ROUGHING IT IN SOUTHERN INDIA 239 



made the mistake Mr. 0. did ; the real wrong was in firing 

 at all, haphazard. Besides, had a 'panther of the woods ' 

 been there, and not a man, it would have been the height 

 of folly to go and see what effect the shot had taken in that 

 casual way ; for, though making no sign, and seemingly 

 dead, it might only have been lying low. Leave such an 

 animal alone, and you are safe ; wound him, and beware ! 

 Unless prepared at all points, finger on trigger and luck 

 on his side, a man who approaches rashly may count on a 

 mauling if a pulse of life yet beat in his victim. All of 

 which was explained to Mr. 0. for his good. Sometimes 

 people do recover from such maulings, but very seldom if 

 they have fallen under the claws of a panther, every claw 

 being laden with pyaemia. Those of a tiger, on the con- 

 trary, may score as deeply — clothes being a sorry protec- 

 tion — even tear out the muscles and reach the bone, but 

 there is no vice in them, so to speak ; they wound cleanly, 

 and, given a good constitution, the hurt is quite likely to 

 heal up without any consequences. The reason of this is 

 that though both animals are cats, the one is a clean feeder, 

 the other the reverse. Even the bite or scratch of the house 

 cat is generally supposed to be fraught with risk owing to its 

 fondness for unsavoury rakings. 



The son of a friend of ours lost his life in an encounter 

 with a panther, being clawed down from a tree into which 

 he had climbed after having, either from nervousness or 

 inexperience, only succeeded in wounding the animal ; for- 

 getting, too, or perhaps being unaware, that panthers can 

 climb like squirrels. That is another reason why a man 

 should be sure of himself before he adventures his life in 

 their vicinity. A tiger will not climb a tree, but he has 

 patience enough to wait at the foot till his quarry drops 

 from fatigue and exhaustion, so there is little to choose 

 between them. An example of the unwearying patience of 

 the tiger was shown by the fate that befell a native shikari 



