THE TIGER 119 



is a supernatural animal, with powers of doing harm even 

 after death. 



Sometimes the man-eater happens to be an old female who 

 has a family. In this case, the cubs, being reared on human 

 flesh, are man-eaters from childhood, and it is necessary to 

 extirpate the whole family before human life is safe. Were 

 it not for the presence of the British, many a large district 

 in India would be depopulated. When a Tiger has been 

 killed, the superstition of the natives again asserts itself. 

 No sooner has the animal drawn its last breath than the 

 native beaters rush upon it and try to burn off its whiskers, 

 thinking that if this be done the animal will be deprived of 

 its power over them after death. The beauty and value of 

 a Tiger skin depend on the perfect condition of its whiskers, 

 and the hunters use every effort to preserve them intact. 

 But the natives ignore threats, persuasions, and bribes, and 

 often, even after the skin is packed, obtain access to it to 

 give effect to their superstitious desires. The paws and the 

 little collar-bones of the animal are also believed to be 

 powerful charms against evil. 



In connection with the Tiger's liking for human flesh, it 

 is a remarkable fact that it will usually pick a black man out 

 of a mixed company, except perhaps in the Malay Penin- 

 sula, where it appears to regard a Chinaman as a rare 

 tit-bit. When Chinese convicts in chains were engaged at 

 work on the roads in the neighbourhood of Singapore, the 

 prisoners were constantly snatched up by the cruellest foe 

 that man has in the whole of the animal world. 



The strength of the Tiger is gigantic, as may be inferred 

 from the average girth of the forearm, which is little less 

 than three feet, the girth of the neck being half a foot more. 

 The average length of a full-grown male Tiger is nine 

 and a half feet, and its weight is about 450 Ibs. An 

 old Tiger always becomes very cunning, and can conceal 

 itself so effectually that even the keen eye of the native 

 hunter is often at fault. The fact is that the dark stripes 

 on the Tiger's fur harmonise so well with the shadows of 

 the herbage in which the animal is lying, that it is almost 

 impossible to distinguish one from the other. 



The lion, perhaps mistakenly, has been accounted the 



