Chapter VI: THE TIGER (continued) (3)

A comparison of the effect of my '577 with the same charge of 6 drams, but with a solid bullet of ordinary pure lead weighing 648 grains, was very instructive. The first shot, when the tiger was bounding in retreat after it had charged the elephant, had struck the right flank, and as the animal was moving obliquely, the bullet had passed through the lungs, then, breaking the shoulder-bone, it was found in its integrity just beneath the skin of the shoulder upon the side opposite to that of entry; it was very much flattened upon one side, as it had traversed an oblique course throughout, and had torn the inside of the animal in a dreadful manner. The second shot, fired simply to extinguish the dying tiger, passed through both shoulders, but was found under the skin upon the opposite side, flattened exactly like a mushroom, into a diameter of about 1 1/2 inch at the head, leaving about half an inch of the base uninjured which represented the stalk. This was a large tiger, and remarkably thick and heavy, with strong and hard muscles, nevertheless the penetration of the soft leaden bullet was precisely correct for that quality of game. If the '577 bullet had been made of an admixture of tin or other alloy to produce extreme hardness, it would have passed through the body of the tiger with a high velocity, but the animal would have escaped the striking energy, which would not have been expended upon the resisting surface. It is the striking energy, the knocking-down power of a projectile, that is so necessary when hunting dangerous game. I cannot help repetition in enforcing this principle: there is a minimum amount of striking energy in a light hollow projectile, and a maximum amount in a solid heavy projectile; keep the latter within the animal to ensure the effect of the blow; this will be effected by a bullet made of pure lead without admixture with other metal, to flatten upon impact, and by the expansion of surface it will create a terrific wound; at the same time it will have sufficient momentum from its great weight to push forward, and to overcome the resistance of opposing bones and muscles. A very large tiger may weigh 450 lbs.; a '577 bullet of 650 grains, propelled by 6 drams of powder, has a striking energy of 3520 foot-pounds. This may be only theoretical measurement, but the approximate superiority of 3500 lbs. against the tiger's weight, 450 lbs., would be sufficient to ensure the stoppage of a charge, or the collapse of the animal in any position, provided that the bullet should be retained within the body, and thus bestow the whole force of the striking energy.

We did all that could be done for our wounded men. The strength of caste prejudices was so potent that, although in pangs of thirst from pain and general shock to the system, they would accept nothing from our hands. I made a mixture of milk with soda-water, brandy, and laudanum, but they refused to swallow it, and the only course, after washing their wounds and bandaging, was to leave them to the treatment of their own people.

One man was severely bitten through the chest and back, the fangs of the tiger having penetrated the lungs; he was also clawed in a terrible manner about the head and face, where the paws of the animal had first made fast their hold. This man died in a few hours. The others were bitten through the shoulder and upper portion of the arm, both in the same manner, and the sharp claws had cut through the scalp from the forehead across the head to the back of the neck, inflicting clean wounds to the bone, as though produced by a pruning-knife. They were conveyed in litters to the hospital in Moorwarra, where they remained for nearly a month, at the expiration of which they recovered. The seizure by the claws was effected without the shock of a blow.

This serious accident was entirely due to a hollow bullet: if a solid bullet had struck a tiger in the same place it would have carried away a portion of the spine, and the animal would have been paralysed upon the spot.

In the absence of a dependable elephant we should have been helpless, and the tiger might have wounded or killed many others.