DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5832#0138
tiger hunting.
113
enraged brute inflicted so dreadful a laceration on his
trunk, that a man's arm, from the elbow downward,
could have been laid in the wound.
When the tiger was despatched it was placed upon
the back of the victorious elephant, which seemed to
proceed under the burthen with conscious triumph;
but so terrified were some of its companions that they
would not approach their foe, even though it was dead.
The victor however marched on in the pride of con-
scious pre-eminence, and as soon as we regained our
tents, for the day's sport was now concluded, the
lifeless enemy was unstrapped and immediately rolled
upon the ground. The elephants formed a circle
round it, though none could be induced to advance
within a hundred yards of the gored body. At length
the old elephant, in derision of their terror, as it
seemed, raised the dead tiger upon one of its tusks
and hurled it into the air with as much ease as if it
had been a sucking cub. Away they scampered when
they saw the dreaded projectile in rapid impulse to-
wards them, and it was with considerable difficulty
that the mahoots, after much coaxing, could induce
them to return.
Meanwhile the poor fellow who had been wounded
continued to complain of great internal suffering, but
his protestations were unheeded, as it is too frequently
the habit of these people to affect suffering in order
to excite compassion and thus obtain money. He
was therefore little attended to, more especially as he
happened to be a pariah ; for the unhappy wretches
who bear that designation are looked upon with ab-
horrence by the higher castes of Hindoos. His com-
l 3
113
enraged brute inflicted so dreadful a laceration on his
trunk, that a man's arm, from the elbow downward,
could have been laid in the wound.
When the tiger was despatched it was placed upon
the back of the victorious elephant, which seemed to
proceed under the burthen with conscious triumph;
but so terrified were some of its companions that they
would not approach their foe, even though it was dead.
The victor however marched on in the pride of con-
scious pre-eminence, and as soon as we regained our
tents, for the day's sport was now concluded, the
lifeless enemy was unstrapped and immediately rolled
upon the ground. The elephants formed a circle
round it, though none could be induced to advance
within a hundred yards of the gored body. At length
the old elephant, in derision of their terror, as it
seemed, raised the dead tiger upon one of its tusks
and hurled it into the air with as much ease as if it
had been a sucking cub. Away they scampered when
they saw the dreaded projectile in rapid impulse to-
wards them, and it was with considerable difficulty
that the mahoots, after much coaxing, could induce
them to return.
Meanwhile the poor fellow who had been wounded
continued to complain of great internal suffering, but
his protestations were unheeded, as it is too frequently
the habit of these people to affect suffering in order
to excite compassion and thus obtain money. He
was therefore little attended to, more especially as he
happened to be a pariah ; for the unhappy wretches
who bear that designation are looked upon with ab-
horrence by the higher castes of Hindoos. His com-
l 3