THE TIGEK. 283 



tiger shikari. He will probably be a tall swaggering Maho- 

 medan, brushing out his whiskers to the likeness of a tiger's, 

 and to add ferocity of expression dyeing them when young a 

 steely blue and when old a rusty red ; clad in elaborate jungle- 

 coloured raiment, and hung with belts and pouches of sambar 

 leather supporting a perfect armoury of cut-throat weapons 

 which he has not the faintest idea of using ; bragging sky 

 high of his own and his master's doughty exploits ; insuffer- 

 able to the people and lazy as a pampered lap-dog ; with just 

 enough knowledge of his work, gained in his early days by 

 carrying the water-bottle of some real sportsman, to concoct a 

 plausible but utterly fictitious story at every place he comes 

 to ; and convicted at every turn of lying, stealing, and every 

 deadly sin ; yet possibly the admiration of a gullible master, 

 on whom a portion of m the glory of his whiskers and tall talk 

 is reflected, as he struts about his house in cantonments in 

 full war-paint, snapping the locks of his bran-new sixty -guinea 

 rifles. 



How the tiger marked down in the morning is to be hunted 

 and killed at mid-day, when all life in the forest is still be- 

 neath the scorching heat of the sun, and the brute himself is 

 least on his guard and most unwilling to move, will have been 

 seen from previous descriptions. To read, the hunting of one 

 tiger is like that of every other ; but a different set of inci- 

 dents marks each day's sport in the memory of the hunter, 

 who pictures vividly the death of each long after the incidents 

 of his sport with every other sort of game have faded away. 

 The main features are the careful preliminary arrangements, 

 the settling the direction of approach so as to cut off all 

 roads of escape to inaccessible fastnesses, the posting of 

 scouts to notify the possible retreat of the tiger, and the 

 cautious silent approach, the excitement gathering as the 



