THE TIGER. 49 



lug covers. The tiger, in short, is the scourge of an immense 

 portion of Southern Asia and of the Indian islands. Its swiftness 

 and its strength are such, that it will seize upon a man on horse- 

 back, pull him from his saddle, and, holding him in his mouth, 

 carry him by surprising bounds or leaps into the nearest coverts, 

 in spite of shouting or any other means of prevention — short of 

 musket-balls, sped with a just and deadly aim." A writer in the 

 Field for 1867, narrating the death of a man-eating tigress, which 

 exhibited the peculiarity of only eating the head of her victims, says, 

 when she was ultimately shot, which was soon after she had sprung 

 in among three young girls engaged in grinding corn, one of 

 whom she carried off, and was opened, the hands of the unfortunate 

 girl were found whole, and her hair had been swallowed down in 

 one mass, with the scalp and bones of the skull. 



Major-General Burton,^ in his interesting book, gives several 

 accounts of these man-eating pests. He had a coolie with him 

 on one of his hunting expeditions, who disappeared, and as he 

 was never heard of afterwards, it was supposed that he had been 

 carried off by a tiger that was known to haunt the jungle through 

 which he passed. Of this animal he writes : " It was extra- 

 ordinarily bold in its murderous operations. On one occasion a 

 large party of Rohillas were passing from Ramaram to Kaissera, on 

 their way to the city, when the tiger sprang out from thick bushes, 

 and carried off the jemadar from the very midst of his men ; it 

 pulled him off his pony, and carried him away into the jungle, 

 leaving the terrified party to make the best of their way without 

 their leader." 



Another tiger infested a jungle about fifteen miles from 

 Kamptee, up the river Pench, and destroyed half the population 

 of some small villages. The scared remnants of the imhappy 

 villagers at last deserted their homes, and sent for shikarries 

 (hunters) to destroy the dreadful beasts. The story went that 

 this tiger would walk up to a village in broad dayhght, enter 

 house after house, where doors were open, and, if they were 

 deserted and he found no game, would break all the earthen 

 cooking-pots, and return, grumbling fiercely, to the jungles. 

 ' "Reminiscences of Sport in India," 1885. 



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