In the centre of the net some dead goats have been previously placed with a stuff of a very savoury odour, which the beast can smell for miles off, and which is so strong that when he approaches, he does not scent the men in the hut.

The rest of the hunters lie in wait in a secure place.  The two concealed in the pit are on the watch, and as soon as the beast has seized the goat or is fairly within the net, they give the alarm by hoisting a long pole, and the men in ambush slip out, and by a dexterous movement close all sides of the net, which is constructed with this view, so as to form one large cage.

The efforts of the animals to break out are useless; they first rage about in all directions, but the joints of the net are so constructed that they yield without breaking.

When it is not desirable to take the animals alive their capture is more easy.  One mode of killing them is as follows:—­A man stations himself among the branches of a high tree, near the haunts of the animals, and holds a long pole which hangs downwards, and at the end of this a dead rabbit is fixed, in which, besides a strongly-smelling stuff, is placed a deadly poison.  As soon as the wild beast sees the rabbit, he makes a dash at the pole, seizes the rabbit, eats it and, the effects of the poison being instantaneous, falls down almost immediately to expire.

Dead animals are not allowed to be brought into the city, but are flayed in the country, where are also our manufactories and other establishments, in which everything valuable in the carcase of the beast can be readily utilised.

Some of our beasts are unlike yours, but the greater number are similar, though in many of these, the nature of the animal may be somewhat different.  Tigers, for instance, are in form like those on your wilds, but are not without generosity.  Thus, they seldom attack each other except when the females are young, and after a fight, when one of the males has prostrated the other, the victor will lick the wounds of the vanquished in order to heal them.  After this the two will be friendly, the vanquished tiger resigning his pretensions without further struggle.

I will relate to you a “Tiger” incident that occurred in our world, a long distance from Montalluyah.

THE TIGER AND THE CHILD.

Our hurricanes disturb wild animals, numbers of which approach the outskirts of the towns bordering on the prairies.  People are on the watch, for sometimes they have entered the habitations.

A curious incident occurred on the confines of one of these towns.  A mother had gone into the next house to fetch something required for her household use, leaving her young child, about three years old, playing on the ground.  The door of her cottage was open, and she little knew that a large tiger was prowling near.  The watchers had gone into the field, and the tiger approached the outskirts of the town, close to the hut where the child was playing, entered through the door, and found the little innocent, who, not knowing what danger was, allowed the animal to approach, and even patted him.  The tiger crouched down close to the pillow on which the child had been playing.