A TIGER IN THE NETS. 229 



all is ready a frightful din begins ; all the beaters 

 shouting and screaming at the top of their voices 

 and clashing every noise-making utensil they can 

 get hold of. The tiger roused from his sleep after 

 a full meal, hears the noise approaching him from 

 all sides but one. He makes in that direction, 

 and scarcely notices the thin netting barring his 

 way. He presses against the meshes and down the 

 uprights go, the net falling on him and enclosing 

 him in its folds. On feeling the net over him 

 he makes a few frantic bounds, which only serve 

 to pull out the pegs to which the lower rope is 

 fastened, and bring the ends together so as to 

 completely envelop him. If left to himself he 

 might probably be able to bite through the meshes 

 in time and free himself, but the spearsmen, who 

 have been concealed in the branches of the neigh- 

 bouring trees, are quickly on the spot and dis- 

 patch him with thrusts of their long-handled 

 spears. 



Kills are not of every-day occurrence, and are 

 rather expensive items to the unfortunate owner 

 of the beast, so that this kind of beat into the 

 nets is uncommon. The more usual practice is to 

 set the nets across some known track of the tiger, 

 either to the spot where he drinks water or where 

 he prowls round the cattle pen. In this case the 

 nets are placed three deep with intervals of a yard. 

 His struggles when he brings the first net down 

 on himself, bring him within the toils of the second, 

 and perhaps of the third, so that he is a fast prisoner 

 till the men arrive next morning and dispatch him. 



