the
door, and infested all the roads leading to the temple for many years
afterwards.'

'Do you think, Raja Sahib, that the old high priest is one of the
tigers at the Katra Pass?'

'No, I do not; but I think they may be all men who have become imbued
with a little too much of the high priest's _science_--when men once
acquire this science they can't help exercising it, though it be to
their own ruin, and that of others.'

'But, supposing them to be ordinary tigers, what is the simple plan
you propose to put a stop to their depredations, Raja Sahib?'

'I propose', said he, 'to have the spirits that guide them
propitiated by proper prayers and offerings; for the spirit of every
man or woman who has been killed by a tiger rides upon his head, or
runs before him, and tells him where to go to get prey, and to avoid
danger. Get some of the Gonds, or wild people from the jungles, who
are well skilled in these matters--give them ten or twenty rupees,
and bid them go and raise a small shrine, and there sacrifice to
these spirits. The Gonds will tell them that they shall on this
shrine have regular worship, and good sacrifices of fowls, goats, and
pigs, every year at least, if they will but relinquish their offices
with the tigers and be quiet. If this is done, I pledge myself', said
the Raja, 'that the tigers will soon get killed themselves, or cease
from killing men. If they do not, you may be quite sure that they are
not ordinary tigers, but men turned into tigers, or that the Gonds
have appropriated all you gave them to their own use, instead of
applying it to conciliate the spirits of the unfortunate people.'[8]

Notes:

1. Deori, in the Sagar district, about forty miles south-east of
Sagar. In 1767, the town and attached tract called the Panj Mahal
were bestowed by the Peshwa, rent-free, on Dhondo Dattatraya, a
Maratha pundit, ancestor of the author's friend. The Panj Mahal was
finally made part of British territory by the treaty with Sindhia in
1860, and constitutes the District called Panch Mahals in the
Northern Division of the Bombay Presidency. The vernacular word
_panch_ like the Persian _panj_, means 'five'. The title Sarimant
appears to be a popular pronunciation of the Sanskrit _srimant_ or
_sriman_, 'fortunate', and is still used by Maratha nobles.

2. _Ante_, Chapter 16, note 6. The name is here erroneously printed
'Dhamoree' in the author's text.

3. He had good reason for his gratitude, inasmuc