Evening star., 1928-09-09

at Bolarum. Deco an, India. He is
distinguished as a big-game hunter.
BY MAI. LEONARD kHANDLEY, M. c.,
F. II. q. 5.
THE thoughts of youth are long
| long thoughts. hIt ne'er so long
as the reverieS' OF Wanoeret
nearing 40. I SIT in the most
comfortable of c,Sl up chairs and
gaze into the emberS of the camp tlre
And as the sparks fly Il oward there
smoider in its fiery depths memories
of far Siamese jungles, of L lights spent
| on crawling ground, beaten b.V darkness
with the big tusker still wandering
ahead. Memories of chill bra zes rising
| from the cooling sands of "A abba; OF
nights in far-away Gond jurcg eS, ever
| piling log upon log to keep th : man.
eater from the tent door.
| Infinite memories crowd in up ON me
in the freight. Four huddleG forms
by the smoldering logs Indicate the
Sholaga trackers, hunters moon and
attendant star. setting above the t1lStant
dark line of hills. A glance tn rough
the vista of feathery bamboos a. the
night sky cloudleSS and promising tor
the morrow. A few more logs add ID
to the blazing pile to stimulate N g
flow Of memories, for in ones camp fi'i
lies ones jungle past. The devil takA
the future. We are back among the(
forest animals, the jungles ours till the
dawn. We are once more living utterly.
Let me, therefore, relate to you my
jungle epic of the Bajag man-killer.
In far away, little frequented jungles
of India, half way between the sacred
temples of Amerkantak and the old
Gondian town of Mandla, lies the forest
reserve of Dhanauli. An offshoot of the
large game reserve of Bajag, it runs due
north and south, some Is miles long
and miles in breadth. The slopes
are steep and clothed with forest, run
ming up to well over 5000 feet at the
highest spur, Bagreli.
Throughout its length at about 1000
feet runs the plateau, in MidWinter
shoulder high with dry unburnt ele-
plant grass. and occasional large clus-
ters of boulders forming caves, the nat
ural hauntS of the cat tribe. At the
foot of both slopes, throughout its
length, lie small Gondian villages, con-
nected by tracks that cross the plateau,
much used by the villagers in their
daily visits to the high jungles to get
grass for thatching and to get wood
for their village fires.
Soon after dawn one morning, after a
23-mile Journey by bullock cart, I
sighted the far-diStant line of hills de-
noting the Dhanauli reserve BY
I was installed in my camp on the out
skirts of Bajag, and closely investigat-
ing all the recent depredations of the
man-eating tiger. Only yesterday he
had killed wood cutter at Mohotarai,
on the northeast slope of the reserve
Irs1I
Of Balkoha and a woman of Tarrach, in
November; three women of Labedah,
Ratna, and Selwar in December, another
in January, and he had now recon-
menced his depredationS He evidently
fancied women, possibly as they proved
an easier prey than men, but more
likely because the Gonds send their fe
male relatives into the jungles for wood
and grass while they are occupied
gathering their crops in the fields.
plotted out the kills, but could find
nothing consistent in the tigers recent
movements. Local gossip had it that he
frequented the vicinity of the Bajag-
Selwar track, which he found well popu-
lated, more especially on market days.
I, therefore, drew up my plan of action.
That was to camp on the Selwar track
itself, the man-eater's favorite haunt.
and to bait all the debouches from the
south end of the block with young buffa-
loeS, then to spend most of the day
IN finding out his pet lying-up places,
beats, and water-holes.
X X X
THE normal way of locating tigers
in Central Province jungles and
tying them down to certain spot is,
after having found the area of their
beat from their night tracks, to tie up
several young buffalo calves near the
handy pools of water and shady cover.
The tiger, having killed and eaten his
fill, drinks and lies down in the vicin-
ity. He will normally return to finish
eating the kill. A convenient tree is
selected, a machan erected, and one
awaits the return of the tiger for his
meal, from before sunset until dawn;
his habits are almost invariably noe
turnal.
But herein lies the difference in the
man-eater'S tactics. His cunning and
cruel mind tells him that he has trans
gressed. the most important of jungle
laws: Thou shalt not kill man. So,
satisfying his appetite on his victim,
he never reviSitS the scene of his crime,
as he knows that the whole village will
be out to drive him away from the
vicinity of their homes. This was the
chief difficulty I had to contend with,
as neither would he be likely to return
to his victims nor would he kill buffalo
bait as he was a confirmed man-eater.
Il purchased six young buffalo calves
and engaged men to tend them, then
trekked IL miles along the SelWar track
to the village of Lakanpur, where I
pitched my camp in midjungle by a
stream. That evening l selected two
stout Gonds and two Baigas to assist
me in my operations. The following
morning / was out early with my six
bats. The calves were to be tied up
jacent to good water holes and shady
cover.
was on my way home when two ex-
cited G6hds rushed up with the eagerly
expected news I was at last in close
touch with the man-eater He had killed
an 18-year-old girl at early dawn near
Dhanauli Village, on the west face of
the hill, only two miles from his last
victim at Mohotarai, east across the
plateau.
Packing enough kit for a night out,
was well on the way to Dhanauli within
an hour, and arrived at the small Gond
village, on the slopes of Bagreli. at about
10, 1t transpired that the victim and a
small boy were returning from cutting
wood, when the tiger sprang upon the
girl and dragged her off, while the ter
ror-Stricken boy dropped his all and fled
1 for the village
The only witness was in a state of
complete collapse, and it was only after
, terrorizing the lad into a greater fear of
me han Of the tiger that induced him
to lead me to the place where the girl
had been seized Two other men came
with the boy to give him confidence, and
all were in deep, dark blue funk. The