TIGER SLAYER BY ORDER 



the work of my shikaris and even, when the necessity arose, 

 as it sometimes did, to track and locate a tiger myself, or 

 tell by a glance at its pugs whether they were fresh or some 

 hours old, accomplishments which, though most useful to 

 the hunters of big game, few Europeans take the trouble 

 to acquire. 



To me, however, all the details of my work as Tiger 

 Slayer had an extraordinary fascination, and, next to my 

 old chief through whose influence I had obtained it, I often 

 found myself blessing the individual who had created this 

 appointment. 



The post probably the only one of its kind in all India 

 was held, as I have already mentioned, in conjunction with 

 that of Bhil Agent, and as far as I could gather from 

 inquiries and perusal of old records, had been originally 

 created to meet a pressing necessity due to the increase of 

 wild animals in the District. In those disturbed times at 

 the beginning of the last century, large tracts of land in 

 Khandesh passed from villages into forest from which 

 tigers roamed and dealt destruction in the very heart of 

 the District. In 1822, for example, five hundred human 

 beings and twenty thousand head of cattle were destroyed 

 by wild animals, tigers being the principal destroyers. 

 This wholesale destruction of human beings and cattle, 

 which had apparently been going on for some time, led to 

 some stringent preventive measures being adopted, for 

 I found that during the months of May, June and July of 

 that year, no less than sixty tigers were killed. 



In spite of these efforts, which were apparently made by 

 Sir James Outram and his successors, tigers and other 

 beasts of prey continued in such large numbers that the 

 fear of them kept waste and desolate some of the richest 

 tracts in Khandesh. Even as late as 1857 this District, 

 more than almost any part of Western India, continued 

 as a stronghold for wild beasts. Indeed, so dangerous and 

 destructive had they become, that at length a special 

 party of the Bhil Corps were especially deputed as tiger 

 hunters and placed at the disposal of the then Super- 

 intendent of Police and .Bhil Agent for the destruction of 

 these animals. 



When I took up the appointment this special party 

 28 



