They soon came to the traps. The tigers were exceedingly numerous on all
the islands formed by the cut-offs, and swam without difficulty from one to
another. The first trap they saw was a broad trench, the bottom and sides
armed with stakes of the hardest wood, sharpened to a wicked point. A
roaring sound attracted the visitors to another of the same kind, in which
a monstrous tiger was floundering about, trying to escape the points that
pierced him. He was suffering fearfully; and Captain Ringgold shot him at
once, though the Hindus were delighted by his torture.
Another kind of trap was more ingenious. It was on the plan of the
twitch-up snare, common in New England. A young tree, very strong and
flexible, is bent down till the upper end touches the ground. To this
extremity is attached a stout cord, and fastened to a stake in the ground.
A slip-noose is so arranged that the tiger thrusts his head through it in
order to reach the meat with which the cord holding the tree is baited. As
the animal pulls the cord he casts off the line holding the tree in its
bent position. The slip-noose is tightened around his neck, the tree flies
up into the air, carrying the tiger with it. Everything about the trap is
made very strong, and there the savage marauder hangs till he chokes to
death.
[Illustration: Captain Ringgold brought down another--Page 349]
The party moved on, and they had not gone ten rods before a cobra elevated
his head.
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