Evening Star Newspaper, January 11, 1925, Page 66

THE SUNDAY Faunthorpe, targets at the Faunthorpe th|or s a pair. t the base of | » Nepul Tarai, very rare—in of country the Himalayas a sh territory grazing grounds, | congested ¢ nk there is another reason. awing to the tigers has to b the jungles mucY more open and the enormously of shooting tigers is to drive up to the guns with a line of | 1 unwounded, | phants with us. tarougn | exploring a small valiey in the hilis, the beaters, s vmetimes knocking over | both - or two of' them en route. b part of | be of | hillside, they have in the north, | 4 when short ot food are, therefore, | whether it was really a tiger or a more likely to tak'e to killing human mankind th; there 43 no doubt that common for tigress with cubs, to become a man-cater in these comparativaly particularly Brander of Forest Service, well known tiger hunter, that the Central Province: eating tigers, with large rewards on | course, made both by the villagers by officials and sportsmen of the lo- n-eating tiger the man-eater un- usually cunning. having learned by ex- likely to be ith a gun sitting up in a after killing in one place he will ac- flesh, and when £TOW up carry en the habits of their mothe When Tal Naini l | was a scare | I was district in charge of the man-eating tigers forest at the base of took an early opportunity the spot and found that there was a large family of tigers there, consisting of a lurge male and o tigress, with two cubs rather less than half grown. This was clear from eir They undoubtedly had en two ¢ people, and cattle were not about n some dense the hilis. 1 f vi tracks and r, but could , more people hink the probability s that the two three who were killed were peo- ple who had been unfortunate enough to come across the tigress when she { was with her cubs, which were small | enough to need her protection ‘\ A tigress is an excellent mother. 1 once saw a tigress with two small cubs, about the size of fox hounds, | come our of some heavy bush cover, which was being beaten by three or four clephants. The two cubs trotted | on ahead, and in order to cover their | retreat the tigress twice charged the | line of elephants, roaring loudly. The cubs would probably have died if I had shot the mother, so I let her zo. [ thought she deserved this for her bravery. ‘There were not many tigers about in this particular neigh- borhood, but strictly speaking it was probably most improper to spare her life, as game was scarce in that lo- lity and this tigress would there- have probably educated her cubs the art of cattle killing. A tigress | with growing cubs is far more de- |structive than a tiger or tigress alone, the find the male others, killed, and I The tiger cub at birth is very small n fact, not much bigger than a large rat. Three or four cubs is the usual number, but as a rule only two | of alitter grow up. I have once seen four almost full grown cubs and the tigress all together. The cubs stay with the mother until they are nearly full grown. I have shot them in com- pany with their mother when the male cubs measured eight feet, four inches in length, and the females about seven feet six inches. The average length of a full-grown male tiger is about nine feet six inches, and the female about one foot less. | A tiger over ten feet is an excep- tionally large ome. Ten feet four inches was the length of the biggest I ever shot, and the largest tigress I ever saw was nine feet two inches. Ordinarily a tiger will kill only sufficient animals for his own needs, nd, assuming that his kills are not removed by the natives or devoured | by vultures,” two_ kills weekly are quite enough for him. A big male tiger is quite 2 noble- Ivoking animal. A tigress is more graceful and generally has a more brilliantly colored coat, but is dis- tinctly more dangerous. As Kipling | says, “The femals of the species is more deadly than the male.” * % ok % ONCE toolk three weeks' leave and went up into the Himalavas on | a hunting and fishing expedition with E. D. Knowles, who s now, I believe, an employe of the Standard Oil Com- pany In Bengal and whom I regard as the best shikari (sportsman) I have ever met. We took four ele- One day we were itting on a pad eiephant. Suddenly I saw what appeared to a large tiger standing on the about a hundred and fifty ards away. I was not sure at first. patch of red earth among the grass sterss on the hiilside, but we both decided that it was really a tiger and T fired at him. Giving a conwvulsive leap, he galloped over the ridge above him, The slope was too steep for the ele- phant, so we had to take her back and work our way up along the top of the ridge. On reaching the place vhere the tiger had disappeared wo | found no sign of him. On the far side of the ridge, which was only a few yards broad, was another steep slope with apparently no cover in which the tiger could hide. We there- fore got off the elephant to look for a