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those of most repute, has been gradually decreasing. At first this was ascribed to the great expense of the existing system of college education, and efforts were made to lessen it by lowering the fees and the cost of board. But the reduction in numbers still went on, and it has not been arrested even in those colleges in which education has been given gratuitously. It was not owing, therefore, to any undue expense in the system. Nor did it arise, as Dr. Wayland shows, from want of talent in the professors, from defective modes of teaching, or from inefficient examinations for university honors. He concludes, therefore, in mercantile phraseology, that "the article which the universities offer for sale is not such as the public want, and therefore they don't come to buy it." He proposes, in consequence, to the trustees of his own college, to remodel the whole system of instruction, to create new courses of study, comprehending those branches of knowledge which are actually in public demand, so arranged as to afford time to learn each branch as thoroughly as circumstances may require, and to attach to eminence in each honorary distinctions similar to those hitherto awarded in the form of degrees in arts. Thus, instead of one fixed and invariable routine, he would offer students the choice of several sets of equivalent studies, a due acquaintance with which on examination should entitle the candidates in them to equal honors. If a fair measure of success should follow this movement in Brown University, it must exercise a powerful influence upon the other colleges in the United States, and ultimately upon those of our own country.

But whatever fate may await the wide reform of Dr. Wayland, it is plain, we think, that in a century during which the progress of civilization has taken so distinctly positive and material a direction, the science of Chemistry, which presides over material progress in so many of its most interesting and important directions, cannot remain shut out from its legitimate place and influence in the educational institutions of the empire.

From the Examiner.

The Kaleidoscope of Anecdotes and Aphorisms. Collected by CATHARINE SINCLAIR, Author of "Lord and Lady Harcourt," &c., &c. Bentley. THIS anecdotical commonplace-book deserves a word of praise. Coleridge advises every reader, and especially readers of scarce or out-of-the-way volumes, whenever they discover a sentence, story, illustration, or remark, which strikes them to be worth remembering, that they should straightway lay hold of and remember it, as a charity to other people. The excellent Captain Cuttle condensed Coleridge's advice into his famous aphorism"When found, make a note of."

On this advice Miss Sinclair has acted, and her note-book is pleasant reading. There is nothing rare or out-of-the-way in the sources from which its entertainment is drawn; but the anecdotes and illustrations are generally clever in themselves, and a tone of good breeding, good society, and good sense pervades the selection.

We had no idea that Hannah More had ever said so good a thing as this:

This is a profound saying of Hobbes :

There is no action of man in this life, which is not the beginning of so long a chain of consequences, as that no human providence is high enough to give us a prospect to the end.-Thomas of Malmesbury.

Lavater hit upon the same deep truth when he so finely exclaimed that the man who acted well at the moment was performing a good action for all posterity.

Here is piece of true wit:

Curran, being angry in a debate one day, put his hand on his heart, saying:

"I am the trusty guardian of my own honor." "Then," replied Sir Boyle Roach," I congratulate my honorable friend on the sung sinecure to which he has appointed himself."

And here (in our judgment) is a piece of true eloquence. O si sic omnia! That all after-dinner speeches could but be like these!

A silver cup having been voted to an officer once for some gallant action, a dinner was given to celebrate it, and after the cloth had been removed, the whole assembled company waited with interest to hear the eloquence that should attend the presentation.

The president rose, and thrusting the cup towards the officer, said:

"There's the jug."

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We have a sneaking kindness for George the

Second, notwithstanding what he said about Hogarth, and we always read this anecdote with pleasure:

George II. being informed that an impudent printer was to be punished for having published a spurious King's Speech, replied: "I hope the man's punishment will be of the mildest sort, because I have read both; and, as far as I understand either of them, I like the spurious speech better than my own.-Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 88.

