THE ROYAL BENGAL TIGER.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 238, 4 November 1876, Page 2

THE ROYAL BENGAL TIGER.

Musi people possess a- good general idea of the tiger, which iias often lieen strengthened by siting the auiuial in zoological gardens and tlie like. Were it not that the lion acquires a certain majestic dignity from the presence of a mane, the tiger would at mice be acknowledged as the head oi! the feline family. As it is, in India at ieast, in strength, size, activity, and beauty, ho is far superior to the lion, ! which is only found at present in the north- west, in (Jujerat and (Jutch, and is regarded by Dr. Fay re r as the outlying J and degenerate representative of his African kinsman. The peculiarly striped skin ol! the tiger, and the intensity of its bright rufous ground-hue, ho exquisitely set oil: with while about the head, serve well enough as ;v .swperlieinl distinction ; but j its tremendous canine teeth, the immense development of muscles aboui its chin and head, ;'iid iis massive lore-paws, a.s compared with the hind-feet, scientifically | mark it oil from other cats. In much of j hs anatomy, and especially in its habits, ij is simply a huge eat, a moiislrous and for.irious development oi' the sltvk tabby [hat purrs by ihe hearth in every English cottage. The sharp retractile claws, the steallhy tread, the vision adapted for activity either by day or by nighi. Llie acute senses of hearing and seeing which it possesses. Avhiie that of smelling i« comparatively feeble — these points at once show ! the kinship ; while its cruel nature, and the loud amatory growls which (In; traveller encamped in the jungles frequently hears during th<j night, as the tiger call's ils mate, irresistibly remind him of the j cat tormenting the wretched mouse that has fallen into its clutches, and afterward:-; serenading ils brethren on the lile.s in the darkness. Being a shy, morose animal, the tiger is usually found roaming about by himself; but at certain seasons his ma'e is sure to lie not far from him. iiis favorite food consists oi' the. ordinary domestic cattle, j which are mostly, in the plains of India, j weak and undersized creatures. When ho cannot, iiiul these, he contents himself with the different deer of India and wild hogs; occasionally preying on monkeys, pea-fowl, and even smaller animals. These are suddenly struck down, mostly during Ihe nighl, seized by the ib)M;il, and dragged oil' into some secure spot in the neighboring jungle, which is known as his "kill." Here he eats what his appetite requires al once, ami then leaving tin* carcase, retires to a smooth, trampled-down lair hard by (just as a hare lies in its 11 form"), returning after a period of sluggish repose to take, another meal at the kill. This he repeats, says Dr. Fayrer, for several days; until the odor arising from decomposition, and the Hocks of kites, vultures, crows, ami odjulant birds, wheeling over it, or sitting hard by in a gorged state, proclaim his position to all. Then he shifts his hunting-ground, especially if: it be the rainy season ; but if it lie the summer beats, he does not move far from the patches of long grass which adjoin some pool or swamp, where he may bask in the shade during the day, and prowl by night round some neighboring" village, in hopes ol' securing an ox. One who is well acquainted with the tiger's habits, however, informs us dial except in the very hottest weather, when water is very scarce, a tiger will not remain by its kill for more than twelve hours. In North and Central India, his wont is (o drag the victim to the nearest, stream, remain all night devouring it, sleep through the next day, and in the following night betake, himself to fresh quartern. He rarely travels less than lifteou miles, and often twice that distance during a night. The tiger will easily consume a full-sized three-year-old buffalo in the course of a night, leaving nothing beyond his horns and hoofs, for his powerful teeth grind up the bones. Dr. Fayrer quotes a recent instance of tho animal's power and ferocity : " A tiger at a bound sprang from an elevation right among a herd of cattle, and in his spring struck down simultaneously a cow with each fore-foot. Both were disabled

