Unfortunately this was the last hunting day in Nepal!

The brave natives did their utmost to get me a tiger for the farewell. In multiple locations of the jungle bulls were bound in place and in the morning there was truly a report that in two locations there had been kills. While the camp at Katni was being dismantled in order to transfer it to Bhanderia, 10 km distant, we rushed to the first location of a kill which was just in the place where I had shot the panther the day before. According to the shikaris the confirmed tiger was the one that had killed an animal the day before and dragged it for 400 paces. This seemed to be an experienced tiger that had probably survived a hunt because, when we arrived on the spot, the shikaris reported that they had seen the tiger but failed to encircle it. Probably the tiger had escaped — that they wouldn’t admit — in a very skilful way.

As we had to look for the tiger in the direction that fled, a line was formed and a beautiful forest crossed. It was evident to order not to fire on any other animals. By chance, as always happens in such cases, we discovered a large number of the most interesting game and within close shooting distance: capital chitals, muntjacs, even timid swamp deer dared to approach close to our elephants. After a long search, the shikaris gave up their hope of finding a tiger.

Breakfast was intended to sweeten the necessary consultation. I was already on the verge of enjoying myself. But no breakfast was prepared as the people in charge of it got lost with their elephants in the jungle; after barely half an hour, the carriers of supplies arrived attracted to the correct location by the hungry and thirsty cries of our English companions, so that we could breakfast for an hour.

In the mean time the shikaris advanced with the hunting elephants to track another tiger. We followed on riding elephants, passed by the empty camping location of Katni and finally found the shikaris at the shore of a river in a high reed jungle where they had encircled not a tiger but instead a panther. We had just climbed into our haudas, when the reed moved and the panther escaped out of the ring in full flight through a spot loosely guarded by elephants, without a possibility of firing a shot in the reed.

But this didn’t perturbate the shikaris used to such events — a few commands shouted out, the circle opened, the wings spread out anew and after about 200 paces closed again, so that only a few minutes later the panther was encircled again. It tried to escape again but was stopped by a dense phalanx of elephants and fled in the opposite direction only to be shot by me.  This panther was even stronger than the one from the day before.

On the way back from hunting the panther through a thick forest, consul general Stockinger suffered a slight mishap, as he was struck so hard on the head by a falling branch that one could see the  hit’s bloodshot marks on the forehead.

In the bright moonlight we occupied the new camp at Bhanderia south of Katni.

Links

• Location: Bhanderia, Nepal
• ANNO – on 25.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Rosenkranz und Güldenstern“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing once again „Die Rantzau“.

The natives were expecting a tiger with full certainty as they had bound many bulls at a very suitable spot. When it was reported at 9 o’clock that a tiger had killed, the hauda an hunting elephants soon departed. We followed an hour later. Despite the head start, we soon caught up with the mahauts who did not seemed pressed for time as we found them and their elephants bathing in the river. Now it was time to wait until a number of elephants were sent out into the jungle in which they hoped to confirm the tiger.

Strangely, the people dislike being observed in the activity of confirming and encircling. We were thus waiting for some time in the shadow of tall shala trees until finally the head shikari signalled us to move. After only a few hundred steps we met a number of mahauts who stood around helplessly and told us that they were looking for the tiger but could not find it near the killed animal. Still during this explanation, we heard someone shout „bagh, bagh“ in the vicinity and suddenly the whole forest was alive. Out of all directions elephants approached with their guides who had been on the lookout. We too rushed as fast as our elephants were able to the spot where the shout of „bagh“ had rung out, while the drivers tried eagerly to form the seeming disorder into a circle.

My elephant advanced in giant steps across the thick tree jungle. I was fully occupied with protecting myself against the many branches hitting the hauda when I heard great cries on the left and just thereafter I could see in the distance a chital and almost in its footsteps, a strong panther cross in full flight. Its size made me first assume the panther to be a tiger and fired, despite the great distance, after having found the time to shout „Rok!“ to my mahaut. I believed to have missed as the panther continued to flee without being touched. Fortunately it ran in time against the just forming circle where the shouts of the elephant drivers made it reverse direction.

The panther soon emerged from under a tree where it had hidden in a cat like manner and advanced towards me. When I fired at the most suitable moment to fire two shots, my rifle didn’t go off as my hunter had in the heat of the moment forgotten to reload after I had earlier fired twice on the panther. I quickly forgot my anger about this incident as the panther turned again and passed me for the second time in flight where I shot it. The natives justly wait for some time after the kill of a big predator before they approach it. The wounded panther too rose again even though he had seemed dead, roared again when we came close so that I had to kill it with another shot.

