42 TEE ROYAL TI9ES OP BENGAL. 



result ? Numbers of the natives in the vicinity, in- 

 cluding those I had employed to set the trap, ran 

 off when they heard of the animal's death, and did 

 not return for days, as they felt sure that when dead 

 it would be revenged on them, and take the form of 

 a human corpse so as to get them hanged for murder. 

 The remains were not, on that account, shown to me 

 until decomposed." Further, he remarks, " When 

 a Ghond or Kurkoo (the people inhabiting certain 

 wild tracts) is killed by a tiger, the wife, children, 

 and parents are thrown out of caste — all intercourse 

 between them and other inhabitants being inter- 

 dicted, on the ground that they are labouring under 

 the displeasure of the Deity. In fact, the man- 

 eating tiger is the deity to whom those wild and 

 ignorant aborigines offer prescribed sacrifices on the 

 occasion of their having suffered from its ravages ; 

 thus the injury they have incurred is increased, and 

 the previously scanty means of these helpless 

 creatures are doubly taxed." 



Again, quoting a Government report — "In one 

 instance, in the Central Provinces, a single tigress 

 caused the desertion of thirteen villages, and two 

 hundred and fifty square miles of country were 

 thrown out of cultivation. This state of things 

 would undoubtedly have continued, but for the 

 timely arrival of a gentleman who happily was fortu- 

 nate enough, with the aid of his gun, to put an end 

 to her eventful career." 



