TIGER HUNTING 477 



the darkness. Then the horses trembled and " shook like the 

 aspen leaves in wind," but loud screams constantly repelled the 

 brute, who was perhaps no less afraid of the superiority of man. 



India, South China, Sumatra, and Java, are the chief seats of 

 the tiger, who is unknown both in Ceylon and Borneo, while to 

 the north he ranges as far as Mandschuria and the Upper Obi, 

 and Jennisei (55° — 56° N. lat.). A species of tiger identical 

 with that of Bengal is common in the neighbourhood of Lake 

 Aral, near Sussac (45° N. lat.), and Tennant mentions that he is 

 found among the snows of Mount Ararat in Armenia. As 

 Hindostan is separated from these northern tiger haunts by the 

 great mountain chains of Kuen-Lun (35° N.), and of Mouztagh 

 (42° N. lat.), each covered with perpetual snows, mere summer 

 excursions are quite out of the question, and it is evident that 

 the animal is able to live in a much more rigorous climate than 

 is commonly imagined. Even in India the tiger is by no means- 

 confined to the sultry jungle, for we learn from Mr. Hodgson's 

 account of the mammalia of Nepaul, that in the Himalaya he 

 is sometimes found at the very edge of perpetual snow. 



If the French boast of their lion-killer Gerard, England 

 possesses in Colonel Eice a no less bold and dexterous tiger- 

 slayer, who, in the space of five campaigns (1850 — 1854) 

 destroyed no less than sixty-eight of these formidable brutes 

 and wounded a great many more. The gallant sportsman's 

 work * contains, besides an account of his personal adventures, 

 many excellent remarks on the habits of the animal, whom he 

 so often encountered in his native wilds. 



Tiger-hunting is a chief pleasure of the Indian rajahs and 

 zemindars, who, anxious that their favourite amusement may 

 suffer no diminution, forbid anyone else to chase on their 

 domains, however much their poor vassals may have to suffer in 

 consequence. But the delight they take in tiger-shooting never 

 leads these cautious Nimrods so far as to endanger their precious 

 persons. On some trees of the jungle a scaffolding is prepared, 

 at a ludicrous height for his Highness, who, at the appointed 

 hour makes his appearance with all the pomp of a petty Asiatic 

 despot. The beating now begins, and is executed by a troop of 

 miserable peasants, who most unwillingly submit to this forced 

 and unpaid labour, which is the more dangerous for them as 



* Tiger Shooting in India. 



