V 
THE TIGER 
165 
the dry season, say the beginning of May, the heat 
will be intense, and the hot wind will feel as though 
it had passed over a heated brick-kiln. The water 
will have entirely disappeared, unless a river shall 
be permanent in the neighbourhood. It will be 
necessary to procure two or perhaps three buffaloes 
to tie up in various positions not far from water, as 
baits for the tiger during the hours of night, when it 
will be wandering forth from its secure retreat and 
searching for its expected prey. The buffaloes 
should be at least twelve months old ; I prefer them 
when eighteen months, as they are then heavy 
animals and would afford two hearty meals, each 
sufficient to gorge the tiger to an extent that, after 
drinking, would render it lazy and inclined to sleep. 
Great care should be taken in the selection of these 
buffaloes. The natives will assuredly offer their 
skinny and unhealthy animals: but a tiger, unless 
nearly starved, will frequently refuse to attack a 
miserable skeleton, and like ourselves it prefers a 
fat and appetising attraction. It must be distinctly 
remembered that after the tiger has devoured the 
hind-quarters of the animal it has killed, it requires 
a deep draught of water; it is therefore necessary 
that the buffalo as bait should be tied up somewhere 
within a couple of hundred yards of a drinking-place, 
as the least distance; otherwise, instead of lying down 
somewhere near the remains of its prey, it must 
wander to a great distance to drink. The stomach, 
being full of flesh, will naturally become distended 
with water, and the gorged tiger will not be in the 
