GIFT OF
Prof. C.A. Kofoid

SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

THE AUTHOR— A SNAPSHOT IN EAST AFRICA IN 1910.

[Frontispiece

SPORT IN ASIA
AND AFRICA

BY

SIR RICHARD DANE, K.C.I.E.
N

ANDREW MELROSE, LTD.
LONDON & NEW YORK

JFirst

1.92 1

PREFACE

IN December 1918, after five and a half years of
most strenuous work in China, I found myself
once more an idle man ; and, to employ my
unaccustomed leisure and beguile the tedium of
the long journey from China to England, I wrote
an account of some of my shooting and fishing
experiences and adventures. With the exception
of some notes regarding the dates of my shooting
expeditions, and the notes about bears, which
are referred to in Chapter IX, I kept no shooting
diaries or notes, but I have consulted the diaries
of my friend Mr. W. B. M. Bird, and my memory
is very retentive. I think, therefore, that I can
vouch for the substantial accuracy of all state-
ments made, and for the complete accuracy of
the description given of the more important
incidents. Some of the actual dates given have
been taken from Mr. Bird's diaries, and some
from entries on the shields upon which trophies
have been mounted.

With the exception of two or three stories,
which have been introduced, the experiences
and adventures narrated are those in which I
actually took part, and I therefore make no
apology for the continued use of the personal
pronoun. Opinions may differ on the point,
but those books about sport, in which the author

vi PREFACE

relates his own. personal experiences, have always
appeared to me to bethe most interesting; provided,
of course, that the narrative bears the stamp of
truth, and that failures as well as successes are
faithfully recorded.

The book has been written partly in the hope
that it may be of interest to some readers, and
partly with the object of placing the events
narrated on record before my recollection of them
becomes dim — Olim meminisse juvabit.

I do not pretend to have ever been a good
shikari. I began big-game shooting too late in
life to become an expert in the business ; and
I am not specialty observant, and was handicapped
to some extent by deafness. In forest hunting,
good hearing is almost as important as good
sight. I was, however, a fairly good rifle shot,
especially at stationary objects, and was a good
walker and had a considerable amount of endurance
and pretty good nerves. My native hunters,
whether they were Indians, Africans, or Chinese,
have usually worked well for me ; and I was
fully conscious of my own limitations, and was
not too proud to obtain help from others to make
good my own deficiencies. With these qualifica-
tions, I managed to have some very good sport,
to secure some fine trophies, and to come unscathed
through some fairly exciting adventures.

If a perusal of the book gives to any of my
readers a tithe of the pleasure which some of the
experiences have given to me I shall not have
written in vain.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I

MM

INTRODUCTORY. I

CHAPTER II

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES . . 13

CHAPTER III

THE PATLI DUN 46

CHAPTER IV

MAHSER FISHING 56

CHAPTER V

MY FIRST EXPEDITION TO BRITISH EAST

AFRICA 74

CHAPTER VI

A WEEK OF DISASTER .... 101

vii

viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER VII

PAOX

FOUR DAYS . . . . .112

CHAPTER VIII

BORNEO 133

CHAPTER IX

A SHOOT IN INDIA IN IQII-I2 . . . 145

CHAPTER X

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS .... 156

CHAPTER XI

MY SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA . 170

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE AUTHOR — A SNAPSHOT IN EAST AFRICA IN IQIO

Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

MIHTAB KHAN AND CHAINCHAL .... 4

WAITING FOR A SHOT IN A BEAT WITH ELEPHANTS 6

MONGOLIAN OVIS AMMON AND CHINESE HUNTERS . 8, IO

THE DEAD TIGRESS . . . . ... 40

THE DEAD TIGER 42

BIRD'S FIRST TIGER ...... 44

MESSRS. BIRD, WOOD, AND THE AUTHOR . . 74

JUDD TOWING DEAD HIPPO ..... 76

A KIKUYU WARRIOR ...... 78

A KIKUYU MAIDEN ...... 8tf

BIRD WITH DEAD WILDEBEEST .... 86

GRANTII AND THOMSONII GAZELLES QO

BAMBOO JUNGLE ON KENIA MOUNTAIN ... 98

WOOD WITH DEAD ELEPHANT .... TOO

SWAMP DEER HEADS 102

x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

INDIAN BUFFALO AND GAUR OR BISON HEADS . 126

INDIAN BUFFALO HEAD 1 52

HANGUL OR BARASINGH HEADS . . . -154

SAMBUR HEADS l6o

CHITAL OR SPOTTED DEER HEADS . . 1 68

GIMLETTE'S BUFFALO (BOS GAFFER) . . .214

THE BAG ON THE AUTHOR'S SECOND AFRICAN

EXPEDITION 234

SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

IN my youth I shot urial (mountain sheep) in
the Jhelum district of the Punjab, but it was not
until 1899, when I was forty-four years of age,
that I had either the time or the opportunity
for big-game shooting. I lived, however, in hope.
In 1879 my right eye was badly injured in a polo
accident, and I taught myself to shoot from the
left shoulder in the hope that some day the chance
of using a rifle might fall to my lot. I should
have probably been a better shot at birds than
I am if I had continued to shoot from the right
shoulder and used a gun with a bent stock, but
I succeeded in learning to shoot very fairly well
with a rifle.

