The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-04
TRAITS OF THE INDIAN TIGER.
More Formidable Than the Lion and
Brave and Cowardly by Turns.

| (NeW 1OIh SUM-
speaking of the tiger, he is easily
the king of all the feline family" said
Sidney Castron, who arrived in New
York last week from Calcutta, and last
night was telling jungle stories to some
friends. He can whip lion, hands
down. as has been shown in every case
reported where the two have come to-
sether on fair terms. The tiger is as
| strong and heavy as the lion, is swift
er, more ferocious and more dangerous
He is a thorough Asiatic in his traits,
being subtle, crafty and recklessly
brave and cowardly by turns, with the
trouble for the hunter that he never
can tell when he flushes a tiger which
way the brute will run, whether from
him or for him. In fighting temper
tiger will turn upon the hunters peat
ing the Jungle on elephants, leap upon
the head or shoulder of the nearest
elephant, and make things very I'M
pleasantly lively for the man upon his
back. A tiger has been known to
charge straight upon a full battalion
of soldiers and come near to breaking
its formation before he could be dis
posed Of General Wolseley, in pup
lished account of his march with a de-
tachment to the relief of General Have
lock in the Indian mutiny, tells now,
during a night march, tiger spranS
into the midst of his column upon
bullock attached to an ammunition
wagon and attempted to carry it away.
The outcry and flashing OF torches
drove the tiger from the bullock, but ne
did not quit the field, but remained
standing under a tree in full view, eiar-
ing at the procession until 1t had pass
ed by. AS every cartridge and every
minute was precious the order was
CHI no a tiger.
Nine times out of ten, on the other
hand. the tiger when hunted will run
straight away, or sneak and double IN
the thick jungle in the effort to escape.
In bit of cover he VIII lie as close to
the ground as rabbit, and all the out
cry and throwing of stones by the line
of beaters will not start him unless he
is actually hit In hunting the tiger on
foot it is usual to station the lookouts
in trees to watch for the appearance OF
the beast If one of them sees the tiger
trying to steal past him he has only TO
break a dry stick sharply in two and
the cracking sound Will turn the tiger
back In short, when the brute once
gets scared and suspicious he is one of
the biggest towards alive, who will
stand wounds without coming to fight
though none the less he always is dam
gerous when driven to bay with no
show to escape.
. @ g.
1.-The tiger at all times is very liable
to panic when confronted suddenly by
anything which he does not under
stand. The opening of a parasol by
lady has been known to stampede
charging tiger, and an experience
somewhat similar occurred with mis-
sionary whom knew, who told me the
story. He was crossing patch or open
country on foot when he saw tiger
stealing toward him from the jungle
on one side. He had no show to run
or fight, and so he did the only thing
that occurred to him to do, and, drop
ping on his knees, prayed loudly. 1t
was a performance evidently new to
the tiger which reused his suspicion, for
he stopped sheered away and at last
went back into the jungle. Another
instance was that of civil official COM
ing suddenly upon a tiger in the jun
gle Both were taken equally by sur
prise, and when the man yelled out
scat the big cat turned tan ana
sneaked away.
LAS is generally known, man-eat-
ing tiger is usually an old beast which
has got past his time for catching game
and seeks an easier prey in human be-
ings But tigers born of man-eating
tigress are always man-eaters, for they
get their first lessons in hunting from
whelps to hunt as a cat does her kit
tens, by bringing them live prey to
practice upon. Ten years ago in one
of the hill districts of India, tigress
was killed, whose taking off caused
much rejoicing among the natives, end
was told at length in many of the In
dian and English newspapers. She was
known all over India as the man-eater
who once had given her whelps live
man to. play with. She carried off the
man from an open hut in the forest
where some woodcutters were sleeping.
His companions took refuge in trees,
and from their places of safety, saw
her take the man alive to where the
whelps were waiting close by, and lay
him down before them. AS the man
attempted to crawl away the whelDs
would cling to his legs with teeth and
claws, the tigress looking on and pur-
ring with pleasure Whenever the man
got too far away from the tigress she
would bound after him and bring him
back. When the whelps had had enough
of their sport the tigress sprang upon
the man, and holding him down with
her forepaws, began her meal from his
living hn6Vp