A Party of Man-Eaters. 19 
been at work. An examination of the tiger showed the penetra- 
tion of one bullet near the spine, passing out through the ribs, 
while the other had entered the chest under the shoulder. 
Although not a large specimen, she was splendidly developed 
and evidently very powerful. One of the upper canines, which 
now forms the handle of a paper knife lying on my writing 
table, which I regard with no little satisfaction as a memento 
of the destruction of the murderous brute, measures only 2$in. 
from the point, along the outer curve, to the termination of the 
enamel—that is to say, the portion clear of the socket—while the 
largest of the fore claws, measured in the same way, is 2%in. 
The condition of the fangs indicates an animal in the prime of 
life, or even, possibly, not yet fully grown, and disposes of the 
general impression that only old individuals among the felide 
contract the abominable habit of preying upon human beings. 
Man-eaters cannot be considered common, but if left long to 
their horrible taste they become so addicted to it that no other 
game seems to possess the same relish for them; and it has the 
advantage of being easily secured where the natives are timid, 
and practically incapable of resistance. The worst case I can 
find is that of the six man-eaters which infested the jungle and 
road between Ranebi and Hazareebagh, in the years 1875 and 
1876, and established a reign of terror which brought about the 
desertion of several villages, and closed many of the roads. 
Within the first three months of 1876 it is alleged that they 
carried off ninety-seven people of all ages! One would suspect 
this to have been a family party of tigers, consisting, perhaps, of 
the parents and four young, which had been brought up to the 
vicious practice by their mother while suckling them, and teach- 
ing them to cater for themselves. The natives in vain endea- 
voured to destroy the pests by all sorts of devices, until Baboo 
Bampersad Narain Singh volunteered to come to their relief. 
After six months’ work, in 1877, he managed to bag them all, 
killing two and catching the rest alive, for which service he was 
presented by the Bengal Government with its thanks, and in 
addition a first class double rifle and shot gun. 
o2 