Here is a perfect illustration of a genuine courtmourning:

When the Court of France went into deep mourning, it was thought necessary at one time to leave off cardplaying, but M. de Maurepas restored the amusement, and produced the greatest relief by saying: "Piquet is mourning."

with all due gravity. Piquet was accordingly played night after night

Sydney Smith is always welcome :

Sydney Smith's definition of the Popish Ritual: Posture and imposture, flections and genuflections, bowing to the right, curtseying to the left, and an immense amount of man-millinery.

Anecdotes of the miser Elwes are common, but the subjoined we do not remember to have seen before. The respectable skinflint here openly expressed what English society has sneakingly acted upon for a good many years.

When the rich miser, Elwes, who left about a million of money to be divided between his two sons, was Hannah More said to Horace Walpole: "If I wanted advised to give them some education, his answer was: to punish an enemy, it should be by fastening on him" Putting things into people's heads is taking money the trouble of constantly hating somebody."

out of their pockets."

From Fraser's Magazine.

A JUNGLE RECOLLECTION.

THE hot season of 1849 was peculiarly oppressive, and the irksome garrison duty at Cherootabad, in the south of India, had for many months been unusually severe. The colonel of my regiment, the brigadier, and the general, having successively acceded to my application for three weeks' leave, and that welcome fact having been duly notified in orders, it was not long before I found myself on the Coimbatore road, snugly packed guns and all, in a country bullock-cart, lying at full length on a mattress, with a thick layer of straw spread under it. All my preparations had been made beforehand; | relays of bullocks were posted for me at convenient intervals, and I arrived at Goodaloor, a distance of a hundred and ten miles, in rather more than fortyeight hours.

Goodaloor is a quiet little village, about eleven miles from Coimbatore ;-but don't suppose I was going to spend my precious three weeks there.

After breakfasting at the traveller's bungalow, we started off again. The bungalow is on the right hand side of the road; and when we had proceeded about two hundred yards, the bullockcart turned into the fields to the left, and got along how it could across country, towards some low rocky hills, which ran parallel, and at about three miles' distance from the Coimbatore road.

After about two miles of this work, sometimes over fallow ground, sometimes through fields of growing grain, (taking awful liberties with the loose hedges of cut brambles, which, however, we had the conscience to build up again as we passed them,) sometimes over broken stony ground, and once or twice lumbering heavily through a rocky watercourse, we at last found ourselves on the grassy margin of a pretty little stream. Fifty yards beyond it, under the shade of a fine mangotree, my little tent was already pitched; in five minutes I lay stretched on my bed, listening with ravished ears to the glorious accounts of my old Shikaree, who had just come in, hot and tired, from the jungle. He had much to tell-how since he had been out, three days, he had tracked the tiger every morning up and down a certain nullah; how the brindled monster had been seen by different shepherds; and, what was still more satisfactory, how he had but yesterday killed a cow near the spot where the hut had been built. It was now midday-how to spend the long hours till sunset? After making the tired man draw innumerable sketch-maps in the sand, with reiterated descriptions of the hut, &c., I allowed the poor wretch to go to his dinner; and in anticipation of a weary night's watch, I squeezed my eyes together, and tried to sleep.

The sun begins to acquire his evening slant, and I joyfully leave my bed to prepare for my nocturnal expedition. The cook is boiling fowl and potatoes; they are ready; and now he pours his clear strong coffee into the three soda-water bottles by his side; everything is ready in the little basket, not forgetting a bottle of good beer. Now then commences the pleasing task of carefully loading our battery.

Come, big "Sam Nock," king of two-ouncers, what is to be the fate of those two great plums that you are now to swallow? Am I to cut them out of the tiger's ribs to-morrow?-or are they idly to be fired away into the trunk of a tree, or drawn again?

All loaded, and pony saddled, let us start; the two white cows and their calves; the mattress and blanket rolled up and carried on a Cooly's head; Shikaree, horsekeeper, and a village man with the three guns, while I myself bring up the rear. Over a few ploughed fields, and past that large banian-tree, the jungle begins.

What is this black thing? and what are those people doing? That hideous black image is the jungle god, and to him the villagers look for protection for their flocks.

