The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-07-19

IAe Fdr Bettrcen Maa and Sdrd9e Nature
Death from Wild Beasts and Fenon.o"s
[From the London Telegraph

showing the numbers killed in the year
| 1875 by wild beasts and snake bites. 1t
seems that between the 31st of Decem-
Der, 1874, and the LIST of January, 1876,
III our Indian empire, no fewer than
q, 391 persons and As, 234 head of cattle
persisted from these causes. Such was
the war of savage nature against man.
On the other hand, there were destroyed
%, 357 wild animals of all kinds, and
27O, 1856 snakes, at cost to inc Govern
ment of 100, 015 rupees; or, without tax
ing into account the depreciation in the
value of silver, something like $4,000.
We are further told that the losses have
been to a great extent tabulated, and
that, from the returns which have been
sent in, it has been found that
elephants have killed sixty-one human
beings and six cattle; tigers
respectively 92S and II, 1923 Loop
ards, 1877 and l6, 157; bears, 81 and 529;
wolves, LOGO and 9,407; hyenas, IS and
2,116; while to 'sother animals" are
ascribed the totals of I, 446 and 4, 401.
These other animals are not described
with any minuteness, and we are conse-
Guently left to conjecture for ourselves
what they are, and how they may have
inflicted the mischief laid to their charge.
The Indian buffalo when reused is dan
gerous antagonist; even the pacific Brah-
many bull will occasionally knock down
and trample upon child; the wild goat or
markhor of the Himalayas is an ugly
customer to face, and apt to prove sud-
denly pugnacious and dangerous the
mongoose itself has been known, like
the English ferret, to attack children :;
and hardly season passes but beaters
are killed or seriously wounded in the
course of the days pig-sticking. II is,
indeed, somewhat remarkable that, COM
plete as the returns otherwise are, the
number Of deaths due to shorn of hart
and tusk of boar are not distinctly re-
corded among them. AT the same time it
must be noticed that eighty-fcur deaths
are scored to the credit of the bear. The
greaU majority of these victims were most
likely native shikarries, or herdsmen,
venturing near the haunts of the " an
chorite of the forest"
Elephants are responsible for the
smallest number of deaths. The male
elephant every now and then gets into
an angry and irritable condition known
as g must, during which lie will not in
frequently kill either his keeper or any
one else who may be within his reach
Yet as rule the elephant, wild or tame,
is peaceful beast, and it is a question
whether more persons are killed in India
by vicious elephants than are killed in
England by vicious horses. After the
elephants come the hyenas, who are
credited with the deaths of sixty eight
human beings and 2, 116 head Of cattle.
The hyena is an ugly, cowardly brute,
nocturnal in it's habits, and with hardly
the courage to face man. It may, per-
| haps, occasionally carry off child OF
kill an old woman, but it's chief depre-
dations are committed upon lambs and
kids, and other domestic creatures. The
leopard has put down to him 1877 human
victims as against 16, 157 cattle. The
majority of the deaths credited to the
leopard would perhaps be those of hunts
men and shikarries. This brute is usu-
ally timid and anxious to avoid direct
encounter, but when wounded or when
its retreat is cut off it will turn on its as
sallants with inconceivable fury. Next
comes the tiger, which is credited with
S2S human deaths and the destruction Of
II, 423 head of cattle. Those figures are
somewhat startling, especially when we
bear in mind that the natural food of the
tiger is the wild buffalo or the antelope
and that is only when hard pressed that
he encroaches on the habitations of man.
1t seem that when a tiger is proving
about in the neighborhood the chances
OF a farmer escaping with his life are
about fifteen times those of his bullock,
a comparison not altogether reassuring.
Again, wolves seem to be peculiarly de-
structive, they having killed during the
year l, 06O persons and 8, 407 cattle. The
wolf. however, has an especial fondness
for children, and the way in which Hin
doc youngsters are allowed to sprawl
about all day long on the very verge of
the jungle sufficiently explains the enor-
nous mortality due to the wolf, which
pounces down upon baby like a kite
on a young chicken.
Lastly, it is a significant fact that the
number of deaths due to snake-bites ex-
ceeds that from all other causes. It
amounts to no fewer than 1000 or, in
other words, something like fifty persons
every day in India from snake-bite alone.
The great majority of the victims are O
course natives, who go about barefoot
ed. The Hindoo woman is making her
way to the well OF to the river with her
pitcher on her head; the groom is cut
ting fresh grass; the gardener is pluck
ing flowers with which to decorate the
room, or the messenger is running by a
short cut across the fields with note
Any OF these may at any moment tread
upon cobra; and, although the cobra
is not aggressive, it will turn when at
tackled, or imagine that it is threatened
with the rapidity of lightning. A sharp,
short sting is felt, and the sufferer sees
the loathsome reptile clinging to his foot
or ankle, for the fangs of the cobra
strike SO deep that it is often unable to
disengage itself. The brute is
shaken off, but the nearest doctor