133 



THE WHITE TIGER. 



" THE Sahib wishes to know which is the most dan- 

 gerous animal I have ever killed ? What do we 

 baghmarees (tiger-slayers) know of danger ? We set 

 our traps, and it is nusseeb ka bath (a question of 

 luck) whether we kill or not. There is no danger. 

 The bow is fixed in the evening, and we go to 

 see next morning whether the arrow is shot. 

 We follow the trail and generally get the animal 

 that day or the next. Bears are the most difficult 

 to kill ; not only do they take longer to die, but 

 they generally make off to their caves when 

 wounded and die there. No, we never go near 

 the wounded animal. We follow it up, and if it 

 shows signs of life we go away and come later on, 

 when it is dead. When we use cobra poison the 

 wounded animal goes to sleep and dies in its 

 sleep. Dakar a (aconite) is also good. Krait 

 (snake) poison is not so good. When the arrow 

 has been poisoned with krait venom the animal 

 may recover if there be much bleeding from the 

 wound. Yes, we have antidotes for all the 

 poisons. Sometimes a man is wounded by our 

 poisoned arrows. If we know it in time, we apply 

 certain jungle leaves as a poultice and the man 