The death of this panther made the people very happy as they claimed that this remarkably big male had caused much damage to the neighboring herds and had been known as a terrible enemy. The panther had an especially beautiful golden yellow spotted skin and seemed really to have been an old, very quarrelsome fellow as its whole body was covered in bite marks and the right fang had been shot away probably by a native with a shotgun as only the root of the teeth remained. Under the skin were numerous broken porcupine pricks.  Porcupines are said to be the panther’s favorite food, but it is obtained not without a fight as the proofs from this bagged animal showed.

The shikaris wanted to attempt another sweep to find the tiger as they claimed that the panther could not have killed the animal in the morning. A tiger must have done it as the bull had been dragged for 400 paces which a panther is not able to do. The line was formed and a forest jungle crossed. Some streams as well as various rather bad crossings were forded, no sight of a tiger, however.

Thus a general shooting was commanded. Directed by the resident we turned straight south, crossed a river and even the border, hunted for a while in British India and returned with a turn back into Nepalese territory. We did not meet new species but bagged numerous wild boars and peacocks as well as all kinds of huntable animals. We also killed multiple specimens of the beautiful small Indian civet.

At a distance of 8 km from the camp after sunset the line was dissolved and a very funny race of all 150 elephants to the camp was arranged by the natives. The animals moved at an astonishing speed, driven most fervently by their mahauts. We amused ourselves splendidly in this strange race despite our being mercilessly flung around in our haudas. I was quite proud that my big elephant was one of the first to reach the goal. He had, though, two native jockeys who, one on the right, the other on the left, continuously beat the thick skin of the elephant with a wooden cudgel to incite the elephant to run at top speed.

Returning to the camp we learned that during our absence a funeral had taken place in which the body of a coolie who had died the day before was burned.

Links

• Location: Katni, Nepal
• ANNO – on 24.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. Archduke Karl Ludwig was presented the concept of „Old Vienna“ for the world exhibition in Chicago by the exhibition committee. He in turn has promised that Franz Ferdinand would pay a visit during his stay in Chicago.
• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Faust“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing the ballet „Ein Tanzmärchen“.

Attentively we were expecting the reports which arrived only towards 9 o’clock in the morning with the good news that a tiger had been confirmed. Close to the spot where I had killed a tiger on 20th March we encountered the circle already completely formed in a grass jungle surrounded by tall trees. Hodek, who had asked for permission to ride  with the advance party of the shikaris, shouted to u from afar that a very strong tiger was inside the circle. He had already closely observed the tiger as it had jumped up just in front of his elephant during the formation of the circle. Having just arrived in my position, I saw the grass move in front of me, my hunter even claiming to have directly seen the tiger itself. Unfortunately the resident called me to abandon my position with the best intention and had me placed exactly on the opposite side which offered a much worse position as the first one.

A few seconds later I saw the tiger covered by the grass sneaking forward and induced me to fire which caused it to flee with a roar towards Wurmbrand who put a bullet in it. It recoiled towards me and I killed it with three bullets. Now it was time to examine it closely as Wurmbrand and I had fired from the same side. To my regret, the tiger had but one bullet on that side, above which were placed my three killing shots. As the tiger fell after Wurmbrand’s shot, I must have apparently and I have to admit that this fact made me quite a bit jealous for Wurmbrand’s shot as the tiger was an especially strong, beautifully colored male. The old guy must have lived through such a procedure as we discovered between the neck and shoulder a fully enclosed round bullet of a large caliber which once must have caused much discomfort.

The natives seemed not to like the hunt’s result as I had not killed a single one of the four tigers bagged during the last three days. They returned to the camp to where we followed them an hour later only for them to go in the afternoon looking out for a panther that had killed to the south of the camp. At our arrival in the camp, it was however reported that the panther had not been found and as a replacement a general shooting would be undertaken.

When we readying us for the shooting, I noticed that some people were setting fire behind the line to smoke out a burrow visible in the high jungle. My question regarding this received the reply that this was only a bit of play of some people. Reassured, we started the hunt in a plain at the shore of a larger river in which I bagged a beautiful Bengal bustard with white wings and a capital hog deer with high strong antlers and two small Indian civets, as well as various other small game.

