A TIGER HUNT. 159 



he was ours. Furtliermore, he was the first tiger I ever saw loose 

 in the jungle, and we had outwitted him. I admired my men quite 

 as much as I did myself ! They were totally unarmed, and they 

 had seen me miss spotted deer at sixty yards ; but instead of bolt- 

 ing, as I should have done had I been in theu* place, they stood 

 right at my elbow like plucky men, as they were. What if they 

 had been of the timid sort ? They would never have consented to 

 follow the trail of that dangerous beast. 



I paced the distance from where we stood to the dead tiger 

 and found it to be just thirty yards. My first was a dead centre 

 shot, striking him exactly in the left eye, scarcely nicking the edge 

 of the lid. I had intended that that bullet should enter his brain, 

 but owing to the narrowness of the brain-cavity it only fractured 

 the left side of the cranium. However, it rendered him quite 

 powerless either to fight or run away, and he would have died veiy 

 soon from such a terrible wound. In fact, I now think my second 

 shot was really unnecessary. Owing to the position of his head 

 I could not possibly have placed a bullet in his forehead so that 

 it would have reached the brain, but had I been using a regula- 

 tion " No. 8-bore rifle," throwing a 2-ounce ball, I could have 

 blown the whole top of his head off very neatly (!) — and utterly 

 ruined him as a specimen. My second shot struck one of his 

 neck vertebrae and cut his spinal cord, killing him instantly, a favor- 

 ite shot with me when I can catch an animal at rest. 



He was a splendid specimen ever}' way, just in the prime of 

 tiger-hood, fat, sleek, and glossy. Up to that time I could not make 

 myself believe that a tiger can pick up a man in his mouth and inin 

 away with him as easily as a terrier does with a rat. But when I 

 measured that great brute, I saw and realized just how it is done. 

 Before touching him with a knife we measured him carefully, tmce, 

 and recorded the figvu-es in my note-book. His dimensions were 

 as follows : 



Felis tigris. 



Anemallai Hills, September 27, 1877. 



Length from tip of uose to end of tail vertebrae .... 9 feet 8^ inches. 



Length of tail alone 3 " 6 " 



Vertical height at shoulders 3 " 7 " 



Girth 4 " 2 '« 



Circumference of neck 2 " 8 " 



Circumference of head around the jaws 3 " " 



Circumferencf) of fore-arm 1 foot 8 " 



Width of fore-paw 6^ " 



Weight (by standard American scales) 495 lbs. 



