TBE ROTAL TIGBS OF BENGAL. 55 



and often succeeds in securing his game. In Madras, 

 Bombay, some parts of Bengal, Central India, and 

 the Central Provinces, the tiger is often hunted on 

 foot, and it is in this dangerous sport that fatal and 

 serious accidents are liable to happen, for no accuracy 

 of aim or steadiness of nerve can always guard 

 against or ptevent the rush of even a mortally 

 wounded tiger, that in his very death-throes may 

 inflict a dangerous or fatal injury. I have known 

 more than one such case, and too many have 

 ecQurred. This exciting and dangerous sport is 

 sometimes, from the nature of the ground, as safe 

 as from the howdah, but it is generally dangerous 

 when the wounded tiger is followed on foot into 

 the cover, where he has taken refuge, and it may 

 be truly said, "Le jeu ne vaut pas la chandeUe." 

 "Works on tiger-shooting in all its forms abound, and 

 stirring incidents in the howdah and on foot are 

 numerously recorded; it would seem like repeat- 

 ing an oft-told tale to tell of them again, but I 

 shall conclude this history of the great cat, by 

 relating a few anecdotes descriptive of his habits, 

 and of the circumstances under which he is hunted 

 and slain. 



Tiger-shooting, though a less dangerous amuse- 

 ment than supposed by many, is not altogether 

 exempt from peril, even when pursued, as it 

 generally is, in Bengal, from elephants, for though 

 the mahouts and the sportsmen in the howdah are 

 rarely injured, accidents may occur, whilst the 