How they stare at the man dressed in his mudcolored clothes, who has come so far, and sacrifices sleep and comfort, to sit and watch at night for the evil genius of their jungles! Children are held up to look at him-at the English jungle-wallah, who drinks brandy as they drink milk, and who is on his way to the deepest fastnesses of the wooded waste, to watch for the tiger alone-a man who laughs at gods and devils-a devil himself. The Shikaree, who had been earnestly engaged in conversation with the oldest-looking man of the group, now ran up and informed me that the Gooroo had given him to understand that the Sahib would certainly kill the tiger this night, and that it was expected that he would subscribe fifteen rupees to the god, in the event of the prediction proving true. Come, we have no time for talking. Hurry on, cows and guns, hurry on! through the silent jungle, along the narrow path. How much further yet? Not more than a quarter of a mile; we are close to it. And now the people who know the whereabouts stop and look smilingly on one another, and then at the Sahib, whose practised eye has but just discovered the well-built ambush.

In a small clump of low jungle, on the sloping bank of a broad, sandy watercourse, the casual passer-by would not have perceived a snug and tolerably strong little hut-the white ends of the small branches that were laid over it, and the mixture of foliage, alone revealing the fact to the observant eye of a practised woodman. No praise could be too strong to bestow on the faithful Shikaree; had I chosen the spot myself, after a week's survey of the country, it could not have been more happily selected. The watercourse wound its way through the thickest and most tigerish section of the jungle, and had its origin at the very foot of the hills, where tigers were continually seen by the woodcutters and shepherds. There was little or no water within many miles, except the few gal lons in a basin of rock, which I could almost reach from my little bower; and, to crown all, there were the broad, deep puggs of a tiger, up and down the nullah, in the dry sand, near the water's edge, of all ages, from the week, perhaps, up to the unmistakable fresh puggs of last night.

Let us get off the pony, and have a look at the hut. Pulling a few dry branches on one side, the small hurdle-door at the back is exposed to view, hardly big enough to admit a large dog; down on your knees and crawl in. Five feet long, four feet wide, and four feet high in the centre, is the extent of the little palace; a platform, a foot from the ground, occupies the whole extent to within a foot of the front end facing the bed of the watercourse. On this platform the mattress is laid, and some big coats and the blankets make a very comfortable pillow. Remove that little screen of leaves, and you look through a window, ten inches square, that commands a view fifty paces up and down the sandy nullah. Sitting on the end of the

bed-place, just behind the window, with your feet on the ground, nothing can be more comfortable; and, when tired, you only have to draw up your legs, and curl yourself on the mattress to enjoy a short nap, if your prudence cannot conquer sleep. Into this hut, which I have endeavored to describe, did I now crawl; the mattress was arranged, the handsome and carefully loaded battery was next handed in, and each gun placed ready for action; the cold fowl and bottle of Bass were in the mean while disposed of, and the soda-water bottles of cold coffee were stowed away in cunning corners. The sun is resting on the hill-tops, and will soon disappear behind them; the pea-fowl and junglecock are noisily challenging amongst themselves, and the latest party of woodcutters have just passed by, showing by their brisk pace and loud talking, that they consider it high time for prudent men to quit the jungle.

To the deeply rooted stump of a young tree on the opposite bank, one of the white cows has been made fast by a double cord passed twice round her horns. Nothing remains to be done; the little door is fastened behind me, the prickly acacia boughs are piled up against it on the outside, and my people are anxious to be off. The old Shikaree makes his appearance in the nullah, and, wishing me success through the window, asks if "all is right?" Everything; get home as fast as you can; if you should hear three shots in succession before dark, come back for me-otherwise, bring the pony at six to-morrow morning-and a of hot coffee, tell the cook."

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They are gone; I still hear them every now and then, as they shout to one another, and as the pony scrambled through some loose stones in the bed of a ravine through which their road lies.

the framework of the hut, or watched with interest the artful tactics of another Shikaree, in the shape of a slippery-looking green lizard, who was cautiously "stalking" the insects among the rafters.

