

A TIGER IN THE NETS. 227 



with the folds of the light yet strong fabric of 

 the nets. This method of destroying the dread 

 monster may sound unsportsmanlike to English 

 ears ; but the Indian does not hunt for sport. 

 With him the destruction of animals that prey 

 on his flocks and herds is a stern necessity, and 

 any means of getting rid of such creatures is 

 justifiable. 



I know of only one part of India where tigers 

 are still captured in nets. In the Wynaad, a part 

 of the Malabar district on the west coast of South 

 India, the natives employ this method of entrapping 

 and killing tigers, which are very numerous and 

 destructive on the forest-clad hills and valleys 

 that make up the bulk of this region. In the 

 uplands abutting on the coastal reaches are long, 

 low, marshy valleys, where much rice is grown by 

 a race of people called Chetties. These are the 

 landlords of the soil, and each Chetty owns a number 

 of Punniar slaves (a dark squat race of the negroid 

 type), who do most of the hard work and who are 

 bought and sold with the land, as a kind of fixture, 

 the number of such slaves materially increasing 

 the value of the paddy flat. The Chetties are, in 

 fact, a fine race of men, tall and fair, with clean- 

 cut features of the Aryan type. They are extremely 

 hospitable, open, and free in their manners, dearly 

 loving a lotah of palm-wine (toddy), which they 

 tap from the talipot palms that are usually found 

 near their dwellings, and not unwilling to share 

 it with the planter Sahibs whose coffee estates dot 

 the hill-sides for miles round- 



15* 



