TIGER. . 377 



they will at times ascend in the mountains to heights of six thousand or seven 

 thousand feet above the sea-level, although they are unknown in the interior of 

 the Himalaya. In some parts of India it was necessary to take active measures 

 against them, in order to prevent the annihilation of the population. Thus a 

 recent writer states that in Manipur " tigers used to be so numerous that the 

 inhabitants were formed into groups for the purpose of marking them down and 

 destroying them. This organisation still exists. The groups are called kai-roop, 

 and it is the duty of the chief of the Icai-roop of the district to report to the raja 

 whenever a tiger appears within his jurisdiction; the order is then given to 

 destroy him ; this is done by surrounding the patch of jungle in which he has 

 hidden, after killing a cow or deer, with strong nets. Outside these, tall bamboo 

 palisading is erected, and information is sent to the raja, who, if the place is within 

 easy distance, proceeds there with all his court, ladies included. The spectators are 

 ranged on seats at intervals at the top of the palisading, and the tiger is driven by 

 firebrands from his retreat, and either shot or speared. The Manipuris are very 

 keen at this sport, and I have seen them, despite a prohibition to the contrary, 

 descend into the area (perhaps a space of three hundred yards, or even more, in 

 circumference) and, protected only by the net held up by a forked stick in the left 

 hand, boldly attack the tiger with a spear. Generally, the real sport is shown 

 with the spear, and the coup de grace given by a rifle shot. Anyhow, the 

 men engaged display great courage and coolness, and the whole affair is not 

 a vulgar piece of butchery but a game of skill, till a well-directed shot ends 

 it." Towards the western end of the Himalaya, where forests become much 

 thinner and the whole country is much drier, tigers gradually become less 

 common ; and in the Western Punjab and Sind they are either very rare or quite 

 unknown. 



In parts of Java and Sumatra tigers absolutely swarm; and a firm of 

 Dutch merchants at Padang, Sumatra, writing in the autumn of 1891, stated 

 that the arrivals of coffee from the interior were much below the usual 

 average, on account of the number of tigers infesting the route; upwards of 

 fifty men having been killed by them while engaged in bringing the coffee 

 down country. 



Writing of the distribution of these animals in Persia, the late Sir O. B. St. 

 John states that tigers, twenty years ago, were very numerous in the Caspian 

 provinces of Persia, and in the Caucasus as far as the mouth of the Araxes. The 

 dense vegetation, which although of a temperate character, yet attained a tropical 

 luxuriance, affording them shelter as perfect as that of the jungles of the Terai, or 

 the swamps of the sandarbans of Bengal. 



Although when the animal is seen within the narrow limits of the cage of a 

 menagerie, or stuffed in the case of a museum, the brilliant coloration of the tiger 

 may appear conspicuous in the extreme, yet there is little doubt that in the native 

 haunts of the animal it is essentially of a protective nature. Sir J. Fayrer, in his 

 work, The Royal Tiger of Bengal, observes, that brilliant as is the general colour 

 of the tiger, " it is remarkable how well it harmonises with the grass bush among 

 which he prowls, and for which, indeed, until his charge, and the short deep growls 

 or barkings which accompany it, reveal his presence, he may be mistaken." 



