The Tiger 197 



"In some parts of India," remarks Inglis ("Work and 

 Sport on the Nepaul Frontier "), " notably in the Deccan, 

 in certain districts on the Bombay side, and even in the 

 Soonderbunds, near Calcutta, sportsmen and shikaris go 

 after tigers on foot. I must confess that this seems to me 

 a mad thing to do. With every advantage of weapon, 

 with the most daring courage, and the most imperturbable 

 coolness, I think a man no fair match for a tiger in his 

 native jungles." The list of killed and wounded shows 

 that this opinion is not without foundation ; and when we 

 consider what it means to meet such adversaries as these 

 on level ground, and face to face, our judgment of its accu- 

 racy cannot be doubtful. Gerard compared a contest on 

 foot with a lion to a duel between adversaries armed with 

 equally efficient weapons, but one naked and the other 

 covered with armor in which there were only one or two 

 spots that were not impenetrable. He intended to illus- 

 trate, not the animal's invulnerability, of course, but the 

 fact that its tenacity of life was such that, unless instantly 

 killed, it would almost certainly kill its opponent. For this 

 reason sportsmen mostly shoot from howdahs, or machans 

 in tree-jungle. In its depths a great forest is nearly life- 

 less at all times. In India its skirts are commonly fringed 

 with scrub, and there most of the vitality of these regions 

 concentrates itself. The intense heat of noonday at that 

 season when tiger-hunting begins namely, in April 

 makes those immense woodlands as silent and lonesome, 

 to all appearance, as if the hand of death had been laid 

 upon them. But when the short twilight of low latitudes 

 deepens into gloom, the air, before vacant, except for the 



