FELINES OF THE OLD WORLD. 



167 



On the subject of the man-eater, Mr. G. P. San- 

 derson, officer in charge of the government ele- 

 phant-catching estabh'shment in Mysore, makes the 

 following remarks: — 



" This truly terrible scourge to the timid and 

 unarmed inhabitants of an Indian village is now 

 happily becoming very rare; man-eaters of a bad 

 type are seldom heard of, or if heard of, rarely 



survive long. Before there were so many European 

 sportsmen as there now are in the country, a man- 

 eater frequently caused the temporary abandon- 

 ment of whole tracts; and the sites of small hamlets 

 abandoned by the terrified inhabitants, and which 

 have never been reoccupied, are not uncommonly 

 met with by the sportsman in the jungles. The 

 terror inspired by a man-eater throughout tlie 



Ihe Tiger {Feiis tigris). page 165. 



district ranged by him is extreme. The helpless 

 people are defenceless against his attacks. Their 

 occupations of cattle-grazing or wood-cutting take 

 them into the jungles, where they feel that they go 

 with their lives in their hands. A rustling leaf, or 

 a squirrel or bird moving in the undergrowth, sets 

 their hearts beating with a dread sense of danger. 

 The only security they feel is in numbers. Though 

 the bloodthirsty monster is perhaps reposing with 

 the remains of his last victim miles away, the terror 

 he inspires is always present to every one through- 

 out his domain. The rapidity and uncertainty of 

 a man-eater's movements form the chief elements 

 of the dread he causes. His name is in every one's 

 mouth; his daring, ferocity, and appalling appear- 

 ance are represented with true Eastern exaggera- 



tion ; and until some European sportsman, perhaps 

 after days or weeks of pursuit, lays him low, 

 thousands live in fear day and night. Bold man- 

 eaters have been known to enter a village and 

 carry off a victim from the first open hut. Having 

 lived in a tract so circumstanced until I shot the 

 fiend that possessed it, and having myself felt 

 something of the grim dread that had taken hold 

 of the country-side, where ordinary rambling about 

 the jungles, and even sitting outside the tent after 

 dark except with a large fire, or moving from the 

 encampment without an escort were unsafe, I could 

 realize the feelings of relief and thankfulness so 

 earnestly expressed by the poor ryots when I 

 shot the Jezebel that had held sway over them so 

 long. 



