METHOD OF NETTING TIGERS. 289 



I never yet saw one really charge home into a body of men. Fifteen 

 or twenty men used to such work, and who will stand and not be intimi- 

 dated, as many of the Oopligas and Torreas of Mysore will do, are, I am 

 sure, quite safe. I do not believe that any tiger — man-eater, wounded, 

 or tigress with cubs, — dares to charge home into a determined and close 

 party of men. 



Tiger-netting is generally carried out for the amusement of European 

 officers by the headmen of villages, but the natives will occasionally, if a 

 tiger becomes troublesome, hunt him in this way themselves. In such cases, 

 as they seldom have firearms to shoot him, nets are set up in the cleared 

 path across the enclosure, and arranged so as to collapse to his charge, and 

 envelop the tiger when he is driven across. A dozen bold fellows station 

 themselves behind a screen of bushes, and the rest go inside and drive the 

 tiger towards them, when he is generally speared as he struggles in the 

 nets. The spears used have blades a foot long and three inches broad, with 

 bamboo handles six feet in length, and can be driven through a tiger. A 

 few seconds thus suffice to make an end of him. Should he get free at the 

 moment the men rush upon him one or two are often knocked over, but the 

 nets generally hold him. 



Strychnine is occasionally used for destroying tigers. As I have before 

 said, I was for some time employed by orders of Government in killing 

 the tigers in parts of Mysore ; and though I only poisoned three — the 

 others that I killed being by legitimate methods — I turned my attention at 

 the time to experiments with poisons. 



There is no difficulty in making a tiger take a dose. I tried strychnine 

 on several occasions until I found out the best way to apply it. The first 

 time I gave four grains to a large tiger. He ate about half the quantity of 

 meat he would otherwise have done, the poison affecting him before he com- 

 pleted his meal, and he then vomited and drank at a pool near, rolling at 

 every few yards, evidently in great agony. This tiger was severely affected 

 for some days, and my men brought me news of him, groaning and roaring 

 in different parts of the jungle. I was too busy with elephant-catching at 

 the time to look after him, and he recovered. In the second case I used 

 nine grains ; a tiger, tigress, and large cub fed off the carcass, but the 

 tigress alone took the poisoned portion. She threw up a good deal of flesh 

 (and covered it over with dry leaves), and rolled about a good deal. Further 

 on she threw up the strychnine upon some fine clean sand in the bed of a 

 ravine, and the saliva sinking into the sand the grains of strychnine were 

 left almost intact upon the surface. This tigress then went for miles with- 

 out showing any further symptoms of being affected. In the third case I 



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