blood trail. Knowles was just reaching up to get his rifle from the man driving the elephant when with a series of cough- ing roars the tiger, which had been Iying on a little crest of the ridge, charged up at us. No one who has not heard the noise made by a charg- ing tiger can realize what a terrify- ing sound it is. The elephant swung round and_boited along the ridge, knocking Knowles over down the hillside. With shattered nerves but with sur- prising agllity I leaped down the hill- cide, and we both took up a defensive there | STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, position behind the stump of a tree, about 80 yards below the top of the ridge. I estimate that we covered this 80 yards In considerably less than record time. I did it in about three jumps, while Knowles, with a high initlal velocity Imparted by the elephant, rolled down most: of the way. It was a somewhat precarious position, as the tiger, making most unpleasant noises, was sitting on the top of the ridge in a little piece of grass which concealed him from view. He sat there growling for some time, but eventually seemed to settle down, and we quietly moved away, went to the end of the ridge, found the elephant on the lower ground and proceeded to go up along the ridge again to where the tiger was sitting in the grass. When we were about a hundred vards off the tiger stood up. I could see the line of his back above the grass and fired at him agaln, and ho disappeared, evidently hit. We went on and found him lying apparently dead on his side with all four legs outstretched. I had given my rifie to the mahout and taken from him my 12-bore gun, with black powder and spherical ball, a weapon which I always carry when at close quarters - with_a swounded tiger or leopard.s 1 wak-sitting in front .on the.elepbunt and said to Knowles, “We had better throw a cartridge at him”befors we get off the elephant, Lo m3ke certain.’” As I spoke, the tiger jumped to his feet and charged Straight at the ele- phant. I fired both barrefs at him as he came, and (I think because of the black powder) he werved oft the ele- phant when within a few feet and galloped down the steep hillside, where we later faund him lying in a clump of bamboo, and finished him off. * % k% (CCASIONALLY ' the tiger appears to be especlally good natured, particularly in his dealings with other animals. I observed an instance of this a few years ago in the Kherl district. There was a very old and notorfous tiger which lived partly in Nepal and partly in the dense gov- ernment forest on our side of the border. He was a very cunning old animal, and was particularly fond of killing buffaloes which were grazing in large numbers in some swampy country in adjoining forests. He frequently killed valuable buf- falo bulls of the largest size. A loaded | f/ [ nbls JANUARY 11, 1925—PART Hunters, in Jungles of India, Face Rush of a Wounded Man Eater Courage and Ferocity of Great Striped Beast Make It Dangerous Antagonist 5. SN —— “WITH A R!_,‘SH_AND A S‘\'ARLV nIE TICJ':R SPRAiC ON TO MY ELEPHA '!T’? HEAD.” really big buffalo is an animal which a tiger, as 4 rule, will hesitate to at- tack, but this tiger seemed to prefer them to anvthing else. He would make one meal off a buffalo and then move on to another part of the for- est. No could find out where this tiger lived One day [ was ravine, which ran ona exploring along a through the forest, on a pad elephant. Suddenly I heard in the distance the unmistakable sound of an angry bear screaming with rage The noise came nearer and I saw an enormous tiger cantering down the bed of the ravine, pursued by a bear emit- ting harsh sounds. There were some pools of water in the bed of the ravine and when the tiger got opposits to where I was he lay down in one of these pools, while the bear stood screaming at him on the bank From where I was, the bank concealed the tiger as he lay in the water, 5o 1 ved quietly forward. Before I could see him, he got up and galloped straight away and I had two shots at him with 400 bore Cordite rifle. The bear paid [no attention to me and continued stand- | ing screaming on the bank. I then shot the bear, which was a small female. There was no sign of blood from the Siirer: Wit Gatter mome tEathib wh Al covered his tracks going across a sandy path some distance away, and following up. in that direction agiin found them crossing the bed of a small stream, on the opposite side of which was a very heavy but quite small patch of heavy green bushes. After investigating the lie of the ground, very quietly on foot, I got up a tree at one end of the bushes and had the mahout drive the elephant through them in my direction from the other end. As soon as the elephant entered the bushes, there was a loud roar and the tiger charged and drove the elephant away. It was evident from this behavior that the tiger was wounded, so I got on the elephant and entered the bushes. The tiger again charged. This