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In times past, I used to wonder about Exodus 23:29 in the Bible. God tells Israel, through Moses, that though he will drive out the people of Canaan before them, he will not do it too quickly: “I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.” I have thought “how could the beasts of the field, meaning predators like lions – there were lions in Canaan at that time – become a problem for the people?” Then I read Man-Eaters of Kumaon by Jim Corbett, and I finally understood.
Man-Eaters of Kumaon, published in 1944, is a true story of events that actually happened to the author, Jim Corbett (1875-1955), in northern India in the early 20th century. Jim Corbett worked many jobs but he is primarily remembered today as an Anglo-Indian hunter and author. And by hunter, I don’t mean he occasionally shot a squirrel – he hunted tigers and leopards.
In particular, Corbett hunted man-eating tigers and leopards, great cats that because of some injury or old age, turned from their natural prey to human beings. In northern India at that time, the population was sparse enough so that wild animals, particularly tigers, abounded, a few of which were man-eaters. Many villages were terrorized by this type of tiger, some of whom were known to have killed hundreds of people over periods of years. That made me finally understand Exodus 23:29.
Jim Corbett was called in because of his hunting prowess, his bravery, and his intelligence. He realized that hunting a man-eater was totally different from hunting a normal tiger. When you are stalking a normal tiger, it is trying to get away from you. When you are hunting a man-eater, it is also hunting you! Corbett explains how this forces a change in tactics for the hunter. He killed many well-known man-eaters and became, for good reason, very popular with the villages that he helped!
With his vivid description of the jungles and the tigers he is hunting, combined with the matter-of-fact ways he portrays blood-chilling scenes, Man-Eaters of Kumaon is a wonderful book from which much can be learned. I would say that upper middle school to high school is the right sort of audience for this book, although any adult can read it with enjoyment, too.