The Blue Tiger 



1^ K O Y (• 11 A I' M A X A N I) K E W S 



Illustrations from iilioto^riplis \<\ Yvotto Borup Andrews 



A'T !■] K line liii.-. t r;i\ i'IimI in a ( 'lii- 

 ih'M' >;i!ii|t;m t'oi- s('\i'i-al days, 

 llu' |)r()s|icct (if a ri\cr JDiinicy 

 in niir is not M'vy alliiriiii:'. I)iit we had 

 a iiifisl aiZTcraMc siii'|irisi' wlicii mc 

 >aiK'd out itf Fiichow" in a cliartenHl 

 lidusc liiial to liunl the "Muc ti^'cf"' at 

 l-"u-l>iiii;-. In fact we had all the liix- 

 urv of a private yacht, for our boat (.-on- 

 taiiH'd a lar^e central cabin with a table 

 and cliairs. and two state rooms, and 

 \\a> nianncd by a captain and a crew of 

 six men — all for $\S){) a day! In tlie 

 evening- we talked of the blue tiger for a 

 long time before we s])read our IxmIs on 

 the roof of the boat and went to sleep 

 iindci- the stars. 



W'f left the boat shortly after day- 

 light at Daing-nei for the six-mile walk 

 to Lung-tao. To my great surprise the 

 coolies wt're considerably distressed at 

 the lightness of our loads. In this re- 

 gion they are paid l)y weight and some 

 of the bearers carry almost incredibly 

 hea\y biu'dcn<. As an example, one of 

 mir men came into camp swinging a 

 ri.")-pnnnd trunk on each end of his 

 ])ole. huigliing and chatting as gaily as 

 though he had not l)een carrying 250 

 l)ounds for six miles under a l)roiling 

 sun. 



The Chinese hunter. Da Da. em- 

 ployed bv ^Fr. Caldwell/ lived at Lung- 

 tao. ami we found his house to be one 

 of several built on th(> outskirts of a 

 beautiful grove of gum and banyan 

 trees. Although it was exceptionally 

 clean for a Chinese dwelling, we pitched 

 our tents a short distance away. At 



' The Rev. Harry R. Caldwell represents the 

 Methodist Episcopal Church as missionar.v at Yen- 

 l)ing. Fukien Province. China. 



Iir>t we wrvr .-oniew lia t donbtrnl about 

 sleeping nut>ide. liut after one night 

 indoors we decidetl that an\' I'isk was 

 pi-eferalile io spending auotliei' hour in 

 the >t i lling heat of t he liouse. 



It was pi'ohahle that a tiger would be 

 so suspici(uis of the white tents thai it 

 would not attack ns. but ne\-erlheless 

 the lirst nights we were rather wakeful 

 and nioi-e than once, at some stranu'e 

 night sound, seized our I'illes and 

 Hashed the eleeti'ic lamp into the dark- 

 ness. 



Tigers often come into this village. 

 Only a few hundred yards from oui' 

 canip site, in 11)11, a tiger bad rusheil 

 into the house of one of the peasants 

 and attempted to steal a child that had 

 fallen asleep at its ])Iay under the fam- 

 ily table. All was (piiet in the house 

 when the animal dasluMl suddenly 

 through the open door. The Chinese 

 declare that the gods protected the in- 

 fant, for the beast missed his prey and, 

 seizing the leg of the table against 

 which the baby's head was resting, 

 bolted through the door, dragging the 

 tal)le into the courtyard. 



This was the work of the famous 

 "blue tiger" which we had come to hunt 

 and which, on two occasioiis, had been 

 seen by Mr. Caldwell. The first time 

 he heard of this strange beast was in 

 the spring of 1910. The animal was 

 reported as having been seen at various 

 places within an area of a few miles 

 almost simultaneously, and so mysteri- 

 ous were its movements that the Chi- 

 nese (leclai'e(l it was a spirit of the 

 de\il. .Vfter several unsuccessful hunts 

 ^Ir. Caldwell flnallv saw the tiiicr at 



* By the courtesy of Roy Cliapman Andrews and Yvette Borup Andrews, this chapter from their l)ook 

 Cnmim nml trails in Chin<i, in preparation by 1). .Ai)iil»'ton & (^o. for an early appearance, is jriven 

 advance i)ul)lication in the .Toi'RN.M.. Article and illustrations copyrighted. 191S, hy Roy Chapman 

 .Andrews. 



