278 THE TRAIL OF THE TIGER 



strange lines that though he dies in large numbers 

 from attacks of poisonous snakes, he avoids killing 

 the cobra, the most deadly viper of them all. 



Year by year records are published of the de- 

 struction of human and cattle life by the wild 

 beasts and snakes of British India. Last year 

 24,576 human beings and 96,226 cattle were killed, 

 and of the people 21,827 deaths were attributed 

 to snakes, while of the cattle, 86,000 were killed 

 by wild beasts— panthers being charged with 40,000 

 and tigers with 30,000 of this total; snakes ac- 

 counted for 16,000. And this is but a trifling per- 

 centage of the actual annual mortality, as it ex- 

 cludes the feudatory states, with their about 700,- 

 000 square miles and 60,000,000 inhabitants, where 

 no records are obtainable. Nor do the fatalities 

 grow materially less notwithstanding the efforts 

 of sportsmen and rewards by government, because 

 the development of roads and railways as the jun- 

 gle is reclaimed for agriculture means continuous 

 invasion of the snake and tiger infested territory. 



Last year 1,285 tigers, 4,370 panthers and leop- 

 ards, 2,000 bears, and 2,086 wolves were killed ; of 

 snakes, the real scourge of India, no record is pos- 

 sible, and, unfortunately, comparatively few are 

 destroyed. However deplorable and costly is the 

 taking of human and cattle life, the descent upon 

 promising crops by deer and pigs and monkeys 