As a boy my imagination was fired by the lion
stories of Gordon Cumming and of Jules Gerard ;
and when, after my appointment as Commissioner
of Northern Indian Salt Revenue in December
1898, the time for big-game shooting did come,
my first desire was to shoot tigers. The Jemadar
of the office, Mihtab Khan, was a genuine en-
thusiast for this form of sport. He was a most
useful man on a fishing expedition, as he was
i

2 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

very clever in manipulating steel wire, and could
handle a fish, when brought to the bank, dexter-
ously enough ; but, except that he was very
fond of fish to eat, it was plain that he considered
any time devoted to fishing misspent. The
pursuit of a tiger or a panther was, in his eyes,
the most suitable recreation for a gentleman ;
and, if' -my inclinations required any stimulus,
h.e.was invariably ready to supply it.

Later on, when I had had more experience, I
found that stalking the buffalo and the bison,
or still-hunting in the forests of the Central
Provinces, with the possibility of an encounter
with some dangerous animal, had superior attrac-
tions ; but, for some years after I began big-game
shooting, my attention was almost entirely given
to the pursuit of tigers and panthers. My luck
with these animals was not particularly good.
I cannot claim to have shot more than thirteen
tigers and four panthers, and I made several
blunders in my encounters with the former —
more, I think, than I made in my encounters
with other animals. Eight of the tigers, however,
I killed outright myself, five of them with a single
shot for each, and I successfully followed up
on foot and retrieved two wounded tigers single-
handed; so that my record is not altogether an
inglorious one.

I have heard an officer with good judgment
say that, in his opinion, tiger-shooting was a
very much overrated sport. It is true that
there may be very little excitement about the
death of a tiger, and the sport is frequently
followed in the hot weather and under uncomfort-

INTRODUCTORY 3

able conditions. After days or perhaps weeks
of watchful waiting, you find yourself in a machan,
or platform, constructed in a tree, with the sun
beating hot upon your head. Sitting absolutely
motionless in the heat induces drowsiness, and,
while you are struggling against sleep and won-
dering whether the tiger is really in the beat,
a shot rings out, and then there is silence. All
is over, and the only thing for you to do is to
go and see the dead tiger, congratulate the lucky
sportsman, and wonder whether the game has
really been worth the candle. In a well-managed
beat it frequently happens that the only sportsman
who sees the tiger is the one who shoots him ;
and, if the beat is arranged by experts and the
sportsmen are good shots, a single shot very often
finishes the business. If the tiger is only wounded
and a follow is necessary, the game becomes
exciting and dangerous enough to satisfy anyone;
and a beat, when the tiger's line of retreat has
been incorrectly judged, and he begins roaring
and trying to break out through the Stops, is
also very exciting. Much of the tiger-shooting,
however, which is done from machans is undoubt-
edly tame work, and, unless the sportsman follows
up the wounded animal himself, it is no more
dangerous than partridge-driving.

A tiger-shoot with elephants is more diverting,
as there is more to keep you interested and amused.
The elephants are a constant source of interest,
either in the camp or in the beat ; and it is a fine
sight, when the mahouts, or drivers, know that they
have a tiger before them, to watch the elephants
crashing through the jungle shoulder to shoulder,

4 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

breaking trees in their progress, so that the line
may be maintained.

In this game more appears to me to depend
upon the elephant than upon the man. Staunch-
ness is, of course, the most necessary qualification,
but it is almost equally important to have an
elephant which is active and can move rapidly
from one point to another. On two occasions,
when I shot in the Nepal Terai with friends, I
was fortunate enough to get the loan of a splen-
did female shooting-elephant, named Chainchal,
which belonged to the Rana of Bhinga ; and on
both of these occasions I gave a very good account
of myself. On other occasions, when the elephant
I had was unreliable, I was unsuccessful.

A drawback which attaches to tiger-shooting
in parties is the scheming of the Indian shikaris
to get the shot for some sportsman they favour,
either because he is a local magnate or because
they hope to receive a liberal reward from him.
If the man favoured by the shikari is sitting on
one side of the beat, the shoulder of the beat,
on the other side, is thrown forward, and the
tiger is in this way induced to advance in the
direction of the favoured gun. It is wonderful
how a beat can be manipulated by an experienced
shikari. If the business is overdone the tiger
breaks out on the flank before coming up to the
guns. I have, more than once, seen a tiger lost in
this way, which might easily have been bagged ;
and the scheming, whether successful or unsuc-
cessful, is a cause of annoyance.

The mortification of failure in a tiger-shoot
transcends also, in my opinion, the pleasure of

MIHTAB KHAN AND CHAINCHAL.

INTRODUCTORY 5

success. More than once, when I had made a
mess of things, I resolved to leave the pursuit
to others ; but, like Omar Khayyam, " Repentance
oft I swore; I swore, but was I sober when I
swore ? " ; and the discovery of fresh tracks, or an
invitation to join an expedition with the chance
of a tiger, were too much for my resolutions.

Sitting up at night over a kill for a tiger is
considered by some people to be poaching and
unsportsmanlike, but I entirely disagree with
this view. It will generally be found that the
people who condemn this form of sport admit,
upon cross-examination, that when they have sat
up nothing has come. They had not, probably, the
patience and the fortitude — and very consider-
able fortitude is often required — to sit quiet
enough. I heard some native shikaris, on one
occasion, discussing the merits of a deceased
Indian gentleman. " Kaisa machan ka baith-
newala tha ! " (And what a sitter he was in a
machan !) said one. The remark made me laugh
at the time, but there are unquestionably just
as many grades of sitters in a machan as there
are grades of trackers, or of rifle-shots.

