18 A TIGER TALE. 



blame to them for being so fond of it, for the Kumaon 

 honey is the purest and has the whitest and thinnest comb 

 I have ever seen. 



Bear's flesh is never, so far as I know, eaten in India, 

 except by the Doms (a very low caste of hill Hindoos — in 

 ancient times the slave class), although tiger's flesh is often 

 used as a charm. One of the wonderful properties the 

 natives believe it to possess is that of its making their chil- 

 dren grow up brave if they partake of it in their youth. The 

 whiskers, too, are regarded as so potent for working evil 

 with, that if they, and also the claws, are not carefully 

 looked after, you are sure to find the former either singed 

 off or plucked out and the latter extracted surreptitiously 

 by your camp-followers. The following anecdote, related 

 to me by an old Central India sportsman, is a curious in- 

 stance of superstition respecting tiger's flesh. 



A dead tiger had been brought into camp, and all the 

 native followers, except one, seemed anxious to secure some 

 of the flesh. The exception was an old shikaree of the 

 wild tribe of Gonds. On being questioned as to why he did 

 not wish to take his share, he replied, with an expression of 

 disgust, that he never ate tiger's flesh, but would enter into 

 no explanation as to why or wherefore. After a little per- 

 suasion, however, and the promise of a glass of grog, the old 

 man at length agreed to join the party at the camp-fire 

 after dinner and relate his story, which, being freely inter- 

 preted, was much as follows : " My grandfather and grand- 

 mother were once encamped on the outskirts of a jungle, 

 near a great city, when one day they saw issuing from the 

 city gate a grand hunting-party, riding on elephants with 

 silver howdahs and gorgeous trappings, and escorted by 

 armed retainers mounted on splendidly caparisoned horses. 

 My grandmother, being struck with envy, exclaimed, ' Why 

 should we Gonds, whose forefathers were the lords of this 

 land, now be reduced to such poverty and live in the jungles, 

 whilst this upstart race enjoys such wealth and luxury ? 



