HUNTING THE "GREAT INVISIBLE"
For many years before Mr. Caldwell went to Yen-ping he had been
stationed at the city of Futsing, about thirty miles from Foochow. Much
of his work consisted of itinerant trips during which he visited the
various mission stations under his charge. He almost invariably went
on foot from place to place and carried with him a butterfly net and
a rifle, so that to so keen a naturalist each day's walk was full of
interest.
The country was infested with man-eating tigers, and very often the
villagers implored him to rid their neighborhood of some one of
the yellow raiders which had been killing their children, pigs, or
cattle. During ten years he had killed seven tigers in the Futsing
region. He often said that his gun had been just as effective in
carrying Christianity to the natives as had his evangelistic work.
Although Mr. Caldwell has been especially fortunate and has killed his
tigers without ever really hunting them, nevertheless it is a most
uncertain sport as we were destined to learn. The tiger is the "Great
Invisible"--he is everywhere and nowhere, here today and gone tomorrow.
A sportsman in China may get his shot the first day out or he may hunt
for weeks without ever seeing a tiger even though they are all about
him; and it is this very uncertainty that makes the game all the more
fascinating.
The part of Fukien Province about Futsing includes mountains of
considerable height, many of which are planted with rice and support
a surprising number of Chinese who are grouped in closely connected
villages. While the cultivated valleys afford no cover for tiger and
the mountain slopes themselves are usually more or less denuded of
forest, yet the deep and narrow ravines, choked with sword grass and
thorny bramble, offer an impenetrable retreat in which an animal can
sleep during the day without fear of being disturbed. It is possible
for a man to make his way through these lairs only by means of the
paths and tunnels which have been opened by the tigers themselves.
Mr. Caldwell's usual method of hunting was to lead a goat with one or
two kids to an open place where they could be fastened just outside
the edge of the lair, and then to conceal himself a few feet away. The
bleating of the goats would usually bring the tiger into the open where
there would be an opportunity for a shot in the late afternoon.
Mr. Caldwell's first experience in hunting tigers was with a shotgun
at the village of Lung-tao. His burden-bearers had not arrived with
the basket containing his rifle, and as it was already late in the
afternoon, he suggested to Da-Da, the Chinese boy who was his constant
companion, that they make a preliminary inspection of the lair even
though they carried only shotguns loaded with lead slugs about the size
of buckshot.
They tethered a goat just outside the edge of the lair and the tiger
responded to its bleating almost immediately. Caldwell did not see the
animal until it came into the open about fifty yards away and remained
in plain view for almost half an hour. The tiger seemed to suspect
danger and crouched on the terrace, now and then putting his right
foot forward a short distance and drawing it slowly back again. He had
approached along a small trail, but before he could reach the goat it
was necessary to cross an open space a few yards in width, and to do
this the animal flattened himself like a huge striped serpent. His head
was extended so that the throat and chin were touching the ground, and
there was absolutely no motion of the body other than the hips and
shoulders as the beast slid along at an amazingly rapid rate. But at
the instant the cat gained the nearest cover it made three flying leaps
and landed at the foot of the terrace upon which the goat was tied.
"Just then he saw me," said Mr. Caldwell, "and slowly pushed his great
black-barred face over the edge of the grass not fifteen feet away.
"I fired point-blank at his head and neck. He leaped into the air with
the blood spurting over the grass, and fell into a heap, but gathered
himself and slid down over the terraces. As he went I fired a second
load of slugs into his hip. He turned about, slowly climbed the hill
parallel with us, and stood looking back at me, his face streaming with
blood.
"I was fumbling in my coat trying to find other shells, but before I
could reload the gun he walked unsteadily into the lair and lay down.
It was already too dark to follow and the next morning a bloody trail
showed where he had gone upward into the grass. Later, in the same
afternoon, he was found dead by some Chinese more than three miles
away."
During his many experiences with the Futsing tigers Mr. Caldwell has
learned much about their habits and peculiarities, and some of his
observations are given in the following pages.
"The tiger is by instinct a coward when confronted by his greatest
enemy--man. Bold and daring as he may be when circumstances are in his
favor, he will hurriedly abandon a fresh kill at the first cry of a
shepherd boy attending a flock on the mountain-side and will always
weigh conditions before making an attack. If things do not exactly suit
him nothing will tempt him to charge into the open upon what may appear
to be an isolated and defenseless goat.
