The Portland daily press., 1864-11-14
Baron Munchausen in India.
A BUFFALo-T1GER STORY.

BUFFALO-TIGER STORY.
A paper published in India tells this re.
markably exciting story about an adventure
there OF an enthusiastic entomologist
"One very hot day, shouldering his entomo-
logical net, and with his bottle of cyanide OF
potassium in his pocket for the purpose of
killing his specimens, he had succeeded in TAX
ing several species OF moths and beetles, when.
suddenly emerging upon an open space, a gi-
gantic female buffalo charged right down up
on him. Quick as lightning the narrator
sprang up tree which fortunately happened
to be near, and almost before he had comforta-
bly, settled down upon one of the branches. a
bufialo calf appeared upon the scene, and
both mother and offspring sat down at the
1901 OF the tree, directly under his position.-
In order to attract the attention of his friends
who were in the neighborhood, or of any ma.
tive who might happen to be near, he shouted
until he was hoarse. Ever and anon. hv wav
of variation, with the vain hope of frighten-
ing away the buffalo, he awakened the ex-
tremest echoes of the jungle with his yells,
and perpetrated the most hideous noises ever
produced by the human voice. All was of no
avail; no friendly hand came to aid him, and
the brute still lay placidly licking and caress-
log its calf.
He was about to assume standing attitude
in the tree, when suddenly his left hand, with
which he had seized branch above his head,
was severely stung or bitten by some insect
or animal. Starting with the acute pain, as
the fear of whip or tree snakes flashed through
his mind, he involuntarily loosed his hold of
the bough, and, thus deprived of support he
lost his balance and fell from his place of ref
uge.
He dropped on the buffalo's back, and In
another instant was carried away at tire
mendous pace through the long, thick grass OF
the Jungle. 1t was difficult matter to keep
his seat, when all at once the buffalo sprang
into large "tank," and he was immersed up
to his neck in water. Unable to swim, he
was obliged to cling to the neck of the brute,
which for a time swan round and round the
pool at her pleasure. He only hoped his legs
would not be seized by one of the alligators,
of which he had seen several in the water dur
ing the day. Then, to his infinite horror,
stinging sensation in the leg made him feel
sure he had again been bitten by another kind
of serpent. And still the buffalo showed no
signs of returning toward the land, when just
as he thought she was preparing to lie down.
he dug his heels into her side and delivered
random blows with his fists on her head and
neck. Then, striking out for the land, the
brute speedily reached the shore, on gaining
which she again commenced her mad gallon
A few minutes brought them to the spot from
which the apimal had started, where the cali
was still standing.
The buffalo was preparing to lie down,
when, seizing the branches OF the tree from
which he had fallen on the brute's neck, he
swung himself up into his old position. He
had not, however, been very long there when
the smarting in his hand and legs caused him
to remember that he had been bitten by
snakes. The very idea of this, and the knowl-
edge that one of those Venomous reptiles was
in Che tree on which he was perched, caused a
deadly faintness, from which it was some time
before he rallied.
Alternately fainting and reviving, hour af
ter hour passed away, night dafkened down
upon the jungle, and the buffalo still kept
watch and ward at the foot of the tree. At
length, at an advanced hour OF the night, he
suddenly became conscious that tremendous
struggle was going on between the buffalo and
some large wild animal, which he judged to be
tiger. The growing of the latter he con-
tinues, the groans of the buffalo, the noise OF
their struggles, and the incessant bleating ol
the calf, combined in producing series OF
sounds which in the darkness of night appear
ed worthy of the inhabitants of Pandemonium.
For full five minutes, which appeared hours to
me, the dreadful struggle continued, until at
length the groans of the buffalo subsided into
series OF convulsive gasps and snorts, and the
sounds of struggling on the ground almost
ceased. could, however, hear the tiger growl-
OF course descent was now quite out of the
question. l therefore determined to remain
where was until daylight, if 1 did not die
from the effects of the snake bites before morn
ing appeared So strong was the interest with
which listened and strained my eyes for the
purpose Of learning what was going on below
that even ceased to think of this contingen-
cy, and forgot the death-like swoons had pre-
Viousy experienced. After some time spent
In m IA do hxy fho amin al
while enjoying his feast of buffalo flesh, the
sounds ceased suddenly. / felt sure, however,
that the beast had not departed, for had kept
my eyes fixed ON the dark outlines under the
shadow of the tree, and the mass remained Of
the same appearance. l fancied / could trace
the form Of tiger lying alongside the dead
buffalo, and this was the shape the dark OBJ
iects had assumed and retained since the ter
mination of the conflict. "
At length, however, succor was at hand
Seeing light in the distance, he shouted as
loudly as he could, and this attracted the no
tice of a party who had set out in search o
him. On coming up to the spot both tigel
and buffalo were found to be dead. On telling
his friends he had been bitten by snakes, thel
first examined his hand, and pronounced th'
wound he received whilst In the tree to. hav'
been caused by the sting of hornet. Oh
turning down his stockings they DISCOVERIES
several leeches gorged with blood, for mum
bers of these voracious animals had bitter
him during his ride through the water on tn
bufalo's back. The faintings he had expert
enced were attributed to loss of blood from
the leech bites. They then turned their at
tention to the dead tiger. Not a wound was
discovered about the carcass, but on slightly
moving the body of the buffalo, they discover
ed the bottle of cyanide of potassium, which
had been intended for chronological purposes
broken and partially introduced into ths
wound In the neck from which the tiger hat
sacked the blood of his victim. While imbib
ing the life-blood of the buffalo, the tiger hat
received one of the most deadly poison
known, which in a very short time had pro
duced its uiua fatal result. The position Q
the two animals and of the deadly bottle, lei
no room for doubling that such had been tn
case. On ascending the tree in such no
haste the poison bottle and other little mat
ers were dropped, and during the struggle be
tween the the animals the former was broken
and perhaps even cut its way into the jugu
lar Of the buffalo; thus probably assisting ii
the death of the latter, as well as proving 81
fatally destructive to the tiger. On the ap
pearance of dawn they discovered small
wasp's nest hanging In the tree. Later In tb'
day they had the satisfaction of superintend
ing the skinning OF the tiger, and distributing
the meat to the villagers, some OF whom re
gard it as particularly strengthening food
The absence of bullet holes rendered the Skin