time the mahout, who had been warned what would happen to him if be let the ele- phant run away with him a second time, held her steady, and I had no difficulty in knocking the tiger over at a short range when he charged. The reason that we could find no blood was that the tiger was so fat that the hole made by the bullet, which had originally hit him too far back and rak- ing forward, had been closed by the heavy layer of fat, which a heavy tiger carries along and all round his stomach, The incident was interesting as show- ing: 1. The savagery of the sloth bear; 2. The good temper of the tiger, which could easily have killed the bear, which was an unusually smell one; 3. The determined manner in which this inoffensive tiger when wounded charged an elephant as soon as it came near him. I ‘WAS once much puzzled by the be- havior of a large male tiger, which made & most vicious charge before be- ing fired at and clawed an elephant rather badly on the head. A pair of tigers was marked down one day in a strip of heavy grass in the Swamp Deer Preserve, owned by my old friend Rani of Khairigarh, some of whose beautiful deer had been killed by the beasts. I shot the tiger, but the tigress got away unseen. All that night and the next night the tigress wandered about, calling to her lost mate. A tiger calling in this way makes a pecullar moaning sound, which s quite unmis- takable. On the third day, early in the morn- ing, one of the trackers came in Wwith the news that he had heard the tig- ress calling in another strip of heavy grass, only about half a mile from camp, across a small river. afterwards another man arrived with the news that another tiger was call- ing in a plece of heavy tree and bush jungle on the river bank, on the same side as the camp. The elephants were got ready and I started at once after the tigress across the river. One of the trackers remained behind in a tree near the grass, and when I arrived he reported that while he was sitting in the tree & large male tiger had come from the direction of the river and entered the grass In which the tigress was. Beat- ing up the grass, I got a glimpse of the tigress and knocked her over, and we discovered the male tiger, but he got away unfired at {nto another strip of grass which ran parallel with the first. As he had been disturbed, I went well forward on one elephant and left the other elephants to beat up the grass in my direction. When they had gone about half way the tiger charged in @ most determined manner and clawed one elephant considerably about the head and ears. He then galloped out of the grass, through some shallow water, and was shot. On examination I found that he was suffering from a severe bite in the hind leg. This was perfectly fresh and obviously inflicted by the tigress. What had happened undoubtedly was that this tiger had heard the widowed tigress calling to her lost husband, and had gone to join her and had been repulsed. e ki * %k * TAME elephant will almost in- variably show signs of alarm on coming on the fresh trail of a tiger. An elephant has poor sight and his hearing is by no means as acute as that of the deer tribe, but he has a wonderfully keen sense of 11 Some _elephants, especially those which have been clawed by a tiger, show their alarm by trumpeting or squealing. £00d elephant will sig- nal the tiger's proximity by making a curlous popping noise by siglking the end of his trunk against and at the same time through it. I have several times followed a tiger for a considerable distance by making use of this habit of the elephant. 1f you know roughly the direction in Which the tiger has gone and have an elephant which will give tonguc on coming aeross the tiger scent, vou can follow the tiger by making th el shant cast forward in semi-circles thus picking up the trail from time to time I was greatly assisted In this last year In recovering a wounded tiger, which had galloped into a long and narrow strip of extremely dense grass. We beat the grass without the tiger appearing. It then seemed probable that the tiger had gone straight through the grass, out in the forest on the far side. There was no poss bility of tracking on the hard ground therefore, sent on an elephant could be relied on to squeal of coming across fresh tiger scent, through the forest parallel to grass, about a hundred yards away She gave no sign of the tiger, so I concluded that the wounded animal was lying in the grass, which was about nine feet high and very thick and matted. This we beat again and again until the animal disclosed his presence by jumping with a snarl on to one of the elephants, clawing her considerably across the top of her trunk and then dropping into the grass. Ho was now located. Form- ing up the four elephants, which were all I had, we advanced on him The mahouts showed a little desire to advance and each one tried to keep a little bit behind the others With another rush and a snarl the tiger sprang onto