The cow, tired with struggling and plunging, appears to have become tolerably resigned to her situation, and has lain down, her ears, however, in continual motion, and the jaws sometimes suddenly arrested, while in the act of chewing the cud, to listen, as some slight noise in the thicket attracts her attention. Gracious! what is that down on the nullah to the left? A peacock only. How my heart beat at first! what a splendid train the fellow has! Here he comes, evidently for the water and now his seraglio-one, two, four, five, buff-breasted, modest-looking little quakeresses. What a contrast to his splendid blue and gold! All to the water-dive in your bills and toss back your heads with blinking eyes as you quaff the delicious fluid; little do you dream that there is a gun within five paces, although you are quite safe. But stop! here are antics. The old boy is happy, and up goes his tail, to the admiration of his hens, and the extreme wonderment of the cow, who, with open eyes, is staring with all her might at the glories of the expanded fan; and now slowly goes he round and round, like a solemn Jack o' the Green, his spindle shanks looking disreputably thin in the waning light.

They quit the water-side, and disappear; and I can hear their heavy wings as they one after another mount a tall tree for the night.

The moon is up-all nature still; the cow, again on her legs, is restless, and evidently frightened. Oh! reader, even if you have the soul of a Shikaree, I despair of being able to convey in words a tithe of the sensations of that solitary vigil; a night like that is to be enjoyed but seldom -a red-letter day in one's existence.

Where is the man who has never experienced the poetic influence of a moonlit scene? Fancy, then, such a one as here described; a crescent of low hills-craggy, steep, and thickly wooded— around you on three sides, and above them, again, at twenty miles distance, the clear blue outline of the Neilgherry Hills; in your front the silver-sand bed of the dry watercourse divides the thick and sombre jungle with a stream of light, till you lose it in the deep shadows at the foot of the hills

The poor cow, too, listens with dismay to the retreating footsteps of the party, and has already made some furious plunges to free herself and rejoin the rest of the kine, who have been driven off, nothing loth, towards home. Watch her; how intently she stares along the path by which the people have deserted her! Were it not for the occasional stamp of the fore leg, or the impatient side-toss of the head, to keep off the swarming flies, she might be carved out of marble. And now a fearful and anxious gaze up the bed of the nullah, and into the thick fringe of Mimosa, one ear pricked and the other back alternately, show that instinct has already whispered the warning of impending danger. Another plunge to get loose, and a searching gaze up the path; see her sides heave. Now comes what we want-that deep low! it echoes again among the hills; another, and another. Poor wretch! you are hastening your doom; far or near the tiger hears you-under rock or thicket, where he has lain since morning sheltered from the scorching sun, his ears flutter as if they were tickled every time he hears that music; his huge green eyes, heretofore half-closed, Let me, good reader, give way to the pleasures are now wide open, and, alas! poor cow, gaze of memory-let me fancy myself back again, seattruly enough in thy direction; but he has noted in my dear little hut, full of hope and expectastirred yet, and nobody can say in which direction giant death will yet stalk forth.

Whichever of my readers who has never had to wait in solitude, in a strange room of a strange house, has not indulged in that idle, speculative curiosity peculiar to such a situation, gazing on the pictures, and counting, perhaps, tables and chairs with an absurd earnestness of purpose-will not understand how I spent the first half-hour of my solitude; how I idly counted the stakes that formed

all quiet, all still, all bathed in the light of the moon, yourself the only man for miles to come; a solitary watcher, your only companion the poor cow, who, full of fears and suspicions at every leaf-fall, reminds you that a terrible struggle is about to take place within a few feet of your bed, and that there will be noise and confusion, when you must be cool and collected. Your little kennel would not be strong enough to resist a determined charge, and you are alone, if three good guns are not true friends.

tion, now drinking the ice-cold coffee from one of the soda-water bottles, re-corking it, and placing it slowly and noiselessly in its corner. Hark to the single ring of a silver bell, and its echo among the hills!-a spotted deer-why does she call? has she seen anything? Again, and again, and answered from a long distance! "Tis very odd, that when one should be most wakeful, there should be always an inclination to sleep. A raw nip of aqua-vitæ, and a little of the same rubbed

round the eyes, nostrils, and behind the ears, make | wetting. For myself, I can only say, in extenuaus wakeful again.

