MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. 389 



the nets immediately behind a considerable patch of the very densest thickets, 

 and the conssquence is that when the tiger is driven forward by the beat and 

 reaches the net, it almost invariably lies up in the thicket instead of trying 

 to break out with a charge. Men who have been posted on trees signal the 

 moment when the animal has reached the right spot, and immediately the two 

 wings close in from behind and complete the circle of nets, using spare lengths 

 if necessary. Next comes the work of making the enclosure secure. Spear- 

 men are placed at close intervals all round to repel the tiger should he 

 meditate a charge, and the nets, strongly fastened to the ground with pegs 

 and heavy logs of v/ood, are connected by the main ropes with the trees and, 

 inclining slightly inwards, are supported at a height of 9 or 10 feet by forked 

 sticks stiffened with an interlacing of branches and thorns. A bariier is thus 

 formed, too strong and too elastic to be torn up or broken through by the 

 charge of any tiger. If the animal is to be caught alive, nothing more has to 

 be done but to introduce a trapdoor cage baited with a goat, and wait till 

 hunger compels the tiger to enter ; but if it is to be shot, the circumference 

 of the nets is contracted till rather less than an acre of jungle is enclosed 

 Then begin the preparations for the shoot. As I have said, the jungle inside 

 the nets is necessarily of the thickest, and diagonal tracks, 10 to 20 feet in 

 breadth have to be cut in order to render the tiger visible when moved. For 

 this work a party of some twenty picked spearmen enter the enclosure and 

 form a ring round, a like number of men armed with long handled choppers, 

 a few others with horns and tom-toms accompanying. The task, at close 

 quarters with the beast, looks highly dangerous, and the sportsman, who is not 

 content to wait outside the net, may enjoy a certain amount of sensation by 

 joining the cutting party. It might be imagined that the tiger or tigers (in 

 one case there were four), maddened by rage, hunger and thirst, would seize 

 the chance for a charge, and every now and then, in some particularly thick 

 patch there is a thrill of excitement, when the spearmen stand alert with 

 lowered points and the toin-toming is redoubled, but a charge has never been 

 known, for, no unwounded tiger,, and, in my opinion, no wounded one either, 

 would face such a compact and noisy body while there was any way of retreat. 

 When the cutting is finished the men with rifles take their stand outside the 

 nets on machans, which command the clearings, and the beaters try to drive 

 the tiger from one block of jungle to another by shouting and rockets. Need- 

 less to say, the beast when he moves at all does so at a gallop, and, judging 

 from the amount of missing, which generally occurs, it takes a quick shot to 

 stop the animal when crossing a narrow opening in a large enclosure. The 

 beast may have to make its dash several times before it is killed, and the chief 

 interest to the sportsman is the magnificent spectacle of the angry tiger at 

 large, which ordinary methods of shooting give few and short opportnnities 

 for seeing. If the patches of jungle left after cutting are very thick, it is 

 sometimes impossible to make the tiger move and on one occasion we had to 

 give it up at night without getting a shot, and went av.'ay with the intention of 

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