The most famous man-eating animals, terrible cases of attacks. Amazing every day

, United Provinces, British India - April 19, Nyeri, Kenya) - English hunter, conservationist, naturalist, writer.

Known as a hunter of cannibal animals and the author of a number of stories about the nature of India.

Life and activities

Youth

Jim Corbett was born into an Irish family in Nainital, in Kumaon, in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India. He was the eighth of thirteen children born to Christopher and Mary Jane Corbett. The family also had a summer home in Kaladhungi, where Jim spent a lot of time.

Jim was fascinated by wildlife since childhood; he learned to distinguish the voices of birds and animals. Over the years, he became a good hunter and tracker. Corbett attended Oak Openings School, later renamed Philander Smith College, and St Joseph's College in Nainital.

Before reaching the age of 19, he left college and began working for the Bengal and North Western Railway, first as a fuel inspector at Manakpur (Punjab) and then as a freight transhipment contractor at Mokameh Ghat station in Bihar.

Hunting for cannibalistic animals

Between 1907 and 1938, Corbett is documented to have hunted and shot 19 tigers and 14 leopards, officially documented as man-eaters. These animals were responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 people. The first tiger he killed, the Champavat man-eater, was responsible for the documented deaths of 436 people.

Corbett also shot a Panar leopard, which, after being wounded by a poacher, could no longer hunt its usual prey and, having become a man-eater, killed about 400 people. Other man-eating beasts destroyed by Corbett include the Talladesh Man-Eater, the Mohan Tigress, the Tak Man-Eater and the Chowgar Man-Eating Tiger.

The most famous of the man-eaters shot by Corbett was the leopard from Rudraprayag, which terrorized locals and pilgrims heading to the Hindu shrines at Kedarnath and Badrinath for eight years. Analysis of the skull and teeth of this leopard showed the presence of gum disease and the presence of broken teeth, which did not allow him to hunt for his usual food and was the reason that the animal became a cannibal.

After skinning the man-eating tigress from Tak, Jim Corbett discovered two old gunshot wounds in her body, one of which (in the shoulder) became septic, and, according to Corbett, was the reason for the transformation of the beast into a man-eater. Analysis of the skulls, bones and skins of man-eating animals showed that many of them suffered from diseases and wounds, such as deeply embedded and broken porcupine quills or unresolved gunshot wounds.

In the preface to The Kumaon Cannibals, Corbett wrote:

Corbett risked his life to save the lives of others, earning him the respect of the communities in which he hunted.

Participation in the First World War

Hunter becomes conservationist

In the late 1920s, Corbett bought his first movie camera and began making films about the lives of tigers. Although he had excellent knowledge of the jungle, it was very difficult to get good shots due to the secretive nature of the animals.

Corbett was concerned about the fate of tigers and their habitat. He lectured to schoolchildren on natural heritage and the need to conserve forests and their fauna, and contributed to the founding of the United Provinces Wildlife Conservation Association and the All India Wildlife Conservation Conference. All-India Conference for the Conservation of Wildlife ). Along with F.W. Champion, he played key role in the creation of the first national park in Kumaon, Hailey National Park, originally named for Lord Malcolm Haley.

Participation in World War II

Retired in Kenya

Jim Corbett died of a heart attack on April 19, 1955, at the age of 79, days after completing his sixth book. Tree Tops. He is buried in St Peter's Anglican Church cemetery in Nyeri, Kenya.

Heritage

Corbett's house in the Indian village of Kaladhungi, Nainital, has been converted into his museum. The 221-acre plot of land that Corbett bought in 1915 is still in its original condition. Also preserved in the village are the house that Corbett built for his friend Moti Singh, and Corbett's Wall, a 7.2 km long stone wall protecting the village fields from wild animals.

Literary activity

Jim Corbett's first book (The Cannibals of Kumaon) had big success in India, UK and USA. The first American edition had a circulation of 250,000 copies. Subsequently, the book “Kumaon Cannibals” was translated into 27 languages.

Corbett's fourth book (Jungle Science) is actually his autobiography.

Bibliography

Year	Name	Name option	English Name	Synopsis
	"Kumaon Cannibals"		Man-eaters of Kumaon	Autobiographical notes on the hunt for man-eating animals in Kumaon, India.
	"Leopard from Rudraprayag"		The Man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag	The story of the hunt for a man-eating leopard from Rudraprayag.
	"My India"		My India	Autobiographical notes about life in India in late XIX first half of the 20th century.
	"Jungle Science"		Jungle Lore	Autobiographical notes about Corbett's youth.
	"Temple Tiger"		The Temple Tiger and more man-eaters of Kumaon	Autobiographical notes about the hunt for man-eating animals in Kumaon and about the nature of India.
	"Tris Tops"		Tree Tops	Notes on the visit of the British Princess Elizabeth to a hunting lodge-hotel in Kenya.

Documentary and feature films

• In 1986, the BBC produced the docudrama Cannibals of India. Man-Eaters of India) with Fred Trevize as Corbett.
• In 2002, based on Corbett's books, the IMAX film India: The Tiger Kingdom was released. India: Kingdom of the Tiger) with Christopher Heyerdahl as Corbett.
• In 2005, a television film based on the book “The Leopard of Rudraprayag” was released. The Man-Eating Leopard of Rudraprayag ) starring Jason Flemyng.

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Literature

• Martin Booth. Carpet Sahib: A Life of Jim Corbett. - Oxford University Press, USA, 1991. - 288 p. - ISBN 0192828592.

Links

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Notes

1. Dr. Shreenivaas Barge.(English) (inaccessible link - story) . - short biography Jim Corbett - third edition. Retrieved July 21, 2010. .
2. Stephen Mills. Tiger. - Firefly Books, 2004. - P. 99. - 168 p. - ISBN 978-1552979495.
3. Jim Corbett. Kumaon cannibals. - ARMADA-PRESS, 1999. - 396 p. - ISBN 5-7632-0825-0.
4. M. Rangarajan. India's Wildlife History: an Introduction. - Delhi: Permanent Black and Ranthambore Foundation, 2006. - P. 70. - ISBN 8178241404.
5. V. Thapar.. - Delhi: Permanent Black, 2001.
6. R.J. Prickett. Treetops: Story of A World Famous Hotel. - Nairn Scotland: David & Charles, 1998. - 200 p. - ISBN 0715390201.
7. G.K. Sharma.(English) . The Sunday Tribune (26 May 2002). Retrieved July 20, 2010. .
8. Visitors" log book of 1954, Treetops hotel, Kenya. Guest registration book of the Tree Tops Hotel, Kenya, for 1954.
9. Jaleel, J.A.(English) (inaccessible link - story) (2009). Retrieved July 20, 2010.

