are always such, the case is not the same. He can kill individual
buffaloes, or he would not be there, and this is done so quietly and
expeditiously that very often the act remains for a time undiscovered.
His “fore-paw,” observes Inglis, “is a most formidable weapon of
attack.... One blow is generally sufficient to slay the largest
bullock or buffalo.” Then he reports how a tiger, charging through the
skirts of a herd, “broke the backs of two of these animals, ... giving
each a stroke, right and left, as he passed along.” Now it is certain
that an Asiatic buffalo is quite as large and formidable an animal
as the bison; and it may naturally be inferred from this, that most
of these latter fare differently from the one Leveson and Burton saw
fighting at the Nedeniallah Hills.
Having thus secured a supply of beef, the tiger usually withdraws
and waits for night to make his meal. But if he were alone with his
victim, if there were no danger of being winded and attacked by its
companions, he would act differently, and might eat at once. Inglis
does not tell how he became acquainted with the following details, but
he states that as soon as his prey is struck down, the tiger “fastens
on the throat of the animal he has felled, and invariably tries to tear
open the jugular vein.” This he does instinctively, because he knows
intuitively that “this is the most deadly spot in the whole body.” But
the tiger’s intuitions and Inglis’s knowledge are both at fault in this
particular. “When he has got hold of his victim by the throat, he lies
down, holding on to the bleeding carcass, snarling and growling, and
fastening and unfastening his talons.” In some instances, continues
this writer, he may drink the blood, “but in many cases I know from my
own observation that the blood is not drunk.” After life is extinct,
these brutes “walk round the prostrate carcasses of their victims,
growling and spitting like tabby cats.” If they wish to eat then, the
body is neatly disembowelled, and the meal begins on the haunch. A
panther or leopard would commonly commence with the inner part of the
thighs, “a wolf tears open the belly and eats the intestines first,”
and a hawk, and other birds of prey, pick out the eyes; but a tiger
follows the course described, as a rule, and after having bolted--for
he never chews his food--as much as he can hold, the remainder is
dragged off and concealed, or at least this is the intention, though
his design is always very imperfectly executed.
Colonel Barras, while waiting for a tiger driven by beaters, saw the
beast break back upon their line, as these animals are apt to do, and
with evil consequences, seeing that no power can keep Hindus together.
“I saw him rise up on his hind legs and take the head of one of them
in his mouth. In an instant he dropped his victim, and made short
pounces at the others, who (as may be supposed) were flying wildly in
all directions. Numbers of them left the long cloths they wear round
their heads sticking to the thorny bushes. These, it seemed to me, the
tiger mistook for some snare, as he suddenly turned and bounded away
at tremendous speed under the very tree I was in. Owing to the great
pace he was going I missed him. I have since seen others miss under the
same circumstances, but at the time I felt my position keenly, being
under the impression that other persons invariably dropped their tigers
whenever and wherever they might get a glimpse of them.
“It only remained now to follow up the brute with elephants. Owing
to the fierceness of the sun, he would not be likely to travel far,
or make many moves. After tracking for about an hour, he did turn
out in front of one of the elephants, and was fired at by the people
in the howdah, with what success I do not remember. For a moment he
pulled himself up, and seemed about to charge, but thought better of
it, and was soon out of sight again. We followed him for some hours
along the rocky banks of the river, visiting all the most likely nooks
and corners, in hopes that he might find it impossible to travel any
further over the burning rocks. Towards evening he was descried at
the distance of a quarter of a mile, swimming across a deep pool that
led into an extensive piece of forest. Here we deemed it advisable to
leave him for the night, and organize a fresh plan for the morrow.
Accordingly the next morning a beat was commenced from the opposite
side of the wood, which proved successful. The tiger broke readily and
was shot by one of the party. It was a very fine male, in the prime
of life. At first I wondered why it was so certainly admitted to be
the tiger of the day before. On asking the question, his feet were
pointed out to me. They were completely raw with his long ramble over
the burning rocks. It is not improbable that had he been only slightly
driven, he would have travelled miles away during the night, and we
might have lost him.”
