_Chittrah_, which was many years after, I always went out to shoot on an
elephant. The circumstance I allude to was as follows:--Fifty or sixty
people were beating a thick cover. I was on the outside of it, with a
man holding my horse, and another servant with a hog's spear; when those
who were driving the cover called _Suer! Suer!_ which is the
_Hindoostanee_ name for hog. Seeing something move the bushes about
twenty yards from me, and supposing it to be a hog, I fired at the spot,
with ten or a dozen small balls. Instantly on the explosion of my gun, a
tiger roared out, and came galloping straight towards us. I dipped under
the horse's belly, and got on the opposite side from him. He came within
a few yards of us, and then turned off growling into the cover.

When the people came out, they brought with them a dead hog, partly
devoured. These two cases, I think, shew clearly that tigers are
naturally cowardly. They generally take their prey by surprise, and
whenever they attack openly, it is reasonable to conclude that they must
be extremely hungry; which I believe is often the case, as their killing
animals of the forest must be very precarious. It is the general opinion
of the inhabitants, that when a tiger has tasted human blood he prefers
it to all other food. A year or two sometimes elapses without any one
being killed by a tiger for several miles round, although they are often
seen in that space, and are known to destroy cattle; but as soon as one
man is killed, others shortly after share the same fate. This, I
imagine, is the reason why the natives entertain an idea that they
prefer men to all other food. I account for it otherwise. Tigers are
naturally afraid of men, and, in the first instance, seldom attack them,
unless compelled by extreme hunger. When once they have ventured an
attack, they find them much easier prey than most animals of the forest,
and always to be met with near villages, and on public roads, without
the trouble of hunting about for them through the covers.