Excerpt characterizing Corbett, Jim

A French hussar non-commissioned officer, in a crimson uniform and a shaggy hat, shouted at Balashev as he approached, ordering him to stop. Balashev did not stop immediately, but continued to walk along the road.
The non-commissioned officer, frowning and muttering some kind of curse, advanced with the chest of his horse towards Balashev, took up his saber and rudely shouted at the Russian general, asking him: is he deaf, that he does not hear what is being said to him. Balashev identified himself. The non-commissioned officer sent the soldier to the officer.
Not paying attention to Balashev, the non-commissioned officer began to talk with his comrades about his regimental business and did not look at the Russian general.
It was unusually strange for Balashev, after being close to the highest power and might, after a conversation three hours ago with the sovereign and generally accustomed to honors from his service, to see here, on Russian soil, this hostile and, most importantly, disrespectful attitude towards himself of brute force.
The sun was just beginning to rise from behind the clouds; the air was fresh and dewy. On the way, the herd was driven out of the village. In the fields, one by one, like bubbles in water, the larks burst into life with a hooting sound.
Balashev looked around him, waiting for the arrival of an officer from the village. The Russian Cossacks, the trumpeter, and the French hussars silently looked at each other from time to time.
A French hussar colonel, apparently just out of bed, rode out of the village on a beautiful, well-fed gray horse, accompanied by two hussars. The officer, the soldiers and their horses wore an air of contentment and panache.
This was the first time of the campaign, when the troops were still in good order, almost equal to the inspection, peaceful activity, only with a touch of smart belligerence in clothing and with a moral connotation of that fun and enterprise that always accompany the beginning of campaigns.
The French colonel had difficulty holding back a yawn, but was polite and, apparently, understood the full significance of Balashev. He led him past his soldiers by the chain and said that his desire to be presented to the emperor would probably be fulfilled immediately, since the imperial apartment, as far as he knew, was not far away.
They drove through the village of Rykonty, past French hussar hitching posts, sentries and soldiers saluting their colonel and curiously examining the Russian uniform, and drove out to the other side of the village. According to the colonel, the division chief was two kilometers away, who would receive Balashev and see him off to his destination.
The sun had already risen and shone cheerfully on the bright greenery.
They had just left the tavern on the mountain when a group of horsemen appeared from under the mountain to meet them, in front of which, on a black horse with harness shining in the sun, rode a tall man in a hat with feathers and black hair curled to the shoulders, in a red robe and with with long legs stuck out forward, like the French ride. This man galloped towards Balashev, his feathers, stones and gold braid shining and fluttering in the bright June sun.
Balashev was already two horses away from the horseman galloping towards him with a solemnly theatrical face in bracelets, feathers, necklaces and gold, when Yulner, the French colonel, respectfully whispered: “Le roi de Naples.” [King of Naples.] Indeed, it was Murat, now called the King of Naples. Although it was completely incomprehensible why he was the Neapolitan king, he was called that, and he himself was convinced of this and therefore had a more solemn and important appearance than before. He was so sure that he was really the Neapolitan king that, on the eve of his departure from Naples, while he was walking with his wife through the streets of Naples, several Italians shouted to him: “Viva il re!” [Long live the king! (Italian) ] he turned to his wife with a sad smile and said: “Les malheureux, ils ne savent pas que je les quitte demain! [Unhappy people, they don’t know that I’m leaving them tomorrow!]
But despite the fact that he firmly believed that he was the Neapolitan king, and that he regretted the grief of his subjects abandoned by him, recently, after he was ordered to enter the service again, and especially after his meeting with Napoleon in Danzig, when the august brother-in-law told him: “Je vous ai fait Roi pour regner a maniere, mais pas a la votre,” [I made you king in order to reign not in his own way, but in mine.] - he began cheerfully for a task familiar to him and, like a well-fed, but not fat, horse fit for service, sensing himself in the harness, began to play in the shafts and, having discharged himself as colorfully and expensively as possible, cheerful and contented, galloped, not knowing where or why, along the roads Poland.
Seeing the Russian general, he royally and solemnly threw back his head with shoulder-length curled hair and looked questioningly at the French colonel. The Colonel respectfully conveyed to His Majesty the significance of Balashev, whose surname he could not pronounce.
- De Bal macheve! - said the king (with his decisiveness overcoming the difficulty presented to the colonel), - charme de faire votre connaissance, general, [it’s very nice to meet you, general] - he added with a royally gracious gesture. As soon as the king began to speak loudly and quickly, all royal dignity instantly left him, and he, without noticing it, switched to his characteristic tone of good-natured familiarity. He put his hand on the withers of Balashev's horse.
“Eh, bien, general, tout est a la guerre, a ce qu"il parait, [Well, general, things seem to be heading towards war,] he said, as if regretting a circumstance about which he did not could judge.
“Sire,” answered Balashev. “l"Empereur mon maitre ne desire point la guerre, et comme Votre Majeste le voit,” said Balashev, using Votre Majeste in all cases, [The Russian Emperor does not want her, as your Majesty is pleased to see... your Majesty.] with inevitable the affectation of increasing the frequency of the title, addressing a person for whom this title is still news.
Murat's face shone with stupid contentment as he listened to Monsieur de Balachoff. But royaute oblige: [the royal rank has its responsibilities:] he felt the need to talk with Alexander's envoy about state affairs, as a king and an ally. He got off his horse and, taking Balashev by the arm and moving a few steps away from the respectfully waiting retinue, began walking with him back and forth, trying to speak significantly. He mentioned that Emperor Napoleon was offended by the demands for the withdrawal of troops from Prussia, especially now that this demand had become known to everyone and when the dignity of France was insulted. Balashev said that there was nothing offensive in this demand, because... Murat interrupted him:
- So you think it was not Emperor Alexander who was the instigator? - he said unexpectedly with a good-naturedly stupid smile.
Balashev said why he really believed that Napoleon was the start of the war.
“Eh, mon cher general,” Murat interrupted him again, “je desire de tout mon c?ur que les Empereurs s"arrangent entre eux, et que la guerre commencee malgre moi se termine le plutot possible, [Ah, dear general, I wish with all my heart that the emperors put an end to the matter between themselves and that the war, started against my will, ends as soon as possible.] - he said in the tone of the conversation of servants who want to remain good friends, despite the quarrel between the masters. And he moved on to questions about the Grand Duke, about his health and about the memories of the fun and amusing time spent with him in Naples. Then, as if suddenly remembering his royal dignity, Murat solemnly straightened up, stood in the same position in which he stood at the coronation, and , waving right hand, said: – Je ne vous retiens plus, general; je souhaite le succes de vorte mission, [I will not detain you any longer, General; I wish success to your embassy] - and, fluttering with a red embroidered robe and feathers and glittering with jewelry, he went to the retinue, respectfully waiting for him.
Balashev went further, according to Murat, expecting to be introduced to Napoleon himself very soon. But instead of a quick meeting with Napoleon, the sentries of Davout's infantry corps again detained him at the next village, as in the advanced chain, and the adjutant of the corps commander was summoned and escorted him to the village to see Marshal Davout.