As for the wounded man, whose skull, strange to say, had not been
crushed, he was carefully attended to and well rewarded for his
sufferings.
“An occasional accident of this sort should not be looked upon as a
proof of the brutal indifference of the English in India to the lives
of the suffering natives--quite the contrary. The natives, except
under European leadership, will not go out against dangerous animals.
Bapoo says, ‘My cow is not killed, and besides I have obtained a charm
from a holy man, by which she is made safe against tigers. Why should
_I_ go out?’ On the other hand, Luximon says, ‘My cow _is_ killed; I
shall certainly not go.’” In consequence of these reasonings, they and
their cattle continue to be eaten. As Barras says, “The result is that
the tigers get the better of the natives, and kill so many of them and
their cattle, that I have seen many ruined villages, which have been
abandoned owing to the neighborhood of these animals. It is, therefore,
a very good thing for the inhabitants when a well-appointed shooting
party arrives.
“One of the most curious features of tiger-shooting is the
extraordinary tenacity with which both the Europeans and natives
engaged in the sport adhere to certain traditions. In vain does a tiger
break through all established rules before the very eyes of those
engaged; the shikáris, both white and black, continue as firm as ever
in their articles of faith, and, by their blind belief in the same,
often lose a tiger. I propose, therefore, to mention a few of the most
cherished laws, and to show in the following pages that they are in
every instance fallacies.
“(1) A tiger never charges unless wounded, or in defence of its young
cubs.
“(2) It never lies up for the day in hot weather in a jungle where
there is no water.
“(3) It never looks upward so as to see any one in a tree.
“I have already given one instance of an unwounded tiger charging and
nearly killing a beater, and I now propose to show how another was
unprincipled enough to break two of the three rules at the same time.
“A few days after the events narrated in the preceding chapter, I and
the four others comprising our party were duly posted across a wide
nullah (dry watercourse). Gibbon was told off for a tree growing on the
top of the bank. The fork into which he climbed must have been quite
twelve feet from the ground, so that as I sat in my bush in the bed of
the nullah he appeared almost in another world. As soon as we were all
settled the beat began. Our band on this occasion was unusually good.
It produced a loud and piercing discord.
“Almost immediately was heard the sound as of a horse galloping down
the stony bed of the nullah. It was a tigress charging at full speed.
Like a flash of lightning she had cleared all obstacles, and was
in the first fork of Gibbon’s tree eight feet from the ground, and
perpendicular to it. Gibbon fired down upon her, and she fell to the
earth with her jaw broken, but instantly charged again to the same
spot, when another sportsman hit her with an Express bullet in the
back, making a fearful wound.
“The pursuit on elephants now commenced. There were three of them, and
each had a line of his own to investigate. One called Bahadur Gūj was
much the stanchest, and knew what it was to be clawed.
“Just as this elephant was passing a thick spot, the wounded tigress
sprang on his head. There was a brief but exciting struggle. Bahadur
Gūj got his enemy down, trampled it to death, and then flung its body
up on to the bank of the nullah.... Fortunately for the elephant,
the tiger’s jaw was broken, so that he received no injuries worth
mentioning.
“The following incidents will show, I think, what a mistake it is to
suppose that tigers are never found except in the near neighborhood
of water during the hot months of the year. Whilst out with a party
of four, in the middle of May, we beat unsuccessfully for a fine
tigress that had killed a cow during the previous night. The beat
was properly conducted, but no beast of prey appeared. A mile or two
distant there was a very fine jungle, but it was decided that as there
was no water, there could be no tiger in it. We therefore thought it a
good opportunity to organize a beat on behalf of our native shikáris,
in order that they might slay for themselves deer, pig, and such like
animals for their own eating.
“Accordingly, we repaired to the desired locality, and scattered
ourselves about without taking any of the usual precautions. Some of us
helped in the beat, and some of the beaters converted themselves into
shooters, and took up such positions as seemed good to them. Things
were proceeding very pleasantly, when suddenly a shot was fired by one
of the natives, and word was rapidly passed that he had aimed at a
tiger, which had not fallen, but gone on up a ravine towards the head
of the jungle. No blood marks were found, and the bullet was held to
have missed. This was ultimately found to be true. But at the moment
I doubted it, for the man was an excellent shot, and the tiger had
come out slowly just in front of him.... At all events, the tiger was
gone, and I and my friend had to do our best to find him. The elephant
Bahadur Gūj was called up, and I and my companion stood up in front of
the howdah, while the native who had first fired at the animal occupied
a back seat with his little son.
