Book Description

"One of our most celebrated sportsmen, who is also one of our greatest travellers ... a mighty Nimrod." -London Quarterly, 1890 Sir Samuel White Baker (1821 - 1893) was a British explorer, officer, naturalist, big game hunter, engineer, and writer. Samuel Baker lived as a reputed Victorian Nimrod and was a milestone in the history of modern hunting through his works and deeds. In 1891 he published a lengthy book on his life of big game hunting on multiple continents titled "Wild Beasts and Their Ways". It is from this lengthy 1891 book that the present book has been excerpted; the present book, "Man-eating Tigers of India", focuses on Baker's tiger hunting exploits and has been excerpted for the convenience of the reader. In describing an attack by a tiger on the elephant he was riding, Baker writes: "Suddenly the elephant halted when about 15 yards from the object, which had never moved. I have seen wild savages frenzied by the exciting war-dance, but I never witnessed such an instance of hysterical fury as that exhibited by the elephant. It is impossible to describe the elephantine antics of this frantic animal; he kicked right and left with his hind legs alternately, with the rapidity of a horse; trumpeting and screaming, he threw his trunk in the air, twisting it about, and shaking his immense head, until, having lashed himself into a sufficient rage, he made a desperate charge at the supposed defunct enemy. But the tiger was not quite dead; and although he could not move to get away, he seized with teeth and claws the hind leg of the maddened elephant, who had clumsily overrun him in the high excitement, instead of kicking the body with a fore foot as he advanced. "The scene was now most interesting. We were close spectators looking down upon the exhibition as though upon an arena. I never saw such fury in an elephant; the air was full of stones and dust, as he kicked with such force that the tiger for the moment was lost to view in the tremendous struggle . . . ." In describing another tiger attack on one of the hunter's elephants, Baker writes: "Before the line had time to advance, there was a sudden roar, and a tiger sprang from the grass, and seized a large muckna (tuskless male) by the trunk, pulling it down upon its knees so instantaneously that the mahout was thrown to the ground. As quick as lightning the tiger relinquished its hold upon the elephant and seized the unfortunate mahout. I never witnessed such a hopeless panic. The whole line of elephants broke up in complete disorder. . . . "