Unfortunately, a large hyena escaped us in a strange way. I was just passing through a tall grass thicket when some elephant guides close to me shouted something in Nepalese to me and just then started to pursue a piece of game shouting and gesticulating. They had it soon surrounded. I asked the resident who was riding beside me what it was and he answered that it was only a small Indian civet that one could not see in the tall grass and that’s why it would be futile to ride to the animal’s current location. Thus I continued my ride but I was astonished and not particularly pleased, when I looked back, to see a huge hyena emerge and escape out of the easily reachable thicket. I could not send a bullet after it as between the hyena and my position were people and elephants. Clam and Crawford could only fire a few futile shots at great distance.

After the hunt had ended, people brought us two hyenas to the camp which had been smoked out and slain from the burrow we had discovered at the start of the hunt. Thus I had afterwards reason to be angry about not having been told the truth about the game inside the burrow as I would have assisted with great interest in the unearthing of the young hyenas. The hyena killed during the hunt must have been the mother of the young which were already of a size comparable to a grown European fox. In the evening we paid a visit to the camp of our elephants to observe them eating their meal.

Links

• Location: Katni, Nepal
• ANNO – on 23.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. The Neue Freie Presse reports about Jules Ferry’s funeral in Paris.
• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Bernhard Lenz“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing „Die Königin von Saba“.

Today’s hunt was pretty much a failure, but the true hunter is well advised to remember the saying. „Every day there may be a hunt, but there will not be a catch on every day.“ The weather was just as splendid as it in in our country during especially fine September days.

The morning report said that a strong tiger had killed 11 km to the north of the camp. We therefore should leave quickly and go to the spot of the kill. The hunting and hauda elephants had already left, we followed them in a very pleasant ride through green shala woods to the hunting ground situated almost at the foot of a mountain. There we were received by the shikaris whose faces showed disappointment. The reported that they had already formed a circle but couldn’t find the announced tiger. The native hunting masters as well as the resident who had ridden with us were also very disappointed and after a long war council, had sent out trackers to check the most suitable places in the surrounding areas. Unfortunately in vain.

A breakfast had to save the situation. Afterwards, in want of tigers, there was a  general shooting with meagre results despite spending four hours on it. The good-natured natives were very unhappy about the day’s failure and sent out many people out on the same afternoon to search for tigers in order to promise with certainty a tiger the day after.

Links

• Location: Katni, Nepal
• ANNO – on 22.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. Based on one of Franz Ferdinand’s own letters home, the Neue Freie Presse summarizes his days in Jodhpur and mentions the killing of a Tiger at the end of February.

Franz Ferdinand in Jodhpur and hunting tigers in February (Neue Freie Presse, 22 März 1893, S.6).

• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Kriemhilde“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing Verdi’s „Der Troubadour“.

In the morning it was said that a strong tiger had killed during the night and had been confirmed almost certainly in a valley not very far away. Against the resident’s advice to send the hunter with the hauda elephants in advance and only follow-up an hour later, we preferred to ride along and were received at the location by the maharaja’s uncle with the message that the tiger was still young and  was staying at the spot of the kill. When the wings  advanced to form the circle, the tiger transformed itself into a panther,  and out of the panther into  — nothing. Rather disappointed we left the jungle but as the natives still counted on the presence of a tiger and assured us that one was in the vicinity, a line was formed and a hunt was started in a very open adjacent jungle where no other game than a tiger was to be shot at.

The excellent hunting instinct of the shikaris was splendidly proved as we might just have advanced for about half an hour when th cry of „bara bagh“ rose on the left flank. I was in the center together with Wurmbrand and Kinsky. We had to wait while the wings of the shikaris were ordered to close the circle.

My mahaut pointed constantly to a rather distant grass bush,  shouting „bagh“, but I could not see anything as I had a very bad position in the line in a small depression surrounded by trees. In order not to confuse the natives, I kept at my position and saw the tiger move between the trees at a considerable distance while the wings were closing the circle. At that moment, a shot was fired by Kinsky and the struck tiger fell down and lay down near a large tree. Shortly afterward, Wurmbrand on the left of me shot at a weak tiger that I could not see and that, also hit, hid in a grass bush. Immediately afterwards I saw a third tiger, very distant from me, move across a small clearing directly towards Clam who shot it whereas the animal still tried to escape near Kinsky’s but was killed by him,

During the wheeling of the left wing, there was a slight perturbation during which a fourth tiger managed to escape and Fairholme tried to encircle it with some elephants. Stockinger and Prónay wanted to close the gap but lost their direction and suddenly appeared  in the heat of the hunt in the middle of the circle and, meeting the tiger wounded by Wurmbrand, opened a sustained rapid fire on it, so that it, pierced by seven bullets, died.

