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again, and in a second had the monster's tail out of the bung-hole, almost to the very root, at one pull, and with the little assistance that I could afford him, being something shorter than my companion, we consummated this feat.

It was clear that so long as we could keep the cask between ourselves and the tigress, we should be safe from her attacks; and imagining, besides, that, by our united strength, we might, in the end, drag her down to the river-side, where we hoped to find our shipmates, and then take her on board-ship dead or alive, we cautiously descended. Alas! vain and absurd hope-sorely did we miscalculate our respective powers, for though entirely deprived of the use of her hind legs, in consequence of her tail being drawn home (as the sailors would call it) through the bung-hole, we were no sooner on our legs, than she walked clean away with us in spite of our utmost exertions to check her, and made directly for the interior, growling and squinting at us the while, as if she looked upon us as her own peculiar property. Miles and miles did we traverse, dragged along in this infernal manner, the Captain holding on like grim death by the tail of the brute, and I by his.

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I cannot deny that I had several times the diabolical temptation (to which I suspect most persons under similar circumstances would be liable) to bolt at once and run for it, and leave my companion to do the best he could by himself. I am now, of course, glad that I did not yield to this :-one reason, perhaps, for my not doing so, I must confess, was the recollection of my friend's great activity, and through which, though I might have got some start at first, he would soon have beaten me in the long run, when I must have fallen a victim to the tigress and my own baseness. A heavy jungle was now in sight:"We near'd the wild wood-'twas so wide

I saw no bounds on either side."

The additional resistance that some rough ground in the neigh

bourhood, as well as the stumps of some trees that now occasionally occurred, enabled us to offer, gave my gallant friend an opportunity for trying an experiment, which he had evidently been conning over in his mind for some time past, and which, for its wonderful success, I can most conscientiously recommend to any one who may chance to be placed in a similarly painful, and, I may say, anxious predicament. This was nothing less than the bold and original conception of tying her tail in a stout knot, sufficiently large and tight to prevent its slipping through the bung-hole on our releasing it. Accordingly, choosing a favourable moment, when a good purchase enabled us to apply our united efforts to advantage, we succeeded in effecting this superb, and, as it ultimately proved, triumphant manoeuvre, just as the sun was setting below the horizon. It was an awful moment indeed: had the knot slipped in the smallest degree, one or both of us must have paid the penalty of the awkwardness by a horrible and untimely end. Again and again was it examined, till the Captain at last pronounced it safe; and, having in mind the well-known effect that similar appendages have upon the nerves of other animals, he gave the signal, when we commenced a howling and yelling sufficient to have alarmed the very dead, playing the devil's tattoo, with every accompaniment we could devise (in assisting at which I risked the safety of two bottles of the most undeniable Schiedam, which, by some accident, I found in the pockets of my coat), and, finally, "cast off." How can I find words to express a tithe of my ecstatic delight, and the veneration with which I looked upon my friend, when we saw the good result of his masterly stratagem. With one long fiendish roar of mingled rage and fright, she made the best of her way off, the extraordinary appendage and our screams apparently driving her almost frantic, as she sneaked away from sight into the dense jungle.

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This feat was, indeed, a masterpiece of courage and presence of mind that I imagine,-and, what is more, so does my friend-has never

been surpassed, seldom I should think equalled. M'Clenchem has, himself, often referred to it as his chef d'oeuvre, although nothing was taken by the move. Pulling hair out of the tails of wild elephants, shooting alligators with "paddy;" riding a hippopotamus, and catching elephants with gins, as you snare pheasants in England, are merely child's play to it.

We quickly, as you may imagine, made the most of our weary legs in retracing our footsteps to the landing-place where we had left the boat. Fear added strength and wings to me, or I never should have reached it, for we had the greatest difficulty in finding it. The boatmen were on the point of pushing off, as it was nearly dark, and they had made a most ineffectual search for us. Indeed, seeing the footprints of a tiger on the spot, together with the wreck of our repast scattered in every direction, they came to the conclusion that we must have met with a dreadful end. Once on board, we related our adventures to the gaping skipper and other listeners, who would hardly give us credit for our story till some of the tigress's hair was observed upon our hands and sleeves. Captain M'Clenchem's courage and presence of mind were applauded again and again. For my part, I became dangerously ill with delirium, during the paroxysms of which the only thing that could keep me quiet (and this, too, was the suggestion of the Captain) was fastening a thick rope, somewhat greased, to the foot of my bed, and giving the other end into my eager hands, which I continued to pull by hours together! I ultimately recovered, but slowly, and have ever since been the wreck I now am.

In conclusion, I should state that curiosity induced the Captain to make subsequent inquiries regarding this tigress and the cask, but all he ever learned through the natives (for it is a part little visited by Europeans), was that, about a year or two after, two cubs were killed in the vicinity, having each a most extraordinary enlargement at the root of the tail, about the size and form of an oyster barrel; and though he never succeeded in getting, in spite of his utmost exertions, anything more than a very imperfect skin, minus, too, the most interesting portion, and a bone that did certainly bear a strong resemblance to a stave, yet he thought, and I agree with him, that these identical cubs must have been, without a shadow of a doubt, the progeny of the tigress in question, and their not being captured alive, or recovered when dead, is the more to be regretted, as, independent of the obviously valuable addition to any zoological collection, they must for ever have set at rest the long disputed question-" to what extent the effects of external objects on a mother can influence the physical conformation of her unborn offspring?"

