Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI.—At Racing Speed Down the Great and Lonely Tarim
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DOWN THE LONELY TARIM. 71
The natives in this neighbourhood were inconceivably-
shy and difficult to get into communication with. Some-
times they would stand stock-still and stare at us without
moving ; then all of a sudden they would disappear, and
we would never see them again. In one place we made
certain of getting hold of somebody, for there was a cooking-
pot boiling over the fire ; the sheep were grazing round about,
and the dogs were kicking up a fearful din. We scoured
all the thickets in the neighbourhood, and at length got
hold of a solitary boy ; but he was so frightened that he
was quite unable to open his mouth, still less to give us
any information. He simply stood like a log, with his eyes
glued to the ground. Next day, however, we instituted an
energetic hue and cry, and managed to capture a shepherd,
whom we took on board with us and kept in mild captivity
for as far as his geographical knowledge extended.
In the forest of Dung-kotan we looked in upon a rich
hunter and shepherd, who had killed many tigers and sold
the skins to the Chinese. He told me how he used to kill
his prey. He had to do it by craft, for, with the clumsy
muzzle-loading blunderbuss which is commonly in use in
that country, to go near the fiercest and most dangerous
creature that haunts their woods and thickets would have
been fatal.
When a tiger seizes a horse, a cow, or a sheep, he drags it
into the reeds, and after making a good meal leaves the
rest for another occasion. When he goes away he nearly
always follows a well-trodden shepherds’ path. His track
shows in which direction he has gone, and from which direc-
tion he may be expected to come back. In his path the
natives place a trap over a hole about half-a-yard deep,
and cover it all up with branches and leaves. If the tiger
has the ill-luck to tread on the trap, it goes off and holds
him fast. The trap is made of iron, and is so heavy that
the prisoner is only just able to drag it after him. Once
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