THE TIGER 381 



rounding the patch of jungle in which he has hidden, after killing a cow or deer, 

 with strong nets. Outside these, tall bamboo palisading is erected, and information 

 is sent to the raja, who, if the place is within easy distance, proceeds there with all 

 his court, ladies included. The spectators are ranged on seats at intervals at the 

 top of the palisading, and the tiger is driven by firebrands from his retreat, and 

 either shot or speared. The Manipuris are very keen at this sport, and I have seen, 

 them, despite a prohibition to the contrary, descend into the arena (perhaps a space 

 of three hundreds yards, or even more, in circumference) and, protected only by the 

 net held up by a forked stick in the left hand, boldly attack the tiger with a spear. 

 Generally, the real sport is shown with the spear, and the coup de grdce given by a 

 rifle shot. Anyhow, the men engaged display great courage and coolness, and the 

 whole affair is not a vulgar piece of butchery but a game of skill, till a well-directed 

 shot ends it. ' ' Toward the western end of the Himalayas, where forests become 

 much thinner and the whole country is much drier, tigers gradually become less 

 common ; and in the Western Punjab and Sind they are either very rare or quite 

 unknown. 



In parts of Java and Sumatra tigers absolutely swarm ; and a firm of Dutch 

 merchants at Padang, Sumatra, writing in the autumn of 1891, stated that the 

 arrivals of coffee from the interior were much below the usual average, on account 

 of the number of tigers infesting the route; upwards of fifty men having been 

 killed by them while engaged in bringing the coffee down country. 



Writing of the distribution of these animals in Persia, the late Sir O. B. St. 

 John states that tigers, twenty years ago, were very numerous in the Caspian 

 provinces of Persia, and in the Caucasus as far as the mouth of the Araxes. The 

 dense vegetation, which although of a temperate character, yet attained a tropical 

 luxuriance, affording them shelter as perfect as that of the jungles of the Terai, or 

 the swamps of the sandarbans of Bengal. 



Although when the animal is seen within the narrow limits of the cage of a 

 menagerie, or stuffed in the case of a museum, the brilliant coloration of the tiger 

 may appear conspicuous in the extreme, yet there is little doubt that in the native 

 haunts of the animal it is essentially of a protective nature. Sir J. Fayrer, in his 

 work, The Royal Tiger of Bengal, observes, that brilliant as is the general color of 

 the tiger, " it is remarkable how well it harmonizes with the grass bush among 

 which he prowls, and for which, indeed, until his charge, and the short deep growls 

 or barkings which accompany it, reveal his presence, he may be mistaken." 

 Indeed, the vertical stripes of tawny orange and black on the skin of the tiger har- 

 monize so exactly with the broad blades of yellow grass, separated by equally broad 

 lines of blackest shade, that it is often difficult indeed to distinguish the animal 

 from his surroundings when seen in his native jungle during an Indian summer. 

 And, in this connection, it is noteworthy that the tigers of Northern Asia, where 

 dry grass jungles like those of India are unknown, are stated to have the ground 

 color of their skins of a much less brilliant hue. 



The literature relating to the habits and mode of life of the tiger is even more 

 extensive than is the case with the lion ; while that devoted to tiger shooting is 

 simply appalling in quantity. While the terms noble and majestic are those which 