Davout was Arakcheev of the Emperor Napoleon - Arakcheev is not a coward, but just as serviceable, cruel and unable to express his devotion except by cruelty.
The mechanism of the state organism needs these people, just as wolves are needed in the body of nature, and they always exist, always appear and stick around, no matter how incongruous their presence and proximity to the head of government seems. Only this necessity can explain how the cruel, uneducated, uncourtly Arakcheev, who personally tore out the mustaches of the grenadiers and could not withstand danger due to his weak nerves, could maintain such strength despite the knightly noble and gentle character of Alexander.
Balashev found Marshal Davout in the barn of a peasant's hut, sitting on a barrel and busy with writing (he was checking accounts). The adjutant stood next to him. It was possible to find a better place, but Marshal Davout was one of those people who deliberately put themselves in the gloomiest conditions of life in order to have the right to be gloomy. For the same reason, they are always hastily and persistently busy. “Where is there to think about the happy side of human life, when, you see, I’m sitting on a barrel in a dirty barn and working,” said the expression on his face. The main pleasure and need of these people is to, having encountered the revival of life, throw gloomy, stubborn activity into the eyes of this revival. Davout gave himself this pleasure when Balashev was brought in to him. He went even deeper into his work when the Russian general entered, and, looking through his glasses at Balashev’s animated face, impressed by the wonderful morning and the conversation with Murat, he did not get up, did not even move, but frowned even more and grinned viciously.
Noticing the unpleasant impression this technique produced on Balashev’s face, Davout raised his head and coldly asked what he needed.
Assuming that such a reception could be given to him only because Davout does not know that he is the adjutant general of Emperor Alexander and even his representative before Napoleon, Balashev hastened to announce his rank and appointment. Contrary to his expectations, Davout, after listening to Balashev, became even more severe and rude.
- Where is your package? - he said. – Donnez le moi, ije l"enverrai a l"Empereur. [Give it to me, I will send it to the emperor.]
Balashev said that he had orders to personally hand over the package to the emperor himself.
“The orders of your emperor are carried out in your army, but here,” said Davout, “you must do what you are told.”
And as if in order to make the Russian general even more aware of his dependence on brute force, Davout sent the adjutant for the duty officer.
Balashev took out the package containing the sovereign’s letter and placed it on the table (a table consisting of a door with torn hinges sticking out, placed on two barrels). Davout took the envelope and read the inscription.
“You have absolutely the right to show or not show me respect,” said Balashev. “But let me point out that I have the honor to bear the title of His Majesty’s Adjutant General...”
Davout looked at him silently, and some excitement and embarrassment expressed on Balashev’s face apparently gave him pleasure.
“You will be given your due,” he said and, putting the envelope in his pocket, he left the barn.
A minute later, the Marshal's adjutant, Mr. de Castres, entered and led Balashev into the room prepared for him.
Balashev dined that day with the marshal in the same barn, on the same board on barrels.
The next day, Davout left early in the morning and, inviting Balashev to his place, impressively told him that he asked him to stay here, move along with the luggage if they had orders to do so, and not talk to anyone except Mister de Castro.
After four days of solitude, boredom, a sense of subordination and insignificance, especially palpable after the environment of power in which he had so recently found himself, after several marches along with the marshal’s luggage, with the French troops occupying the entire area, Balashev was brought to Vilna, now occupied by the French , to the same outpost where he left four days ago.
The next day, the imperial chamberlain, monsieur de Turenne, came to Balashev and conveyed to him the desire of Emperor Napoleon to honor him with an audience.
Four days ago, at the house to which Balashev was taken, there were sentries of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, but now there were two French grenadiers in blue uniforms open on their chests and in shaggy hats, a convoy of hussars and lancers and a brilliant retinue of adjutants, pages and generals waiting to leave Napoleon around a riding horse standing at the porch and his Mameluke Rustav. Napoleon received Balashev in the very house in Vilva from which Alexander sent him.

Despite Balashev's habit of court solemnity, the luxury and pomp of Emperor Napoleon's court amazed him.
Count Turen led him into a large reception room, where many generals, chamberlains and Polish magnates were waiting, many of whom Balashev had seen at the court of the Russian emperor. Duroc said that Emperor Napoleon would receive the Russian general before his walk.
After several minutes of waiting, the chamberlain on duty came out into the large reception room and, bowing politely to Balashev, invited him to follow him.

There is probably not a single person interested in big cats who does not know the name Jim Corbett. Corbett's views on the tiger and its place in nature were far ahead of their time. But first a few words about life path a native-born Englishman, as Rudyard Kipling called this breed of people.

Jim Corbett was born in 1875 in India, in the town of Naini Tal, where his parents had a summer cottage in the mountains; the house was located 25 kilometers below, in the town of Kaladhungi, in the Terai belt of pre-Himalayan lowland forests. This area was called Garhwal and Kumaon and became famous for Corbett and his man-eating tigers. Big family was of average income. His father passed away when Jim was four years old. The burden of worries fell on the mother's shoulders. The boy was introduced into the world of the jungle by Tom, his older brother, as well as the poacher Kunwar Snngh. Tom raised his brother in a Spartan way: he once took the baby on a bear hunt and left him alone for several hours in a gloomy, dark ravine. Jim was convinced that the bear would certainly eat him and, when he first saw the beast, he was, by his own admission, ready to die of fear. But he did not leave his place until Tom arrived.

By the end of his Jungle Book training, Jim no longer confused the tracks of a sambar or nilgai with those of a wild boar, or the tracks of a red wolf with those of a hyena. He was able to recognize even the tracks of snakes. To move silently, Jim walked barefoot through the jungle; he learned to climb trees without branches; this art allowed him to mature age maintain excellent physical shape.

In his youth, Corbett hunted for pleasure, and when he was poor and hungry (and there was such a thing in his life), he shot game, not particularly adhering to hunting ethics. With maturity, knowledge, and his inherent love and respect for all living things came the conviction that life should not be taken unless necessary. He began to hunt only cannibal animals.

From 1907 to 1939, Jim Corbett killed 12 tigers and man-eating leopards, accounting for 1,500 deaths. Corbett did his work selflessly (he was constantly afraid that he would be considered one of the many hunters for the bonus) and during vacations: he was then still working on the railroad. Immediately after school, Jim got a job as a fuel inspector for the railroad, and then worked as a contractor at the Mokameh Ghat junction station.

Archives preserved family photo Corbettov: on the veranda, lined with pots of flowers, Jim sat at his mother’s feet wearing a boater hat, his idol brother Tom and sister Maggie, as well as a certain Mary Doyle, were nearby. Corbett did not have his own family, in any case, he never wrote about it. Maybe the reason for this was the hunt, which lasted for months and years! Corbett devoted himself completely to them, resigning in 1924, settling in Kaladhungi among the peasants who rented land owned by the Corbetts.

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In July 1875, in the Indian city of Nainital, a boy was born into a family of Irish immigrants, who was named Edward James Corbett. His parents had twelve more children, and James himself, or “Jim” as he was called, was the eighth. From birth, the boy was surrounded by the majestic nature of the Himalayan foothills of northern India. While walking in the jungle, he learned to distinguish animals and birds by their voices. This helped him later become a successful tracker and hunter. At the age of 19, he dropped out of St. Joseph's College and went to Punjab, where he found work as a railway worker.

(Total 11 photos)

When did the first one break out? World War, Corbett formed a force of five hundred volunteers and went with them to France. Having shown himself to be an excellent commander and leader, the man was awarded the rank of major in the British Army.

