96 
THE STORY OF THE TIGER. 
yards in diameter, and the heat of the fires kept up day and night all round 
was considerable. Still they existed without a drop of water for ten days., 
suffering from serious wounds the meantime. A tiger can go much longer 
than this without food without serious inconvenience. Like lions, tigers are 
bad climbers, ascending trees but rarely, and being quite incapable of ascending 
a vertical stem, no> matter what may be its dimensions. But, when aided by a 
sloping stem, or by a fork at some distance from the ground into which they 
can spring and thence obtain a fresh start, tigers will occasionally attack 
sportsmen who are waiting for them in trees. It is also stated that, when 
caught by inundations, tigers will endeavor to escape by climbing. Stems of 
trees, especially certain particular favorites, are in tiger-haunted districts 
marked by the vertical scorings in the bark made by the claws of tigers; these 
markings not unfrequently extending to a height of at least ten feet. 
The idea that tigers are in the general habit of springing appears to> be a 
popular delusion; and it is but rarely that they move their hind-legs from 
the ground, except when they have occasion to clear a fence or other obstacle. 
When so inclined, they are undoubtedly able to' spring to a considerable 
height; and an instance is on record of a tiger having, at a single spring, 
pulled a native from a tree, at a distance of eighteen feet from the ground. 
The tiger’s usual attack is a rush, accompanied by a series of short, deep 
growls or roars, in which he evidently thinks he will do much by intimidation; 
when he charges home he rises on the hind-feet, seizes with the teeth and claws, 
and endeavors and often succeeds in pulling down the object seized. The 
truth is that the tiger seldom attacks to actually kill, unless it is driven, or 
wounded in a hunt. It will frequently charge with a short roar if suddenly 
disturbed, but it does not intend to charge home, and a shout from a native 
will be sufficient to turn it aside; it will then dash forward and disappear, 
probably as glad to lose sight of the man as he is at his escape from danger. 
Formerly, before European sportsmen armed with rifles had access to' most 
parts of the country by means of railways, whole districts in India were either 
depopulated or deserted owing to the ravages of man-eaters; and the sites of 
hamlets abandoned from this cause are still visible in the jungles. Not infre¬ 
quently, however, the cunning and caution of the man-eater baffles, at least for 
a time, all the efforts of the European sportsman to encompass its destruction; 
while there are districts where one of these pests may continue its depredations 
for a long period without coming under the notice of Europeans. The destruc¬ 
tion of human life by tigers, most of which are probably habitual man-eaters, 
is, indeed, still deplorably large, especially in the more thinly-populated dis- 