“For a long time our search was fruitless. We worked up to the head
of the jungle without finding a vestige of the enemy. On our way back
my coadjutor pointed to a thick corinda bush and said, ‘That is a
likely spot.’ I looked, and there was the tiger, or rather tigress,
standing in the centre of it. We fired together. There was a roar, a
scuffle, and a dense cloud of smoke, under cover of which the tigress
disappeared, having only been seen by the small boy in the back seat.
The cover consisted entirely of detached bushes, so we felt sure she
could not have gone far. At last we discovered a black hole flush with
the ground. This we approached cautiously, and on peering down saw the
legs of a recumbent tiger. We threw stones in, but the animal never
moved; and on getting a view of her head, my friend put a ball through
it. Three of us now got down into the den, and with much difficulty
contrived to get the beast out without injuring the skin.”
Looking around once for a wounded tiger in the Nielgherries by night,
Major Leveson and his party drove the beast into a patch of jungle,
“not more than fifty yards long by twenty wide. Chinneah (the head
shikári) threw a couple of lighted rockets into this retreat, which
evidently annoyed him, although they had not the effect of causing the
animal to break; it only set up a low angry growl that lasted for some
time. Two or three times I saw the bushes shake as if it were about to
spring; and once I caught a hurried glimpse of its outline, and threw
up my rifle, but put it down again, as I did not like to fire a chance
shot with an uncertain aim. Again Chinneah’s rockets flew hissing about
the tiger, and caused him to move, for B---- caught sight of him and
let drive right and left. Then out he sprang with an appalling roar,
and struck down poor Ali, who, notwithstanding my orders, had separated
himself from the rest in order to pick up a stone to throw into the
bush. His piercing death shriek rang through the night air, striking
terror to every heart; and although I knew that it was too late to
save him, I determined that he should be revenged, and dashed forward
towards the spot where the infuriated brute was savagely growling as it
shook the senseless but quivering body. No sooner did I get a glimpse
of the tiger than I knew I was perceived, for with a short angry roar
he left the corpse, and crouched low upon the ground, with head down,
back arched, and tail lashing his heaving flanks. At this moment ...
carefully aiming between the eyes which glared upon me like balls of
fire, I fired--he reared up at full length, and fell back dead.
“Vengeance satisfied, I went up to poor Ali, whom I found shockingly
mutilated. His death must, however, have been instantaneous, as the
tiger with the first blow had shattered his skull and scattered his
brains about the spot.”
The hunting tiger is not the highest development of his species.
He has not much to learn, compared with a man-eater, in order to
adjust himself to the requirements of life; and the gaunt, somewhat
undersized, active, hardy, shy and solitary beast, pursues the tenor
of his way far from the habitations of men, of whom he is wary and
distrustful, chiefly on account of their strangeness.
To a cattle-lifter life presents more diversified scenes. The way in
which the animal lives implies a greater complexity of conditions to
which he is required to adapt himself, and a corresponding development
of faculty. This kind of tiger, except under circumstances which rarely
occur, is both a game-killer and beef-eater. Few districts yield a
constant supply in the way of cattle, and when that fails, necessity
compels the marauder to hunt almost exclusively, or take to homicide.
On the one hand, these creatures have the experiences and training of
their brethren belonging to the wastes; on the other, they are to some
extent brought into a certain relationship with human beings, become
accustomed to them, observe their actions, and are familiarized during
those plundering expeditions, by which they mainly support themselves,
with a variety of things which are altogether outside the ordinary
experiences of wild beasts. Of the two classes, it goes without saying
that the latter must be the more evolved; for it is not more certain
that, other things being equal, the man who has had most training will
be most capable, than it is that the same effects will follow in the
case of tigers.
