sontals, as the Sontals were themselves
pressed by the incoming Aryans.

[Illustration: A TIGER-HUNT, ELEPHANT-BACK.]

As we arrived at the camp I realized the words of our English
friend concerning the magnitude of the preparations for a tiger-hunt
undertaken on the present scale. The tents of the sportsmen, among
whom were several English army officers and civil officials, besides
a native rajah, were pitched in a beautiful glade canopied by large
trees, and near these were the cooking-tents and the lodging-places
of the servants, of whom there was the liberal allowance which
is customary in India. Through the great tree-trunks I could see
elephants, camels and horses tethered about the outskirts of the camp,
while the carts, elephant-pads and other _impedimenta_ lying about
gave the whole the appearance of an army at bivouac. Indeed, it was
not an inconsiderable force that we could have mustered. There were
fifteen or twenty elephants in the party. Every elephant had two men,
the _mahaut_ and his assistant; every two camels, one man; every
cart, two men; besides whom were the _kholassies_ (tent-pitchers),
the _chikarries_ (native huntsmen to mark down and flush the tiger),
letter-carriers for the official personages, and finally the personal
servants of the party, amounting in all to something like a hundred
and fifty souls. The commissary arrangements of such a body of men and
beasts were no light matter, and had on this occasion been placed by
contract in the hands of a flour-and-grain merchant from Patna. As
night drew on the scene became striking in the extreme, and I do not
think I felt the fact of India more keenly at any time than while
Bhima Gandharva and I, slipping away from a party who were making
merry over vast allowances of pale ale and cheroots, went wandering
about under the stars and green leaves, picking our way among the huge
forms of the mild-countenanced elephants and the bizarre figures of
the camels.

[Illustration: BENGAL WATER-CARRIERS.]

On the next day, after a leisurely breakfast at eight--the hunt was
to begin at midday--my kind host assigned me an elephant, and his
servants proceeded to equip me for the hunt, placing in my howdah
brandy, cold tea, cheroots, a rifle, a smooth-bore, ammunition, an
umbrella, and finally a blanket.

"And what is the blanket for?" I asked.

"For the wild-bees; and if your elephant happens to stir up a nest
of them, the