148 WILD BEASTS AXP THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



flesh in cold water, and searched most carefully throughout the 

 lacerated wound, which occupied a very small area of about 1 

 inch. In this we found two pieces of the copper plug which 

 stopped the hole in front of the bullet, together with a number of 

 very minute fragments or flakes of lead ; these proved that the 

 extremely hollow projectile had broken up, and was rendered 

 abortive almost immediately upon impact. 



The danger of such a bullet was manifest ; it was almost as 

 hollow as a hat, and almost as harmless as a hat would be, if 

 thrown at a charging tiger. 



This was an interesting exception to the rule that is generally 

 accepted, that a tiger will not attack if left undisturbed. If any 

 person had been walking along the margin of that nullah, he 

 would have been seized and destroyed without doubt by that 

 ferocious beast. There was a case in point last year (1888) in the 

 Reipore district, when Mr. Lawes, the son of the missionary of 

 that name, was killed by a tigress, which was the first to attack. 

 This animal was reported by the natives to be in a certain nullah 

 within a short distance of the camp. The young man, who was 

 quite inexperienced, took a gun, and with a few natives proceeded 

 to the spot on foot. Looking over the edge of the nullah in the 

 hope of finding the tiger lying down, he was suddenly startled by 

 an unexpected attack ; a tigress bounded up the steep bank and 

 seized Mr. Lawes before he had time to fire. The animal did not 

 continue the attack, but merely shook him for a few moments, and 

 then retreated to her lair ; he was so grievously wounded that he 

 died on the following day, after his arrival in a litter at Reipore. 



Many people imagine that a tiger attacks man with the intention 

 of eating him, as a natural prey ; this is a great mistake. The 

 greater number of accidents are occasioned by tigers which have no 

 idea of making a meal of their victims ; they may attack from 

 various reasons. Self-defence is probably their natural instinct ; 

 the tiger may imagine that the person intends some injury, and it 

 springs to the attack ; or it may be lying half asleep, and when 

 suddenly disturbed it flies at the intruder without any particular 

 intention of destroying him, but merely as a natural result of 

 being startled from its rest. When, driven by a line of beaters, 

 the tiger breaks back, it may be readily understood that it will 

 attack the first individual that obstructs its retreat, but in no case 

 will the tiger eat the man, unless it is a professional man-eater. 



The cunning combined with audacity of some man-eaters is 

 extraordinary. 



A few years ago there was a well-known tiger in the Mandla 