"An experience I had in April, 1910, will illustrate this point. I led
a goat into a ravine where a tiger which had been working havoc among
the herds of the farmers was said to live. This animal only a few
days previous to my hunt had attacked a herd of cows and killed three
of them, but on this occasion the beast must have suspected danger
and was exceedingly cautious. He advanced under cover along a trail
until within one hundred feet of the goat and there stopped to make a
survey of the surroundings. Peering into the valley, he saw two men
at a distance of five hundred yards or more cutting grass and, after
watching intently for a time, the great cat turned and bounded away
into the bushes.
"On another occasion this tiger awaited an opportunity to attack a cow
which a farmer was using in plowing his field. The man had unhitched
his cow and squatted down in the rice paddy to eat his mid-day meal,
when the tiger suddenly rushed from cover and killed the animal only a
few yards behind the peasant. This shows how daring a tiger may be when
he is able to strike from the rear, and when circumstances seem to
favor an attack. I have known tigers to rush at a dog or hog standing
inside a Chinese house where there was the usual confusion of such a
dwelling, and in almost every instance the victim was killed, although
it was not always carried away.
"There is probably no creature in the wilds which shows such a
combination of daring strategy and slinking cowardice as the tiger.
Often courage fails him after he has secured his victim, and he
releases it to dash off into the nearest wood.
"I knew of two Chinese who were deer hunting on a mountain-side when a
large tiger was routed from his bed. The beast made a rushing attack on
the man standing nearest to the path of his retreat, and seizing him by
the leg dragged him into the ravine below. Luckily the man succeeded in
grasping a small tree whereupon the tiger released his hold, leaving
his victim lying upon the ground almost paralyzed with pain and fear.
"A group of men were gathering fuel on the hills near Futsing when a
tiger which had been sleeping in the high grass was disturbed. The
enraged beast tinned upon the peasants, killing two of them instantly
and striking another a ripping blow with his paw which sent him
lifeless to the terrace below. The beast did not attempt to drag either
of its victims into the bush or to attack the other persons near by.
"The strength and vitality of a full grown tiger are amazing. I
had occasion to spend the night a short time ago in a place where
a tiger had performed some remarkable feats. Just at dusk one of
these marauders visited the village and discovered a cow and her
six-months-old calf in a pen which had been excavated in the side of
a hill and adjoined a house. There was no possible way to enter the
enclosure except by a door opening from the main part of the dwelling
or to descend from above. The tiger jumped from the roof upon the neck
of the heifer, killing it instantly, and the inmates of the house
opened the door just in time to see the animal throw the calf out
bodily and leap after it himself. I measured the embankment and found
that the exact height was twelve and a half feet.
"The same tiger one noon on a foggy day attacked a hog, just back of
the village and carried it into the hills. The villagers pursued the
beast and overtook it within half a mile. When the hog, which dressed
weighed more than two hundred pounds, was found, it had no marks or
bruises upon it other than the deep fang wounds in the neck. This
is another instance where courage failed a tiger after he had made
off with his kill to a safe distance. The Chinese declare that when
carrying such a load a tiger never attempts to drag its prey, but
throws it across its back and races off at top speed.
"The finest trophy taken from Fukien Province in years I shot in May,
1910. Two days previous to my hunt this tiger had killed and eaten a
sixteen-year-old boy. I happened to be in the locality and decided to
make an attempt to dispose of the troublesome beast. Obtaining a mother
goat with two small kids, I led them into a ravine near where the boy
had been killed. The goat was tied to a tree a short distance from the
lair, and the kids were concealed in the tall grass well in toward the
place where the tiger would probably be. I selected a suitable spot
and kneeled down behind a bank of ferns and grass. The fact that one
may be stalked by the very beast which one is hunting adds to the
excitement and keeps one's nerves on edge. I expected that the tiger
would approach stealthily as long as he could not see the goat, as the
usual plan of attack, so far as my observation goes, is to creep up
under cover as far as possible before rushing into the open. In any
case the tiger would be within twenty yards of me before it could be
seen.
