THE TIGER 
( FEUS TIGRIS) 
T HE three principal methods of tiger shooting in India are, first, 
by driving with elephants; second, by driving with men as 
beaters to the sportsman posted in a machan; and thirdly, by 
sitting up over a kill or drinking place. Nearly all those killed 
in India are accounted for by one or other of these three methods, 
and it is surprising how very seldom a tiger is encountered 
by chance and shot when after other game. This animal is generally 
known as “ Bagh ” by the natives. 
The first method is that usually practised in the Nepaul Terai and 
Assam, in places where the grass and reeds are so high that a man could 
do nothing on foot. It is a costly business and can seldom be indulged in 
without the assistance of some native prince, for, in addition to the number 
of pad elephants required for beating, each sportsman wants a howdah 
elephant for himself; and a steady one, that will stand a charge if necessary, 
is worth a great deal of money. 
I was once privileged to take part in the big annual shoot of the late 
Maharajah of Gooch Behar, when something like fifty pad elephants were 
employed to beat, and we lived luxuriously in a perfectly appointed camp. 
When there was not a good open space for the sportsmen posted at the 
end of the beat to shoot in, four elephants were made to pass abreast back- 
wards and forwards through the high reeds till an open track was 
established. It was not always possible to get a clear shot at the tiger, and 
firing at the moving grass is an uncertain business, as the bullet nearly 
always goes too high. In this kind of shooting there is comparatively 
little danger, though occasionally the tiger does manage to spring on 
the head of an elephant, when it is very difficult to make a safe shot. 
Should the sportsman be shaken out of the howdah there is quite a fair 
chance that the maddened elephant may mistake him for the tiger and 
trample on him; and if you allow your mount to get mauled you are not 
likely to be invited again, as he loses his nerve and deteriorates in value in 
consequence. 
Elephants are curious beasts, and I knew one that stood without blench- 
ing the charge of both a tiger and a rhino on the same day, and on the way 
home nearly threw me out of the howdah because a small pig ran between 
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