I had not much fortune when sitting up either
for tigers or panthers ; but, in my opinion, it is
fine sport, and the man who, by sitting motionless
for hours, outwits and shoots a tiger in this way,
in entitled to far more credit than a sportsman
who is led up to a machan in a beat arranged by
someone else, and then kills a tiger by a shot at a
few yards' distance. Certainly some of the most
interesting and exciting experiences I have had
when tiger or panther shooting have been in a

6 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

machan sitting up over a kill, though, as above
said, my successes were few and my failures
were many. Good hearing and the ability to
see in the dark are important qualifications for
success in this form of sport ; and in both of these
qualifications I was deficient.

It is certainly very trying to sit up all night,
but to sit for four or five hours is very enjoyable ;
and in the Central Provinces the plucky little
aborigines are always ready to come and help
you down at any hour you may appoint. The
shikari in the districts in the United Provinces,
which lie along the edge of the Terai, is, so far as
my experience goes, a coward, and is afraid even
to visit a kill except on the back of an elephant.

I have shot in India good specimens of tiger,
panther, bear, buffalo, gaur or bison, and also
good sambur, swamp-deer, barasingh and chital
stags and good black buck, nilgai, four-horned
antelope, and kakar, or barking deer, but I was not
fortunate enough to secure any trophy in India
which was out of the common. All the heads in
the illustrations were, however, obtained either
by fair stalking or by good shooting in chance
encounters, when I v/as still-hunting in the forests
in the early morning or the late evening. I got
some good heads whilst still-hunting in the
Central Provinces, but it must be confessed
that I also shot a good many chital and sambur
stags which ought to have been spared. It is
difficult in this kind of shooting to pick your
head : you must shoot at once, or the animal
vanishes.

I had some fine sport in India, but my best

INTRODUCTORY 7

shooting was in East Africa, and the two
expeditions which I made to that country are
described at some length. In Africa my fortune
was good, and I succeeded in shooting there
some very fine antelope-heads.

Africa was the country to which my youthful
fancy turned, and Africa still possesses a wonderful
fascination for me. I had made all arrangements
to spend a whole year in the country, and to
shoot both in North-West Rhodesia and in
Uganda, when the Chinese requested me to assist
them to reorganise their salt revenue administra-
tion. I gave up my projected expedition with
much regret, and doubt if I should have agreed
to give it up if my brother had not brought
strong pressure to bear upon me.

While I succeeded in bagging most of the game
which is to be shot in the plains of India, I had
no luck with the red dog. On more than one
occasion I had a difficult shot at one, but was
invariably unsuccessful. I have seen a good-
sized boar with tusks which had been killed by
these dogs, and from the tracks it did not appear
that more than three or four dogs had taken
part in the attack. On one occasion, while I
was fishing in the Patli Dun, some hillmen
informed my servants that they had seen a small
tigress at bay against a rock, surrounded by dogs.

On one occasion I was actually stalked by two
dogs which mistook me for some animal. I was
still-hunting in the evening with two natives
along the edge of a clearing in the Balaghat
district, and two young sambur came gambolling
out from the jungle not far from us. We squatted

8 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

in the grass, unseen by the sambur, and then a
peacock, from the top of a sal-tree in the vicinity,
began calling. It was a most unmistakable
warning ; and the little sambur at once began
looking in every direction for danger. They
failed, however, to detect us, and after a time
they moved on; but the playfulness was gone,
and they were evidently serious and frightened.
We also got up and went on, and almost imme-
diately saw a red dog. I sat down in the grass ;
and, as I did so, a fine dog joined the other,
which appeared to be a bitch. They soon caught
sight of me, and, while the bitch walked to the
rear, the dog came towards me, bounding over
the grass. When he was about 40 yards from me
he saw his mistake, and with a startled growl
he turned and bolted. The bitch was standing,
and I fired at her through the grass, but missed.
I have, on two or three occasions, tried to shoot
an animal through grass, but invariably without
success. Either the stems of the grass deflect
the bullet, or they obscure the aim. It was
apparently against the dogs that the peacock was
warning the sambur. Peafowl and the barking
deer are the watchdogs of the jungle.

The only additions which I made in China to
my collection of Asiatic trophies are a good
Siberian roe-deer and the two Ovis Ammon
heads shown in the illustrations, which were
shot in the hills fringing the Mongolian Plateau.
I shot the Ovis Ammon by fair walking and
stalking at the age of sixty-three, after two
unsuccessful expeditions, and was not a little
proud of the achievement.

INTRODUCTORY 9

I was so busy in China that I had very little
time for recreation of any kind, but I was able
to gratify to the full my propensity for wandering,
and made most extensive tours in connection
with my work. During the five and a half years
that I was in China I visited most of the important
salt-works on the coast from Korea to Tongking,
and also made two expeditions to West China,
visiting the provinces of Yunnan, Szechuan, and
Kansu. In the autumn also, when the weather
was favourable, I usually spent three weeks or a
month under canvas, to have some vigorous
exercise and keep myself in health. The breezy
uplands on the border of Mongolia inhabited by
these sheep offered a pleasant hunting-ground.
The country is sparsely populated, is within
easy access of Peking, and the people are accus-
tomed to tents. In other parts of China the
intense curiosity of the people makes tent life
rather trying.

