76 TIGERS. 



said, that it was a large tiger, On receiving the 

 reward, they generally got gloriously drunk, and 

 no doubt returned to their villages, determined to 

 risk their lives on a similar exploit, the first op- 

 portunity that might offer.* 



Many of the natives of India believe in the doc- 

 trine of the metempsychosis, or transmigration of 

 souls ; as soon, therefore, as a tiger or leopard is 

 killed, they light a fire and burn off the long 

 whiskers that grow near the mouth ; by doing this, 

 they have a superstitious idea that they shall not 

 be turned into tigers in another world. 



A tailor at Chittrah went out with the gentle- 

 men of the station, and a number of natives, to kill 

 a tiger that had taken shelter in a plantation of 

 sugar-canes near the town. He happened to be 

 the fortunate man who shot the tiger, and in the 

 excess of his joy, vauntingly exclaimed that he 

 would shoot a tiger at any time. Mr. Mathew 



* These poor ignorant men often receive only half the re- 

 ward ; the remainder goes into the pocket of the Dewan, or 

 his assistant. The English gentlemen, for the most part, are 

 aware that such peculation is common, and, much to their 

 credit, make it a point of paying the reward themselves. 



