ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 233 



CHAPTER XX 



Tigers : Madras and Bengal methods — Dog gets in tiger's way — Sleeping 

 tiger — Tiger and wild boar compared — Fanny — Two ' near shaves ' — 

 Mooniappa — Claws of panthers and tigers — A man-eater's patience 

 — F. face to face with a man-eater. 



In Indian shikar, tiger expeditions are held by almost every- 

 body to stand first, but that was not my husband's idea 

 nor that of all his friends ; for I have listened to discussions 

 between them, experienced shots every one, in which some 

 declared for tiger as being the only sport worth the name ; 

 others belittling it as, in many cases, no real sport at all, 

 but a matter of beaters and clever dogs. F.'s own most 

 highly prized trophies were his bison heads, which repre- 

 sented to his mind the better sport, so wily, so patient must 

 a man be who would circumvent a bull bison. 



As to tigers, the Madras way is to go after them on foot, 

 that being possible there, as the grass never attains the great 

 height that it does in Bengal, where elephants are used, 

 the sportsmen being seated in howdahs on their backs. A 

 tiger has been known to drag a man from his place, and an 

 elephant to bolt when one has fastened on his flank, but 

 such instances are rare ; for elephants can be brought to 

 perfection here, as in everything else to which they are put, 

 being trained to stand like statues, abiding the onslaught, 

 guided by their mahouts — men who do not know fear. 



F.'s practice, on getting khvbber of a tiger, was to start 

 out in a bamboo shooting-cart, a thing warranted never to 

 upset. Not wishing to be selfish, if time permitted he would 

 have asked a friend to accompany him ; he would also 

 take a man to look after the spare rifles ; nor would the 



