The record-union., 1893-12-16
HUNTING THE TIGER.

The tiger is, to my thinking, more
royal beast than the lion, for what he
loses in size and brute strength, he more
than makes up in grace, agility and ad-
dress. That this is generally accepted in
countries where he lives is proved by
the adjective royal" which is always
coupled with his name; but it is an adj
iective uttered with terror and not re-
spect; it is the royalty of the tyrant and
not the king. To him women and chill
dren even are not sacred, and he sacri-
fees them with truly Homeric carnage.
Like a wolf in the sheepfold he enters the
houses of some of the native villages,
killing for the mere pleasure of seeing
and tasting warm blood. Caring only
for the freshest-killed meat, he disdains
anything else, and when hunger tor
ments him again rushes to new heta-
combs. Like all the cat family, he never
thinks of the morrow, but, in real Bohe-
mian fashion, lives for to-day only.
In one of these little Indian villages,
where even yet firearms are cause of
wonder and envy, large man. eating
tiger had for several nights IN succession
visited the different houses, and hardly q
family but mourned the loss of some
member of its circle. The tiger carried
his audacity so far as to come in broad
daylight, and, like wolf in the fold, en-
tered the houses while the men were in
the fields, and killed right and left.
was in the neigh borhood, and hearing
of it, took Thursday and my two best
rifles, and went to the natives aid.
These poor devils had relied on their sor-
GERS incantations to avert the evil spirit:
and he was now at his wits end, and
glad TO see us, you may be sure. | have
always respected a mans religious opin-
ions, and / resolved, if possible, while
Kidding the country Of monster, to do
it in such a way as to reflect the greatest {
credit on the native beliefs, especially as
| saw that the priests lack of success was
appreciated by the natives, and that they
were evidently losing confidence in su-
perhuman aid, preterring to trust to our
rifle barrels as a stronger staff in the diff
ficulty than the religion in which every
one should trust.
How to arrange it was the great uues-
ton. The animal had tasted human
blood, and was sure to return. The very
night before, while the incantations were
going on that were to free the village
from his evil spirit, the tiger had sud-
denly appeared in their very midst, fast
ening upon two of the chiefs, at his first
bound, and, in spite of their struggles
and their friends spears, he had carried
one of them off, leaving the other disem-
bowelled on the ground.
At last an idea flashed upon me. I
bought fine healthy bull of one of the
Indians, and at night, accompanied by
nv guide and the sorcerer, led him out
to the edge of the clearing, beyond the
last hut of the village and tied him to a
stout bamboo on the side of the road a
dozen PAGES or less from one of the
priests pools of hallowed water, with
which, at regular intervals, he had sur
rounded the village. Into this basin [
poured few drops from flask / car
ried it is needless to say not Of brandy
and then drew my companions into a
natural hiding place beyond a lot of wa
ter plants not unlike sugar cane. l gave
Thursday two rounds of ammunition, but
cautioned him under no circumstances to
fire without explicit orders from me
when and how TO do so. We had lain
nearly an hour in this pleasant spot,
drinking in malaria and fever, when the
tiger appeared. 1t was beautiful moon
light night, and we could see him advanc-
ing at stately pace. his wide black bands