The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1890-10-02
BELLEVUE, La, THURSDAY OCTOBER 2, 1890.

| Ey the windows, and was mounting tn
the roof when a charge of bucksbot
nred at close range through the screen
cut him almost in two. No one was
at all excited. The incident seemed 10
have no more weight than the visit of a
| bat.
A week later two of the servants ac-
companied me on hunt around the
nelghborhood after birds. Neither
was armed, and both were barefooted.
barelegged and barearmed. In the
marshy ground along the creek 1 shot
several birds of the snipe species, and
we were about to cross it when one of
the natives, who was in the lead and
following path, halted, turned back,
and quietly said:
1--WE had better go another way,
sahib"
But why?"
Because the crocodile might do us
harm"
L advanced to the spot where he had
halted, and at once made out a huge
saurian lying in the creek right across
the path, and evidently waiting for
some one to cross. This was not over a
| quarter of mile from the bungalow,
and the saurian had evidently come
down the creek from small lake about
two miles away. made ready to fire
at him, but one of the natives touched
my arm and respectfully said:
please don't, sahib. If you anger
him he will bring others to make us
trouble. ''
"But he ought to be driven away or
killed"
Eyes, but when there are thousand
more in the lake what would you
gain?"
He seemed so earnest about it that
turned away. That night a number of
| the servants crossed the creek to attend
some sort of a party, and in the morn
ing a young man was missing. After
considerable inquiry it was decided that
the crocodile had seized him as he at
tempted to cross the path. l said to
the native who had restrained my fire:
Now you see what you did. Had
killed the reptile the young man would
have been with US this morning"
"Ah, sahib, but you might not have
killed him, and then he would have
taken two of us. l can soon find an
other young man."
About six miles below Patna, on the
Ganges, in the Bengalee district, a
couple of English officers with whom I
was acquainted had a shooting box, and
went up with party to enjoy some
sport 1t was wild strip of country
along the stream, and although so near
to a village this fact did not render
game any less abundant. A dozen
tigers, three or four panthers and a
score of hyenas had been bagged there
within two years, but it still remained
a favorite lurking ground for big game.
As matter of curiosity I hunted up
the returns made to the Government
from this place, and found that the
average of natives bitten by serpents,
devoured by crocodiles, or slain by wild
beasts was over three per week the
year round These were the figures re-
ported, but only one loss in three is re-
ported by the natives, as they persist in
believing that the blanks sent in by
officials are somehow connected with
taxation or official surveillance. Two
days before we started native came in
to the civil authorities to report case
He said
''We were going to see our father and
mother at Mugador "a village seven
miles away, my brother and L We
were in path crossing the forest to
save distance. He was ahead. 1t was
about two hours after daylight. We
were very happy, and he was telling me
story which his wife had told him.
when a tiger suddenly sprang upon him.
stopped. The Tiger stood over him,
with both paws upon his breast, and
looked at me and growled and switched
his tail. could do nothing. walked
backward in the path, and the tiger
seized my brother by the shoulder, gave
him half whirl, and then trotted away
into the thicket. I have been told that
it is my duty to report this"
''Yes," carelessly replied the official,
as he took down brief memorandum.
''Can l go now?"
"You can, but be more careful in the
future. You should have had dog
along to scare the tiger away"
$50 I should, sahib, but he was car
ried off by panther last week. Do not
blame mel will do better in future"
The idea of man entreating forgive
ness because his brother had been car
ried off by tiger seemed very queer to
me, but the official explained that with
out criticism and censure the natives
would become so careless that the list
of fatal accidents would double in a
year.
We had been at the shooting box
three days, and had killed dozen hy-
enas, panther, and couple of big
snakes. There were four white men of
US in the party, and we had eight or ten
native trackers and servants On the
fourth morning, before breakfast, I ran
thorn into my foot, and was advised to
lie quiet during the day. The house
was divided into two rooms, each about
twelve feet square, and each having
two hammocks in it. The first room
was used to store provisions in. The
door between the two was frame COW
cred with wire cloth. There was only
one window in each room, and that was