3 oi 



TRAPPING A MAN-EATER FOR THE 

 CALCUTTA ZOO. 



MOST of those who travel by the East Indian Rail- 

 way, know of Simultala as a picturesque little sta- 

 tion at the head of the only ghaut along this other- 

 wise almost dead level of a railway. From Gidhour 

 to Simultala the line winds and twists over steep 

 gradients among low hills covered with scrub forest, 

 which stretch away north and south as far as the 

 eye can see. From Monghyr on the north to Hazari- 

 bagh on the south, this belt of forest extends for 

 more than two hundred miles. Its width is not 

 much more than ten miles. 



The scrub forest between Gidhour and Simultala 

 is infested with tigers of the most dangerous type- 

 man-eaters. More persons have been carried off and 

 devoured by tigers between Gidhour and Simultala 

 than in any other locality -of similar size in all India. 

 Mention is made of this tiger-infested tract in the 

 Ain-i-Akbari, the revenue collectors of the Mogul 

 Emperor Akbar being unable to collect the land tax 

 for fear of man-eating tigers. Over three hundred 

 persons are known to have been carried off by tigers 

 in the country around Gidhour and Simultala 

 during the last ten years. Skirting the densely 



