MALABAR HILL FOREST
THE WILD BEASTS OF BOMBAY.
1783. — The Governor and most of the gentlemen of Bombay
go annually on a party of pleasure to Salsette" to hunt the wild
boar and royal tiger, both of which we found here in great
plenty. — Hector Macneill.
1806, December 17th. — Two gentlemen at 7 a.m. riding
towards the bungalows of General Macpherson on the Island of
Salsette, near the village of Coorla, two tigers came out of the
jungle as if ready to spring, crouched, and were observed to
betake themselves to the jungles and hills of Powee, fifty yards
in front of the horses.
And in this connection two persons on November 4th
were carried off by two tigers from a native village nearly
opposite to Powee, near the high road leading from Sion to
Tanna.
The natives believe the tigers are human beings, and
have gold rings in their ears and noses.
One native's body they had sucked all the blood out of it,
otherwise not eaten. They took away a herdsman driving
his fl^ck.
1819,
— There were in all only three deaths recorded in
India of Europeans from snake-bites in the years 1817, 1818
and 1819.
1820, December 23rd.
— A large lion killed within eight coss
from Ahmedabad.
1822, February 9th.
— A tiger on Malabar Hill came down,
quenched his thirst at Gowalla Tank, and ran off over the hill
between the Hermitage and Prospect Lodge. Prints of its feet
were distinctly visible this morning.
1828.
— At Colaba Ferry a huge shark was observed in
proximity to some bathers.
1830, January 13th.
— A large hyena is prowling about
Malabar Hill on the western side between Mr. Nicol's residence
and Vaucluse, " as good sport as a Mazagon tiger."
— Bombay
Gazette.
1839, June 25th. — Lieutenant Montague, at Colaba, returning
from mess, put his foot in a hole, received a slight wound which
in twenty-five minutes carried him off. Some jurors thought it
was from the bite of a serpent.
1841, September 15 th. — A man bitten by a snake on the
Esplanade.
1849. — A finback whale driven on shore at Colaba, 60 feet
long, 30 to 40 feet round the thickest part. All along the road
from the Fort to Colaba was a perfect fair. . The stench was felt
from the town side of the causeway from where it lay at the
back of Colaba Church. Jawbone taken away. — Gentleman s
Gazette.
1850, Oct. 9th.
— A tiger at Bandoop leaped upon the mail-
cart and upset it, and the gliarry-wallah was little injured. I
saw jackals several times in the gardens of the Colaba Observa-
tory in 1844.
— Dr. Buist. On tins Mr. Charles Chambers, F.K.S.,
observes (1893) : " I found a jackal in my bedroom in the
Colaba Observatory about fifteen years ago."
A jackal was killed in the new High Court Buildings shortly
after they were finished.
1858, March 3rd
.— Some officers of the P. and 0. steamer
Aden observed a tiger swimming from Mainland to Mazagon.
A boat was lowered and the crew armed with ship's muskets.
When they came up to it the brute was boarding a buggalow,
and was being kept off by the lascars by handspikes. It was
shot through the head by six balls. Weight, 353 lbs. Length
to tip of tail, 8 ft. 9 ins.
1858, May 26th.
— A young Portuguese this day shot a tiger
at Mahim, and on the 27th inst. brought the carcass to the
Chief Magistrate for the reward,
1859. — To-day Mr. Forjett with a fowling-piece shot a tiger
within a few hundred yards of the fashionable drive on the
Esplanade, and on the beach of Back Bay near Sonapore. Mr.
Forjett promised the hide to Dr. Birdwood for the Museum.
—Bombay Gazette.
Feb. 6th. — On this day, Sunday evening, the wife of Mr.
Pratt, uncovenanted assistant in the General Department Secre-
tariat, walking along with her husband in the fields adjoining
their residence at Mahim, trod on a snake and died two hours
afterwards.
— Bombay Gazette.
Feb. 15th. — ■A tiger was seen sloping about the nooks of
Kalpadavie, but disappeared.
Nov. 12th. — Dr. Turner, P. and 0. service, at his residence,
Chinchpoogly, was bitten by a venomous snake on the calf of
the leg. His leg swelled to an immense size. A friend of his
made an incision, sucked the wound, and he is now recovering.