On my way to Yunnan in January 1915, in
the course of a brief shooting expedition on the
northern frontier of Annam, which was kindly
arranged for me by the acting Governor-General
of Indo-China, I shot, in company with M.
Jardin, one of the Secretaries to the Government,
a gaur or bison by moonlight, but unfortunately
the beast turned out to be a cow. The jungle
was too dense for stalking, and the only chance
of sport was to wait in a clearing, which the
animals frequently visited in the evening. I
had shot a small bull two days before ; and the
bison did not, in consequence, come out from the
forest into the clearing in which we were waiting

10 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

until the moon was up. We then heard them
moving and went after them. The first animals
we came to galloped off, and then stood at a short
distance. We followed and found ourselves
confronted by three bison, which faced us in the
moonlight, snorting, at a distance of about 30
yards. We fired simultaneously at the largest
of the three, and knocked it over like a ninepin
with shots in the chest and shoulder; but the
sex was unfortunately wrong. I have not heard
of bison being shot by moonlight before, but this
mode of hunting ought to be effective when, as
not infrequently happens, a solitary bull is known
to be in a particular place. The bison appear
to be bolder in the moonlight, and a first shot
at night with a follow on in the morning would
be safe enough.

No account of my shooting and fishing experi-
ences in India would be complete without some
reference to Mary, a New Zealand or Waler mare,
who was my faithful companion upon many
an expedition. Mary was the most accomplished
and intelligent horse I have ever seen. I bought
her as a five-year-old in Calcutta in 1896, and,
with intervals of leave and visits to England,
I owned and rode her until the spring of 1913,
when I finally left India. She was then showing
signs of old age, and I secured for her a comfort-
able home. I bought her as a trapper, and she
was first-rate both in saddle and harness, and had
a wonderful constitution. I rode her several
times upon inspection duty through the Punjab
Salt Range and the Kohat Salt District in the
North- West Frontier Province, and I rode her

INTRODUCTORY 11

twice from Raipur in the Central Provinces to
the border of the Madras Presidency, and on
several other tours in the United and Central
Provinces. She was amazingly sure-footed, and
negotiated successfully year after year the peril-
ous paths on the slopes above the Giri River in
the hills near Simla, where mules used to meet
with disaster. I have trotted her in her prime,
twenty miles along the Grand Trunk road from
Farrah to Agra in two and a half hours ; and she
was a fine swimmer, quite without fear in the water
and obeying the bridle and voice in the same
way as on land. I swam with Mary, both with
and without a saddle, the fords of the Giri in
high flood on two or three occasions ; and if at
any time I hesitated, owing to the force of the
current, she would reach at the bridle and
encourage me to launch away. As the fords
were always immediately above rapids, the per-
formance was a trial to the nerves ; and, if the
mare had lost her head, would have been very
dangerous.

She was also very gentle and affectionate, and
took great interest in what was going on around her.
On one occasion, when I was playing a big mahser,
her syce Mihndu was looking on, with the mare
at the end of a long rope. As the fish, yielding
to the pressure, loomed up from the deep water
in the pool, the mare took two or three paces
forward and stood alongside us with her ears
cocked, to see what was going on.

When she was twenty years old I galloped
down, on her back, a wounded nilgai bull after a
long chase. When the bull stood and faced us I

12 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

jumped off and fired. It was the last cartridge
I had, and I did not give much consideration to
Mary, and fired close to her ear. The bull fell,
but Mary objected to this treatment, looked at
me reproachfully, and then ran away home,
leaving me to find my way back in the dark.
She was very much attached to Mihndu, the
syce, and myself, and I rarely had any difference
of opinion with her ; and, except on one occasion,
when her feet slipped on a sloping rock, and the
slide ended in a scramble at the bottom, she never
gave me a fall in all the years that I rode her.

CHAPTER II

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES

I SHOT my first tiger in the Ranker State in the
Central Provinces in January 1900, under the wing
of a gentleman who had shot many tigers and
had had much experience of the sport. The lesson,
which I had taken most to heart, was that a
long shot taken in the direction of the beat
might drive the tiger back into the beat and lead
to a casualty among the beaters. There were
three tigers in the beat, a tigress and two three-
quarter grown cubs. My machan had been tied
in front so as to give me the first chance of a shot,
and my mentor sat in a machan behind me, so
as to shoot any animal which might escape me.
My machan was badly tied, especially for a
man shooting, as I do, from the left shoulder.
The string bed, which formed it, was tied with one
end facing the beat, and along the left of the
machan there were tree trunks. On this side,
therefore, I could fire only straight in front of
me, but I was too inexperienced to recognise
fully the unsatisfactory nature of the position,
and settled myself in the machan without making
any objection. As the beat proceeded the tigress
appeared and stood on my left front, looking
up apparently at one of the Stops. She gave me

14 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

as good a shot as I have ever had in a beat, as
she was broadside on and quite motionless ; but
the distance was over 100 yards, and, being very
anxious not to be the cause of any mishap, I
decided to allow her to approach. Suddenly,
with a " Wouf," she started off at a gallop to the
left, passed instantly out of my fire zone, and I
was compelled to look on helplessly as she passed
the machan. She was fired at but missed by my
mentor, and got clean away. One of the cubs
followed, and I got in a shot at it, as it passed,
but missed. The other cub gave me an easy
shot, and I killed it. If I had shot the tigress
we should probably have bagged all three, but
I had correctly carried out instructions, and the
instructions were absolutely sound. The line
between success and failure, in big-game shooting,
is a very narrow one.

I then shot a fine tiger in a beat in the Bustar
State, killing him with a single shot as he walked
fast through the bushes. I also killed a fine
panther by moonlight, when sitting up over a
kill, though the body was unfortunately not
found until the skin was spoiled. On the whole,
therefore, I did pretty well for a beginner in this
expedition.

