The Arizona sentinel., 1888-06-09
A MAN-EATING TIGER.
An Adventure in the Jungles of
Southern India.

1t is now good many years ago
since killed the man-eating tiger;
but l remember it all rs vividly as if
it happened yesterday. and as l write
the whole wild scene rises before me
the group of half-clothed natives gloat-
Ing with eager faces over the corpse of
their enemy, the waving palm-trees
above, and as for the heat, 1 can
almost feel that! 1t was far away in
Southern India, the home of the Roy al
Bengal tiger, that the adventure took
place.
You must know, first of all. that the
tiger as seen cooped up in cage at
some circus. or in a geological garden.
is very different from the animal as he
appears in his native jungle. In the
circus he is so ''cabined. cribbed, con-
fined" that he is never able properly
to stretch his muscles. and the roar
with which he greets the keeper who
is bringing his food resembles the
roar with which he awakens the
of a tin trumpet resembles the screech
of a steam whistle. 1t is difficult to
describe the roar of tiger when he is
angry. 1t is not like the lions, which
is more nearly "bellow," but per-
haps you can realize it when say that
1t is as if thousand tom-cats gave one
wild and prolonged meow" Tigers
are generally hunted in two ways:
one is. shooting from the hos0daA of a
pad elephant which is a compar-
atively safe method; and the other is
to shoot them from meechaun,, or
platform of boughs fixed in tree.
When the latter method is adopted q
bait, in the form of bullock. either
alive or dead, is generally used TO at
tract the tiger; or else the meechGum
is built within range of the place to
which the animal is accustomed to
come for his morning drink The
latter is perhaps the commoner way
as shooting tigers from the back of an
elephant is rather expensive work and
only within reach of those who have
long purses.
1t was during the hot weather of
1876 that in company with friend
who was an officer in one of the native
Indian regiments, 1 went on a
shooting expedition for few ays in
Travancore, Southern India. We were
some days march from any English
settlement and were on our way to
pass the night at native village. said
by our guide to be near at hand We
had with us two SoOGrs, or troopers
of my friends regiment who
ac:ed as shikGrees, or hunt
ers. to beat up the game and
make themselves generally useful in
camp. We were not looking especially
for tigers, but were ready for any
thing that came; and we soon arrived
a The village where we were to pass
the night.
What lovely place it was, and how
cool and pleasant it seemed to our
tired eyes and overheated bodies! 1t
was was built on the shore of a small
lake. or tank" and was shaded by
groves of palm and cocoaput trees.
and altogether there was an aspect of
peace about it that was very pleasing.
But when we came near, we were
considerably astonished to hear
none of the usual signs
of welcome. Usually. when a Eu-
ropean enters a native village, he is
saluted by the furious barking of in
ours. and the inhabitants
flock to see the Sahib. But
now all this was wanting, and every
thing was as silent as the grave. Not |
a sign of the inhabitants was to be |
seen. and. as we went from door to |
door seeking some one and failed to
find living soul, we thought we had
found city of the dead. We were |
about to give up our quest. when from
one of the huts there crawled a man, |
Lent with age. Slowly he approached |
with many sGyaGnas, and in reply to
our queries as to what had become of |
the rest of the inhabitants, informed |
rs that they had all fors AIKEN the town
on account of a man-eating tiger He |
was the only person left, being too old |
10 leave his home. He informed us |
that the terrible tiger had visited the
village three times. and each time had |
borne away a victim. Then the peO-
pie could endure the danger no longer,
and all had fed.
But, OH" continued the old man,
call will be right now; the SGitt0s will !
slay the tiger, and once more the peo-
pie can come back to their beautiful |
village" We agreed to make at least |
an attempt to kill the tiger. but were |
c considerably handicapped by the lack
OF guide who knew lhe ground where !