] 18 Felid^. MAMMALIA. Feeid.e. 
retired to the edge of a jungle to refresh themselves, 
where they had not remained long before one of the 
party, who was leaving the rest to shoot a deer, heard 
a dreadful roar, and saw a large tiger spring on poor 
Munro, and rush with him into the jungle with the 
greatest ease, dragging him through everything that 
obstructed his course, as if all were made to yield 
to his amazing strength. All that his companions 
could do to rescue their friend from this shocking 
situation, was to lire at the tiger; and it is evident 
that their shots took effect, since in a few minutes 
after, Mr. Munro staggered up to them and fell. 
Every medical assistance that the ship afforded was 
procured for him immediately, but in vain ; he expired 
in the course of twenty-four hours, in the greatest 
agonies. His head was torn, his skull fractured, and 
his neck and shoulders covered with wounds made by 
the claws of the savage beast. It is worthy of obser- 
vation, that neither the large fire that was blazitig 
close to them, nor the noise and laughter which, it 
seems, they were making at the time, could divert this 
determined animal from his purpose.” This, however, 
is no proof of the tiger’s bravery, since it fell upon 
them unawares, and their noise was that of unsuspicious 
mirth, and not of the kind to scare away such a cowardly 
enemy, but rather to attract him. Tiger-hunting in 
India is considered the noblest and most dangerous of 
sports ; and from the mass of interesting details which 
have appeared in various works devoted to the subject, 
it is difficult to decide which are the most meritorious 
records of the chase. Captain Mundy tells us of a 
hunting party who sprung a tiger, when the following 
scene ensued : — This beast “ took to the open country, 
which would have more become a fox than a tiger, 
who is expected by his pursuers to fight, and not to 
run; and as he was flushed on the flank of the line, 
only one bullet was fired at him ere he cleared the 
thick grass. He was unhurt, and we pursued him at 
full speed. Twice he threw us out by stopping short 
in small strips of jungle, and then heading back after 
we had passed ; and he had given us a very fast trot 
of about two miles, when Colonel Arnold, who led the 
field, at last reached him by a capital shot, his elephant 
being in full career. As soon as he felt himself 
wounded, the tiger crept into a close thicket of trees 
and bushes, and crouched. The two leading sports- 
men overran the spot where he lay, and as I came up 
I saw him through an aperture rising to attempt a 
charge. My mahout had just before, in the heat of 
the chase, dropped his ankors, or goad, which I had 
refused to allow him to recover; and the elephant being 
notoriously savage, and further irritated by the goading 
he had undergone, became consequently unmanage- 
able ; he appeai-ed to see the tiger as soon as myself, 
and I had only time to fire one shot, when he suddenly 
rushed with the greatest fury into the thicket, and fall- 
ing upon his knees, nailed the tiger with his tusks to 
the ground. Such was the violence of the shock, that 
my servant, who sat behind, was thrown out, and one 
of my guns went overboard. The struggles of my 
elephant to crush his still resisting foe, who had fixed 
one paw on his eye, were so energetic, that I was 
obliged to hold on with all my strength to keep myself 
in the houdah. The second barrel, too, of the gun, 
which I still retained in my hand, went off in the 
scuffle, the ball passing close to the mahout’s ear, 
whose situation, poor fellow, was anything but enviable. 
As soon as my elephant was prevailed upon to leave 
the killing part of the business to the sportsmen, they 
gave the roughly-used tiger the coup -de-grace.” 
Sometimes, when the elephant rushes upon the tiger 
in the manner just mentioned, it is absolutely impos- 
sible for the riders to keep their seats. The author of 
the “Oriental Field Sports” gives an amusing illustra- 
tion of an accident of this kind which happened to 
Captain John Eotton : — “ He was one of a very nume- 
rous party assembled for the purpose of tiger-hunting, 
and was mounted on a very fine male elephant, that, 
far from being timid, was very remarkable for a 
courage scarcely to be kept within the bounds of 
prudence. This singularly fine animal having, after 
much beating a thick grass, hit upon the tiger’s situa- 
tion, uttered his roar of vengeance, which roused the 
lurking animal, occasioning him to rise so as to be 
seen distinctly. No sooner did the tiger show himself, 
than Captain Rotton, with great readiness, bending his 
body a little to the left, took aim at him as he stood 
up, crosswise, almost close to the elephant’s head. The 
elephant no sooner espied his enemy, than he knelt 
down, as is common on such occasions, with the view 
to strike the tiger through with his tusks. At the 
same time the tiger, sensible of the device, as suddenly 
threw himself on his back, thereby evading the intended 
mischief, and ready to claw the elephant’s face with 
all four feet, which were thus turned upwards. Now, 
whether Captain Rotton had not been in the habit of 
joining in such rapid evolutions, or that the elephant 
forgot to warn him to hold fast, we know not; but, so 
it happened, that the delicate situation in which he 
was placed, while taking his aim, added to the quick- 
ness of the elephant’s change of height forward, com- 
bined to project him, without the least obstruction, 
from his seat, landing him plump on the tiger’s belly ! 
This was a species of warfare to which all parties were 
apparently strangers. The elephant, however fearless 
in other respects, was remarkably alarmed at the strange 
round mass — the captain being remarkably fat — which 
had shot like a'sack over his shoulder ; while the tiger, 
judging it to be very ungentlemanly-like usage, lost no 
time in regaining his legs, trotting off at a round pace, 
and abandoning the field to the victorious captain!” 
With regard to other modes of destroying tigers, it may 
be observed generally that these animals are not very 
easily secured by traps. According to Williamson, 
they adopt a very ingenious method in Persia. “ This 
device consists of a large semi-spherical cage, made of 
strong bamboos or other efficient materials, woven 
together, but leaving intervals throughout of about 
three or four inches broad. Under this cover, which 
is fastened to the ground by means of pickets, in some 
places where tigers abound, a man, provided with two 
or three short strong spears, takes post at night. Being 
accompanied by a dog, which gives the alarm, or by a 
goat, which by its agitation answers the same purpose, 
the adventurer wraps himself up in his quilt, and very 
composedly goes to sleep, in full confidence of hia 
