TIGERS, LEOPARDS, AND BEARS 271 



a mountain in his jaws the body of any cattle he 

 may have seized and killed. 



The tiger being an animal so fierce, active, and 

 powerful, it may be supposed that of all sports tiger- 

 shooting must be one of the most exciting and 

 dangerous. As ordinarily it used to be practised in 

 large parties, and on elephants, it was really one of 

 the tamest and safest, so safe that accidents were of 

 the rarest occurrence. I remember, however, one very 

 sad one. As it happened in the Doon, and as its 

 incidents were very singular, I will relate them. 



A young officer at Dehra heard of a tiger in one of 

 the neighbouring forests. He went out on an elephant 

 in search of it ; he took with him only his soldier- 

 servant, a Goorkha. The elephant was not trained 

 for shooting, and it carried no howdah, but only a 

 pad. The tiger was found ; the officer fired and hit 

 it. The tiger, mortally wounded, crawled under a tree 

 and there fell. The elephant was urged towards it ; 

 being untrained, on coming near the tiger it took 

 fright and became unmanageable. To save them- 

 selves, the officer and his servant seized hold of a 

 branch of the tree that stretched above them as the 

 elephant rushed off into the forest. 



The Goorkha servant, light, active, and loosely clad, 

 swung himself up and sat astride on the branch. The 

 officer, heavier and encumbered by his tighter-fitting 

 dress, was unable to do so, notwithstanding all the 

 efforts of his servant to assist him. He had to remain 

 suspended, holding on by his hands alone. The situa- 

 tion must have been terrible, for the tiger lay below 



