ON THE EDGE OF EXTINCTION - A - THE TIGER (Panthera tigris)

[peter]

ABOUT A FIGHT BETWEEN TWO BULLS, ONE OF WHICH WAS A TIGER - I

a - THE TERAI 

In the last weeks op April and the first weeks of May (2015), at least 750 of people died in India. The reason is heat. In many parts in central, eastern and southern India, the temperature exceeds 45 degrees Celsius. It's so hot, that people are adviced to stay inside.  

A century ago, it wasn't different. Just before the monsoon starts (April, May and June), many parts of India are dry and hot. This was the reason hill stations in the Himalayas were very popular in those days. Those stationed in the north wrote the Himalayan winter, climatewise, compared to an English spring.  

The strip just south of the Himalayas, also known as the Terai, was about 100-150 miles from north to south and well over a 1000 more from west to east. The part just south of Nepal was most popular. The Terai had a lot of variation. From north to south, you had the elevated stations. Although this part had a few forests, most of the country was quite barren. The lower you got, the more extended the forests became. Pine forests at first, but the Terai was especially known for the extended sal forests. They stretched for many miles and always attracted a lot of animals. 

And then there were the bamboos and long grasses. Wet parts of the Terai always had herbivores. Large animals. They in turn attracted large carnivores. Tigers were seen at high altitudes every now and then, but the sal forests always had many more. Large animals they were, but not quite as large as those inhabiting the part with the bamboos and the long grasses.

In order to get to them, you needed to contact Col. Hathi. Elephants were a 'must' if you was interested in tigers. After they were caught, elephants took a lot of training and they also needed a lot of care. For this reason, they didn't come cheap. If we add transport and stay usually was a costly affair as well, the conclusion is you needed to have a job in northern India to get a sporting chance to contact stripes.  

All this to say that those who hunted tigers in the Terai usually lived in northern India (Corbett and Hewett). If not, they had friends who invited them. The book that features in this post was written by someone who had relatives and friends up north.

b - G.H. KNOWLES   

Meet George Knowles, who, about a century ago, lived in India for about 30 years. Knowles was a writer by profession, so it seems. He contributed to different magazins (like 'The Cornhill Magazine' and 'The Tatler') and was well known in those days. Knowles liked the outdoors. A naturalist, one could say. Hunting was on the list as well, but it definitely didn't come first.

In spite of that, he too shot every now and then. It was almost unavoidable in those days. If you had friends in India and they, like you, were interested in wild places, you were bound to be invited for a shoot sooner or later. And another. They had plenty of clubs in those days, but many preferred to be out in the open at every possible opportunity.

Knowles, so it seems, moved from shoot to shoot. He always had his camera close at hand, but also made notes whenever possible. Notes about experiences and incidents that most probably would evoke quite a bit of frowning today. Some notes developed into short stories. Quite a few of them were published in magazins, but not all. At some stage, he decided to use them for a book. The book was published in 1932. In 2007, a reprint was published by Natraj Publishers. Here's a scan: 

*This image is copyright of its original author

c - SECRETS OF THE JUNGLE

The book has 320 pages and 24 stories, all but a few based on his own experiences. Those not based on his own experience were told by friends. One could say Knowles' book is about wildlife and be right, but one could just as well say the book is dedicated to good old India.

One of the stories, 'Secrets of the jungle', is based on a conversation with a man called Diggs. While waiting for a tiger Diggs had been following for quite some time (on a machan), Knowles takes out his notebook, a pencil and a camera:

" ... What in the name of worthy Shakes the cow driver, have you brought out all this vast paraphernalia for ... ", Diggs demanded.

Knowles explained and Diggs replied it was back luck. Pure imagination, Knowles said. No imagination about it, Diggs said seriously:

" ... I've proved it to my satisfaction anyhow! There are certain things in life that, if they are at all predetermined, immediately work by contrarieties. The old adage 'Man proposes but the Almighty disposes', was not handed down for nothing. Nature works in ways inexplicable to us so far, ...,  and often carries out this law to the letter; and in the jungles, by some unknown law of universal intelligence, ...,  Nature awakens this latent, prognostic instinct of the lower creatures, when a preconceived intention connected with them, is working in the brain of man, for any purpose whatsoever ... " (pp. 224).

Knowles said Diggs was touching upon metaphysics, but for Diggs it was different:

" ... I laid stress, ..., on preconceived intention. I believe that wonderful things exist and are possible in nature; that all animals are perfect clayrvoyants, with a far greater second sight - ruled by some inherent principle of truth of which we haven't the barest notion - than ever man was possessed with. And, that great force or truth might be some parts of the fourth dimension that scientists imagine they have a clue to ... " (pp. 224).

Not quite clear? Here's more:

" ... Man's mentality, ..., for some set purpose, has always been differently constituted. Reason with him takes first place - it is the first sight, with result that the powers of his second sense have been proportionalle suppressed. With the animals, it's just the opposite. What we call instinct, has in it something deeper. I could give you innumerable instances of uncanny cleverness ... " (pp. 225).  

Diggs, regarding the tiger they were waiting for, was to be proven right. It wasn't the only time.

All in all, the book is loaded with stories that would come under 'uncanny'. So much so, that one could decide against posting them. I mean, there are so many that would dismiss these stories right away. I, for one, do not. When I am close to animals like big cats, I probably act in the same way Diggs would have. Remember that was well before I read Knowles' book.

The reason? There are people who feel like Diggs and those who work with captive animals and studied or hunted wild big cats in particular. Most of today's biologists, on the other hand, have a different way of thinking and acting. They have to, they think.

To be continued. Reply