I had also a very exciting sit for a panther in
the course of this expedition, which I have always
considered one of the most interesting and in-
structive of my experiences, although the result
was a failure. The panther had killed a bullock,
which was tied on a road running along the edge
of a rather thin forest with open ground for a
considerable distance on the other side of the

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 15

road. Gulali, the shikari, who was a very good
man at his work, thought that the panther had
retired across the open ground, and would approach
the kill from that direction. Instead, therefore,
of tying a machan for me in the forest, he made
a platform on the top of a large bush, which was in
the open ground about 30 yards from the kill.
I got into the machan about 4.30 p.m. in bright
sunlight, as it was the month of March, and had
not sat there for more than half an hour when I
saw the panther moving in the forest on my
right front, about 150 yards away. He climbed
on to a large rock, which was in the forest, and lay
down facing the kill, to watch the road. In my
position I was completely exposed from the
waist upwards, and a solah topee does not
harmonise with any greenery. In the position
in which the panther was, also, I must have been
well within his line of vision, as I was not more
than eight feet or so from the ground. I sat,
however, perfectly rigid, and the panther failed
to discover my presence. After watching for
half an hour or more he turned on the rock and
began to watch the road in the other direction.
A shorter inspection of the road on this side
was sufficient to reassure him, and he began to
approach the kill. He took all the cover which
was available as he approached, but the sun
shone brilliantly on his skin, and he was clearly
visible. When he reached the kill his back
was towards me, and I thought he was mine ;
but, as I raised the rifle, the animal lifted his
head and half looked round, and, apparently,
his eye caught the glint of the rifle-barrels in the

16 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

sun as he sharply cantered off. He gave me a
good shot as he cantered away, but I hoped that
he might return, and did not fire. He then took
up his position behind a bush in the forest about
80 yards from the machan, and began once
more to reconnoitre. It appeared to me, on reflec-
tion, that he must discover me this time ; and, as
I could partly see his outline behind the bush, I
took the chance and fired, but missed him. It
was bad luck. I ought to have waited for a few
seconds longer ; but, if he had not raised his
head at the wrong moment, I should certainly
have shot him. The incident showed me that,
if it is difficult for you to see an animal which is
standing motionless, it is also very difficult for
an animal to see you under the same conditions,
and I profited much by the experience.

I then took part in a tiger-shoot with elephants
in the Terai on the border of the Bahraich district
of Oudh, in April 1900, and my companions
were Mr. Harrison, the Collector of the district,
and Mr. A. Wood, the Manager of the Kapurthala
Estates in Oudh. I had the elephant Chainchal
on this occasion, and did pretty well. It was,
I think, established that I put the first bullet
into a tigress, which was subsequently killed by
Harrison; but I made no claim for the skin, as the
tigress was unquestionably knocked over and
killed by him.

We then had a beat for a tiger which was fired
at by both Harrison and myself, and badly
wounded, and was eventually finished off by
Wood. Both Harrison and myself were using
black powder ^500 Express rifles, but fortunately

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 17

he had only wax in his bullets, and I had copper-
tubes in mine. We both claimed the shot ; and,
as the result of a friendly discussion, it appeared
probable that the successful shot was Harrison's.
I therefore resigned the tiger with the best grace
possible, and we were all round the carcase
during the skinning operation, when Harrison's
servant, who was groping in the inside of the
tiger, held up something, saying, " What is this ? "
Examination showed that it was the copper tube
of my bullet, making it clear that mine had been
the successful shot, and the ownership of the
tiger was accordingly transferred.

This tiger broke out of the beat and might have
gone clear away before he was fired at ; but the
Maila nullah which we were beating, with its
cool, shady trees and dense cane brake and a
stream of water in the centre, was a favourite
place for tigers in the hot weather, and the
animal, sooner than face the burning heat of the
sun at midday, returned to the nullah further on,
and met with his death in consequence.

It is sometimes very difficult to decide who has
fired the first successful shot, but, if the contending
sportsmen are required to describe accurately
the position of the tiger when they fired, a care-
fully conducted post-mortem examination, after
removal of the skin, will generally disclose the
truth. The excitement of a tiger-shoot is not,
however, conducive to the frame of mind which
is required for a judicial investigation, and heated
arguments and disputes often result.

I shot a fine panther in the same beat as the
tiger, and Harrison also shot a female panther.

18 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

Two or three days afterwards Wood shot a good
tigress. The bag, therefore, was very evenly
distributed on this occasion.

My next tiger-hunt was in January 1901, in
the Patna State, which was, at the time, in the
Central Provinces, but has now been transferred
to Bengal. I had a female elephant to ride and
a good native shikari with me, but no European
companion, and the country we were hunting
contained buffaloes as well as tigers. The first
tiger we heard of was said to have eaten a certain
number of bullocks and buffaloes and two men,
and the Uriya villagers, who had suffered from
his depredations, were naturally very anxious
to have him killed. The first bullock we tied out
was completely devoured, and the tiger was not
in the beat. He killed again the following night,
however, and dragged the carcase of the bullock
from the road on which it was tied to a place
within a few yards of the edge of the jungle in
the direction of the village, and there lay up with
it. A machan was tied for me, and the beat was
lined up in the rice-fields, within a few yards—
as appeared from a subsequent examination —
of the tiger's resting-place. The first yell given
by the beaters evidently startled the tiger, and
before the beat had well started I saw him
emerging from the jungle on my right at a fast
trot. The Stop either did not see him or was
seized with panic, as he made no attempt to check
him. I turned quickly on the machan and fired,
and the tiger broke into a gallop and disappeared.
Examination showed that the shot had passed
under the tiger and struck the ground well beyond

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 19

the place where he had broken into a gallop. It
missed him, therefore, by a few inches only. The
direction was good, and the elevation only was
wrong.

