A TIGEE HUKT. 155 



sportsman builds his machan in the most favorable position, takes 

 his place upon it, and waits while the tigers are actually driven 

 toward him by a grand army of beaters — from fifty to three hun- 

 dred native men blowing horns, beating tom-toms, firing guns and 

 shouting, and then, when the tigers come running past his posi- 

 tion, he kills them — if he can. When a tiger kills a bullock, the 

 hunter quietly builds a machan in the top of the nearest tree, takes 

 up his position in the afternoon, and waits patiently until the tiger 

 returns to his feast at nightfall ; then he shoots him, or at least 

 shoots at him, in the dark. 



It is very seldom that accidents occui' in hunting tigers by 

 either of the above methods, for usually the sportsman is not in 

 the least danger. 



Shooting on foot is the third method of tiger hunting, but it i3 

 so dangeroVis that it is not regularly practised except as a last re- 

 sort, and the most reckless hunter never dares follow it up for any 

 length of time. Nine-tenths of all the tiger " accidents," as they 

 are called in India, occur to sportsmen who are shooting on foot. 

 The Collector of the Coimbatore District acknowledges the superior 

 dangers and risks of this method by paying a reward of one hun- 

 dred rupees for a tiger shot on foot, whereas he grants only the 

 minimum reward, thirty-five rupees, for a tiger shot from a machan 

 or poisoned. When a hunter attacks the tiger in open ground, he 

 must shoot the animal in the brain or else break his spinal column, 

 for nothing else is sure to stop his fui'ious charge. A tiger is but 

 a gigantic cat, endowed with the traditional nine lives, and even 

 though shot through the heart, the lungs, body, nock or shoulders, 

 he often has strength enough to spring upon the hunter and give 

 him a terrible mauling or a mortal wound before falling dead. 

 Tigers often become so enraged by the pain of their wounds that 

 they attack the hunting elephants with the greatest fury. 



The Animallai slope was one vast, unbroken forest, with such 

 endless cover that successful beating for game was simply out of 

 the question. There was such an abundance of it that no men or 

 cattle were ever killed by tigers, and hence our only chance for 

 finding them at all was to track them up on foot, or trust to meeting 

 them by chance. Either plan was risky, but I had enough faith 

 in the accuracy of my little Maynard rifle, and my own steadiness, 

 to believe that between us we could floor a tiger if we ever got 

 a fair chance. In tramping through the forest I often wished I 

 could come face to face with a tiger and get just one fair shot 



