CHAPTER II.

Danger from tigers-Danger from alligators-Joys and sadness of Blewfields-Eboes in season-Gathering shell-fish-Manatee-Bowman caters for us-The King and I disport ourselves-Turtle-The rainy season-Crickey-jeen and butterflies-Thunder, rain and stormsWinged ants and their consumers.

We were surrounded by forest in Blewfields, and to my young imagination this forest was interminable and mysterious. Our house was close to its edge. We had a garden of 8 or 10 acres, and the bush was at the back of it. At night we would listen to strange and unknown cries and noises in the forest, which filled us with mysterious dread. Our house was built on posts, the floor being 5 feet above the ground, and our goats and pigs slept in the dry dust under the floor. Once or twice, on dark, stormy nights, we heard the goats and pigs rush out from under the house, and in the morning we found the tracks of a tiger in our yard, from which the pigs, smelling it, had fled in dismay.

Once, on a dark rainy night, my sister and I were awakened by a headlong rush of the goats under the house, and the shrill squealing of a pig. While we were discussing what was to be done, the squeals ceased and all was still. Next morning we found a lot of blood and hair under the house, and our goats and pigs would not come near the place, as they smelt the tiger's scent.

Soon a number of men and dogs proceeded to track the

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beast through the bush. Presently the dogs were heard. barking a long way off, and on coming up we found they had driven a large puma into a tree, on which it lay crouching flat against a sloping branch. In this position it was difficult to hit it, and several shots were fired before one took effect. The puma snarled horribly, and, turning round to get to the trunk of the tree, received three more shots. This made it squat again, and several more shots were fired. At last it started to its feet and made a move to get to the trunk, but in doing so fell to the ground. Twenty dogs at once attacked it, and a terrible scrimmage took place. The puma fought furiously with the dogs, several of which were so torn that they died. The men could not fire at the struggling animals, and no one dared go near them, but in a few minutes the puma was dying, the dogs were driven off, and it was shot dead. It was skinned on the spot, and a quantity of the meat was carried home by the men to eat. We then searched round, and found the half-eaten carcase of our largest boar, which must have weighed 200 pounds.

Subsequently we fenced in the lower part of our house so as to exclude the goats and pigs, and had a large open shed built, in which was kept firewood, with odds and ends of every kind, and the goats and pigs slept there. One dark night my sister woke me, saying a tiger was killing one of our goats. I got up and heard a piteous bleating in the woodshed. We lighted the lantern and fired off my gun, but still the cries continued, so my sister and I sallied out to the rescue. She held the lantern while I walked in front with my double-barrelled gun cocked. We walked cautiously over the 40 yards of grass and stopped at the shed, afraid to enter its dark shadow; but the piteous cries of the goat still continued, and we were surprised to see the pigs lying in the dust quite unconcerned, and all the goats with their green eyes glittering in the light of the lantern, composedly chewing their cuds. We were certain from this evidence.

that there was no tiger about, and we searched all round to see where the cries came from. At last my sister saw the horns sticking out of an upright barrel of tar. The head had been opened and a gallon or so of tar taken out to tar a canoe, and the head replaced loosely. The goat, like all goats, loving high places, had jumped upon the top of the barrel, and the head giving way, it was plunged up to the neck in tar. So I mounted on top of the barrel with my feet on the rims, and laying hold of the horns, I hoisted the goat out of the tar and tumbled it on to the ground, and then we laughed and went to bed. Next morning the poor goat was covered with cocoanut-oil, washed with hot water and soap, and made as clean as possible, but all its hair dropped off, and it was a long time before it grew again.

On another occasion an Indian named Bowman, who slept in a part of our large kitchen, heard the pigs and goats rush wildly away, and then a short, sharp squeal from a pig. He opened the door, shouted, and threw firebrands out, then got his gun and fired two or three shots. We all woke and called out to Bowman to know what was the matter, but he did not know. All the dogs round about began barking, and daylight was close at hand. In the morning we went to feed the pigs with cocoanuts as usual, but to our astonishment, when they came near us, they gave a bark and rushed away in great alarm. We discovered the cause of this in the tracks of a tiger, and soon Bowman called to us to come and see what he had found, which was one of our largest pigs lying dead among the wood-pile, with its jaws broken and skull fractured. This had been done by a slap from the paw of a tiger, which had then been frightened and left its prey.

We had a large boathouse close to the edge of the lagoon, where our own and other people's canoes were kept. There was also a work-bench in it, and lots of shavings about, and many goats and pigs slept in this boathouse. They were