A JUNGLE RECOLLECTION. 169 



unfortunate man. It was this occurrence that had 

 caused such consternation, for the natives know well 

 that when a tiger has once taken to destroy men 

 he will, if not speedily killed, prove a most terrible 

 scourge to the village he frequents. Day after day 

 one of the inhabitants is carried off, the fields are 

 left uncultivated, the women dare not fetch water 

 from the well for fear of the lurking beast, who, 

 emboldened by success, grows more and more open 

 in his attacks. It is in this strait that the arrival 

 of a European sportsman is looked upon as a blessing 

 from heaven, and great are the rejoicings should 

 their dreaded foe be slain. A man-eater is generally 

 an old worn-out animal, who, finding his powers 

 decreasing, and having grown cunning by ex- 

 perience, finds it more easy to secure a human 

 prey than to kill deer or cattle, his more usual food. 

 He will lie in some convenient patch of jungle, near 

 a road or frequented path, till some unfortunate 

 man approaches ; he instantly crouches and glides 

 towards his unsuspecting victim with noiseless 

 tread till within a few paces, when, uttering 

 his murderous roar of attack, he bounds on the 

 hapless wretch, and striking him down with a blow 

 of his paw, bears off the felled and unresisting body 

 to his lair. However, having arrived at the village, 

 which was situated about three hundred yards from 

 the jungle, I examined the vicinity, and found 



