Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-12-24
Catching Tigers.

| FULL-GRowN tigers are very seldom
| captured, because the transport OF them
| is very costly, and the fanciers in Europe
do not like them. Large tigers fresh
from the jungle cannot be tanned; they
| bite the wooden parts of their cages. sit
in the corner and growl, and do not show
themselves much. They get swellings
on their hind legs from lying and squat
| ting SO much; the back gets bent, and
the animal loses his good looks. give
my shikarees strict orders to catch tigers
| from four to six months old. When a
pair of tigers have made lair the shika
rec bides his time, and at length OBJ
serves that che male goes out alone. He
then lies in wait for him, and before the
father has time to say good morning to
his young one he Is generally killed, his
head severed from his body and taken to
the kutcheree, where Government Off
cial pays the shikaree fifty rupees for it,
! The female and her cubs are then care
fully watched. When the shikaree
knows that the young ones can do with
out their mother, which he discovers by
her indifference, she is generally killed,
and the young ones are easily caught, as
they mostly keep by the body of their
mother and cry. Her head, like that of
her lord, is taken to the kutcheree, where
fifty rupees are again paid, and the
young ones are taken to Calcutta. The
journey on foot generally occupies two
or three months. The change of teeth is
the critical period with tigers as with
| all the feline species, so that generally
keep them in Calcutta until it is over,
and have them taken special care Of.
They are then secured in cages and
1 a 49, n Lnty nDt to
five tigers to Europe out of 1879 that have
been caught The Sultan has been my
| best customer, and he has the best speci-
mems.
Tigers are often caught in pits. When
the track of tiger has been found they
go every evening by the same path to
water deep hole is dug, covered with
light boughs and a living goat tethered
on it, The hunter stands at a distance,
holding a string which is fastened to one
of the legs Of the goat. 1t is repeatedly
| jerked very hard TO make the goat bleat,
which can be heard for long way in the
| Jungle. The tiger has sharp ears and a
gives spring, falls through and Is i'm
paled upon a sharp arrow, made of teak
wood, four feet long The hunter then
dispatches him with ball.
Two years ago received, at Calcutta,
a dispatch from an acquaintance ninety
miles off, asking me to come at once, as a
tiger.track had been discovered close TO
his house. He showed me the pit, and
all was ready for the evening AT eight
o'clock we posted ourselves in two high
trees, each provided with Spencer gun
and cartridges, in order to give the tiger
| m oh 20 ha ch..,lJ nc nd atf ap INIT In
run off. Tigers, when they are not hun
cry, are frightened at the least noise. The
goat was bleating necessarily, and soon
Madam Tigress appeared with three
young ones no bigger than hares. We
kept perfectly quiet, and in few minutes
heard great crash, and Peru, my boy,
ran to US, exclaiming, "Sahib Sahib |!
Bagh pinjura Sc cheeta lai, margeer r
THE tigress is In the pit, dying.) We
fastened to the spot, and, sure enough,
there was the tigress; she had fallen ex-
actly upon the arrow, the point of which
was sharp bayonet, and all her strug-
giles only made 1t run further into her.
She was dead in about twenty minutes.
We took the cubs to the house, where /
remained for the night The next morn
ing they were put into an empty brandy
cask, and set off with them for Calcut-
ia, where 1 arrived in the evening, and
found my friends st dinner. They
laughed at me for having returned sc
soon, and said, Dinner is just over"
But just then servant came in with q
heavy dish and placed it on the table.
When the cover was taken of, to the
great establishment of the company, the
three young tigers sprang out, and ran
about the table uttering incessant cries.
With great care reared them all and
brought them to Europe.
Last year received large tiger from
Assam, splendid animal. When he
was removed from the truck at Calcutta
the floor of the cage got broken, and the
keepers let 1t fall on its side; the tiger
sprang out and set off in full gallop down
jam bazaar as far as Circular road, where
he encountered q steam roller. This
frightened the creature 80 that he turned
short round, ran back the same way, and
finding the door of house open he ran
in. He sprang over table at which four
people were sitting at breakfast, out at
the back door, and into the kitchen, where
he sat down In the corner. The cook ran
out, but had the sense to shut the
door after him. After two hours we
managed to entice him into his cage
| again ny Iucdu6 VI u llVc klu
When the young tigers are accustomed
to intercourse with men they are always
tame, but you must not 60 near them at
feeding time. My assistant took large
tiger two years old to London in sail
ing vessel from Calcutta. He played
with every one on board, and was only
shut up In his cage at night. His great
friend was dog, a ratcatcher, and they
were taken together in the same cage to
America. have often tried to bring up
tigers with other animals, and have sue
ceeded best with the common Indian
jackal; Ibelieve the scent of this animal
prevents the tiger from attacking 1t. The
tigers great enemies, next to man, are
monkeys. II is interesting to see the
courage and dexterity of monkey when
he cannot escape an encounter. once
put great balloon with nearly full
grown tiger. The baboon leaped upon
the tigers back, and took firm hold with
his teeth. The tiger could not shake him
off, and It was with great difficulty that
we took the baboon out of the cage. He
siezed the tiger by the neck through the
b lrs, and vented his rage by biting them.
| 4 40 h1 ~ar,v,