FRIGHTFUL RAVAGES OF WILD BEASTS IN INDIA.
An account has recently been taken in British India of the number of human lives that were sacrificed to the ferocity of wild beasts during the last three years. The figures reach the frightful and almost inconceivable number of 38,248 victims. Of this number 25,664 died from the bite of venomous serpents. The remainder were devoured by tigers—12,554 in three years, or 4,184 a year. In certain parts of the country the tigers have depopulated entire villages. They spring upon and carry away men in open day, upon frequented routes. Where rich and populous villages would otherwise grow up, the ferocious tiger renders habitation and cultivation impossible; and the inhabitants escape from those animals often only to die of misery and famine. Wherever the tiger exists, there is war to the death between man and him. One tiger during many weeks completely arrested the traffic upon a certain route, after having put to death more than a hundred individuals. In one instance an officer, at the head of his men, was seized and carried off by a tiger without its being possible to render him any assistance. In another instance, 108 persons were killed by the same tiger, a father, mother, and three children falling victims together in a single attack; and before the animal was finally killed by the bullets of a company of hunters, he succeeded in destroying seven of his opponents. Nor is the ferocity of the tiger limited to human victims. Flocks of sheep and herds of cattle are attacked; and for every man that is killed, it is estimated that sixty head of cattle are devoured. The loss of domestic animals during the three years is estimated at $5,000,000.—Messiah’s Herald.