Those regions inhabited by hunting tigers have not failed to
contribute, through the influence of their associations and scenery,
to that vague body of feeling and of imaginative impressions, which
most persons carry with them concerning this suggestive animal.
“Tigers,” remarks Sherwell, “are prone to haunt those crumbling works
belonging to states and dynasties that have been swept away by war.”
In the deserted fortress of Mahoor, says Major Bevan, they were “so
abundant that a few matchlock-men, who had been kept there to guard the
temple, were afraid to go occasionally to the arsenal to bring their
ammunition.” The jungles and forests where game-killing tigers prowl
for their prey are among those scenes in nature which no man who has
appreciated their full significance ever forgets. “They who have never
explored a primeval forest,” writes Leveson, “can have but a very faint
impression of the mysterious effect that absence of light and intense
depth of gloom ... the unbroken stillness and utter silence ... exert
upon the mind.” They “create a strange feeling of awe and loneliness
that depresses the spirits and appalls the hearts of those unaccustomed
to wander in these solitudes.... Solitude is too insufficient a term
to convey an idea of the overpowering sensation of desolation and
abandonment that pervades these regions.”
Stranger, perhaps stronger than all else, is the bewildering feeling
of contrast between the impressive actualities of one’s surroundings,
and the spectral appearance of whatever the eye takes in. Peril may be
imminent at every step, and yet all things seem unreal in that weird
atmosphere in which they are seen. Animals look like the shadows of
themselves. An elephant’s motionless, gigantic form, looming even
larger than in life, will define itself upon the sight, vanish as you
gaze, and by some new effect of light, reappear in the same spot and
the same position. It is like being in the enchanted forests of old
romances; and such impressions can scarcely have failed to influence
many whose exploits were performed amid such scenes. Leveson, in a
place like this, saw the only encounter that has been described between
the tiger and a bison bull.
“Whilst hunting in the jungle between the Bowani River, and the
Goodaloor Pass, at the foot of the Nedeniallah Hills, my friend Burton
and I witnessed a most gallantly-contested fight between a bull bison
and a tiger.... Night had scarcely set in when a loud bellowing was
heard, followed by an unmistakable roar that caused no little commotion
amongst the horses and bullocks that were picketed round our tents.
From the ominous sounds which succeeded we knew that a mortal combat
was raging at no great distance from our bivouac. Having arranged for
the safety of our camp, Burton and I, armed with rifles and pistols,
followed closely by Chinneah and Googooloo, each carrying a couple of
spare guns, sallied forth; and keeping along the bank of the river
for a short distance, entered the dense cover, from which the sounds
of the contest seemed to issue, by a narrow deer-run. Here we could
only get along very slowly, having to separate the tangled brushwood
with one hand, and hold our rifles cocked and ready with the other. We
proceeded in this manner for some distance, guided by the noise of the
contest, which sounded nearer and nearer, and came to an opening in the
woods where we saw a huge bull bison, evidently much excited, for his
eyes flashed fire, his tail was straight on end, and he was tearing
up the ground with his forefeet, all the while grunting furiously. As
we were all, luckily, well to leeward, the taint in the air was not
likely to be winded, so I made signs to the bearers to lay down their
guns, and climb into an adjacent tree; while Burton and myself, with a
rifle in each hand, by dint of creeping on our hands and knees, gained
a small clump of bushes on a raised bank, and not more than thirty
yards distant, whence we could see all that was going on. When we
first arrived, the tiger was nowhere to be seen; but from the bison’s
cautious movements, I knew he could not be far off. The moon was high
in the heavens, making the night as clear as day; so not a movement
could escape us, although we were well concealed from view.
