IV.
THE DENIZENS OF THE JUNGLE.
SALIGOORI—the lowermost station at the foot of the Himalayas—gives one the first insight into the real Indian jungle, the habitat of the far-famed Bengal tigers and still more dreadful cobra, besides leopards, cheetahs, hyænas, wolves, foxes, and jackals, which, with the wild hog, are reckoned the “big game,” which both natives and Europeans chase for pastime.
The tiger, being the noblest, has the first claim—being the characteristic beast of prey in India. The Bengal tiger is certainly the finest of all mammals—its average length from the point of his nose to the tip of his tail being twelve feet.
In many districts the natives consider the tiger as a sort of protection to their crops, which it saves from destruction by the wild animals on which he feeds. But when once he develops a taste for human blood, the slaughter he works becomes truly formidable. The confirmed man-eater is generally an old beast, disabled from overtaking his usual prey, and seems to accumulate his tale of victims in sheer cruelty rather than for food. A single tiger, now in the Zoological Gardens at Alipore (Calcutta), is known to have killed 108 persons in the course of three years. He was at last trapped, and caged in the Zoo, and is by far the finest specimen of the species I have ever seen.
Many instances are recorded of even more frightful depredations. In the hills, 13 villages were abandoned, and 250 square miles of country thrown out of cultivation; in 1869, one of these dreadful animals killed 137 people and stopped all traffic on a main public road for several weeks, until the opportune arrival of an English sportsman, who killed him.
Official records are kept of such matters. In 1877, 819 persons and 16,137 head of cattle were reported to have been killed by tigers; on the other hand, 1579 tigers were destroyed by native hunters, and £3777 paid in rewards, besides those killed by European sportsmen.
The leopard and cheetah are smaller and less dangerous to life. The latter is often tamed for hunting purposes, as I shall explain anon.
The wolf, fox, jackal, and hyæna limit their depredations to flocks or children, but being of a timid nature, are easily kept at bay.