Dallas herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1849-1873, 1872-05-11
Scenes with Tigers.

In June, 1869, tired with the mo-
notony OF II small station, that dis
gustcd with the excessive heat of
that hottest of recent hot seasons,
our sporting medico and | fed from
civilization one brilliant moonlight
night, intent upon week among
the tegcrs. We were looked upon
as raving "lunatcs," but that we
rocked not of. We had arranged n
rendezvous of elephants at " then
,tlc-frcqucntod but since much-pa-
tronized spot, "hard by Rampa-
ganga's crystal stream" and not
far from where it issues majcstical-
ly from its native Himalay. Boots
it not here to speak oflatcr meets
upon that spot never to be forgot
ton-of the lightsvme chorus, the
ready quip, the hsppy gibc, and
the unqucnchable laughter to which
tho place has rung again Of the
noble mahscer landed with skill
of hand and eye by r.. and A., still
less of his noble brother potter for
breakfast by thc general (and the
writer), with about as much skill
as conscience, by means of tho
deadly "atta." Many noble tiger
and willy leopard have since then
parted with their skins upon that
spot; of which, perhaps, more
anon.
But to return to our tigers. Few
though they were that.wc baggcd,
each of them yields story, and
gave us scene which neither of
us will soon forget. The first was
on this wise Convinced of the fact
that the tigers wcro all on the move
in tho sub. .lIimalayan forests, and
that there was no use in seeking
for them in their recognised haunts,
we determined to penetrate into
tho valley which lies inside of tho
outer mountain range, between that
and tho lowest trIo Himalayan
chain, and which is known as the
Patti Dun. l may be allowed to
explain Qhough it has nothing to
do particularly with my story that
from the Gangos at lIindwar cast
ward to a place called Laldhang, a
distant of about seventy miles,
there runs n comparatively low
brokon range of hills, in appear
ance exactly similar to the Siwalik
range west of the Gangos, and evil
IDENTIFY q continuation ofthat range,
which is cut in two by the Ganges
at Hurdwar. These hills appear
to be quite distinct in geological
formation and in flora from the
true Himalayan range, and to much
lesser extent their fauna is differ
ent also. Between the outer range
and the true Himala lies a chain of
valleys of greater or less extent, of
which the Dchra Dun, inside of the
Siwaliks, west of the Gangcs, is the
largest and best known, and tho
Patti Dun, the scene of my story,
tho most castcrly. The latter is
drained by the Ramganga and its
insignificant tributary tho Soma.
The sun was almost setting on
the evening of our entry into the
Patti Dun, as We were going along
the bank of the Soma towards camp,
still some little distance off, very
much down on our luck, for we had
rot nothing but few francOlin (F.
vulgaris) all day. | saw some vul-
lures sitting on Il tree som0 900
Yards or so to orr left, and we went
to have a look al the object of so
suggestive concourse. We soon
put up fine tigrcss, and, after a
very exciting little fight, padded"
herr. e., lifted her on the top of
the large sackcloth-covcred cushion
of straw VIII 'ch is always on the
back of an elephant when at work,
and which is known as the pad"
On this she was secured with ropes.
Bv this time il was getting dark,
and when We reached our bivouac
it was quito dark, save that the
night was starlit.Y On. dismo1nting
from our howdahs, our first care
was to get some grass together on
which to have the body of the III
rress thrown off the pad, so as not
TO risk injury to the skin. We were
both standing by experimenting
the operation, and the tigrcss had
been slid off The pad to the grass,
when, TO our astonishmcnt and ter
ror-horror would, perhaps, be Il