“For more than two hours I sat perfectly still, alert and waiting, behind the little blind of ferns and grass.  There was nothing to break the silence other than the incessant bleating of the goats and the unpleasant rasping call of the mountain jay.  I had about given up hope of a shot when suddenly the huge head of the man-eater emerged from the bush, exactly where I had expected he would appear and within fifteen feet of the kids.  The back, neck, and head of the beast were in almost the same plane as he moved noiselessly forward.

“I had implicit confidence in the killing power of the gun in my hand, and at the crack of the rifle the huge brute settled forward with hardly a quiver not ten feet from the kids upon which he was about to spring.  A second shot was not necessary but was fired as a matter of precaution as the tiger had fallen behind rank grass, and the bullet passed through the shoulder blade lodging in the spine.  The beast measured more than nine feet and weighed almost four hundred pounds.

“Upon hearing the shots the villagers swarmed into the ravine, each eager not so much to see their slain tormentor as to gather up the blood.  But little attention was paid to the tiger until every available drop was sopped up with rags torn from their clothing, whilst men and children even pulled up the blood-soaked grass.  I learned that the blood of a tiger is used for two purposes.  A bit of blood-stained cloth is tied about the neck of a child as a preventive against either measles or smallpox, and tiger flesh is eaten for the same purpose.  It is also said that if a handkerchief stained with tiger blood is waved in front of an attacking dog the animal will slink away cowed and terrified.

“From the Chinese point of view the skin is not the most valuable part of a tiger.  Almost always before a hunt is made, or a trap is built, the villagers burn incense before the temple god, and an agreement is made to the effect that if the enterprise be successful the skin of the beast taken becomes the property of the gods.  Thus it happens that in many of the temples handsome tiger-skin robes may be found spread in the chair occupied by the noted ‘Duai Uong,’ or the god of the land.  When a hunt is successful, the flesh and bones are considered of greatest value, and it often happens that a number of cows are killed and their flesh mixed with that of the tiger to be sold at the exorbitant price cheerfully paid for tiger meat.  The bones are boiled for a number of days until a gelatine-like product results, and this is believed to be exceptionally efficacious medicine.