“Several rounds had already been fought, for the game had been going on
a good twenty minutes before we came up, and the bison, besides being
covered with lather about the flanks, bore several severe marks of the
tiger’s claws on the face and shoulders. Whilst we were ensconcing
ourselves comfortably behind the cover, with our rifles in readiness
for self-defence only,--for we had no intention of interfering in
the fair stand-up fight which had evidently been taking place,--a
low savage growling about fifteen paces to the right attracted our
attention; and crouched behind a tuft of fern, we discerned the shape
of an immense tiger watching the movements of the bison, which, with
his head kept constantly turned towards the danger, was alternately
cropping the grass, and giving vent to his excited feelings every
now and then by a deep, tremulous roaring, which seemed to awaken all
the echoes of the surrounding woods. The tiger, whose glaring eyes
were fixed upon his antagonist, now and again shifted his quarters a
few paces either to the right or the left, once coming so near our
ambuscade that I could almost have touched him with the muzzle of my
rifle; but the wary old bull never lost sight of him for a second, and
ever followed his motions with his head lowered to receive an attack.
At last the tiger, which all along had been whining and growling
most impatiently, stole gently forward, his belly crouching along
the ground, every hair standing on end, his flanks heaving, his back
arched, and his tail whisking about and lashing his sides; but before
he could gather himself together for a spring which might have proved
fatal, the bison, with a shriek of desperation, charged at full speed,
with his head lowered and the horns pointed upward, but overshot the
mark, as his antagonist adroitly shifted his ground just in time to
avoid a vicious stroke from the massive horns. Then making a half
circle, he sprang with the intention of alighting on the bison’s broad
neck and shoulders. This the bull evaded by a dexterous twist; and
before his adversary could recover himself, he again rushed at him,
caught him behind the shoulders with his horns, and flung him some
distance, following up to repeat the move, but the tiger slunk away to
gather breath.
“Round after round of the same kind followed, allowing breathing-time
between each, the tiger generally getting the worst of it, for the bull
sometimes received his rush on his massive forehead and horns, and
threw him a considerable distance, bruised and breathless, although
his skin seemed to be too tough for the points to penetrate. Once,
however, I thought the bison’s chance was all over, for the tiger,
by a lucky spring, managed to fasten on his brawny shoulder, and I
could hear the crunching sound of his teeth meeting again and again
in the flesh, while the claws tore the flank like an iron rake. With
a maddening scream of mingled rage and pain, the bull flung himself
heavily on the ground, nearly crushing his nimble adversary to death
with his ponderous weight; and the tiger, breathless and reeling with
exhaustion, endeavored to slink away with his tail between his legs.
But no respite was given, his relentless foe pursued with roars of
vengeance, and again rolled him over before he could regain his legs
to make another spring. The tiger, now fairly conquered, endeavored
to beat a retreat, but this the bison would not allow. He rushed at
him furiously over and over again; and at last, getting him against a
bank of earth, pounded him with his forehead and horns until he lay
motionless, when he sprang with his whole weight upon him, striking him
with the forefeet, and displaying an agility I thought incompatible
with his unwieldy appearance.
“The combat, which had lasted over a couple of hours, was now over, for
the tiger, which we thought might be only stunned, gave unmistakable
signs of approaching dissolution. He lay gasping, his mouth half open,
exposing his rough tongue and massive yellow teeth. His eyes were
fixed, convulsive struggles drew up his limbs, a quiver passed over
his body, and all was still. His conqueror was standing over him with
heaving flanks, and crimsoned foam flying from his widely distended
nostrils; but his rolling eye was becoming dim, for the life-blood was
fast ebbing from a ghastly wound in the neck, and he reeled about like
a drunken man, still, however, fronting his dead enemy, and keeping his
horns lowered as if to charge. From time to time he bellowed with rage,
but his voice became fainter, and at last subsided into a deep hollow
moan. Then his mighty strength failed him, and he could not keep on
his legs, which seemed to bend slowly, causing him to plunge forward.
Again he made a desperate effort to recover himself, staggered a few
paces, and with a surly growl of defiance, fell never to rise again;
for, after a few convulsive heavings, his body became motionless, and
we knew that all was over.”
How often a conflict between animals so formidable ends in the
assailant’s repulse or death, we do not know, neither can we say
whether bisons are habitually attacked by tigers. Lions destroy the
African buffalo either singly or by taking odds; and in a personal
contest, the tiger would generally have the advantage over a lion. They
have often been pitted against each other, and the general result is
well known to be as stated. Gunga, who belonged to the King of Oude,
killed thirty lions, and destroyed another after being transferred to
the zoölogical garden in London.