Oh! that I could express sounds on paper as music is written in notes. No, reader, you must do as I have done-you must be placed in a similar situation, to hear and enjoy the terrible roar of a hungry tiger-not from afar off and listened for, but close at hand and unexpected. It was like an electric shock ;—a moment ago, I was dozing off, and the cow, long since lain down, appeared asleep; that one roar had not died away among the hills when she had scrambled on her legs, and stood with elevated head, stiffened limbs, tail raised, and breath suspended, staring full of terror in the direction of the sound. As for the biped, with less noise and even more alacrity, he had grasped his favorite "Sam Nock," whose polished barrels just rested on the lower ledge of the little peep-hole; perhaps his eyes were as round as saucers, and heart beating fast and strong.

Now for the struggle ;—pray Heaven that I am cool and calm, and do not fire in a hurry, for one shot will either lose or secure my well-earned prize.

There he is again! evidently in that rugged, Stony watercourse which runs parallel, and about two hundred yards behind the hut. But what is that? Yes, lightning: two flashes in quick succession, and a cold stream of air is rustling through the half-withered leaves of my ambush. Taking a look to the rear, through an accidental opening among the leaves, it was plain that a storm, or, as it would be called at sea, a squall, was brewing. An arch of black cloud was approaching from the westward, and the rain descending gave it the appearance of a huge black comb, the teeth reaching to the earth. The moon, half obscured, showed a white mist as far as the rain had reached. Then was heard in the puffs of air the hissing of the distant but approaching down-pour: more lightning-then some large, heavy drops plashed on the roof, and it was raining cats and dogs.

How the scene was changed! Half-an-hour ago, solemn, and still, and wild, as nature rested, unpolluted, undefaced, unmarked by man-sleep ing in the light of the moon, all was tranquillity; the civilized man lost his idiosyncrasy in its contemplation-forgot nation, pursuits, creed-he felt that he was nature's child, and adored the God of

nature.

But the beautiful was now exchanged for the sublime, when that scene appeared lit up suddenly and awfully by lightning, which now momentarily exchanged a sheet of intensely dazzling blue light, with a darkness horrible to endure-a light which showed the many streams of water, which now appeared like ribbons over the smooth slabs of rock that lay on the slope of the hills, and gave a microscopic accuracy of outline to every object-exchanged as suddenly for a darkness which for the moment might be supposed the darkness of extinction of utter annihilation-while the crash of thunder overhead rolled over the echoes of the hills, "I am the Lord thy God."

The hut, made in a hurry, was not thatched, (as it might have been,) and the half-dried foliage which covered it collected drops only to pour down continuous streams from the stem of every twig.

So much for sitting up for tigers! will most of my readers exclaim, and laugh at the monomaniac who would subject himself to such misery; but the thoroughbred Shikaree is game and stanch to the backbone, and will not be stopped by a night's

tion, that I was born on the 12th of August.

A heavy and continuous down-pour soon showed its effects, and although I had lots of big coats, and was not altogether unprepared for such an emergency, an hour had not elapsed before I was obliged to confess myself tolerably wet through. The mattress just collected the water and made a good hip-bath, for there was no other seat. The nullah, heretofore as I have described, was now a turbid stream of red water, which, falling over a slab of rock into the small basin before mentioned, kept up an unceasing din. Tired and disgusted, I rolled a doubled blanket, although saturated with water, tight round me, and was soon warm and asleep. About two o'clock in the morning the clouds broke and the rain ceased; the boiling stream ran down to half its size, and a concert of thousands of frogs, bass, tenor, and treble, kept up a monotonous croaking enough to wake the dead.