—one ho immediately killed, and began to devour, whilst the other wretched creature Jay with its back broken by the timer's terrible blow within a few feet, watchin°the fate of its companion." ° If hard pressed for food, the tigress will desert her young, and even eat them As tor the young tigers, they are far more destructive than the old, killing three or tour cows at a time, for the mere pleasure of killing, when they first set up in life lor themselves; whereas, an older ti<--er rarely kills more than one victim at a time, and this will last him for a period of two or tltrec- days, of cvoil for a week. iJiiJI-aloes have an instinctive knowledge of the approach or! a tiger, and exhibit rooted aversion to him, snorting and trampling up and down, and forming into circle to receive his attack on their horns, llusir herdsman often takes refuge in the centre of this circle, and the tiger must content itself with a weak outlying anima , or revue altogether from such formidable antagonists. Much difference of stalement exists as to the size attained by tigers, partly owing to the fact, that the skin when removed is «l>t to stretch. Thus, instances of tigers twelve led, and even a few inches more, are on record. Dr. Fayrer estimates the length of tigers from the nose to the tip ot tiie tail as ranging L'rom nine to twelve te<".t, though he deems one of ten feet by this measurement a largo specimen. In height at the riioulder, the animal usually stands three and a half to four feet. Jerdon, in his "Mammals of India," says "the average size of a full-grown male Tiger is from nine to nine and ahull" feel in length; occasionally tigers are killed ten feet in length, and perhaps a few inches over : but the stories of tigers eleven or twelve feet in length, which are so often heard, certainly require continuation." A good sportsman t<>ld hi, n the largest he' had killed in the Dinagepore district measured nine feet eight indies. Most people have noticed the fondness I of stags for rubbing their antlers against j trees, and scholars will recall Virgil's iieeount of the bull practising with' his horns upon a tree before vent'u: ing on a combat with his rival; the tiger is similarly fond of scratching the bark of trees, perhaps in order to keep his terrible claws in j serviceable condition. Favorite trees in the jungles are deeply scored by these wea- j pons. The Indian fig is especially chosen for this purpose, and may often be found j deeply and vertically scratched from the : height of ten or twelve feet above the I ground. We remember a favorite cat thus j utterly defacing the nicely bound back of a quarto in a library sin 'If next the floor, so remarkably does this wiielling habit, run through the feline family. In his magnificent work on the ' ; Deadly j ! Serpents'' (- Thauntophidia') of India,! Or Fayrer caused some sensation by showing that during lh<' one year 186.), ti2l ( J deaths from snake-bite occurred in the Bengal Presidency alone, amongst a population of .something more thon forlv- I eight millions of souls. He now horrifies us with accounts of the devastation caused by man-eating tigers, which occasionally cause villages, and even whole districts, to lie deserted. In one instance in the Central Provinces a single ligivss caused the desertion of thirteen villages, while two hundred and fifty square miles of country- were thrown out of cultivation before the creature was shot. Another tigress in 186'J killed one hundred and twenty seven people, and stopped a public road for many weeks, before it too succumbed to an English sportsman. In 18G8 the magistracy of Godas'ery reported part of the country overrun with tigers, no road safe, and that a tiger had recently charged a large body of villagers within a hundred yards of the civil station. It is impossible to give accurate statistics for the whole of so, vast a country as Hindustan, but Jerdon corroborates these statements by asserting thai in the district cast of Jubbulporc, in 18i)li and previous years, on an average between two and thivii hundred villagers were killed annually. Tigers appurcmiy develop into man-caters when they are old and sluggish, and the teeth are somewhat decayed, .''referring human flesh, they !'md, when once the awe natural to wild animals at the presence of man is shaken oil" that he offers an easy and tempting pray. In some districts they abound ; while in other.*, as in Oudo and Ilohilcund. one is only heard of about every six years. The natives an; extremely superstitious respecting Hirers, and in many parts dread the wrath of the slain tier's spirit almost; more ihan they feared the creature when alive. The small clavicles or shoulder bones, which arc deeply imbedded in muscle, arc esteemed valuable charms ; while every sportsman, or. indeed, every one who is familiar with tiger-skins, knows how difficult it is to save the tiger's claws. The whiskers too are immediately plucked out by the sportsman's servants, on the tiger being shot, before their master can comeup.asthey arc deemed a valuable love philter. Those who are most rigorously honestin all other respects cannot refrain from thus mutilating a skin. On tin; snot where a tiger has slain a human being, in the district round Mirzopore, the natives civet a curious conical mound of carih, which is ornamented with some colored wash for a coating, a few flowers, and one or more singularly shaped pieces of pottery. tt is considered sacrilege to touch these, and once a year the inhabitants of the neighboring villages visit the memorials, and worship there. In shooting tigers from elephants, it is important to be well mounted. A good elephant, well trained to the sport, will stand the tiger's charge, and even rush to meet him ; then comes the rider's chance to shoot him in a fatal spot ; else he often springs on the elephant and endeavours to reach its mahout (driver) ol- the sportsman in the howdah. Accidents not infrequently happen in the confusion which ensues, the elephant trumpeting and rushing about in pain and fear ; while the occupants of the howdah are being lacerated by the tiger's daws, or endangered by their friends' lire. Dr Fayrer gives an instance of a major, whose elephant, on being thus attacked and severely clawed, ran away, and dashed its howdiih off! under the boughs of the trees in its way. Both the major and the mahout, however, contrived to grasp and hang to an overhanging branch, on to which the native soon pulled himself, and was in safety. The major, not being so active, hung for a minute, and thendropped, as it unfortunately happened, on to the wounded tiger, which, though paralysed by a shot in the spine, and unable to move its hind-quarters, seized the major with its forepaws, and wreaked its rage upon him by deeply lacerating one leg and biting the. other still more severely. After spending some dreadful moments in the creature's clutches, the major was released by his companion coming up and killing the animal. Spite of his injuries and the amputation of one leg, the major was able to return to England, and still, we hope, lives to toll of his unpleasant experiences. Tho more usual way of despatching tigers, however, in the North- Western Provinces is to place a bait for the creature, and then, on discovering its position, to

have it driven past platforms erected in trees, from which it can be shot. There is much excitement and not a little spice of danger in the sport, as a tiger has been known to leap into such a macmVn,or platform, though it was luckily untenanted at the time. A friend, learned in this mode of shooting, informs us that when a tiger is suspected to be in a district, a three-year old buffalo is purchased and tethered securely in a path of the jungle. Any smaller bait would be taken by a leopard, while the tiger would decline a bigger buffalo. His lair is found by the natives next morning, where he reposes by his kill, having satiated his appetite. A council is held, and the sportsmen are placed in their machans, which are constructed in the defile where it is intended to drive the tiger. Then a large assemblage of beaters surround him, and noisily drive him onwards. Occasionally he manages to slip through tho line ; but almost anything will turn him, unless he be old and cunning. A leaf, for instance, dropped from a tree into his path, will at once cause him to turn back. So be reaches the open ground before the machans, and is at once lired upon from them. Often he fights, and dies there ; but sometimes he escapes into the jungle ; and it is a dangerous task to follow him. He is left till next day, when a herd of buffaloes is driven in." As they detest a tiger, they enter fully into the sport : and finding him wounded, speedily kill' him with their horns ; or if he be (lead, pranceround him and toss about their horns. But the vitality of a tig-.r is grea 4 -, and we know of one which, after having thus been shot at from a madu'in, nnd having its- fore-ann broken, yet escaped, travelled thirteen miles, ami was killed the same evening.