302 IN THE INDIAN JUNGLE. 



populated and highly cultivated lands of South 

 Behar, this forest is resorted to by the villagers 

 for firewood, and while engaged in felling brush- 

 wood and tying it into bundles, they fall easy vic- 

 tims to the tigers that abound in this jungle. Last 

 year no fewer than thirty-eight persons were de- 

 voured by one of these brutes, and so great was the 

 terror he inspired that the woodcutters abandoned 

 their calling, and the price of firewood went up 

 several hundredfold in this neighbourhood. The 

 villagers subscribed a sum of three hundred rupees 

 and offered it as a reward for the destruction of this 

 notorious man-eater. He was credited with ab- 

 normal powers. He was said to be many times the 

 size of ordinary tigers and to be beautifully marked. 

 He was also thought to be mad, as he would wan- 

 tonly destroy cattle, killing five and six in a herd 

 at one time. It is well known that tigers, as a 

 rule, will kill one or at most two of a herd at one 

 time, or just enough to last them for food for a 

 week. It does not matter if the carcase becomes 

 putrid, as apparently the tiger likes his meat 

 " high." It is rare that the " kill " will last a 

 week as vultures, jackals and crows devour all 

 they can during the absence of the tiger. The 

 Gidhour man-eater seemed to kill for the mere 

 pleasure of killing, and on one occasion he destroyed 

 in the afternoon four large milch buffaloes belonging 

 to a small zemindar, but left their carcases un- 

 touched. 



Human beings were his favourite food, and to 

 get at his prey he has been known to stalk them 



