[_Extract from the "Shikar-Book" of C.W. Allan_]
"During the month of March, 1894, I had to go out into the Kubo
Valley, in the Kindat Forest Division, Upper Chindwin, to do the
demarcation of the Khanpat Reserve. On the 16th I arrived at the
village of Thinzin and halted there the 17th to collect coolies to do
the work, which I found to be no easy matter. On inquiring the reason,
I was told that there was a man-eater tiger in that part of the
forest, and that it had killed three men within the last six weeks,
and that people were afraid to go anywhere near the forest. This was
very unpleasant news. However, the work had to be done and men must be
found, so I ordered the Thugyi (village headman) to hurry up and get
them, and told him that there was nothing to be afraid of as I had
five guns with me and could look after the men.
"On questioning the Thugyi about the man-eater, he informed me that
the first man killed was a mahout (elephant driver) employed by the
Bombay Burma Trading Corporation. This man was carried off in the
Pyoungbok stream. He and another man had gone out to look for their
elephant, which had been fettered and turned out to graze. And it was
whilst following up the drag of the chain that the tiger sprang on to
the mahout who was leading, and was carrying a gun on his shoulder,
and carried him off. The man who was following the mahout was carrying
a dah (big knife) in his hand, and was just behind the mahout. He was
so taken aback that he could do nothing to save his companion, so ran
away and informed some other men who were encamped close by. But they
were too frightened to go and look for the mahout. And it would not
have been much good their going, for by the time they got to the place
the tiger would have finished his meal and moved off.
"The second man carried off was also a mahout in the service of the
B. B. T. C. He was also carried off much in the same manner from the
Nansawin stream, and within ten days of the date the first man was
killed. This mahout was out with a party of some six men hunting for
fish in the stream, when the tiger sprang on to him from the bank and
carried him off before the other men could do anything. They too did
not attempt to save their comrade, but made tracks out of that stream
as fast as their legs could carry them.
"The third man killed was a Burmese policeman. A party of six
constables were out on patrol, and had camped for the night under a
large teak tree between the Pyoungbok and Nansawin streams. About four
o'clock in the morning one of the men had got up and lit a fire, and
put on a pot of rice to boil for their breakfast, and had lain down
again beside the other men, intending to have another forty winks. He
had barely laid himself down when a tiger sneaked up behind the tree
they were sleeping under and seized the end man by the waist and
carried him off. The poor man shouted for all he was worth, 'Shoot,
shoot, the tiger is carrying me off.' This roused the others and they
picked up their guns and tried to shoot, but the powder or caps being
damp, the charges would not go off. They, however, put on fresh caps
and eventually got the guns to shoot. After this they fired several
shots and shouted, but the man's cries had stopped, so they judged
that he must have been killed.
"The constables waited at their camp till daylight, and then went off
to the camp of some Burmese elephant drivers, which was about three
miles off, and made them collect their elephants, some seventeen in
number, and then returned and looked for their comrade. They found the
remains within a couple of hundred yards of their night's camp. The
tiger had finished its meal and had gone off. The Thugyi informed me
that although several shots had been fired in the direction the tiger
had gone it was not frightened, and sat there and finished its meal.
"Hearing all this, I did not wonder at the men not wanting to go into
the forest. However, the work had to be done and go I must. Though I
must admit I did not quite appreciate the job."