But Jim Corbett is famous not for this, but for his hunting merits. The Irishman chose the most difficult and dangerous areas for hunting - they were inhabited by cannibalistic predators. It is known for certain that from 1907 to 1938 Corbett shot 14 leopards and 19 tigers, who had previously killed more than 1,200 people. The first predator killed was the tiger, nicknamed the Champavat man-eater, which caused the death of 436 people. All the animals killed by Corbett were convinced cannibals, terrifying both remote villages and noisy cities.

One of the most famous predators killed by the Irishman was the leopard from Rudraprayag, which for ten years attacked pilgrims going to the Hindu shrines of Badrinath and Kedarnath.

But Jim was not a fanatical killer big cats. He carefully studied the bodies of the animals that died at his hands and soon came to the conclusion that they had to become cannibals not of their own free will. In many cases, gunshot wounds inflicted by poachers contributed to the refusal of the usual food. Some wounds were not serious enough to kill the animal, but serious enough to prevent it from hunting agile ungulates. Trying to survive, the beast began to attack the one who was most accessible - man. At the beginning of the 20th century, the sport of large predators was very common among the British nobility. This contributed to the regular appearance of cannibalistic animals.

Corbett took no perverse pleasure in killing. He felt sorry for animals forced by circumstances to eat human flesh. He always hunted alone, on foot, accompanied by his faithful spaniel Robin. Jim was sure that man-eating cats were smart and quick-witted enough to turn from prey to hunter overnight, so he did not want to risk anyone’s life other than his own. It was for such dedication that the residents of those places that he saved from a mortal threat considered him a saint.

The Irishman never ceased to love nature, and in the late 20s he acquired a movie camera, which he used for filming documentaries about tigers. He was seriously concerned about the fate of the Indian jungles and their inhabitants, so he was known as an ardent defender of nature native land. Thanks to him, a national park, as well as a conservation organization, appeared in the Kumaon region.

By the time World War II began, the man was already 65 years old, but he decided not to stand aside. The regional fund for helping wounded soldiers was transferred under his supervision. In 1944, Corbett became a lieutenant colonel and took the position of lead jungle survival instructor. Three years later he moved from India to Kenya (Nyeri), where he died of a heart attack in 1955. He was 79 years old.

James Corbett managed to write six books about the jungle, Indian nature, cannibal predators and the reasons that made them become such. The most popular, translated into 27 languages, was the debut story “The Kumaon Cannibals,” published in 1944.

In 1957, his name was given to the national park, the organization of which he contributed to during his lifetime. And a house in Nainital, India, was turned into a museum.

In 1975, a series of stamps featuring the folk hero was issued in India. And even though more than a hundred years have passed, Indians still honor the memory of the modest mustachioed Irishman, who, without exaggeration, saved thousands of lives.

Among other important nutrients, human flesh contains iron, vitamin B12, phosphorus and zinc. In addition, our body is an interesting source of protein. If some predators could talk, they would say that these lush and clumsy bipeds are surprisingly easy prey when hunting.

This was the order of the day millions of years ago, according to archaeologist Julia Lee-Thorpe and Nicholas Van der Merwe from the University of Cape Town and paleontologist Francis Thackeray Transvaal from the museum in Pretoria (South Africa). As experts report in the magazine "Journal of Human Evolution", in a study of the carbon isotopic concentrations of the tooth enamel of some prehistoric savannah predators, it was found that within two and a half million years ago, leopards, at least ancient diverse hunters like the hyena and, quite possibly, the extinct saber-toothed tigers, were already stalking and devouring primitive apes monkeys

Video. Famous man-eating animals

Paleontologist Charles Kimberlin Brain, whose research disproved early assumptions that these primates were at the top of the food chain, writes in his book Hunter or Hunted? The predator Dinofelis was an unrivaled killer of hominids (apes). Brian says this predator, whose appearance may remind us of a modern jaguar with large forelimbs, attacked the hominids one by one, something it also practiced with baboons, and then dragged their bodies to its lair. Over time, people not only learned to deftly avoid ambushes, but also to kill the offender. However, this does not mean at all that we have ceased to be part of the informal menu of the predator.

Lions kill 563 people in Tanzania

Lion pride in Tanzania

In 1932, a town called Njombe became famous throughout the world. According to a legend retold from mouth to mouth, the lions then staged a bloody feast, they were allegedly led by the local healer Matamula Mangera. Because his people rejected him, he decided to punish them by sending lions to kill them. Frightened by this news, people were afraid to even mention lions, lest their fears become reality. The people appealed to their leader to restore the medicine man to his position, but he refused. The lions again and again continued to attack the tribe, multiplying the human casualties; according to estimates, a total of 1,500 people died from the claws of lions (according to other sources - 2,000 people). At the request of the tribe leader, the then famous hunter George Rushby agreed to help the people. In total, he killed about 15 lions, the rest fled and left the land. However, local residents believed that the lions left them only because the leader finally agreed to restore the healer to his previous position.

A study conducted by specialists from the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota (USA) showed that in Tanzania alone, lions have killed 563 people and injured 308 over the past 15 years. Researchers point out that the most likely reason for the attacks was an increase in the number of people. In fact, these attacks occurred mainly in agricultural areas from March to May, when the crops in these agricultural areas rise and ripen. According to biologist Craig Packer, who has studied animal attacks on humans, they tend to occur in areas where the number of prey animals such as zebras, impalas, and wild boars has declined. These artiodactyls are also part of the lion's diet when other prey is scarce, and they are considered a universal scourge among the local population, who often sleep under open air to protect your crops from the voracious wild pig. This, of course, forces farmers to hunt lions. In addition, they plan to reduce the population of wild pigs, researchers warn that if not corrected, this could undo all efforts to conserve and protect tigers.

Video. Investigative film about lion attacks in Tanzania

A tiger with a reputation as a man-eater: the Champawat tigress

Champavat tigress and the hunter who killed her

India's very remote Sundarbans National Park has become one of the last strongholds of another mammal that has earned a reputation as a man-eater - the Bengal tiger. It is estimated that out of about 400 people who lived in the reserve and in the surrounding areas fell victim to it.

Of all subspecies of tigers Bengal tiger purchased the most worst reputation, reputation as a cannibal. It was reported that “at the same time, in some parts of India, at the beginning of the 19th century, man-eaters were so common that the main question seemed to be whether man or tiger would survive.” Every night, fires were lit that surrounded the villages and indigenous people. When large groups traveled, they were fully armed and beat drums to scare away cats.

In the 1930s, tigers killed between 1,000 and 1,600 people annually, causing panic among the population. One famous tigress, known as the Champawat tigress, killed about 200 men and women before she was driven out of Nepal. She moved on to another location, this time to India, and continued to kill before being hunted down and killed in 1937. total victims rose to 436.

Jim Corbett, a renowned hunter but also a passionate conservationist, is responsible for killing the Champawat Man-Eater and many other man-eating tigers and leopards; he hunted for thirty-five years.

Upon his arrival at the village where the tigress had killed her last victim, he found a virtual ghost town with residents who had locked their huts and no one dared to come out for a week. The tigress wandered along the roads near the village, growled and terrified the residents.