The moon appeared again, and I attacked both cold coffee and brandy, and made myself as comfortable as possible under existing circumstancesto wit, wringing the water out of my jacket and cap, and putting them on again warm and comparatively dry. The cow even shook herself, and appeared glad of the change of weather, and I had no doubt that she would go back with me to the tent in the morning, to gladden the eyes of her young calf and all good Hindoos. The nullah had run dry again, and even the infernal frogs, as if despairing of more rain, had ceased their din: damp and sleepy, with arms folded and eyes sometimes open, but often shut, I kept an indifferent watch, when the cow struggling on her legs and a choking groan brought me to my senses. There they were! No dream! A huge tiger holding her just behind the ears, shaking her like a fighting dog! By the doubtful light of a watery moon did I calmly and noiselessly run out the muzzle of my single J. Lang rifle.

I saw him, without quitting his grip of the cow's neck, leap over her back more than onceshe sank to the earth, and he lifted her up again : at the first opportunity I pulled trigger-snick!— The rifle was withdrawn and big Sam Nock felt grateful to the touch. Left barrel-snick! Right barrel-snick, bang!

Whether hanging fire is an excuse or not, the tiger relinquished his hold, and in one bound was out of sight. The cow staggered for two or three seconds, fell with a heavy groan, and ceased to move. Tiger gone!-cow dead !—was it a dream? Killed the cow within five paces, and gone away scathless.

For a long time I felt benumbed: I had missed many near shots, even many at tigers, and some like this at night, but never before under such favorable circumstances. Why, I almost dreaded the morning, when my Shikaree and people would come and find the cow killed, and I should have in fairness to account for the rest. The first streak of daylight did shortly appear, and every familiar sound of awaking nature succeeded each other, from the receding hooting of the huge horned owl, to the noisy crowing of the jungle-cock and the call of the pea-fowl. The sun got up, and soon I heard, first doubtfully and then distinctly, the approach of my people. A sudden start, and stop, when they came in full view of the slaughtered cow; and then a look up and down the nullah, as if they had not seen all. The reader must spare me the recollection of a scene that vexes me even at this dis

tance of time, as if it had occurred but yesterday. The next half-hour was spent sitting at the carcass of the cow, staring at the enormous and deeply indented prints of the tiger's feet, and looking with sorrow and vexation and some compunction at the poor little calf which had been driven back to its mother, neither to see her alive nor her death avenged.

It was quite evident that the tiger had not been hit, for there was neither hair nor blood to be seen, and one or two small branches in the jungle beyond the cow showed, either by being cut down or barked, that the ball had passed over the mark. So on to the pony and back to the tent to sleep or sulk out the next twelve hours.

Somehow or other that pony, generally so clever and pleasant, was inclined to kick his toes against every stone, and be perverse all the way home; at any rate I fancied so, and am ashamed to say that I gave him the spur or jerked the curb-rein on the slightest pretence. My people, like all Indians, read the case thoroughly, and trudged along without hazarding a remark on any subject. We passed under the identical banian-tree, and by the disgusting little black image described in the commencement of the story, and never did I feel more indignant against all idolatry, or more inclined to smash a Hindoo god. We also had to pass a small jungle village, and, as if on purpose, appeared that every man, woman and child were posted to have a good look. Several of them, who knew some of my party, asked a hurried question, and I could hear, though I would not look, that the answer was given-"Had a shot, but missed." "Yes," said I to myself, "quite true-why should I be angry?" "Here goes the man that missed an animal as big as a bullock at ten paces-more power to his elbow!"

