VII 
THE TIGER 
261 
carter, instead of a juicy native which he had 
expected. 
This was a disappointment to all parties con¬ 
cerned, except the dummy driver, who was of 
course unmoved by the failure of the arrangement. 
The story is thoroughly authenticated, and has 
been told to me by the Commissioner of the district 
exactly as I have described it. The tiger was 
subsequently killed by a native shikari, when 
watching from a tree over a tied buffalo. 
Although the tiger as a “man-eater” is a 
terrible scourge, and frequently inflicts incredible 
loss upon the population of a district, there are 
tigers in existence which would never attack a 
human being, although they exist upon the cattle 
of the villages, and have every opportunity of 
seizing women and children in their immediate 
neighbourhood. About nine years ago there was 
a well-known animal of this character at a place 
called Bhundra in the Jubbulpur district, which 
was supposed to have killed upwards of 500 of the 
natives’ cattle. This was a peculiarly large tiger, 
but so harmless to man that he was regarded 
merely in the light of a cattle-lifter, and neither 
woman nor child dreaded its appearance. The 
natives assured me that during fourteen years it 
had been the common object of pursuit, both by 
officers, civilians, and by their own shikaris, but as 
the tiger was possessed by the devil it was quite 
impossible to destroy it. This possession by an 
evil spirit is a common belief, and in this instance 
