290 THREE TIGERS POISONED. 



put nine grains into a bullock, after looking for the tiger tliat had killed it 

 during the day. We had disturbed him, so he did not return that night. 

 Next morning the bullock had swelled to an enormous size and the wound 

 was dripping a gelatinous matter. I put a couple of men to watch during 

 the day to keep off the vultures, and by evening fully a quart of fluid had 

 dripped and coagulated below. The tiger returned at night and ate half 

 the bullock, and finislied it the next night, so he could not have felt thf 

 poison ; and I believe, from this and similar experiments, that strychnine is 

 worked off' from dead flesh in a few hours. 



I subsequently hit upon a fatal method of applying poison. I do not 

 intend to divulge the secret, as district officers with strongly- developed utili- 

 tarian views would be enabled to poison off" all the tigers in their ranges by 

 this means, which, judging from the operations in a smgle district in Madras, 

 some who do not pause to consider the useful features of the tiger's presence 

 might not hesitate to do. The success I attained in my first, and I hope 

 last, experiment, as far as tigers are concerned, was painfidly complete. 

 Two old bullocks that were yoked together were killed by a tiger close to my 

 camp. The original slayer was joined at dinner by two tigresses, and the 

 three ate the whole of one bullock, leaving the other untouched. In the 

 morning I had the remaining carcass guarded from the vultures, and late 

 in the afternoon I appUed the poison in the way I had devised. Next 

 morning we found the three tigers had dragged the bullock into some rocks 

 and bushes about a hundred and fifty yards distant, with bare country all 

 round, and no water in the rocks. Not knowing that they were dead, I 

 sent to CajDtain C. of the Revenue Survey, who was in camp at a village 

 four miles distant, and with another friend, wlio was staying with me, set 

 out with five elephants about 1 1 a.im. We posted ourselves in trees across 

 tlie line we expected the tigers to take, and sent the elephants with tlie 

 trackers on them to beat them out of the rocks. 



Trom my tree I could see the elepliants clambering about tlie rocks, 

 and the men keeping a sharp look-out ; presently 1 heard a shout that one 

 tiger was dead, and soon afterwards anotlier. Tlie mahout of an elepliaiit 

 that was in advance now found the tliird. Slu-icks of laughter and much 

 merriment fcjllowed an inspection of the " bodies," and a tracker came run- 

 ning for us. I confess I had never expected sucli slaughter. 1 was not 

 certain, having only seen tigers aflected before, that my new plan would 

 succeed, and I felt like a murderer when I viewed the unfortunate victim.s. 

 My men took a very different and exceedingly cheerl'ul a iew of tlie case, 

 exclaiming deliglitedly, " Oli, tin's is good ! here have our master and mc 

 been risking our tln-oats " (clutching their necks wi(li ;ii)pro]mate gesture, and 



