DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3461#0149
1SG THE WILD SPORTS OF INDIA.
narrow pass, where they lie in wait for passers by'
men who carry the letter-hags, being- their principal
victims. Should there be any European stations at
hand, the monster is soon sacrificed ; but when the
villagers can have no assistance of the kind, ten or
twelve victims have been known to fall under the in-
satiable appetite of the savage, before the country has
been sufficiently aroused against him, to take effectual
measures for his destruction. A reward of five hun-
dred rupees (fifty pounds), is sometimes offered by the
native chief of a district;, for the head of a tiger, that
has become formidable to the people of a village; and
a general muster of men and weapons, takes place in
consequence of this stimulant to action. Having as-
certained the haunt of the tiger, where he lies in wait,
to spring from the bush, which forms his cover, on the
unhappy passenger who endeavours to cross the path,
the whole hunt assembles and the wilderness swarms
with men; every tree is converted into a watch tower;
the circle is formed, which, pressing in upon all sides
contracts until, completely hemmed in, the tiger roused
in his .lair, and opposed in every direction, meets his
death!
Like boar-hunting, tio-er-shooting is rapidly de-
clining as a sport, under the auspices of the plough-
share. In former times, there was no district in India
more celebrated for its tiger-shooting than Goruckpoie,
near the Nepaul frontier. Year after year parties
proceeded to its apparently inexhaustible Terai, and
alwaj's returned with the spoils of numerous of these
magnificent animals. In the time of Sir Rogo? Martin
manldnd are safe, for the spirit of the man rides upon his head
and conducts him to prey. They also believe that tigers with-
out tails (for such there aie—victims of accident, conflict, or.
disease) are men who have diverted themselves into tigers by"..
eating of a particular root, which effects the metamorphij
once.
narrow pass, where they lie in wait for passers by'
men who carry the letter-hags, being- their principal
victims. Should there be any European stations at
hand, the monster is soon sacrificed ; but when the
villagers can have no assistance of the kind, ten or
twelve victims have been known to fall under the in-
satiable appetite of the savage, before the country has
been sufficiently aroused against him, to take effectual
measures for his destruction. A reward of five hun-
dred rupees (fifty pounds), is sometimes offered by the
native chief of a district;, for the head of a tiger, that
has become formidable to the people of a village; and
a general muster of men and weapons, takes place in
consequence of this stimulant to action. Having as-
certained the haunt of the tiger, where he lies in wait,
to spring from the bush, which forms his cover, on the
unhappy passenger who endeavours to cross the path,
the whole hunt assembles and the wilderness swarms
with men; every tree is converted into a watch tower;
the circle is formed, which, pressing in upon all sides
contracts until, completely hemmed in, the tiger roused
in his .lair, and opposed in every direction, meets his
death!
Like boar-hunting, tio-er-shooting is rapidly de-
clining as a sport, under the auspices of the plough-
share. In former times, there was no district in India
more celebrated for its tiger-shooting than Goruckpoie,
near the Nepaul frontier. Year after year parties
proceeded to its apparently inexhaustible Terai, and
alwaj's returned with the spoils of numerous of these
magnificent animals. In the time of Sir Rogo? Martin
manldnd are safe, for the spirit of the man rides upon his head
and conducts him to prey. They also believe that tigers with-
out tails (for such there aie—victims of accident, conflict, or.
disease) are men who have diverted themselves into tigers by"..
eating of a particular root, which effects the metamorphij
once.