Her last victim was a 16-year-old girl collecting wood. After searching for the tigress in the thorn bushes, Corbett came across the remains of human leg. “In all the years that followed I hunted cannibals,” Corbett wrote, “I saw nothing sadder than a bitten young beautiful leg just below the knee, it was done so cleanly, as if it had been cut off with an ax.”

A later examination of the tigress showed that the upper and lower canines on the right side of her jaw were broken: one upper half, one lower right right down to the bone. Corbett argued that these injuries "prevented the killing of its natural prey, which was the cause of cannibalism." Eventually, Corbett tracked down and killed the tigress.

As for the current situation, about 50 people become prey for tigers every year. According to some estimates, this number at the beginning of the last century would have been 16 times higher if these magnificent cats, 3 meters long and 300 kilograms in weight, had not been so poor in food. However, everything indicates that tigers hunt more buffaloes and deer, but not people. Only 3% of people killed by tigers are eventually eaten. In any case, you shouldn’t joke with life in the Sundarbans. Among the non-lethal means used to prevent attacks from aggressive tigers is the use of brightly colored masks with huge eyes that are placed at the back of the head. The idea is that tigers in this area tend to pounce on unsuspecting people and dig their claws into the back if they are not wearing such a mask. Tigers begin to fear that they will be noticed and will continue to watch the person.

But why do animals attack people? When it comes to big cats, sick, injured or old ones are more likely to attack people to eat them, experts say. This happens especially often among various types tigers, which, unlike lions, are solitary predators. Losing teeth is another reason that can lead to hunting easier prey than usual. However, a large number of attacks occur when a predator is defending its den, when it is frightened, or while attempting to prey on livestock (its owner trying to stop it). However, there are cases when you can “praise” a predator for its amazing cunning and cruelty.

Panarian leopard

Panarian ogre

This male man-eating leopard was said to have killed and eaten over 400 people over the years in the Kumaon region of Northern India. In fact, in the 20th century, after being wounded by a poacher, he was in a state where he could no longer hunt normally. The Panhar leopard was tracked and killed in 1910 by the now famous big cat hunter and writer Jim Corbett.

It became the most famous of all the man-eating leopards, followed by the Kahaniya man-eating leopard, which killed 200 people, and the Rudraprayag man-eater, which killed 125 people (also killed by Jim Corbett in 1925). According to Jim Corbett in his famous book "Temple Tiger", the Panar leopard operated in very remote areas, where most often the local police did not report the killings and therefore the government published some information about the victims very late.

Jim Corbett managed to track the leopard on his first attempt, but he returned a few months later and succeeded in his second attempt under very unfavorable and terrible circumstances. The leopard had to be shot in complete darkness, after the shot it was wounded. Corbett tracked him down at night under very unfavorable circumstances and finally managed to kill this devil.

The murder of workers, which was reflected in the cinema

Patterson next to one of the lions

In March 1898, in east africa The company, under orders from chief engineer Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Patterson, began building a railway bridge across the Tsavo River in Uganda. The colonialists hoped that the railway would encourage people to move deeper into Africa and this would excellent option transporting trade products between Africa and Europe. Thousands of workers (called "coolies") were imported from India to lay the railway, it was planned to stretch it for 580 miles, crossing several rivers and valleys.

For nine months, attacks continued by two brave and bloodthirsty lions, which even entered the workers’ tents at night, thereby threatening the progress of work. Indian workers built protective barriers around their camps, known as Boma, made from thorny acacia branches and bonfires burned all night, but lions still found openings and sneaked into the workers' camps. In one of the incidents, one of the lions snuck into the tent and attacked a sleeping worker, but in the confusion, instead of the worker, he carried away his mattress, but when he realized his mistake, the lion threw the mattress and ran away.

Despite the efforts of the workers who built lion defenses around the camp, the lions found a way to get around them. The traps developed by Patterson proved useless. In the end, he was able to kill the first lion on December 9, and the second 3 weeks later. Over the entire period, 140 workers were killed and eaten by these lions. Patterson kept the skulls of both lions and used their skins as rugs. In 1924, the lion skins were sold to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago for $5,000, where they were stuffed and put on public display in 1928 and are now reminders of those bloody times. Patterson himself described this incident in his book “The Man-Eaters of Tsavo”, and then a film was made "Bwana Devil"(1952) and The Ghost and the Darkness (1992), starring Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer.

In 2009, a team of biologists managed to conduct chemical analysis hair and skin samples from samples taken from the museum, they used isotope ratios to determine the chemical composition of the proteins in the lions' diet over recent months their lives. They concluded that one of the lions ate about 11 people, and the other about 24. This means that one of the lions mainly ate herbivores and only one-third of its diet came from people, while the other had almost two-thirds of it. people had rations.

Although the reasons that made these animals man-eaters are unknown, experts at the Field Museum of Natural History believe that two factors are responsible. On the one hand, there was the outbreak of rinderpest, which had recently killed millions of zebras and gazelles. Additionally, workers who died during construction were often poorly buried, which may have provided an accessible food source for the lions.

However, the latest study of the remains of these lions reports that the lions hunted humans due to dental problems and not due to hunger or other problems.

Meat grinder in the swamps of Ramri Island (Burma)

Massacre on Ramri Island

Felines have earned a sinister reputation due to their deaths. large quantity people than any other predator, but this is not true. It is estimated that for every person who dies due to a tiger attack, 100 die from snake bites. In fact, the most famous wild animal attack on humans doesn't even involve mammals. This happened in February 1945 on a swampy island in South-East Asia, in the habitat of a saltwater crocodile.

The Japanese troops that were at that time on Ramri Island were surrounded by British troops and it is impossible to imagine that the enemy onslaught was the least of the problems that existed on the island at that time. Naturalist Bruce Wright, who was in the area on board a motor boat, recalls with incredible horror the time after 19.20: “Among random shots, in complete darkness, the screams of people were heard, who were torn by the jaws of large reptiles and the vague terrible noise of their movements was heard. At dawn we were able to observe how scavengers were clearing away the human remains that the crocodiles had left behind." Of about 1000 Japanese soldiers who went to the swamps to try to escape the siege, only 20 survived. Today saltwater crocodiles or saltwater crocodiles(lat. Crocodylus porosus), continue to be the most dangerous animals for humans. The fact is that adult males, which can exceed 5 meters in length, are able to catch even a buffalo weighing almost a ton with their huge jaws armed with 66 teeth.

Video. Crocodile Massacre: Crocodile Attacks on Ramri Island

Shark feast in the Pacific Ocean

Shark attack in the Pacific Ocean

Five months after the Ramree Islands massacre, the sailors of the U.S.S. "Indianapolis" faced a similar fate. On July 16, 1945, the US cruiser left San Francisco with several containers carrying some parts of the Baby bomb that would be dropped on Hiroshima on August 6. Leaving her cargo at Tinian (Northern Mariana Islands), the Indianapolis sailed, performing maneuvers. However, shortly after midnight on July 30, he was hit by two torpedoes fired from a Japanese submarine. It sank in just 15 minutes.