I hope this narrative has satisfactorily accounted for the symptoms of premature old age with which I commenced this communication. Such a fright as I had on this occasion, would have been enough to have turned a black man white, much more a white man's hair :-the shock, too, to my nerves has been such as I have mentioned; what wonder, then, that my hand should still shake, and that my few grey hairs still stand half erect, after the recapitulation of the above awful facts, and that I find a difficulty in once more signing myself,

Yours, &c.,

VON DUNK.

P.S. Poor Captain M'C. lost his life, I afterwards heard, about nine years ago, in attempting to perform the above feat a second time: the tail of the monster was duly seized, but being a terrible “ maneater" and mangy, the hair of her tail came off in his hand, and the tail slipping through the bung-hole, the tiger turned upon him and killed him at one stroke.

NOTES OF A SALMON-FISHING TOUR IN SCOTLAND. (Continued from page 288.)

FROM Fort William I proceeded to Inverness, through the Caledonian canal, a beautiful day's sail; and, leaving the Ness until my return, made a run into Sutherlandshire, on a visit to my friend, Mr. Gilchrist, of Ospisdale, from whom I received a truly Highland welcome, and whose table and wines sufficiently proved the knowledge of the savoir vivre in this remote region of the island.

On the following morning, mounting a dog-cart, with my rod and apparatus beside me, I took my way along the shore of the Frith of Dornock, which, at the top, receives the rivers Oichil, Shin, and Carron. Leaving the vehicle at Ardgy Inn, I walked some three miles up the latter stream, accompanied by Donald M'Gregor, an old experienced angler, well acquainted with each favourite haunt in every stream and pool. In former days, Donald was used to angle, unchallenged, in the Carron, seldom failing to augment his cottage-larder with its produce; but "times were changed, old manners gone;" he dare not venture now to cast a line. Nay, one of the keepers themselves, who fancied he might use what he was appointed to preserve, was on one occasion laid hold of for using a rod, and imprisoned.

The course of the river Carron not being above eight or nine miles long, its volume of water is inconsiderable, especially in the upper part, where it descends from the mountains; afterwards it runs in numerous fine streams, and, finally, in a rocky channel, where several deep, dark pools are formed, with high shelving rocks on either side. Having adjusted my rod, and prepared for work, I was led by Donald to the Black Pool, as he called it, which, on the side I was, without a guide, it would have puzzled a stranger to approach, as, close to the water's edge, a rocky precipice rose, nearly perpendicular, above 100 feet, leaving, at its base, a rugged, narrow ledge, scarce a foot in width, which was with difficulty gained by scrambling over rocks, and under alder bushes; so situated, it required some art to cast the line. From the number of fish usually tenanting this pool, the fly could scarcely fail to be observed by some of them; but, though the river was in fine order, they rejected every offer I made them.

Proceeding upwards, I had, as the day advanced, the prospect of better sport, having several rises, and hooking one fine fish, which, to my sorrow, managed to get clear. At length, however, I succeeded in

killing a beautiful nine-pound grilse; but, from some unknown cause or other, the fish were not that day in a taking humour. I encountered a brother angler, who had formerly served in the―th dragoons, and was now residing in the neighbourhood, whose success had also been poor. He had killed one small fish, and lost another, described by him, of course, a perfect monster in point of size, after a stout and lengthened contest. Resolving for the day to leave the water-side, I retraced my steps homeward, arriving in time for dinner, at seven o'clock, my host having, during my stay, fixed an hour later than his wont, in order not to curtail my time for fishing. If my expectations of fun had not been realized during the day, they were amply verified in the joys of the table in the evening.

I was, with reluctance at first, induced to adopt a custom nearly universal in the North, of swallowing before breakfast a glass of bitters, or whisky, with an infusion of gentian, which, however, after a few morning's practice, I required little pressing to accomplish, finding it, after nightly excess, a powerful stimulant to vigorous morning appetite. On my way to the river-side the following day, the road, running through this wild and scanty-peopled district, presented the appearance of a highway leading to some great annual fair, beset, as it was, by parties from a great distance coming to the "preachings," the next being the annual sacramental Sunday in the parish. Among a group of his kin, I encountered Donald, similarly bound, who proposed instantly turning and accompanying me; this I would not permit him to do, resolving to dispense with his attendance on the occasion on which, of all others, it would have been of the most service to me.

The day was beautiful, but, from bright sunshine, not apparently propitious for fishing; the river, too, had slightly fallen, which rather facilitated my approach to the ledge of rocks alongside the Black Pool, where, after angling a few minutes, I raised a fish, and, on his again coming to the surface, fixed him. Though small in size, he occasioned me much difficulty and trouble to keep my footing while I guided him down a narrow shallow stream, which separates itself from the body of the river, the only spot where, by possibility, he could be landed. In our progress, thick bushes intervened betwixt us, and Donald's helping hand would here have much availed. I managed, however, to land him without detriment to tackle. Not having any more rises, I moved up the river, leaving the fish concealed in the bank, and resolving to give the pool another chance on my return in the evening.

Having gone about two miles up the river, I resumed operations at a stream, running rapid and contracted between two gravelly banks, where, after a few casts, a goodly twelve-pound fish caused my reel to run, and rod to bend. He gave me twenty minutes' sport, when I succeeded in safely gaffing and securing him. Five minutes more had not transpired ere, at the same spot, another such fish dashed at my fly, and I was only apprized that he was hooked by his shooting like a bolt from a crossbow down the stream, exhausting full a hundred yards of line, which, from inadvertence, passing across my middle finger, nigh cut it to the bone. I then sped after him as fast as possible, winding up my line the while; his pace had been too good to last; so, after another similar ebullition, finding him exhausted, I dragged him to the side and landed him. Though nearly of like size and weight to his

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