The age-herald., 1901-08-25
TIE ARREST FORM
 OF CAME HUNTING Netting of Bengal Tigers is
 Thrilling Sport THE HUNTERS PARADISE Description of an Infuriated Beast Rushed From Point to.Point With
 Hundred Different. Spears
 Being Thrust atlHim.
THE HUNTERS PARADISE

form of big game hunting-the netting of a royal tiger. To speak of a royal Bengal tiger in this connection would be geographically inaccurate, for 1t is only in one corner of tho Madras presi- dency that this sport takes place. This is the wynaad, an elevated plateau. coffee, tea and cinchona are cultivated and twenty years ago the district came into brief but notorious prominence in the city of London. owing to the discov- cry of gold. Companies were hastily formed and heavily capitalized, but the mines never gave any promise of paying dividends even on reasonable capital, owing to refractory ore. The Wynaad is however, paradise for sportsmen. Ele- plants and bison roam wild here and several kinds of deer, which provide food in plenty for tigers and leopards. Con- sequently these big cats rarely attack cattle, and will not look at a tethered calf or kid. The hunting of them is very chance man may stumble on one when he has his rife with him and thus get shot, otherwise he may spend months and even years, without a glimpse of them, although oft on stilly night he will hear their lour purr as they come up from drinking at stream where, in the morning, their pugs will be plainly visible in the soft red clay
 The natives of the Wynaad are good sportsmen, and they have experienced equal difficulty in bagging the lordly deer slayer. Nor is the desire to secure tiger skin solely matter of sport with them. Now and again stripes" turns cattle litter. and before he Is destroyed or his taste for beef glutted he will de- climate a herd. It can therefore be un- derstood that among the Wynaad culti- vators there is an inbred animosity against tigers very similar to the feeling of the British farmer toward the fox. With peculiar audacity they devise simple system of netting which in favor able circumstances is almost inyeriably successful To understand the system one must understand the lie of the land The hills are mostly grass, but In their folds are thick woods, from half an acre to five acres in extent Between the hills are swamps which are under rice culti- vation If tiger be marked down in one of the smaller woods when the grass on the hills is short it Is quite simple tob to run net around the wood and await results
 | On a lovely morning in the early au- | tumn news was brought to me that | tiger had been encompassed. Short time | did I spend in covering the few interven- | | the year is sngularly beautiful. The air is soft and balmy; large winged butter 1 flies f1rtter ahead of you: f1ocks or par | rots fly screeching above, and lnnumer- | able pleasant sounds and scents arise | from the surrounding jungle. Arrived | at the scene of action. l found a large gathering of the leading farmers and their laborers armed with spears. guns. slaves and bows and arrows. The farm CTS are fair-skinned men, with rather Jewish cast of countenance. They are evidently emigrants to this upland in comparativ recent times. The iapor- CTS are q low type, very black, many with curly hair, thick lips ana ols- tjnctly negro look They are supposed 10 be thc aboriginals of the country and of | tho ancient Dravidian stock. AS a rule. | these abrestic slaves are downcast and | humble in mien, but on this occasion, | thanks to an ample supply Qf Dutch l courage in the form of strong sago palm | arrack, they were bold and swagger1ng. l not ito say truculent They had with | them their hunting dogs, yellow sort Of | lurcher. we'll fed and full of pluck and | cunning The tiger had killed COW the | preceding afternoon and dragged it into | a small wood on the opposite hillside. | Within three hours nets had been run
 around the wood, and all night hres nad l been kept alight; tomtoms freely tnump- | the tiger and all his female relatives. The | nets resembled large meshed sheep nets; they were fastened tightly about six feet l high. and hung so that they would bag easily when the animal rushed.
 was given a spear, and the sport be- | gan One or two of the more adventurous | were sent within the wood, where they | climbed trees and acted as markers.
 Then the others shouted. guns were fired
 off. stones flung, and the dogs let loose.
 The din was terrific, but suddenly above | 1t all came the unmistakable roar Of
 tiger. The excitement was intense. The
 shrill voices of the markers in the trees
 could be distinctly heard. ''The tiger Is
 going up the hill; he Is running to the
 right; he has turned back he is going to
 rush through at the north end. Look
 out, he is very angry" had been post | ed at the end of an open glade; two Of
 the farmers were with me. It seemed
 an unlikely spot for the beast to break
 cover but they did not agree with me.
 For moment thought they were right | Not twenty yards of, and coming
 straight toward me, was an infuriated
 tiger two dogs baying at his flank. Be-
 tween me and him was a flimsy sheep
 net nothing more; the only weapon had
 rusty spear I suppose all the sins of
 my life should have crowded into my
 brain at that moment, or l should have | thought or nSnLlTB Wlio DceStS ct iSphS- | sus or something else. I thought of
 nothing was drunk. mad drunk. with
 excitement besought the royal beast to charge; shouted wild challenges at
 him. I was consumed with burning de-
 sire to drive my spear home. After that
 he might chaw me up for all I cared. It
 was not to be; he turned short five yards
 from the net Ten minutes later I saw
 him rush out higher up the hill and roll
 over and over In the net for all the
 world like a gigantic rabbit A dozen
 spears were at him at the instant He
 had no chance whatever. It is rare that
 a man is hurt during the rush; the fla talities chiefly occur when the tiger
 sulks, and a man well primed with drink
 Is sent into the wood to stir him up
 This drunkenness is the reason why few
 Europeans hear of tiger netting, and
 why one is never allowed to stand in the
 likelest spot. The farmers fear drunk
 en spear thrust. so easily given in the
 excitement of the moment. However,
 I was fortunate and those five seconds
 when I thought the tiger would charge
 will remain with me all my life a thrill
 ling memory.
 nLNCtNAl pEREENTInN