114 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
plainings procured him no pity,, not even from those 
of his own tribe ; there being but little sympathy 
where there is only a community of wretchedness. 
Extreme misery always makes us selfish. Every- 
thing then merges in the one absorbing feeling of 
conscious bereavement. 
There happened to be a young regimental surgeon 
of the party, but, either from inexperience or careless- 
ness, he assured us there was nothing the matter and 
that the man was only frightened. To our surprise 
the poor fellow died in the course of the night. Upon 
examining his back more attentively, it became evi- 
dent that a wound, although a minute one, had 
been inflicted by the tiger’s claw. The young sur- 
geon, now conscious of his mistake, opened the body, 
when it was found that the claw had pierced through 
the spine and punctured the intestines : — the com- 
plaints of the poor man were at once fully accounted 
for. I confess that this melancholy issue of the day’s 
sport did not tend to increase my relish for tiger- 
hunting, and I could not help observing with a pain- 
ful emotion with what apathy the death of a fellow- 
creature was regarded. 
Eagerly as tiger-hunting is pursued in India, it is 
nevertheless a dangerous sport. In proof of this I 
may mention an accident which happened during the 
Marquis of Hastings’s administration. Two young 
officers were beating a jungle upon an elephant, when 
a large tiger suddenly sprang upon the animal’s flank, 
reached the seat on which the officers were sitting, 
and seizing one of them by the thigh instantly dragged 
him to the ground. He had fortunately the pre- 
