The Sun.
London, England, 1827-09-18 00:00:00

GRAND TIGER HUNTS.

MEERUT, FEB. 1,1827.—0 n the 27th
3anttary, a nal of men belonging to the corps,
• I '• . , 1.
wmie cutting ret-boa. in tne jungicsi, at not
half an hour's distance from the Canto-haat;
missed one of their number on mustering thel
party in the evening, according to their usual
efistomi and 'hearing no reply to their calls, they
siispected a tiger had Orrled off their comrade,
no unusual occurrence h this Valid':
hey .aceOrilinOy cautious search the
t,aii et tit 4 iutd just leti thin sobii liscdveted
the traces of their unhappy comrade,
found his hatchet, lotah, and kookry, -pieces of
his dress, clots of blood, and the fresh ifiarks of
a, tiger in the sand, and at,no great distance &r-
-ib& rib; the iiiangled hotly of the poor sepoy.
Knowing that the tiger would be easily found
on the next morning, when sluggish and gorged
from feasting on his victim during the night, they
immediately returned to. cantonments to give
nbtice, and prepare for the morning's campaign ;
accordingly, on the thorithig. df the 28th, 150
men of the battalion, accompanied by three Fu.
ropean gentlemen of the station, sallied forth
variously armed, to attack the tiger (on foot),
and by disposing of the party in small detach-
ments on various sides of the steep jungly ravine,
so as to command every part of it, they closed in
gradually from all quarters towards the centre,
and soon started the enemy, whose waling and
growling, in such difficult ground as the ravine
in question presented, was not particularly grati-
fying to those unaccustomed to such sport, espe-
cially as, from the great height and thickness of
the jungle, it was impossible to see the animal
,even at three feet distance.

About 3 p.m. the party luckily succeeded in
beating him almost to the end of the ravine,
where, from the absence of jungle, he was obliged
to pass over a bare space of ground, which gave
us a fine view of him in endeavouring to escape.
Several shots having then hit him, called up
all his energies for self-defence, and being
greatly irritated from several wounds, he gallantly
charged several parties in turn, and though again
wounded, and pretty severely too, in many places,
he continued his charge with determined resolu-
tion, and had almost 'succeeded in laying hold of
the Hon. Mr. Shore, who had just fired both
his barrels, but stood his ground, trusting to his
double barrel pistol, which had previously dropt
from his belt, but of which he at the time was
not aware.

The animal being close upon him, he was
compelled to retreat, and was only, saved by a
Sepoy's stumbling between him and the tiger,
whom the beast seized by the arm and cruelly
lacerated.

A general ally then took place, headed by
Mr. Shore and his companions, who, with great
precision and steadiness, fired their pieces right
and left with such effect as brought the monster
to the ground, and saved the Sepoy from further
injury, who indeed had contrived to disentangle
himself from the enemy just before, and having
been dressed in a quilted jacket, fortunately suf-
fered less than might have been anticipated, and
I am happy to say he is now doing well, and ra-
pidly recovering. The tiger, now being appa-
rently dead, the whole party closed round
him, when, to their astonishment, he again
got up, and charged furiously ; though even
at his last effort, even then he might have
done much mischief, the whole party being un-
prepared, and without a single loaded barrel
among them : but the gallant little Surmorees,
to -their tirtlweirw, fell uponllAtit cn-mnssr,-
and cut him to pieces. Such was the result of
our first day's amusement ; when our further
sport, owing to the fatigue we had undergone,
and the lateness of the hour, was unanimously
postponed till. the following morning. This
enormous animal, measuring the unusual length
of nine feet and seven inches, was dissected the
following morning by our Doctor, who disco-
vered in his stomach some of the bones of the
feet and part of the bowels of the man he had
killed, also something like a cow's udder, the
hoof of a deer, and a silver bangle, which, from
some device upon it, was rec ,gnised by Hona
• Deerah, Jemidar of the Third Company, to have
been the property of a beautiful young woman,
named Soondree, who had disappeared some-
time ago, as was supposed, with her paramour.
Next morning the whole corps, including the
rest of the European officers, invested the same
ravine, and had not entered the jungle five
minutes before the alarm was given that two tigers
were seen approaching the line, one crouching,
in the act of springing on a gentleman of the
party, when, several shots being fired, they
killed him on the spot ; the second, in endea-
vouring to escape by passing through the heavy
jungle in front of the line, was repeatedly shot
at, but only slightly wounded ; when thus irri-
tated, he suddenly wheeled round and charged
• the extreme file of the right flank, when an old
Havildar, one of the best shots in the corps,
stept forward and shot him through the heart.—
! Shortly after, a great uproar was heard on the
left and the upper part of the ravine, where a
third large male tiger was announced, who
singled out for the object of his attack our little
sergeant-major, who, in no way appalled, though
at the time almost alone and unsupported, gal-
lantly came down to " prepare to receive caval-
ry," and reserved fire till the animal, in the act
of springing, not three yards distant, received
his shot in the chest, which turned him, and
threw him under a low branch of a tree, from
which he could not extricate himself, and where
he was immediately cut to pieces by the tuiwars
and kookries of those who had conic up.
Tiger-hunting on foot is certainly a very in-
judicious amusement, from the dangerous con-
sequences it involves ; but in this instance, every
other means had been resorted to for the de-
struction of those monsters, who had within
three months back killed no fewer than ten or
twelve people, including two of the corps,
besides bullocks, cows, &c. without number.—
Indeed, so bold have those animals become of
late, at and ill the vicinity of Derrah, that their
destruction was absolutely indispensable, as even
the grounds of the few European officers at
Derrah, the lines of the battalion,
and hamlets
in the vicinity, have been almost nightly visited
by them, to the great annoyance, and no small
risk of all of us. There is not an elephant in
the Doon to assist in such object of public utili-
ty ; and when.men of the corps are so repeatedly
cruelearr fateiedo'"Pr
them enjoying the honourable revenge due to the
it surely would be hard to prevent
of their companions.
The sepoy carried off on this occasion has
left a mother, widow, and five children, to lament
his unhappy fate.—lndian Paper.

Mons. 8., a merchant of Hamburgh, had had
the misfortune to lose one of his eyes. A gentleman, who
had also b similar deficiency in his optical organs, called
one day to make a private communication to him, and ex-
preseed his wishes in this respect in the ordinary German
phrase, whisk signifies literally, to speak under four eyes.
" Well, then," replied the Ilanburgher, " I must call in
my wife."

WITITECHAPEL HAY MARKET.—Sept. 15.
755. Od. to 110 s. Od. 1l lover 90s. Od. to 140. i. Od
Od. tb 40s. Od.