at the foot of one of the
passes leading down to Mangalore. My people had no experience in the
matter either, still we might have been successful had the carcase been
chained. I took down a small herd of cattle from my plantations, and
ordered some baits to be tied one evening, and early the following morning
went round to look at them. In the first case we found that the rope had
been cut and the bullock carried off and deposited in a depression in the
ground about fifty yards away. The carcase was untouched. In the next case
we found that the rope, which was a very strong jungle creeper as thick as
a large-sized rope, had not been cut, but that the animal had been killed,
and merely a few steaks as it were eaten from the rump. In the third case
we found that the bullock, which had evidently been the first one seized,
was about half eaten. In the fourth case the bullock, which was an old
one, had not been touched. I think my people made a great mistake in tying
out so many cattle so close together--they were not one hundred yards
apart--still this certainly made matters more sure from one point of view,
as a tiger crossing the country might have missed one bait, whereas he
could hardly have missed four, but his having killed three baits made our
proceedings a little mixed. I first ordered the surviving bullock to be
taken home, and two of the carcases to be dragged away to a considerable
distance, and resolved to sit over kill number two, as it was the best
animal, and in the most convenient position, but unfortunately I ordered
two of my people to take a seat on a tree near the place where number one
had been killed and carried off, and the tiger, which went there first,
looked up and saw them and growled. His suspicions of course were aroused,
and the result was that he did not come at all to the kill I was sitting
over--at least while I was there. After it was too dark to see to shoot I
went home, and returned the following morning, when I found that the tiger
had returned, cut the rope, and carried off the bullock to a distance of
about two hundred yards, and eaten a good deal of it. I organized a small
silent beat of a section of the forest, but nothing came of it. My head
man then resolved to prepare a watching place in a tree near the carcase,
and this time I resolved to follow Mr. Sanderson's advice, and begin to
watch quite early in the afternoon. My man finished his arrangements by
about midday, and, after break