TIGERS AND TIGER-SHOOTING. 73 



Some persons are known to experience a creeping sensa- 

 tion at the presence of unseen cats in the room they occupy ; 

 others (not of the ruder sex) will vociferously take to their 

 beds and mosquito-nets at the sight of a cockroach on the 

 rampage ; and there are still others to whom a tiny mouse is 

 an object of terror and loathing ; it may be a kindred feeling 

 which stirs within me at the sight, smell, or mere unseen 

 proximity of this big cat. I have awoke suddenly at night, 

 and tossed about in my bed, unable to resettle to slumber 

 for an hour or two at a stretch, for no apparent reason what- 

 ever, and next morning have found the fresh foot-prints of a 

 tiger round my bungalow or tent. 



The very beauty of the tiger, the beaute du diable, in truth, 

 and the vivid combination of black, yellow, and white on his 

 glossy skin, is terrible to look upon, let alone the malignant 

 cunning shot from his eye, and the cannibal hunger expressed 

 in his curling lips and flashing white teeth. 



I suppose a man-eating lion is not better or more pleasant 

 than a man-eating tiger, but the former does not create the 

 same sense of acute antipathy as does the latter ; it may be 

 because his attacks are more open, or because he is somewhat 

 noisy, and addicted to roaring and bouncing about generally, 

 whereas the other is silent and smooth in his movements, 

 indulging, and that rarely, only in a low inoan or a deep- 

 drawn breath, sounding like a snarl with a growl at the tail 

 of it. An asp, a cobra, or a " karait " is as deadly, and far 

 more dangerous, being small and readily concealed in the 

 grassy paths, in the dark chamber, or even in one's bed ; a 

 shark or a crocodile is as murderous and more voracious ; 

 still I believe that these creatures do not excite fear and 

 dislike in the same degree as the tiger. 



This gruesome beast has disappeared from most districts 

 of the Lower Provinces, but it is not very long ago that he 

 and his kindred held possession of most parts of Bengal as 

 completely as they do of the Soonderbuns at the present 

 moment. If asked by a young sportsman newly arrived in 

 Calcutta where he should go to shoot a tiger, I might now 