my elephant’s head, but I was ready for him and a lucky snap shot as he landed took him be- tween the eyes and tumbled him off dead before he had time to do any damage. In fact, the elephant only showed one very small claw mark on the top of her head as the result of her adventure. Until he was wounded, driven into a corner or alarmed by something on ahead, a tiger will very seldom charge, but it he has been beaten up and fired at before or sees the gunners on ahead he is likely to charge the beaters in order to break through. I was once beating up a pair of tigers in Nepal to two guns in howdahs posted in front. The tigress went out somewhere ahead of the line and was fired at. As the beat proceeded I the groun blowing air the caught way | male glir | tiger movi treme end small piece ¢ some bushes in it. I fairly open grour e old tiger down in the last | heavy We knew he was there and phants, shoulder shoulde to force him But, alarmed b open, and from the of heavy left elephant. 1 had a an enormous grass, but was T with a snap shot knocked him over over the eye. He old tiger. 1 have measurements it wland Wa skull pses o At the there was very heavy grass wi vonad t wi the beat to fac few f sprang sudden glimpss o 1 rising for h 2-hore with a bullet outi ot the with a Just his skull sixt big tiger (Covrigut, 1025.) A Lightning Question. .AI EAT LIGHTNING” § [ far aistant to be the lightning” is 1 lightning” is merely the nderstorr lible, says Nat an un “urious Oyster Find WHILE tongir ico River, V with tongs inside d old We with a ural oyster 5 in wide had fc dish. There in the disk red da med were Turquoise Charm. CURIOUS bel century was true turquoise set injure any of his lir ing or riding stone with him. £0ld would no so long as he had the Quaint Pine Tree. HE Torre hugs the twisted bra zine. It is 8 to 12 tree veninsula. pine for the most ound with ft CROSS-WORD CONVERSATION GIVES PEP tephen Leacock Discourses on What Is Happening to Language BEG your pardon,” said a man sitting opposite to me in the smoking end of a Pullman car. “Do you happen to know the name of an Arabian feudal ruler in five letters?" Yes,” 1 said, * a shiek. He wrote the word down in a note- book that was spread out upon his knee. Then he sald: “And what's a Hottentot house on the move in five letters?” ‘A Kraal,” I answered. ‘Oh—yes, Kraal!” he said. “I could only think of bungalow, and here's another that's a regular bowler, what is an extinct graminiferous lizard in 13 letters?” “Ichthyosaurus,” T said. 10 that?’ he asked. wish I'd had a college educatior me write it down—walit now—I-c-h-t —say, I belleve it's going to get it— yes, sir, it's getting it—By Gee! It's got it. It all fits in now except there’s a dirty little hitch In this cor- ner. Say, could there be any word in three letters that would be eke?” “Yes,"” I sald, ‘eke.’ it means ‘also.’ " “Then I've got the whole thing— just in time—here's my station. Sa I'm ever so much obliged. I guess I will have one on the wife when T show her this. That's a peach, that ichthy—what d've cail it. Good-bye." He left me and I knew that I had been dealing with another of the new victims of the oross-word puzzle mania. I knew that as soon as he got into his house he would work the ichthyosaurus on his wife; indeed he would probably find her seated with a paper and pencil trying to figure out whether Icelandish S-K-O-L will fit in with a form of religion called “Tosh.” The thing generally runs in families. This cross-word puzzle is said to have originated in Thibet. From there it was transferred to the Mongolians, [14 let Shortly | who introduced it to the Hairy Ainus of Japan, who were delighted With it, as they naturally would be. From them it crossed the ocean to the Siwash Indians who passed it on to the Dog Ribs and to the Flat Heads, and in this way it got to the Ameri- can Colleges. The mania has now assumed inter- national dimensions. It Is estimated that if the cross-word puzzle solvers were stood up In line (either hori- zontally or vertically, they wouldn't care which). they would reach half way to Havana. Some might even get there. R o PBUT the sreatest thing about the cross-word puszale is the way in which it is brightening up our lan- guage. Old words that had been for- gotten for 500 years are being pol- ished up as bright as mew. A man no longer says, “Good morning. How are you?” He says, “Good morn. How fare you?’ And the other man {answers that he feels vardly and eke his wife, especially ae they expect eft soon to take a holy day and make a cast to Atlantic City. Before this thing began there wers lots of people so ignorant that they didn’t know what “Yost” meant, or what a “farrago” is, or which part of a dog is its “withers.” Now these are family words. Any one would say quite naturally, “Just give that dog a kick in the farrago and put him out.” I notice especially the general im- provement in exact knowledge for the names of animals and parts of animals, Who used to know what a marsupial was? Who could have told where the dewlap of an ox is? How many people had heard of the carapace of the mud turtle, or knew how to give a proper name to the east ear of an elephant? Many cross-word puzzle experts go further. When engaged in conversa- tion they don’t even need to use the very words they mean. They merely indicate them In cross-word puzzle fashion and the expert listening to them can solve their conversation at once. Here a sample of the new cross-word puzzle conversation: ‘Good morning, Short-for-Peter.” “Hullo, Diminutive - of - William. How do you experience-a-sensation in four letters this morning?” “Worse than a word in four letters rhyming with bell and tell.” “Oh, I am sorry to hear it. What is the substance, body or cubic con- tent of space in six letters with you?" “Cold in the bronchial tunnels, passages or English name for a sub- way.” “Possessing or exhibiting grace with the personnal possessive pro- noun! And what are you doing for it2 Who i3 treating your* “HELLO, DIMINUTIVE OF WILLIAM.” Only the woman bound to me by law for life “Indeed! Surely you ought not to be an adverb in three letters in this weather.” in four letters “No, 1 ought to be a preposition in two. But I have to go to my effort, energy or mental or bodlly exertion undertaken for gain in four letters.” “Well, take good care of yourself. J. W. Davis on Desert Trip PARIS, December HIS last week has seen things which we ourselves scarcely thought possible six years ago, when war was over. As to our fathers who looked with awe on Stanley crossing Dark- est Africa on foot and our grand- fathers, who gave up Livingston for lost until Stanley found him, they would have to go to school before believing. This is not a story of airplanes. Plain automobiles, with wheels on the ground and gasoline motors, are here, and now criss-crossing all Af- rica, dark or not, in every direction. The African king in the Sunday pa- pers who talks to the slangy twins in his Oxford English can now explain his automobiles to them. For the cross-African automobiles are pecu- ltar—and they work. On December 3 one expedition which started from the last station of the Algerian Railway, at the border of the Sahara, reached successfully clear across the once terrible desert the last railway statfon of the Daho- mey road over from the Atlantic Ocean. It was a mission of the French government, with one of the great soldiers of the war, Marshal Franchet &'Esperey, at its head. Kings and ochiefs and tribes all along the desert route welcomed them as soon as they recovered from their fright at the white devil machine. They had seen missionaries and explorers and trad- ers, but never locomotion like this. They could only confess, as Ameri- can Indians did when Columbus came a-salling in, “We are discovered.” This particular expedition is in- tended to blaze the way to regular land communication and transport from north Africa all across the con- tient to equatorial Africa on the Guif of Guinea. In a straight line this would be more than 2,000 miles, but the ,winding ways of the desert and wilderness without roads make it half as much again. The expedition reports by wireless: “We have done it in 18 days. We cal- culate that automobiles can do it in 10 days regularly and airplanes in 5.” That s something even for the twentieth century. It must be added that the automobile maker who fur- nished the machines did his best. There were four autos, each with six twin wheels. The expedition com- prised experienced explorers and en- gineers for such travel. They went forward with perfect regularity and without a break. It can be dome, it has been done—and it is golng to be done right along. Paris to Da- homey—all aboard. Recently the official announcement was made of another automobile mervice which was tried out & yeag ago and is now to be regular. Be- ginning with January 2, a service will be inaugurated twice a week between Paris and Timbuctoo. Paris to Marseille by the rapid trains which whirl tourists to the Mediter- ranean; then, by steamer, with tour- ists to Alglers; from there by the North African Railway to its station at Colomb-Bechar: and then the automobiles of this transsahara line. The recent Democratic candidate for President, Mr. Davis, and his wife are on the spot. They have been offered and have accepted a part of this desert trip in automobile. Clear across the desert, more than 1,000 miles away, these automobiles stop at Bourem on the river Niger. ‘There motor boats take passengers and post and parcels down to Tim- buctoo. This whole trip can be made from Paris in 12 days. This line will be the first to be exploited reg- ularly. It ought to make the vear 1925 memorable in France and the world, just as the opening of the Pacific Rallway in America made the year 1869 memorable. Automobiles may not be rallway trains, but they are more than the old painful horse or foot trall