Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-09-05
Savage sports

The tiger, the tyrant of the Indian
I jungle, has, as is due, the precedence
over his feebler or less-dreaded congen-
ers. Skirting the base of the Himalayan
range, extending east and west for
many hundred miles, is a tract OF land
covered with jungle, called the Terai;
this is his chosen home. CraGled in the
long feathery igrass of the jungle, he
gambOls about in his infancy playful as
s. kitten, and usually attains, when full
grown, the length of nine or nine and
half feet. Wild hog, deer, and all the
larger species of game, are his usual
prey; but sometimes pair of tigers
will take up their abode within a mile
of village, sallying out from their lair
every three or four days to pull down
bullock or a buffalo, always selecting
the fattest i'm the herd. The strength
of their muscular forearms is enormous.
Captain Baldwin says: 81 remember in
Assam tiger in the dead of night leap
ing over a fence nearly five feet high, |
seizing one of the largest oxen, and
again leaping back, dragging the bull !
lock after him across several fields and |
over two hedges" In his old age,
when his teeth become worn, he not in |
frequently becomes a man-eater; and |
such is the devastation he then occa-
sions, that the whole villages are some
times deserted, and extensive districts |
laid waste from dread of these feline |
scourges. In these disastrous circum- |
stances the advent of an English sports
man with his rifle and elephants is |
hailed as God-send by the whole /
TO bay often ''spits" like cat. Con-
trary to the received opinion, tigers
seldom roar; but at night the forests re-
sound with the hideOus din of their |
cries, which resemble the caterwauling
of whole squadron of gigantic tom
cats. In making a charge the tiger ut
ters series of short, vicious, coughing
growls, as trying to the nerves as the
most terrific roar. Tlger-hunting, even
from elephant back, is always accompa-
MED with danger. One day when Cap
tain Baldwin and a friend were out
beating the bush for tigers, one of his
beaters, fine young man, "foolishly
crept forward to try and discover the
actual spot where the tiger was hiding.
He must have approached within few
feet of the animal, for it struck but one
blow without moving or exposing his
body, and dashed the unfortunate man
with great violence to the bottom of a
stony ravine." He was rescued at once,
but died the same evening, his skull
having been fractured by the blow from
the tigers paw. In tiger-shooting,
when you discharge your piece, whether
you hit or miss, you must not move,
but, standing perfectly still, keep
your eye on the animal, and put in a
fresh cartridge. Many lamentable ac-
cidents have occurred from sportsmen |
going rashly up to fallen tigers erron-
eously suppOsing them to be dead. One /
or two stones should always be thrown.
first, to see what power of mischief is |
left in him, for it is quite possible that
he may require another ball as quietus.
A tiger cannot climb trees, but he |
can spring to a considerable height, and
this should be remembered in shooting
them from what are called machans, a J