The tent gained, I was soon lying on my back on the bed kicking out my heels, calling for breakfast, and appearing to be very hungry, or very sleepy, or very anything but what I was-mortified and disgusted. Breakfast over, my good old Shikaree was sent for, and the whole affair gone over again. The rain, the unexpected time of night, and, above all, the two first shots snicking, and the third hanging fire being considered, we two being judge and jury, it was decided that not the slightest blame attached to the defendant, who was too well known as a very fine shot to regard a mistake of this kind; and, moreover, that as it was certain that the tiger was not hurt, but only frightened, there was strong reason for hoping that he would return at nightfall to the carcass. Men were therefore sent out to watch that the place should not in any way be disturbed, or the dead cow touched or moved; and I resigned myself to a pleasant sleep. I awoke about three in the afternoon; the guns had -thanks to a good Shikaree-been washed, dried, and slightly oiled, and were all laid on the table, looking as if a month of rain would not make them miss fire. A bath, clean clothes, guns loaded, pony saddled-and once more off to try my luck.

The pony was active and cheerful, and even the beastly image under the banian-tree did not look so grim. On our arrival at the ground, the halfwild fellows who had watched all day, dropped down from their trees, and reported that nothing had happened during the day, and that the place had been undisturbed. A few vultures had appeared about midday and settled on the carcass, but had been driven off: further they had nothing

to sav.

They were referred to the tent for payment for their day's work, and in due course took their departure with my people.

Once more left alone!-this time quite alone, for my poor companion of last night lay stiff and stark in the position I saw her fall, when the tiger relinquished his hold.

Alarmed by the already slightly smelling carrion, or finding water elsewhere, left by the downfall of last night, no peaceful or other living thing paid me a visit, if I except some few crows, who with heavy wings swept past, or perched on neighboring trees, cawing, and winking their eyes, and peering cautiously and inquisitively at the dead cow. Only one among the crew hovered and lighted on the dead beast's head; but although he made several picks at the lips and eyes, opening and shutting his wings the while on his strong, sleek, wirylooking body, and cawing lustily, nobody heeded him; so, appearing to be alarmed at being solus in the scene, he took his departure.

Night succeeded day, and the moon, in unclouded beauty, made the dark jungle a fairy scene. There was but one drawback-the cow lay dead, the tiger had been fired at, and experience whispered," the opportunity has gone by."

By-and-by a jackal passed like a shadow among the bushes, so small-looking, so much the color of all around, that it remained a doubt: more of these passed to and fro, and then a bolder ventured on the plain and sand, and up to the rump of the dead beast, took two or three hard tugging bites, and was gone. As the night grew later they became less fearful, and half-a-dozen of them together were tugging and tearing, till, breaking the entrails, the gas escaped in a loud rumbling, which dispersed my friends among the bushes in a moment; but they were almost immediately back, and the confidence with which they went to work convinced me that my hope was hopeless.

It must have been eleven o'clock when my ears caught the echo among the rocks, and then the distant roar-nearer-nearer-nearer; and oh, joy!

answered. Tiger and tigress!-above all hope coming to recompense mc for hundreds of nightwatchings-to balance a long account of weary nights in the silent jungle, in platforms on trees, in huts of leaf and bramble, and in damp pits on the water's edge-all bootless;-coming-coming nearer and nearer.

Music nor words, dear reader, can stand me in my stead to convey the sound to you: the first note like the trumpet of a peacock, and the rest of the deepest-toned thunder. Stones and gravel rattled just behind the hut on the path by which we came and went, and a heavy step passed and descended the slope into the nullah. I heard the san crunching under his weight before I dared look. A little peep. Oh, heavens! looming in the moonlight, there he stood, long, sleek as satin, and lashing his tail-he stood stationary, smelling the slaughtered cow. No longer the cautious, creeping tiger, I felt how awful a brute he was to offend. I remembered how he had worried a strong cow in half a minute, and that with his weight alone my poor rickety little citadel would fall to pieces. As if the excitement of the moment was insufficient, the monster, gazing down the dry watercourse, caught sight of his companion, who, advancing up the bed of the nullah, stood irresolutely about twenty yards off. A terrific growl from him, answered not loud but deeply, and I was the strange but unsuspected witness to a cata waul

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