"For more than two hours I sat perfectly still, alert and waiting,
behind the little blind of ferns and grass. There was nothing to break
the silence other than the incessant bleating of the goats and the
unpleasant rasping call of the mountain jay. I had about given up hope
of a shot when suddenly the huge head of the man-eater emerged from the
bush, exactly where I had expected he would appear and within fifteen
feet of the kids. The back, neck, and head of the beast were in almost
the same plane as he moved noiselessly forward.
"I had implicit confidence in the killing power of the gun in my hand,
and at the crack of the rifle the huge brute settled forward with
hardly a quiver not ten feet from the kids upon which he was about to
spring. A second shot was not necessary but was fired as a matter of
precaution as the tiger had fallen behind rank grass, and the bullet
passed through the shoulder blade lodging in the spine. The beast
measured more than nine feet and weighed almost four hundred pounds.
"Upon hearing the shots the villagers swarmed into the ravine, each
eager not so much to see their slain tormentor as to gather up the
blood. But little attention was paid to the tiger until every available
drop was sopped up with rags torn from their clothing, whilst men
and children even pulled up the blood-soaked grass. I learned that
the blood of a tiger is used for two purposes. A bit of blood-stained
cloth is tied about the neck of a child as a preventive against either
measles or smallpox, and tiger flesh is eaten for the same purpose. It
is also said that if a handkerchief stained with tiger blood is waved
in front of an attacking dog the animal will slink away cowed and
terrified.
"From the Chinese point of view the skin is not the most valuable part
of a tiger. Almost always before a hunt is made, or a trap is built,
the villagers hum incense before the temple god, and an agreement is
made to the effect that if the enterprise be successful the skin of
the beast taken becomes the property of the gods. Thus it happens that
in many of the temples handsome tiger-skin robes may be found spread
in the chair occupied by the noted 'Duai Uong,' or the god of the
land. When a hunt is successful, the flesh and bones are considered
of greatest value, and it often happens that a number of cows are
killed and their flesh mixed with that of the tiger to be sold at the
exorbitant price cheerfully paid for tiger meat. The bones are boiled
for a number of days until a gelatine-like product results, and this is
believed to be exceptionally efficacious medicine.
"Notwithstanding the danger of still-hunting a tiger in the tangle of
its lair, one cannot but feel richly rewarded for the risk when one
begins to sum up one's observations. The most interesting result of
investigating an oft-frequented lair is concerning the animal's food.
That a tiger always devours its prey upon the spot where it is taken
or in the adjacent bush is an erroneous idea. This is often true when
the kill is too heavy to be carried for a long distance, but it is by
no means universally so. Not long ago the remains of a young boy were
found in a grave adjacent to a tiger's lair a few miles from Futsing
city. No child had been reported missing in the immediate neighborhood
and everything indicated that the boy had been brought alive to
this spot from a considerable distance. The sides of the grave were
besmeared with the blood of the unfortunate victim, indicating that the
tiger had tortured it just as a cat plays with a mouse as long as it
remains alive.
"In the lair of a tiger there are certain terraces, or places under
overhanging trees, which are covered with bones, and are evidently
spots to which the animal brings its prey to be devoured. On such
a terrace one will find the remains of deer, wild hog, dog, pig,
porcupine, pangolin, and other animals both domestic and wild. A fresh
kill shows that with its rasp-like tongue the tiger licks off all the
hair of its prey before devouring it and the hair will be found in a
circle around what remains of the kill. The Chinese often raid a lair
in order to gather up the quills of the porcupine and the bony scales
of the pangolin which are esteemed for medicinal purposes.
"In addition to the larger animals, tigers feed upon reptiles and
frogs which they find among the rice fields. On the night of April 22,
1914, a party of frog catchers were returning from a hunt when the man
carrying the load of frogs was attacked by a tiger and killed. The
animal made no attempt to drag the man away and it would appear that it
was attracted by the croaking of the frogs.
"One often finds trees 'marked' by tigers beside some trail or path
in, or adjacent to, a lair. Catlike, the tiger measures its full length
upon a tree, standing in a convenient place, and with its powerful
claws rips deeply through the bark. This sign is doubly interesting
to the sportsman as it not only indicates the presence of a tiger in
the immediate vicinity but serves to give an accurate idea as to the
size of the beast. The trails leading into a lair often are marked in
a different way. In doing this the animal rakes away the grass with a
forepaw and gathers it into a pile, but claw prints never appear."