Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-11-15


creek, when a ryot. or common laborer,
passed through our camp on his way to his
village, about five miles away. He had
had a narrow escape from a tiger, and was
greatly excited. When | asked him to
locate the beast he placed him among the
ruins Of an old temple to the west OF us
and not more than two miles away. The
ruins were in a heavy jungle, but he told
me how to strike a path which led nea
them. But for his excitement he would
not have betrayed the location. In about
three hours he returned TO tell me that
he had been mistaken in the location,
which was to the south instead Of the
west, and il he had said ruins he meant
rocks. | was not deceived by his second
statement. He wanted to keep me away
from the ruins, and Of course / was de-
termined 10 visit them.
IL ] went, / must go alone. Neither
the professor nor his young man had ever
fired at anything more ~ferocious than a
iackal, and they had nc idea of risking
themselves with a tiger. l had killed two
or three during my jaunts about the
country, and was quite certain Of my
nerve in case OF another meeting. The
native had described this tiger as an old
man eater, who had carried off many vii
layers, and, as | must visit the ruins by
day, he would certainly be at home.
Bright and early next morning ] was
ready to start. My excuse to the profess
sor was that | intended TO look for a GER
tain bird which he had been very anxious
to secure, and lie never noticed that | took
my heavy rifle instead of a shotgun. !
also had a revolver and knife, and 1t
was not more than an hour after SUM-
rise when ! set out. i followed the creek
down TO where it branched, and there /
struck the path which the native had de-
scrlbed. As near as | could determine it
had been made by will animals coming
and going between the jungle and the
creek, and ut the first soft spot l found
the imprints of the tigers paws. They
were fresh, too, and there was no doubt
Of his being at home. As | proceeded
the path wound about in the most eccen-
trio manner, while the jungle grew
thicker. One could not see five feet in
any direction and the AIR was shut off.
The first Lint that / had reached the
ruins came in the shape of n block Of
dressed stone lying right across my path.
As stepped upon it a great cobra wrig-
Eled slowly away from my feet. and !
saw half a uoZcn columns and lengths Of
wall arising among the bushes. Fifteen
years before here had been a clearing of
perhaps 100 acres, with a village Of
several thousand people and a temple
covering half an acre of ground. 4 man
eating tiger now held sole possession,
while the clearing had grown up to
Jungle, and fire or explosion had laid
che great temple in ruins. Ten feet ahead
Of NE was IA second block. passed to
that, and then the path turned to the
right and ran over a fallen wall. As
reached this latter place and looked
around, the tiger was stretched out on the
earth before me in a little open space.
His legs were drawn up and he was gasp
ing, and. though | was greatly startled
Tor n moment, | soon realized that he
was dying. Indeed, he did not live above
two minutes after | set eyes on him. As
| aftcTward learned, the natives had
poisoned the body If a man hc had killed
and only hall %dcvoured, and in finishing
his repglst he lad met lis fate. He had
doubtless just returned from satisfying
his thirst at the creek. 1t was well for
me that ! did not come a few minutes
earlier. examined the body closely and
found the tiger TO he old and NANCY, with
many Of his teeth decayed. These were
sure evidences that he was a SOLITARY"
and had no mate. l need, therefore,
have nc fear that any other animal more
savage than a hyena wa concealed in the
vicinity.
The temple seemed TO have been blown
mp with gunpowder. The walls were
torn and rent and knocked down in every
direction, and column and block and
carved work lay heaped together in
strange confusion. / was bcwildered To
see the vegetation growing up through
the ruins 20 profusely, and 1t stood me
in hand 10 move carefully in such a.
snake infested spot. | picked my way
carefully 10 the center Of the ruins and
here ! got a pretty fair idea Of what the
building lad been. Here were the re-
mains Of a shrine or altar which had
once been the ~cleanest Of marble. II
was o stained and moss grown and
covered with crecpers. To look for
buried treasure in such a jungle was like
looking for IA needle Ia a haystack: but
| had come for that purpose and felt
that ] must make a beginning. Fling.
ing several stones into the bushes To
frigAtcn any lurking scrpcrus away, |
put down my gun and began 1t the
creepCrS. In q little while ! uncovered
what ! said was an altar or shrine.
II may not have been. From the stone
floor there was n solid wall about four
feet high. inclosing a space about six
feet square The stone which rested on
these four walls was a foot thick, and
carved around the edges. could not
tell whether the walls incloscd a space or
the whole cube was solid as a support
for a pillar, hut after a close inspection ]
discovered a spot where the end Of a
lever might be inserted. ] had brought
a hatchet 10 help me through the jungle.
With this / cut and trimmed q small
tree, and after much effort ] lOogcued the
capstone until ] could see that the walls
inclosed a space. On the surfuce Of this
capstone ! clearly made out where the
foot Of II pillar, which had probably