INDIAN SHOOTING 199 



Well may the unhappy villagers attribute to it supernatural 

 powers, declaring that the spirits of its victims ride on its fore- 

 head, and that even, as Forsyth relates, a corpse raises its arm to 

 warn the tiger of the hidden shikari. Well may they magnify 

 its size, declaring it has a white moon on its forehead, and its 

 belly sweeps the ground. Till all killing has ceased for some 

 months no man dare pursue his usual avocation or travel to the 

 nearest village alone. 



Tiger shooting may be broadly divided into three classes, 

 viz. : shooting from elephants ; driving with beaters to guns 

 posted in trees ; sitting up over kills. The first method is that 

 usually employed in the high grass jungles of the Terai. The 

 ordinary plan, if a tiger is marked down into a particular patch of 

 grass, is to send one or two guns ahead to prevent the creature 

 slinking out, and these guns should, if possible, be posted in 

 trees, as the restless movements of the elephants will almost 

 invariably head the tiger back, and the elephant is ^better em- 

 ployed with the line. Of course, if it is considered desirable to 

 hem the tiger in till the line gets up, elephants should be posted 

 ahead, but a man in a tree will as a rule get a better chance 

 than if he were on an elephant. The forward guns being 

 posted, the line beats up to them with guns on the flanks 

 and the pad elephants in the centre ; if there are more than 

 two guns with the line, the remainder distribute themselves 

 along it. The elephants should not, if possible, be more than 

 twelve yards apart at starting, and if a tiger is wounded should 

 be closed up till they almost touch one another, as the elephants 

 and their mahouts will gain confidence, and the formidable 

 aspect of the close line will prevent most tigers from attempting 

 to charge home ; short half-hearted attacks he may make, but 

 the line will stand firm, for the mahouts are under too close 

 supervision and have hardly room to turn their elephants 

 round ; the guns on the flanks are also close enough to protect 

 the whole line. 



To hear of tigers making good their charges and springing 

 on to elephants' heads sounds very nice and exciting, but 