Kov. 16th. — A cobra, 4 ft. in length, killed in Secretariat
compound, Apollo Street.
1860,
Oct. 31st. — On Sunday a snake was seen amusing
itself round one of the pillars in St. John's Church, Colaba, a
few yards from the reading-desk, and not long ago a cobra was
found in the organ. — Times and Standard.
Dec. 5 th. — A hyena shot while devouring a bullock not far
from the Byculla Club House.
1861,
Nov. 26th. — Hyenas quite common at night, prowling about the Byculla Flats. 1863,
Jan. 25th.— Tiger at Mahim, near railway station. Two natives killed by it. Shot.
A tiger on Malabar Hill
3 min read . Updated: 04 Sep 2009, 09:53 PM ISTA tiger on Malabar Hill
A large tiger was shot in the vicinity of the Vehar
Lake, Salsette on Tuesday, January 22, 1929.
The animal was killed by
Mr. J.J. Sutari, to whom I am indebted for the following particulars.
Mr. Sutari and a party of friends were out after the usual type of game
the Salsette jungles provide, which is mainly wild boar. They took up
their positions in the vicinity of the south end of the lake shortly
after sunset and waited for something to turn up. Towards 10 p.m. Mr.
Sutari’s attention was aroused by the sounds of some animal approaching.
One can well imagine his astonishment when a tiger walked out of the
shadows into the moonlight. The tiger came steadily on, when at a
distance of 12 yards, Sutari fired his 12-bore loaded with ball and
dropped the animal in his tracks. The tiger in question, a straggler
from the main land, probably crossed over by swimming the Thana Creek.
An animal doing so would find immediate shelter in the jungles which
cover the hilly portions of Salsette.
Tigers appear to have been fairly plentiful in Salsette at the end of
the eighteenth century. Hector MacNeil (Archaelogia, vol. vii, 1873)
tells us that in 1761 “the Governor and most of the gentlemen of Bombay
used to go annually on a pleasure party to Salsette to hunt Wild Boar
and Royal Tiger both of which were found there in great plenty." Records
of the occurrence of tiger in these islands during the nineteenth
century are few and far between.
In 1806, two tigers were seen near
General Macpherson’s bungalow at Kurla, while a few days previously two
persons were carried off from a village a little further north, it is
presumed by the same animals.
On February 9, 1822, a tiger on Malabar
Hill came down and quenched its thirst at Gowalia Tank and ran off up
the hill between the Hermitage and Prospect Lodge. The imprint of its
feet were clearly visible the next morning (Bombay Courrier, February
10, 1822).
The Bombay Courrier of December 1829 records the sudden
appearance of a tiger at Mazagon, the animal apparently swam across the
harbour and landed near the ruined Mazagon fort. It was driven into the
compound of Mr. Henshaw’s bungalow where it was eventually shot by the
guard of the Dockyard and several Arabs. It measured 8’ 8".
On March 2,
1858, the crew of the steamer Aden killed a large tiger which was
swimming across to Mazagon from the opposite shore. The animal attempted
to board a small boat and was kept off with hand pikes by the lascars.
It was eventually dispatched with “six balls through its head". (Bombay
Times, March 6, 1858).
In May of the same year a tiger was killed in
Mahim woods by a young Portuguese, while on January 26, 1863, another
tiger was killed at Mahim after mauling a Parsi cart-owner and
committing other damage. (Bombay Times, January 27, 1863).
James Douglas
(Bombay and Western India) writing about tigers in Salsette gives an
amusing narrative of a “traveller (was it Silk Buckingham?) in Salsette
who was suddenly surprised by his palkee being dropped and the coolies
bolting. The palkee was closed, and he soon felt outside the Jhilmils
something of a fee-faw-fum character. Stripes was wide awake and the
coolies, up a tree, were wide awake also. He didn’t sleep much that
night I tell you."
In 1907, a tiger was shot at Pir Pau, Trombay, near
Sandow Castle by Mr. Mullan of the Bombay Port Trust. This with the one
cited above are the most recent records.
Living Jewels of Indian Jungle, published by BNHS, 204 pages, Rs1,600. The pre-publication price of the book, to be ordered from BNHS directly by 12 September, is Rs1,000. For details, call 022-22821811.
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