This was a serious disappointment, but in the
night the tiger, who was evidently a very ravenous
brute, returned to the kill and dragged the remains
to another hiding-place in the same jungle.
The shikari wanted me to sit up for him, but I
decided to have another beat. On this occasion
the tiger emerged at a fast walk and gave me an
easy shot, but on my wrong side. I hit him with
the first barrel low down in the stomach. He
gave a tremendous " Wouf ," and went off at a
gallop. I swung round on the machan and,
as he was galloping off, made a good shot with
the second barrel, and put a bullet into the cen-
tre of his back. When the beaters came up I
descended and we began to look for blood. I
knew that I had hit him with the first barrel,
and the Stop on my left said that he had answered
to the second shot also. There was no blood,
however, and a small piece of fat about the size
of my little finger-nail was the only trace of the
tiger which could be found near the machan.
The ground was most unfavourable, with clumps
of bamboos at intervals and scrub jungle, as
high as a man's waist, in between. There were,
however, some trees. I sent for the riding
elephant, and we advanced together, the elephant
being a few paces in front, and I following on foot
and keeping, as far as possible, a tree between
me and the elephant, as I was doubtful of her
staunchness. Before we had gone far the mahout

20 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

declared that he heard the tiger growling, but I
urged him to proceed, and we advanced a few
paces farther. Then there was a roar, and the
elephant swung round and bolted. I have never
seen an elephant travel as she did on that occasion,
and the mahout said afterwards that she had
actually twisted his neck by the rapidity with
which she swung round. It was, however, a
case of " eyes front," and I stood waiting for the
attack. Fortunately for me, the tiger did not
charge, but retreated, attempting to escape.

The demonstration caused a general stampede,
but after some time my attendants were reassured
and returned. Mihtab Khan had, as he explained,
laid hold of the shikari as he was retreating, but
the shikari said that he had recently married a
wife, and was therefore obliged to take care of
himself.

A protracted reconnaissance made from trees
disclosed the fact that the tiger had gone, and in
the bamboo clump, in which he was lying, there
was a great pool of blood. The wounds had not
bled until he lay down on the ground. This
encouraged us all, and we started in pursuit,
tracking the tiger by the blood which was now
flowing. We followed him for a considerable
distance into the open country, and there in a
clump of bushes at the foot of a tree he lay up
again. The Uriyas, as Indians often do, passed
from panic to over-confidence, and I had the
greatest difficulty in keeping them behind me.
I had placed Mihtab Khan on the elephant,
which followed along behind us, to give confidence
to the mahout ; and from the elephant Mihtab

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 21

Khan and the mahout saw the tiger's ear move,
as he lay in the clump of bushes. The shikari
and I had passed within a few yards of him.
We drew back and held a council of war. I had
the black powder -500 Express, with which I had
shot the other four tigers, and the shikari had a
Lee-Metford. My idea was to give the Lee-
Metford to Mihtab Khan and allow him to fire
from the back of the elephant, and to shoot the
tiger, as he rose, with the -500 ; but the mahout
urged me to mount the elephant and shoot, and,
as she was then standing very quietly, I decided
to try this. The elephant, as I afterwards heard,
would not stand a shot-gun ; but, when drawn
back from the proximity of the tiger, she allowed
me to mount without difficulty and then, under
pressure from the mahout, she advanced and
stood within 30 yards of the bushes. After some
time I made out the outline of the tiger crouching
in the bushes, and the elephant allowed me to
take a steady aim. As soon as I fired, however,
she swung round with amazing quickness ; and,
seeing that I must be thrown off, as I was merely
sitting on the pad and my hands were engaged
with the rifle, I jumped and landed on my feet,
but fell back, cracking the stock of my rifle.
I sprang to my feet with very creditable rapidity,
but fortunately for me the tiger was done for.
He staggered to his feet but did not leave the
bushes, and a shot by the shikari finally laid him
low. My shot from the elephant merely passed
through the forearm and did him no appreciable
injury, but the shot in the back, as he galloped
off, had inflicted a mortal wound. The shot in

22 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

the lower part of the belly also caused serious
internal injury.

He was a young tiger, with a very good coat.
The shikari thought he was too young to have
commenced man-eating, but there did not appear
to be any other tiger in the neighbourhood, and
he was a very voracious animal. The view that
only old or crippled tigers become man-eaters
is only partly correct. Cubs, which have been
brought up on human flesh, and which have
repeatedly seen their mother attacking and killing
human beings, must frequently take to the business
when they begin hunting on their own account,
especially if game is scarce in the place in which
they reside, as was the case in the Patna State.
Altogether, this tiger provided three successive
days' entertainment. The rifle, though damaged,
was not completely unserviceable, and I was able
to go on shooting.

For some days after this excitement the
elephant was decidedly mischievous. On the
day following the death of the tiger she tried to
catch hold of a native with her trunk as he ran
past her ; and on another occasion, after the
mahout's wife had given her some bananas,
she seized the woman round the waist with her
trunk and lifted her up, but did not actually
injure her. I was in the tent when this occurred,
but, hearing a row, I came out and found the
mahout abusing the elephant as only an Indian
can.

She was, I think, the fastest and most comfort-
able elephant I have ever ridden, but she had a
temper and was said to have killed several people.