across continents. The Paris-Timbuctoo route was explored on caterpillar automobiles and these are to be used on the reg- ular line. The six twin - wheelers will also be used. Both have been pretty well tried out with transport trucks in France and different mak- ers are rivals in this new wild fleld. Their autocars make provision for water as well as food and fuel. In the first week of December another expedition left Tunls to plore and lay out a still longer and bolder line of autolocomotion. It aims at going through from Tunis to the Cape of Good Hope. Cecll Rhodes, whose dream was the Cape- to-Cairo railway, may turn fn his grave. The chiefs of the expedition are Precourt and Resslou, and they have already run in an auto 300 milea across full desert in 18 hours. They are accompanied by a Swedish officer in this trip of 9,000 miles from end to end of Africa. They are going on four-cylinder motors, with solid twin wheels fore and aft. Finally, efforts are being made to cross Africa in auto from side to side ~—Dahomey to the Nile, with Fashoda on the way. Kitchener was sur- prised and dlsgusted when the Frenchman Marchland, with his sol- diers, turned up at Fashoda not so long ago. The French resident gen- eral is himself on his way to Belgian Congo in automobile. The world is small and civilized machines are good missionaries to open up even Darkest Africa. The French are doing their share. STERLING HEILIG yet ex- last | Good remain with you form « exclamation used in parting in se letters, * £ % HERE evidently bilities in this are large possi rm of speech. I think that a lot of our literature could be brightened up with words of rc mance and mystery by putting it intc cross-word puzzle language. Even our poetry would be none the worse for it. Here, for example, a once familiar bit of Longfellow’s verse turned Into this kind of dialect Under the spreading chestnut The age smithy remains erect, upright or in a vertical position common to man and the apes but not seen in other animals, ith, a mig man, is a per- sonal pronoun With large and sinuous extremitie of his limbs in four letters. And the muscles of his brawny arms Are as strong as a company o musicians. tree The sm Admirable! TIsn't it whole of our translated in this way. But unfortunately the results of the new craze are not always so happy. I heard last week of a rather dis tressing case of the ill effects of puzzle solving. A man of my a Quaintance was at an evening party where they were solving cross-word puzzles and he was brought, with the rest of the company, to an absoluta full stop by one ften t you rather ba out of then in letters? The him. He thoug] no result. He it as he drove h morning. in twelve thing absolutely beat of 1t all night, but with still thinking of S car down town nexrt n In his absolute preoccupa- tion he ran into a man on the stree: and shook him up quite adl He was arrested and tried criminal negligence. The judge said to him: *T regret very much to have to impose a prison sentence on a man of your standing But criminal egligence cannot be tolerated. I sentence you to six months in the penitentiary.” On this the puzzle-solver threw up his hands with an exclamation of o and cried, “Pen of course pc‘riflt-nh.n;:’! got a i e was busy scribbling on a lttle bit of paper when they |:d him awa. (Copyright, 1925.) was for Gallery of Fakes. exhibit of counterfeits, imita tions and copies of works of art is being held in London. The object. of the exhibition, which includes pic tures, drawings, furniture, metal work, ceramics and is to help students, collectors and critics in the study of problems quality and orlginality, as also of period and school. In many cases this object is furthered by compari- son of the copy with the original, ot the imitation with an authenticated example of the style and period aimed at; and works produced for innocent purposes of record, repro duction, duplication and repetition and examples of restoration and repair, as well as works intended deceive, are included. At any rate, as regards the pic tures, one comforting conclusion that it is, on the whole, easler fo the forger to imitate those qualities which appeal to the collector as col- lector—such as “the tone of time and cracks In the surface—than the basic qualities of a great work of art, such as drawing and design. carpets sculpture, ot ——— Uses of Firemen. ETURNING from a fire, the Unio town (Pa) Fire Department stopped long enough to aid a wom an who, having forgotten her key, was locked out of her third-floor apartment. The firemen obligingly ran a ladder up to the front window and opened the door from the inside —_— A Lost Island. I the far south Pacific is a for- gotten isle called Bardoo, which i ruled over by a widow of an lian, who went there originally hope that missionary work would assuage her griof over the loss of her husband. She is now the supreme ruler of the island, which contsins only three other whitea.