THE WILD BEASTS OF BOMBAY. /TIGER AT MAHIM,HYENA AT BYCULLA,TIGER AT ESPLANADE,TIGER AT MAZGAON,HYENA AT MALABAR HILL,TIGER AT GOWALIA TANK

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,

BOMBAY BYCULLA CLUB

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.

Flora and fauna: (left to right) A painting shows a tiger entering a village; a painting of a Pink-headed Duck, a bird that was common in Mumbai in the 1920s; and a painting by J.P. Irani. Photograph

A tiger on Malabar Hill

3 min read . Updated: 04 Sep 2009, 09:53 PM IST Mumbai Multiplex | Living Jewels of Indian Jungle

A 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.

Flora and fauna: (left to right) A painting shows a tiger entering a village; a painting of a Pink-headed Duck, a bird that was common in Mumbai in the 1920s; and a painting by J.P. Irani. Photographs courtesy Bombay Natural History Society

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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