Of the 1,199 people on board, about 900 were saved, they were injured and severely burned. Shipwrecked, began to group together to survive in the water. At dawn, the first tiger sharks appeared, some of which can reach 5 meters in length. Although some witnesses claim that when there were at least two hundred sharks in the waters, dehydration was not as dangerous as sharks.

Captain Lewis Haynes, the ship's doctor, reported that "the night things were shocking in the darkness. I read in the report that some destroyers recovered 56 mutilated bodies.” What happened next was even worse; on August 2, the plane spotted survivors. After splashdown, the crew of the seaplane picked up people who were hanging from the wings of the plane on parachute lines; they took as much as they could. After five days of constant attacks, rescuers discovered that only 317 men had survived.

This incident with the crew "Indianapolis" found its reflection in the 2016 film “Cruiser”.

Today, the media periodically report shark attacks on people near beaches. And although the threats of hunting hyenas and saber-toothed tigers belong to the distant past, there are still large predators capable of awakening in us the primitive atavistic fear of being eaten.

Gustav - the largest crocodile in Africa

The only photo of Gustav

Gustav is the name Nile crocodile, a giant who lives in Burundi. Over the past 20 years, Gustav has terrorized the people of Burundi, dodged hunters and escaped death in Lake Tanganyika. The crocodile was named Gustav by the Frenchman Patrice Faye, who lived in Burundi for about 20 years.

Gustav is supposedly 7 meters long and weighs about 1000 kg. It is believed that he is largest crocodile in Africa and even in the world. His age is also difficult to establish; it is generally believed that he is 70-100 years old. Gustav was hunted and killed many times; he is easily recognizable by his characteristic bullet scars: one on his head and three on his right side.

Gustav is a remarkable cannibal and is responsible for more than 300 human victims. Although this number is likely exaggerated, Gustav has acquired an almost mythical status and is greatly feared by many locals. Legend has it that he developed a taste for human flesh by feeding on corpses in the water killed during the Civil War.

Faye has been trying to catch a crocodile for 11 years and has already become a local hero. He has now changed his strategy and no longer wants to kill Gustav, but he intends to attach a sensor to the animal to follow his tracks. At one point, Faye tried to catch Gustav with a trap used in Zimbabwe to hunt giant crocodiles. But he failed to deceive the animal. Even though Gustav approached the trap, he never fell into it, and eventually it became so heavy that it sank to the bottom of the river.

According to the Frenchman, “we live in an era in which creatures like him are becoming increasingly rare.” Faye says that when he followed the crocodile for three months, Gustav ate 17 people. Faye believes that if he killed people at the same rate for 20 years, he would have already eaten more than 300 people. But the Frenchman says Gustav has already gone longer periods without eating a single person.

According to Patrice Faye, the animal's enormous size means that there is not enough food in the form of fish in the lake to satisfy its hunger. Moreover, being so huge, he has become slow and therefore has no choice but to hunt down easier prey. There is no easier prey in the water than people. So perhaps it's not a matter of taste, but rather a matter of what he can hunt down and kill.

Gustav is depicted in the crocodile film Primeval Evil (2007), where giant crocodile presented as an exaggerated version of Gustav the crocodile, as a predator who hunts people even on land, among other things that are pure fiction and exaggeration of the film.

First shark attack on humans, New Jersey

Photo. Caught 10ft shark

This is considered one of the first and more famous stories shark attacks on people happened in 1916. At that time, little was known about the nature of sharks and, in principle, they were considered safe for humans. During this incident, several sharks attacked people, usually their attacks are not coordinated in any way. It all started on the American coast in New Jersey, when the first attack took place in shallow water where 25-year-old Charles Vincent was swimming with his dog. Several people witnessed this attack, members of his family, as well as a rescuer who rushed to help the man. The shark showed persistence and swam away from its victim only when rescuers arrived. The shark cut the femoral artery with its sharp teeth, and there was literally no flesh left on the other leg. The guy died from blood loss before he was taken to the nearest hospital. This was an unheard of incident at that time.

Five days later, the same shark makes its second attack 45 miles north of the first location, the victim being Charles Bruder. Witnesses to the tragedy at first thought that a red canoe had capsized, but as it turned out, it was bloody water around the man. The shark completely bit off both legs, the man died before he was pulled out of the water to shore. From what she saw, one woman fainted. Scientists at that time believed that killer whales did this, but not sharks.

The next attack occurred not at sea, but in a local stream flowing into the ocean, not far from the city of Matawan. Some people reported seeing a shark in the creek, but no one believed them. On July 12, an 11-year-old boy was dragged underwater by a shark. Local residents gathered near the stream, but no one dared to get the child; Stanley Fisher decided on this noble deed. He jumped into the water and was literally immediately attacked by a shark; he died from his injuries.

The last victim was a teenager, this happened just 30 minutes after the attack on Fischer. And despite the serious injuries he received, the boy managed to survive, he was the only person to survive in this series of murders. A female white shark was caught in the Matawan Creek on July 14th with human remains (15 kilograms) still in its stomach. Not everyone believed that it was the same shark. Today scientists believe that White shark could have been guilty only in the first two incidents, in the last one in freshwater it was most likely bull shark, as it is adapted to survive in freshwater and is more aggressive than the white shark.

It was from this time that the reputation of the white shark moved into the range of “man-eaters” and the so-called shark panic began. This incident became the catalyst for Peter Benchley writing the novel Jaws; Spielberg later directed the film Jaws, based on the novel of the same name. Since then, people who have watched this film have been wary of bathing in open ocean and this continues to this day.

Revenge of the Brown Bear Kesagake

Killer bear near one of the houses

It is generally accepted that in Japan the giant wasp is the most dangerous wild animal, even more than the brown bear, with an average of 40 people killed by the giant wasp per year. The year 1915 in Japan became truly bloody, especially for the local population of the village of Sankebetsu, which is located on the island of Hokkaido. At that time, this settlement was small, brown bears lived nearby, and one of them was the largest male, like Kesagake.

This bear periodically came to the corn crops and ate it, which caused discontent among the Japanese. One day, two daredevils decided to kill him, but all they managed to do was wound a wild animal that hid in the mountains. The residents decided that such actions would force the bear to stop and he would no longer disturb their crops, but they were mistaken.

On December 9, 1915, the Kesagake bear returned to the village. He entered the house of farmer Ota and first attacked the child, and then chased the farmer’s wife, who desperately fought him off with sticks. He took her into the forest anyway. When people entered the house, they saw nothing but blood. 30 people went into the forest to find the bear and kill it, they tracked it down and wounded it again, they also managed to find the hidden body of a woman, which was discovered under the snow, apparently he hid the body to eat it later.

The next time the bear went to another house, where they were less expected to meet him, it was the house of the Miyuoke family. Not all people died; some managed to escape. As a result, two children were killed in this house, but also a pregnant woman who was carrying another child under her heart. At this time, the hunters were in the house of farmer Ota and thought that the bear would return there, but even here they were mistaken. As a result, six people were killed in two days. The villagers were horrified; many people posted around the perimeter of the village did not want to remain at their posts and simply fled from them.

