TIGER. 
377 
they will at times ascend in the mountains to heights of six thousand or seven 
thousand feet above the sea-level, although they are unknown in the interior of 
the Himalaya, In some parts of India it was necessary to take active measures 
against them, in order to prevent the annihilation of the population. Thus a 
recent writer states that in Manipur “ tigers used to be so numerous that the 
inhabitants were formed into groups for the purpose of marking them down and 
destroying them. This organisation still exists. The groups are called kai-roop, 
and it is the duty of the chief of the kai-roop of the district to report to the raja 
whenever a tiger appears within his jurisdiction; the order is then given to 
destroy him; this is done by surrounding the patch of jungle in which he has 
hidden, after killing a cow or deer, with strong nets. Outside these, tall bamboo ' 
palisading is erected, and information is sent to the raja, who, if the place is within 
easy distance, proceeds there with all his court, ladies included. The spectators are 
ranged on seats at intervals at the top of the palisading, and the tiger is driven by 
firebrands from his retreat, and either shot or speared. The Manipuris are very 
keen at this sport, and I have seen them, despite a prohibition to the contrary, 
descend into the area (perhaps a space of three hundred yards, or even more, in 
circumference) and, protected only by the net held up by a forked stick in the left 
hand, boldly attack the tiger with a spear. Generally, the real sport is shown 
with the spear, and the coup de grace given by a rifle shot. Anyhow, the 
men engaged display great courage and coolness, and the whole affair is not 
a vulgar piece of butchery but a game of skill, till a well-directed shot ends 
it.” Towards the western end of the Himalaya, where forests become much 
thinner and the whole country is much drier, tigers gradually become less 
common; and in the Western Punjab and Sind they are either very rare or quite 
unknown. 
In parts of .Java and Sumatra tigers absolutely swarm; and a firm of 
Dutch merchants at Padang, Sumatra, writing in the autumn of 1891, stated 
that the arrivals of coffee from the interior were much below the usual 
average, on account of the number of tigers infesting the route; upwards of 
fifty men having been killed by them while engaged in bringing the coffee 
down country. 
Writing of the distribution of these animals in Persia, the late Sir O. B. St. 
John states that tigers, twenty years ago, were very numerous in the Caspian 
provinces of Persia, and in the Caucasus as far as the mouth of the Araxes. The 
dense vegetation, which although of a temperate character, yet attained a tropical 
luxuriance, affording them shelter as perfect as that of the jungles of the Terai, or 
the swamps of the sandarbans of Bengal. 
Although when the animal is seen within the narrow limits of the cage of a 
menagerie, or stuffed in the case of a museum, the brilliant coloration of the tiger 
may appear conspicuous in the extreme, yet there is little doubt that in the native 
haunts of the animal it is essentially of a protective nature. Sir J. Fayrer, in his 
work, The Royal Tiger of Bengal, observes, that brilliant as is the general colour 
of the tiger, “ it is remarkable how well it harmonises with the grass bush among 
which he prowls, and for which, indeed, until his charge, and the short deep growls 
or barkings which accompany it, reveal his presence, he may be mistaken.” 