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 23

The mahout managed her well, but he told me
that she had been the favourite riding elephant
of the Raja of Bustar, and that, on one occasion,
when the Raja had gone down to the river to
bathe and had dismounted from the elephant,
she suddenly seized a man and tore him in two.
The Raja, as was said, fell off his chair with
fright, and after this, not unnaturally, parted
with the elephant. The mahout said that she
had killed five or six people at different times
after this, but that he had succeeded in reducing
her to submission. On one occasion, as he said,
he had tied her up for the night and lain down to
sleep at a safe distance, but had omitted to remove
out of her reach the lance, which is used to subdue
a refractory elephant. In the night he felt
something in his hair, and, after brushing at it
ineffectually, awoke to find that the elephant
had got hold of the lance, broken it in two, and
was trying to twist one of the broken pieces into
his hair so that she might be able to pull him
over to her. I am not prepared to vouch for the
truth of this story ; but, if it was a lie, it was
exceedingly well told, and I saw no reason at the
time to doubt the man. He became quite excited
at the reminiscence. He was certainly a good
mahout, and behaved well on the day when the
tiger was shot.

On any occasion on which I was left alone on
the back of the elephant, after hearing these
stories, I was always glad to see the mahout
return; but my personal relations with the ele-
phant were very satisfactory.

We then started to hunt a man-eating family,

24 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

which were said to have eaten over twenty people
between August and the time of my visit in
January. There were a tigress and two well-
grown cubs, and a tiger was said to join the party
occasionally. These tigers had created a scare,
and we had to tie out our own buffaloes. It was
rather creepy work, but the shikari did this
bravely enough. The last kill had occurred
about eight days before we arrived on the scene,
and the villagers had been too frightened to
visit the place. I went there with the old man,
who had been with the victim when he was killed,
and saw the two bundles of wood which they were
tying up at the time. Death appeared to have
been instantaneous, as his companion said that
the man, when seized, did not utter a cry. The
drag was clearly visible in the grass, and, after
following it for a few yards, we found the man's
loin-cloth, and, farther on, the place where he had
been eaten. We hunted for some days and tied
out baits, but saw nothing of the tigers, which
had for some reason or other left the neighbour-
hood.

We then turned our attention to buffaloes.
My battery was not very suitable, but we had
an encounter with one bull, and, with better
trackers, I should certainly have had a shot.
We were following a fresh track, and the trackers
blundered right on to the bull as he was lying
asleep on the ground. The men were confident
that the bull, which was well known to them, would
stand and face us ; and this may have been the
reason why they were not sufficiently careful.
The buffalo was, however, thoroughly scared,

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 25

owing possibly to the presence of the shikari
and myself, and we could not come up to him
again or get any other chance of a shot.

My return journey from this expedition was
the most uncomfortable that I have ever made.
I had parted with the elephant and travelled
in a bullock-cart. I had only an inexperienced
cook, a table attendant, and Mihtab Khan.
The table attendant went off his head, owing to
fear of tigers and the unaccustomed surroundings,
and became irresponsible and very dirty in his
habits. I was disposed to leave him in a hospital
in one of the native States, but Mihtab Khan
said he had promised his uncle to look after him,
and persuaded me to take him with us. We
brought him back, therefore, to Agra, and I
understand that he there completely recovered
his health. Many years have elapsed, but I
still remember the journey with a shudder.

In April 1901, I had another tiger-hunt in the
Terai, on the border of the Bahraich district,
with Mr. Faunthorpe, I.C.S., who was then the
Collector, and Mr. A. Wood. We got no tigers
in Nepal, and the expedition was in danger of
being a complete failure, when we received news
of a tigress which had killed in one day three
head of cattle in a village in the Bahraich district,
near the border. We moved camp to this place,
and found that the cover, in which the tigress
was lying, consisted of a triangular patch of
high reeds on the border of a small lagoon. The
line of elephants was formed at the base of the
triangle, and the beat was a pretty and exciting
one. Wood was with the line ; I had the next

26 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

position in front of the beat, and Faunthorpe
was beyond me. The tigress was soon on the
move, and we could hear her splashing in the
reeds as she moved along the edge of the lagoon.
When the line was half-way through the patch of
reeds she charged the elephants with a roar and
threw the line into confusion. With a little more
courage she could have broken through and
escaped, but her heart failed her and she retreated
until she was pushed up into the very apex of
the triangle. She might have escaped across
the water, as this side of the beat was unprotected ;
but she would not face the open. At last, when
driven into the extreme corner of the reeds,
she rushed out on the side where we were all
standing. Wood had a shot at her but missed,
and she came straight for my elephant. Seeing
the elephant, she declined the encounter, and
swung round, and as she swung round I fired.
A second later Faunthorpe's shot rang out.
Our shots were so nearly simultaneous that he
did not hear my shot, but I heard his. Two
more shots were fired by Wood and myself at
the tigress, as she was struggling in the grass ;
but these were misses. My shot struck the
tigress in the heart, and Faunthorpe's shot
struck her in the back near the shoulder as she was
end on to him. I was using an express and firing
shell, and the others fired solid bullets; there
was, therefore, no difficulty in identifying the
different shots on this occasion. Our two shots
were fired almost simultaneously, but Faunthorpe,
seeing that my shot had killed the tigress, did
not make any claim. I rode an elephant belonging

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 27

to the Maharajah of Balrampur on this occasion,
and she stood staunchly when the shots were
fired, though she was not highly tried.

In 1903-4 I had a run of ill-luck, taking part
in three expeditions to the Terai, in the course
of which no less than nine tigers and tigresses
and two cubs were shot, and the only animal
which fell to my lot was a large panther, which
I shot over a kill.

