Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1888-05-12
HUNTING BENGAL TIGERS.

HUNTING BENGAL TIGERS
n Gentleman from the East Tells Of Hts Es
perfence srith tho Big Cats.
[San Francisco Examiner.J
The most intensely fascinating and
by far the most dangerous way o.
hunting the Bengal tigers, is the way
most of the natives do it. They col
lect in throngs of hundreds and go te
the woods, with half-bred bull and
terrier dogs, rifles of 40 caliber and
innumerable spears, and drive the
tigers out of their jungles. The vicious
dogs go in and hound them, and snarl
and howl threateningly. The tigers
are gradually driven from point to
point by the bowling dogs and shrek
ing natives, and are finally worked into
a gigantic and strong netting, nine or
ten feet high and with interstices seven
or eight inches square. Then the
chetties. as these queer natives are
called, range themselves along the
sides, and when the tigers lunge at
them they are met at every point by
cleaning spears. Such howling and
snarling, combined with the shouts of
the natives, sounds like the wailing of
the damned. The native women are
on hand, too, and lend their aid, and
whe. the government officers join in
the European ladies are perched con-
veniently in the trees, to lend bit of
life to the scene. A Mexican bullfght
is nowhere alongside of tiger-hunt.
On one of these hunts last June L was
perched in tree by the side of the
netting in which the bowling tigers
were. I got out on a limb, and didn't
notice for minute that one of my legs
was inconveniently near the tigers. A
howl from big tiger as he sprang to-
ward it reminded me of it, however,
and I made haste not only to remove
my leg, but to remove myself from the
limb. l did it in marvelously short
space of time, too.
The royal Bengal tiger is about nine
feet long from tip to tip, and I don't
know how high he is. They are of all
heights. They are invariably striped,
and very pretty, too, in light and dark
brown stripes. A hundred rupees is
now offered by the government for
every old or young tiger killed. Their
skins are worth from 25 to 80 rupees
each, in the rough. All through the
tiger regions it is very malarious, and
dangerous to health on this account.
Many amusing as we'll as tragic
things happen in these tiger hunts.
For instance, one night last August I
was coming home, near the edge of
small town. L heard tremendous
row near the halting-station, and did
not know what to make of it. I went
on home, however, and about 9 o'clock
in came the landlord in great glee. He
had for some days had great trap set
for porcupines, and on this particular
night he and several others had been
sitting in tree watching for tigers
They got a glimpse of one finally, and
fired. The tiger scampered away.
They didn't hit him, but he ran right
into the porcupine trap, and as it
weighed 80 pounds he couldn't drag
it to make much Roadway. and they
gathered him in. He was one of the
biggest and handsomest 1 ever saw.
And this reminds me of what for
got to say before, that tiger when
shot always runs the way he was look
ing at the time, and never any other
way. Inexperienced hunters, who have
not known this, have oftentimes lost
their lives in consequence of shooting
and only wounding the tiger when he
was looking at them All old hunters,
on the contrary, always wait till the
tiger turns his head. Then they
shoot, and if they don't happen to kill,
the tiger goes the other way. This, all
the time supposing that he doesn't see
the man who shoots him when he pulls
the trigger.