The famous hunter at that time was informed about the incident and at first he refused to help the residents of the village of Sankebetsu, but soon agreed and on December 14 he managed to track down the bear and kill it. The bear turned out to be very large, reaching 3 meters in height and weighing 380 kg, and there were still human remains in its stomach. The deaths stopped, but some died from their wounds. The village never entered the modern region and became a ghost village. Even today, this incident is considered the worst case of wild animal attacks on humans in human history.

To date, the history of brown bear Kesagake is reflected in local folklore; his name can also be heard in numerous plays and novels, and comics. In addition, in this village everything remains the same after the bear attack, the situation in the damaged houses has been preserved, even a wooden sculpture of a bear (pictured) can still be seen near one of the houses.

Mysore sponger

Mysore ogre

Sloth bears (often called sloth bears due to their appearance) are quite charming in appearance. No one would have thought that these bears are capable of not only killing a person, but also eating him, albeit partially. They prefer to eat fruits than meat. It's a shame that they see man as a predator. This is possible due to many generations of our ancestors hunting them. The sloth bear reacts to people the same way it reacts to tigers and leopards. It will growl loudly and then either retreat or become angry, and when a sloth bear attacks, it uses its large claws and the person's head and face are the first to be affected.

The Mysore sloth fish began attacking people in the Nagwara mountains, east of Arsikere, in the Indian state of Mysore. He settled in an area that was inhabited by humans, and he lived there for a short time before he began attacking people. Those who survived the attack usually lost their eyes and parts of their nose, and those who were killed often had their faces missing, skinned off, and partially eaten.

The bear became so bloodthirsty that it eventually attracted the attention of famous hunter Kenneth Anderson, who made it his personal mission to track and kill the bear. Anderson had to organize three hunts to track and successfully kill the cannibal. The beast killed at least 12 people and about twenty more suffered from its claws.

Alligator-man-eating two-toed Tom

The alligator that killed many people

It is now difficult to find real glimpses of the existence of this American alligator, nicknamed Two-Toed Tom. Many believe that this story contains more fiction than truth. In the twenties, centuries passed in the swamps between Alabama and Florida, this alligator reigned. He received his nickname from the local population after he once fell into a trap and lost all his fingers, leaving only two fingers on his left paw, which is why he always left a characteristic mark on the ground. It reached 4 meters in length and half a meter in width. The locals were afraid of him and compared him to the demon who came for them.

He earned his bloody fame for eating livestock, like cows and mules, and, of course, people. Women suffered the most from him, as he loved to hunt them while they were rinsing clothes in a pond. People, of course, tried to kill him, but even the bullets didn’t hit him, as if they were ricocheting off the animal’s skin. One day, a farmer who had been tracking him for 20 years tried to kill him with dynamite. He threw as many as 15 buckets of dynamite into the pond and blew them up; everyone in the pond died, but not Tom. Only a few minutes passed when that farmer heard clicks nearby, he immediately rushed towards the voice, but all he saw was Tom’s ominous eyes, plunging under the water. After some time, a half-eaten body was found there; it was a farmer’s daughter, apparently she was standing on the shore.

Rumors about Tom's bloody deeds haunted the immediate area for several years. Even years later, in the eighties, it was reported that they allegedly saw an alligator with two fingers. Many hunters tried to kill that crocodile in order to decorate their trophies with Tom's two-fingered paw. But Tom was never caught.

Photo. The Beast of Gevaudan in art

From 1764 to June 1767, a huge wolf killed 80 people and injured 113 people (different sources give different figures). The Beast of Gevaudan (French: La Bête du Gevaudan) is known to attack exclusively women and children living in isolated cottages and farmsteads while they were caring for animals and harvesting crops in open fields. Men and cattle were not to his taste. Although no, there were sheep and goats.

Witnesses told how the beast would attack unexpectedly, sometimes from above, usually in broad daylight. After he killed, he disappeared into dense areas of forest and grassy hills.

Just like Conan Doyle's fictional dog, this creature was somewhat similar to ordinary dogs and wolves, but was different from them and looked scarier. Eyewitnesses reported an animal with a sleek dark body, strong athletic legs, a long thin tail and a huge head covered in powerful teeth. Others recalled it as an animal with reddish-brown fur and stripes running down from its back. Some said that the Zhevaudan beast attacked quietly, while others spoke of a terrible high-pitched bark, like the neighing of a horse. His exploits quickly spread throughout the country, even reaching Ludwig XVI in Versailles, who ordered hunters to kill the beast.

The Beast of Gevaudan remains a mystery to this day. Maybe it was a hyena that escaped from the menagerie? Or maybe it was a wild hybrid with the predatory instinct of a wolf, but which, like a dog, was not afraid of people? Or maybe it was just big wolf? After all, the records mention a 79-pound monster, almost twice the size of an average dog. Some witnesses reported that the beast could "swish away" bullets - evidence of local superstition that it was a werewolf or an evil spirit sent by God to punish their sins. Such stories were more likely to be heard from incompetent hunters justifying their inability to stop the beast.

Sometimes the Zhevaudan beast attacked several times in a day and in the following days often left its victim uneaten, which indicated that it was not starving. Some witnesses stated that he wore armored fur, like a boar, which explained the bulletproof ability of this demon. One of the surviving victims even claimed that the beast walked on two legs. Or maybe it was a man wearing the skin of a wolf? Several witnesses said they saw a man with this beast.

On September 21, 1765, François-Antoine de Beauterne, a professional wolf hunter, shot and killed a large creature near Chaz Abbey to the delight of local residents. Then in December, another beast attacked and injured two children near Bessere-Saint-Marie. Was it a coincidence that the second beast appeared so soon in such a remote corner of France? One way or another, several deaths followed.

A 2009 investigation uncovered the potential criminality of Jean Chastel, who killed a second beast in June of 1,767 people. Investigators were interested in how farmer Chastel shot the animal when the most best hunters they couldn't do this to the wolves. They concluded that the beast was somewhat familiar with Chastel before he was shot. Or maybe this man was protecting him?

Video. Beast of Gevaudan

As for motives, some believe that Chastel or one of his sons was serial killer, and the Zhevodan beast was an ideal way to hide crimes. Others claim that Chastel's son had a hyena and a huge red mastiff in his menagerie, which contributed to the appearance of the desired monstrous offspring in the form of a female wolf. Chastel was a farmer who convinced people that beast of prey attacks their women and children, he easily tracked down real wolves who were stealing the farmer's sheep and goats.

The body of the animal, shot by Chastel, was taken to Versailles. By the time the carcass reached the king, it was rotten and it was ordered to be destroyed.

Years later, the terror perpetrated by the Zhevodan beast was reflected in old stories about a predatory wolf that hunted girls near the forest. The story also found its niche in local folklore. It is said that Jean Chastel killed the Beast of Gevaudan with a silver bullet made from a coin with the image of the Virgin Mary.

Jim Corbett

TEMPLE TIGER

INSTEAD OF EPIGRAPHES

1. “Soon the tiger extended his paw forward, followed by the other, then very slowly, without lifting his belly from the ground, he pulled himself towards the prey. After lying motionless for several minutes, still not taking his eyes off me, he felt the cow’s tail with his lips, bit it off, put it aside and began to eat... The rifle lay on my knees with the barrel in the direction where the tiger was, I just had to lift it to my shoulder . I could have done it if the tiger had taken his eyes off me for just a moment. But he was aware of the danger that threatened him and, without taking his eyes off me, he ate slowly, but without stopping.”

