MODE OF STRIKING Til KIR I'KEV. 
171 
print in front of me perfectly dry, so I knew the animal was 
just befc:)re me ; it was impossible to see more than a yard or 
two in this dense high grass, and my great fear was that the 
tiger might mistake my brown shooting dress for the body of 
a deer and strike me down by mistake, and it would be little 
use begging my pardon afterwards, so I commenced singing, 
as 1 knew that the striped gentleman or lady hates nothing 
so much as a human voice at a high pitch. 
The tiger in the plains is seldom seen till eventide, as he 
generally lies up during the day in dense jungle or tangled 
brushwood, but in the cooler climate of the mountains he 
wanders about freely in the day time. 1 have never seen a 
tiger strike down an animal although I have watched him or 
her for an hour together prowling about on the opposite hill in 
search of prey. I have seen them chase deer, but they never 
go more than two or three hundred yards, and the magntlicent 
bounds they take are quite thrilling to behold. Some have 
stated that the tiger differs in his attack from the lion, in not 
killing his prey by a blow from his paw ; this is quite different 
to my experience. I once saw two large Indian buffaloes 
lying dead within a few feet of each other, and the herdsman 
told me that a ti^ger had suddenly bounded into the midst of 
a herd, had struck first one and then the other bufif^ilo, but 
on his yelling and shouting had disappeared as rapidly as he 
had come; I examined these dead beasts and found that both 
of them had their necks broken. A friend of mine told me 
that he was once out after 'a tiger that had laid up in a sugar 
cane field. Elephants and beaters were sent in to drive him 
out; my friend was posted on an elephant commanding the 
corner of the field ; a native was stationed some distance 
further down ; presently there was a shout from the beaters^ 
RAFFLES LIBRARY 
