INDIAN JUNGLE STORIES.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 242, 12 October 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

INDIAN JUNGLE STORIES.

MAN-EATING TIGERS. (By a. w. McMillan.) PART IV. When we live in Hie jungle we never know how close we may be to a lurking tiger. He may be crouching low in the grass by the roadside looking at us without our knowing. He may be prowling around our tent at night without making any disturbing roar. All tigers are not Neither are man-eating tigers mangy, aged animals too weak to pursue the swift deer. Some man-eating tigers that I have, seen in their wild state were sleek and young-looking. They had discovered that man is not so difficult to catch after all, and that he makes a tasty morsel. Of the 00 or more persons I have known to be killed by tigers and panthers in the district in Central India, where I resided, the last was a poor woman who went with about a dozen others into the jungle to cut grass for thatch* ing. She and her son had been working side by side for some time, when he left her. saying he was just, going to have a smoke with the others of the party. When he returned a few minutes later, his mother was nowhere to be seen. They found ont later that she had been carried off by a tiger. A few weeks before this happened, a man of my own village met with a similar fate. Together with' a companion and young Jhitu (one of my schoolboys), lie went out to cut firewood. The cart being loaded, lie was just about to harness the bullocks, , when a tiger sprang upon him and dragged him into the jungle, and he was seen no more. On another occasion, a man of the lioiid tribe, with his wife and son were iishhig, when, without the slightest warning, a tiger sprang out, and, brushing past the woman and boy, seized the man, and began to make off with him into the bush. Shouting wildly, the mother and son succeeded in arresting the steps of their enemy, but only for a moment, however, for it turned and glared so savagely that they were terrified and lied, leaving the tiger to carry the'unfortunate "ictim to its lair. I \iout two o'clock one day a Gond ran into my house, shouting, "Sahib, come quickly! A man has just been carried off by a tiger!" Snatching up my gun, I followed my friend to a field half a mile from the village, where the young man j (who was a brother of one of my schoolI boys), had last been seen. Finding a icrowd of men, women, and children'wailing, I formed a search-party from among the men, and, plunging into the tall grass, I followed the narrow trail made by the I tiger carrying off its prey. We continued cautiously for over half a mile, stepping lightly over- thick creepers, and crawling under bushes, until we came to a tree wheron perched several crows intently watching something upon the ground. This was sufficient proof that we were within a dozen paces or so of the object of our quest, and had, no doubt, disturbed the animal at its gruesome meal. In another moment we found the poor fellow's body. Hoping to get nn opportunity of putting an end to such a dangerous tiger, I together with a Gond, ascended a tree and hid among the leaves, the remainder of-the Search-party going back to the village. Toward sundown we distinctly heard the animal creeping nearer and nearer, evidently bent on resuming its feast. We expected to see its great head appear through the tall grass any moment, but unfortunately, just then the shouts of the returning "villagers frightened it away, and 1 was baffled in my attempt to destroy this bloodthirsty creature.

One November afternoon, news reached me that a man had been killed by a tiger whilst grazing: some buffaloes. The males are very useful for all kinds of -work, and the buffalo cows give rich, white milk. Well, one of these massive animals had charged the tiger as though to protect its keeper; but it was killed in. the attempt and its bloodless body ~was afterwards found in a dry stream-lied. The herdsman's body Avas carried by the tiger in an opposite direction, Where we discovered it the following afternoon, the tiger having eaten one of the hands, and, strange to say, had left the wristlet on the man's bare back as he lay face downwards. It was late by this time and the sun was setting. It seemed useless to stay out in the jungle all night long, three miles from the nearest house; but I ventured to do so in the hope that perhaps the tiger might come after the rising of the moon, about 11 o'clock, when I might be able to see sufficiently to fire upon him. 'For this purpose I put a streak of white lime along the barrel of my gun to help me in the sighting. But Stripes was hungry and came to resume his feast about eight o'clook when the darkness was so intense that I could not even see my hand. I was seated in a clump of bamboos about 10 feet above the ground. I had kept one of the villagers with me. Imagine how quiet we had to remain all through the cold, wintry night, never a cough, or a whisper, or a noisy movement. But I will not dare to ask yoi; to imagine what it is like to heai - a tiger devouring a man only 25 yards distant; it was a weird experience indeed, amid an awful stillness and surrounded by miles and miles of dense jungle. The man-eater went away before the moon rose and the remainder of the night was uneventful.

Truly, the tiger is a terrible brute. A man on foot has no chance whatever in thick jungle with a tiger that desires to kill him. Even in these days of motor cars it is a frequent experience for a ti"er to be seen on the open road as a car comes humming round a corner. More often, however, the tiger is crouching in the grass and silently watching this strange carriage pass swiftly through the forest-realm of which he is king. (To be continued.)