2. “...a group of twelve Europeans with combat rifles passed me. A few minutes later they were followed by a sergeant and two soldiers with flags and shooting targets. The sergeant, a kind soul, informed me that the people who had just passed were heading to the training ground and that they were sticking together because of the cannibals.”

3. “In general, tigers, excluding the wounded and cannibals, are very good-natured.”

J. Corbett. "Temple Tiger"

TEMPLE TIGER

Anyone who has never lived in the Himalayas cannot imagine how great the power of superstition over people in this sparsely populated region. But the various kinds of beliefs professed by the educated inhabitants of the valleys and foothills are not much different from the superstitions of simple, illiterate mountaineers. In fact, the difference is so small that it is difficult to decide where beliefs end and superstition begins. Therefore, I would ask the reader, if he has a desire to laugh at the simplicity of the participants in the event about which I am about to relate, to wait and try to establish whether the superstitions I have described differ in any way from the dogmas of the religion in which he was brought up.

So, after the First World War, Robert Ballears and I hunted in the interior of Kumaon. One September evening we camped at the foot of Trisul, at the very spot where, we were informed, eight hundred goats were annually sacrificed to the spirit of that mountain. There were fifteen mountaineers with us. Never before on a hunt have I had to deal with people so cheerful and zealous in fulfilling their duties. One of them, Bala Singh, a Garhwalian, I knew for a number of years, and he accompanied me on many expeditions. He was especially proud of the fact that during the hunt he carried the heaviest bale of my luggage and, walking ahead, encouraged the others by singing. In the evenings, at rest stops, before going to bed, our people always sang around the fire. That first evening at the foot of Trisul they sat longer than usual. We could hear singing, clapping, shouting and banging on tin cans.

We had decided in advance to stop in this place to hunt tahrs, so we were extremely surprised when in the morning, sitting down to breakfast, we saw that our people were preparing to break up the camp. When asked to explain what was the matter, they replied that this site was not suitable for a camp, that it was damp, the water was undrinkable, fuel was difficult to get, and that, finally, there was a better place two miles away.

My luggage had been carried the day before by six Garhwal men. I noticed that now the things were packed into five bales, and Bala Singh was sitting by the fire, separately from everyone else, with a blanket thrown over his head and shoulders. After breakfast I went to see him. The others stopped working and began to watch us with intense attention. Bala Singh saw me approaching, but did not even try to say hello (which was unusual for him) and answered all my questions only that he was not sick. That day we walked the two miles in complete silence. Bala Singh brought up the rear and moved as sleepwalkers or drugged people move.

What was happening to Bala Singh also depressed the other fourteen people; they worked without the usual enthusiasm, tension and fear were frozen on their faces. While they were setting up the tent in which Robert and I lived, I took aside my Garhwal servant Moti Singh - I had known him for twenty-five years - and demanded that he tell me what had happened to Bala Singh. Moti avoided answering for a long time, saying something unintelligible, but in the end I got a confession out of him.

As we sat near the fire last night and sang, said Moti Singh, the spirit of Trisul jumped into Bala Singh's mouth and he swallowed it. Everyone started screaming and hitting tins to drive out the spirit, but we didn’t succeed, and now nothing can be done.

Bala Singh sat to the side, the blanket still covering his head. He could not hear my conversation with Moti Singh, so I approached him and asked him to tell me what had happened to him the previous evening. Bala Singh looked at me with eyes full of despair for a minute, then said hopelessly:

It is useless to tell you, sahib, what happened last night: you will not believe me.

Have I ever not believed you? - I asked.

No,” he answered, “you always believed me, but you won’t understand that.”

Whether I understand or not, I still want you to tell me in detail what happened.

After a long pause, Bala Singh replied:

Okay, sahib, I'll tell you. You know that when our mountain songs are sung, usually one person starts singing, and everyone else picks up the chorus in chorus. So, last night I sang a song, and the spirit of Trisul jumped into my mouth and, although I tried to push it out, jumped through my throat into my stomach. The fire burned brightly, and everyone saw how I struggled with my spirit; the others also tried to drive him away, shouting and hitting the jars, but,” he added, sobbing, “the spirit did not want to leave.”

Where is the spirit now? - I asked.

Putting his hand on his stomach, Bala Singh said with conviction:

He is here, sahib. I feel him tossing and turning.

Robert spent the entire day exploring the area west of the camp and killed one of the tars he encountered. After dinner we sat until late at night, discussing the situation. For months we made plans and dreamed about this hunt. Robert and I walked for seven days along difficult roads to the hunting site, and on the very first evening after arriving here, Bala Singh swallows the spirit of Trisul. It doesn't matter what Robert and I thought about it. What was important was that our people believed that the spirit was really in Bala Singh’s stomach, so they avoided him in fear. It is clear that hunting in such conditions was impossible. Therefore Robert, although very reluctantly, agreed that I should return with Bala Singh to Naini Tal. The next morning, after packing my things, I had breakfast with Robert and headed back to Naini-Tal. The journey there was supposed to take ten days.

Leaving Naini-Tal, thirty-year-old Bala Singh was a cheerful and full of energy person. Now he was returning silent, with a dull look, and his appearance indicated that he had completely lost interest in life. My sisters - one of them was a medical aid worker - did everything they could for him. He was visited by friends, both those who came from afar and those who lived nearby, but he sat indifferently at the door of his house and spoke only when addressed to him. At my request, he was visited by the district doctor of Naini-Tala, Colonel Cook, a man of great experience and a close friend of our family. After a long and careful examination, he stated that Bala Singh was physically completely healthy, but he could not establish the cause of his apparent depression.

A few days later, an idea struck me. At that time, a famous Indian doctor was in Naini-Tala. I thought that if I could persuade him to examine Bala Singh and only then, after telling about what had happened, ask him to convince the “patient” that there was no spirit in his stomach, the doctor would be able to help the trouble. This seemed all the more feasible since the doctor not only professed Hinduism, but was himself a mountaineer. My calculation did not come true. As soon as the doctor saw the “patient,” he immediately suspected something was wrong. And when, from the answers to his cunning questions, he learned from Bala Singh that the spirit of Trisul was in his stomach, he hastily recoiled from him and, turning to me, said:

I am very sorry that you sent for me. I can't do anything for him.

There were two people from the village where Bala Singh lived in Naini Tal. The next day I sent for them. They knew what had happened because they had visited Bal Singh several times, and at my request they agreed to take him home. I supplied them with money, and the next morning all three set out on an eight-day journey. Three weeks later, Bala Singh's countrymen returned and told me what had happened.

Bala Singh reached the village safely. On the very first evening after arriving home, when relatives and friends gathered around him, he announced that the spirit wanted to be freed and return to Trisul, and the only thing left for him, Bala Singh, to do was die.

And so,” they concluded their story, “Bala Singh lay down and died; the next morning we helped burn it.