DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.3461#0150
THE WILD SPORTS OF INDIA. 137
there was a well known tiger on the Nepaul frontier,
Who was the terror of the neighbouring villagers; man
Was his food, and he scorned to prey,on any inferior
animal. He once attempted to enter the hut of a
-•■aroo, hut the inmate received him with such a blow
°u the head from a Jungh axe, that the tiger was glad
to retreat, and carried the scar of the wound to his dying
'ay. By this scar he was known and recognised, and
!?ls depredations at last became so serious that Sir
^°g'er Martin went out for the express purpose of kill-
ln8' him. He shot forty-eight tigers before be fell in
,lcu the one be was in search of. but the forty-ninth
f^s "Le Balafre" himself; who fell, fighting to the last,
and well supported his former character for ferocity.
■A-bbye Singh, the Rajah of Omorab, a very old and
S°°d sportsman, is known to have been at the death
°t nearly five hundred tigers; but it would be an end-
ess task to enumerate all the instances in which large
^l'mbers of these animals have bit the dust, and yielded
"leir skins as trophies to the sportsman. From the
?. »0ve> it can easily be imagined that tigers were " plen-
'hil as blackberries" a few years ago; and it is easily
^counted for. After the Nepaul war, the Terai was
one wide inhospitable waste, without a vestige of in-
habitants or cultivation, intersected by nullahs in every
"Section, and abounding- in swamps; the jungles sprang
J'.P luxuriantly, and became the haunt of innumerable
r'S'ers, and wild animals of all descriptions. The annual
ln*'oads of sportsmen, and some slaughter by native
?Wkarees did not apparently much diminish the num- .
°er ot the tigers ; year after year they were killed in
Ue same spots, and it appears that a desirable covert
vas no sooner vacated by the death of one, than an-
Jnep took possession of it, and a party was tolerably
sure of good sport in the Goruckpore Terai.
, -It is very different now; the tigers would never lu.ve
"Sen extirpated by sportsmen; indeed, those killed bore
there was a well known tiger on the Nepaul frontier,
Who was the terror of the neighbouring villagers; man
Was his food, and he scorned to prey,on any inferior
animal. He once attempted to enter the hut of a
-•■aroo, hut the inmate received him with such a blow
°u the head from a Jungh axe, that the tiger was glad
to retreat, and carried the scar of the wound to his dying
'ay. By this scar he was known and recognised, and
!?ls depredations at last became so serious that Sir
^°g'er Martin went out for the express purpose of kill-
ln8' him. He shot forty-eight tigers before be fell in
,lcu the one be was in search of. but the forty-ninth
f^s "Le Balafre" himself; who fell, fighting to the last,
and well supported his former character for ferocity.
■A-bbye Singh, the Rajah of Omorab, a very old and
S°°d sportsman, is known to have been at the death
°t nearly five hundred tigers; but it would be an end-
ess task to enumerate all the instances in which large
^l'mbers of these animals have bit the dust, and yielded
"leir skins as trophies to the sportsman. From the
?. »0ve> it can easily be imagined that tigers were " plen-
'hil as blackberries" a few years ago; and it is easily
^counted for. After the Nepaul war, the Terai was
one wide inhospitable waste, without a vestige of in-
habitants or cultivation, intersected by nullahs in every
"Section, and abounding- in swamps; the jungles sprang
J'.P luxuriantly, and became the haunt of innumerable
r'S'ers, and wild animals of all descriptions. The annual
ln*'oads of sportsmen, and some slaughter by native
?Wkarees did not apparently much diminish the num- .
°er ot the tigers ; year after year they were killed in
Ue same spots, and it appears that a desirable covert
vas no sooner vacated by the death of one, than an-
Jnep took possession of it, and a party was tolerably
sure of good sport in the Goruckpore Terai.
, -It is very different now; the tigers would never lu.ve
"Sen extirpated by sportsmen; indeed, those killed bore