As I saw that the hunt was over, I called Kinsky to come to me and showed him the wounded tiger he had shot in order that he might fire a killing shot. It was his first tiger, a strong female, the mother of the other two one-year-old tigers. The fourth tiger that had escaped must have been the third child of the tigress.

During today’s hunt — another proof of the skill, the quick orientation and the hunting instinct of the Nepalese — we have learned about a new uncommon method of encircling the tiger in a completely open jungle without undergrowth, as the tigers up to now used to be encircled in the thick high grass or reed. Unfortunately, due to my bad position, I had not seen much of today’s hunt but Clam told me that his view across a clearing offered a rare spectacle. When the tigress noted the presence of all the encircling elephants, she sat down, apparently determined to defend herself and her family to the utmost. She placed one of the young on her right, the other on her left, rose on her rear legs and started baring her teeth and roared loudly in all directions.

Unfortunately, during this hunt another elephant was wounded but this time not by a tiger bite but by a stray bullet which might have been deflected from a tree and entered just above the tusk into the elephant’s trunk. Also one of the elephant guides had been wounded by a branch that had been cut by a shot but the wound was minor. A few rupees in compensation served as the best remedy according to the man’s facial expression. Such wounds occur as one has to constantly shoot into the circle and the smooth shala and teak trees easily deflected bullets.

The old uncle of the maharaja was very indignant about the fact that I had not shot a single tiger but I calmed him with the assurance that I was as happy to see the gentlemen of my entourage shooting and had the line form for a general shooting on the way back to the camp. In the surrounding of the camp there was remarkably fewer game than around the first camps as the natives are much quicker to shoot. They still need a special permission to shoot a tiger which is given in case when a tiger inflicts large losses on the cattle herds of the neighboring settlements.

Unfortunately a hornbill was missed again; Fairholme bagged a black buck, the first we had seen in Nepal.

Towards the end of our hunt, close to our camp, two elephants started fighting one another without a known reason. One inflicted with its tusks a heavy tearing and bruising wound on the other elephant’s mahaut’s hollow of the knee and wounded the man so gravely that the poor guy had to spend many weeks in bed to recover.

In the camp we paid a visit to the poor wounded elephant and saw that it was being treated by the doctor. I admired the intelligence and the patience of the animal.  On the order of the guard, the elephant lay down on the right side and looked with smart eyes upon the doctor who examined the wound with a probe without finding the bullet. If the elephant was in pain, it only moved its lips but otherwise kept completely calm, also during the more painful washing and swabbing of the wound, as if it was aware that this procedure would be beneficial. The calm of the animal was even more to be admired as the tears that were flowing from the small eyes proved that the pains that the poor „Hathi“ had to bear were considerable.

Links

• Location: Katni, Nepal
• ANNO – on 21.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Bernhard Lenz“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing Rossini’s „Der Barbier von Sevilla“.

During the whole night it rained incessantly. Towards the morning, the storm calmed down so that we could at least undertake a hunt, as no tiger had been confirmed, in the jungle next to the camp which proved to be almost bereft of game. One could only hear the sound of a shot once every half hour. When we intervened with the hunting master,  the maharaja’s nephew, he explained to us that he had predicted this but nevertheless led us to this hunting ground as he had been informed that a tiger was in this forest.

To offer a goal for all further discussion, he ordered to arrange a breakfast and rest to which I happily agreed, as during our previous expeditions breakfast had proved favorable opportunities in a change of our hunting fortunes and especially as we soon resumed the hunt in a better mixed jungle.

I had just passed a small gorge and the whole line had entered a jungle of very high grass and reed when I found parts of a cow killed by a tiger in the grass. I made the shikaris riding beside me aware of my find. Having examined the killing ground closely, they shook their heads and held a long discussion with vivid gestures among themselves which I interpreted that the tiger could not be very far away. The had the right wing of the line halt which had already entered the jungle, while the left wing which had lagged behind a bit was wheeled inward with me in the middle acting as a pivot.

