THE MAN-EATING TIGER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8986, 25 February 1888, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MAN-EATING TIGER.

In the graphic language of Col. W. Campbell, "a confirmed man-eater always lurks In the neighbourhood of Indian villages, or close to some well-frequented road, and rarely preys upon any other animal but man. When a tiger thus quarters himself almost at the door of the inhabitants a curse has indeed fallen upon them. The ryots cannot cultivate their fields but at the risk of their lives. The women dare not fetch water from the well. The persecuted labourers, returning at sunset from their daily toil, may be seen hurrying along with headlong speed, and uttering loud yells in hope of scaring their hidden foe. Peace and security are banished from that devoted village. Day after day some member of the little community disappears—the land is filled with mourning, and the death lament comes swelling on the evening breeze, instead of the gay notes of the zittar and the merry laugh of light-hearted maidens. The destroying fiend revels in blood, and becomes daily more open in his attacks." In one district only, that of Kandeish, the officer in command reported that during his four years' tenure of the post the tigers killed annually an average of 90 human beings and 6000 cattle. An old man-eater develops an amount of cunning which is simply appalling. It never remains for any length of time at one place, but incessantly travels from one village to another, concealing itself with the utmost art, carrying off one of the inhabitants, and immediately making its way to some distant spot. A single tiger has been known to paralyse a triangular district of some 40 miles in extent. The natives feel themselves powerless, and all that they can think of is to offer rice to their numerous divinities. Their only real hope lies in the European, whom they despise and abhor as an unbeliever, but respect for his powers. Mounted on trained elephants, and guided by native trackers, mostly belonging to the Bheel tribe, the English hunters first discover the beast in its hiding-place and then destroy it.