Now came a moment which will always remain a black mark in my tiger hunts but for which Saint Hubertus will hopefully forgive his eager follower  As I knew that the wheel of the left wing would take some time, I was sitting carelessly with the shotgun in the hand in my hauda.  Suddenly I see a long yellow line in front of me in the grass. Jumping up and shooting happened in one instance, even though I had already realized that a tiger was in front of me. Thus I had not replaced the shotgun with a rifle in the heat of the moment but fired at a noble tiger with size 8 pellets. I quickly grabbed the rifle but it was too late. The tiger fled after the shot and disappeared into the tall grass. Deeply ashamed and also very angry about this incident which could only be excused in case of a very inexperienced huntsman, I stood there and shouted out with all the voice that my body could produce, thus venting some of the anger about myself „Bara Bagh, Bara Bagh!“ to inform the other gentlemen about the presence of the tiger.

The tiger fled away from me in a straight line and I feared that the circle would not be closed quickly enough. But the encircling proceeded at the usual order and speed, so that when the first shikari entered into the middle, the roar of the tiger joyfully assured us of its presence within the circle. Already when I was standing there with the emptied shotgun, I saw that it was an especially large tiger which we were facing and which did not make us wait for a long time but rushed, a beautiful image of force and strength, upon Wurmbrand who shot it in the leg just as it was started to jump. Roaring loudly, the tiger retreated into the grass, jumped at another circling elephant and finally perished from another shot.

It turned out to be the strongest tiger that we had killed up to now, an especially large specimen with a mighty head and long fangs, one of which was carious, a sign of very old age. During the opening of the stomach, a well preserved half of a cow with skin, head, ears etc. was found. Also found while puling off the skin were my shot pellets sitting straight on the shoulder.  I kept them as a sad memento. Overall, I was very glad that it was Wurmbrand who was the lucky hunter who bagged the tiger as he had not yet had the chance. The continuation of the hunt did not result in much game but at least representatives of a new species for us, two large Indian civets (Viverra zibetha) that are marked by intense and numerous dark spot and stripes.

Towards evening when we had already returned to camp a heavy storm erupted which continued to thunder without interruption.  The pouring rain was in no way helping in reducing the humidity in the camp still wet from the day before.

During dinner, there suddenly was sounded a tiger alarm. Frightened coolies rushed in with the message that a tiger had killed a bull and was sitting on it. The people, fearing for their own animals, made fires everywhere. The message, however, turned out to be false, so only a scared feeling lingered on.

Links

• Location: Beli, Nepal
• ANNO – on 19.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Das Käthchen von Heillbronn“ in the afternoon and „Kriemhilde“ in the evening, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing „Die Jüdin“.

Breaking up the camp at Guleria proved difficult as it was awkward to fold and roll up the wet tents. No message had arrived about tigers. As it currently was not raining, a hunt to the east;  the line had hardly been assembled when the mountains became covered again with clouds and a hard rain started to pour down which would continue the whole day, apart from small interruptions, and would become even more intense in the evening.

The terrain of today’s hunt was especially difficult as we had to cross a winding river with steep banks at least twenty times, hard work for our elephants. Furthermore, we had, for most of the time, to walk through a jungle of trees, so that the heads of the elephants and the knives of the natives had much to do.

Just at the beginning a tiger was discovered, the hunt for other game halted and only the tiger was sought out;  but as its tracks were soon lost, the order came soon to resume hunting all game.  I then bagged my first swamp deer which was only one year old but in its meat already as strong as a well huntable deer in our forests.  By the way, the thick jungle in which the natives had placed great hope turned out to be a poor hunting ground in game.

When we entered into a larger cattle track road, I saw a bird of the size of a dwarf bustard  fly away which I could not target. As the bird was very timid and did not tolerate elephants, I sneaked up to it on foot and bagged it to my great joy. It turned out to be a very rare ibis (Geronticus papillosus) with steel blue wings, brown body and red head.

At that moment a large eagle flew closely over me. I just had time enough to load with a fresh bullet to shoot it out of the air. During the hunt I had the misfortune, while a difficult crossing had sent my hauda into notable up and down shifts, to miss an especially beautiful hornbill.

The rain became heavier and heavier, the elephants grew tired due to the large number of obstacles and due to the wet, slippery ground. We were completely soaked to the skin. The belts and straps of the haudas moved more and more — so we finally arrived in a very miserable state at the camp at Beli. Here, the sight was very dismal indeed. Between the tents one got nearly stuck in mud. No fire could be ignited; everything was wet and the doctor ran around continually with quinine pills, attacking anyone with them who he met to ban the specter of malaria  which was very common here.

Links

• Location: Beli, Nepal
• ANNO – on 18.03.1893 in Austria’s newspapers. On 17 March, the French politician Jules Ferry died from heart disease.
• The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „Julius Caesar“, while the k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is performing „Cavallaria Rusticana“ and „Rouge et noir“.