On the first occasion, in April 1903, the party
consisted of Mr. A. Wood, the late Major Lumsden,
I. M.S., Mr. Channer, the Divisional Forest Officer,
and myself, and we hunted a portion of the Terai
at some distance from the ground which we
hunted during my first two expeditions. Major
Lumsden rode the elephant Chainchal, and I
was riding an elephant which was lent me by
the Maharajah of Balrampur. Shortly after our
arrival on the ground a good tiger was marked
down in a very small patch of thick jungle
on the bank of a small deep nullah, or stream,
which was overhung with trees. The tiger had
killed a chital, and dragged the carcase into the
cover, and it was therefore a sure find. Lumsden
was with the beat ; Wood had the best place on
the bank of the nullah at the end of the patch
of cover ; and Channer and I were among the
trees on the opposite side of the nullah. The
guns were, therefore, roughly speaking, at the
four corners of a square with the corner, at which
Wood was posted, projecting. The patch of
jungle was very thick, and Lumsden was not
thought to have any chance. Chain chaFs mahout,
however (Karim by name), was a very plucky,

28 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

intelligent fellow, with very good vision, and
while the elephants were trying to force their
way into the patch of jungle, he saw the tiger
standing in thick cover. Lumsden failed to
see him until he moved. He then fired both
barrels, but he had missed his chance, and the
tiger rushed from the thicket and plunged into
the water with a tremendous splash, swimming
straight across to where I was posted among the
trees on the other bank. An overhanging branch
obscured my vision at the particular point at
which the tiger was crossing ; and, though I
could see the water moving as he swam, I could
not actually see his head. He was, however,
making for the bank very near the place where
my elephant was standing ; and the shikari
in the howdah behind me, who perhaps saw the
animal, was adjuring me to shoot. Very unwisely,
therefore, I fired. The tiger answered to the shot
with a roar, and the bullet evidently struck the
water very near him. My elephant then swung
round so that I could not fire again, and, looking
backwards, I could just see the tiger climb the
bank behind me. Wood had a shot at him as he
ascended the bank, but missed. The tiger then
made off along the bank and ran right into Channer.
Thinking he was trapped, he turned with a roar
and plunged with another splash into the water,
and swam back to the thicket in which he was
lying at the outset. Owing to the overhanging
trees, he was not visible after he sprang into the
water until he reached cover. After some time
he was beaten out again, and this time took the
line he was expected to take, giving Wood a good

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 29

chance. A shot near the head stopped him, and
a second bullet finished him off. My shot was
thought to have been a hit, but examination
showed that it was Wood's tiger. This is the
only occasion I can remember in which every
member of a party had a fair chance in turn
at a tiger. The beat also was one of the prettiest
and most exciting in which I have ever taken
part.

After this the shikaris reported that there were
no other tigers in the vicinity of the camp, and
went to some place at a considerable distance to
look for tracks. We were reconciling ourselves
to some hot days of waiting, but very soon after
the shikaris had gone some herdsmen came in and
said that a tiger had killed one of their buffaloes.
We went to the place and found a recently killed
buffalo; but the only patch of forest which was
near the place had been fired, and, although it
had apparently been too damp to burn well,
some fallen trees were actually on fire. We
tried a beat, and the tiger was there right enough.
In shooting with elephants, there is very little
danger to the beaters, and, as everyone is anxious
to put the first bullet into the tiger, there is often
some rather wild shooting. As the line advanced
both Wood and I had shots. I fired without
success at a movement in the high grass ; and
then the tiger, which was fairly cornered, broke
with a roar into the open, a little to my left front.
It was a grand spectacle, as the tiger showed up
magnificently on the short green grass. With
Chainchal, I should probably have got that tiger ;
but my elephant was not a good one, and I tried

30 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

her rather severely. Leaning well out of the how-
dah, I waited until the tiger was close up so as to
make sure of the shot ; but, just as I was pulling the
trigger, the elephant funked and swung round
with a jerk, and the rifle went off in the air. By
the time the elephant had been turned round the
tiger had galloped some distance ; shots fired
at his tail by Wood and myself were unsuccessful,
and he got clean away. It was very disappointing ;
but it was partly my fault, as I ought to have
made allowance for the possibility of the elephant
funking, and fired as soon as the tiger appeared-

The Terai, or moist alluvial land, lying between
the branches of the mighty Gagra River, provides
grazing in the hot weather for large herds of
cattle and buffaloes. The grass is burnt in the
spring, and at the end of April the land is covered
with short green grass. Tigers still abound in
this part of India, and toll is taken of the herds.
These grazing buffaloes will, as one of the herds-
men informed me, respond to a particular call
announcing the advent of a tiger, and will charge
en masse and drive the animal away ; but young
buffaloes, when detached from the herd, are not
infrequently attacked and killed.

A tigress with three small cubs was then marked
down in a dry ravine near a village. The tigress
was in poor condition, and evidently found a
difficulty in feeding her numerous progeny ; and
apparently she had taken up her quarters in the
ravine on the chance of killing one of the village
cattle, as there was no game in the vicinity.
Wood was with the line of elephants on this
occasion ; Lumsden was on the left bank, and

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 31

Channer and I were on the right bank of the
ravine. The beat was up the ravine. Shortly
after the beat started Wood, whose elephant
was moving along the bed of the ravine, saw the
tigress crouching on the sand, facing him at a
short distance. He fired at her with a shot-gun
loaded with ball, and the shot passed through
one of her ears, which was evidently cocked
forward. Subsequent examination showed that
the bullet drilled a small round hole, the edges
of which were not even reddened with blood.
It was a close shave, but the animal was quite
uninjured and blood was not drawn. The tigress
then appeared near Lumsden, who fired, and, as
he subsequently said, knocked her over into the
ravine. Very shortly after this she appeared
on my side of the ravine. She walked quietly
and quickly round a bush, and did not appear
to be wounded, and I fired, hitting her with my
Express on the near side, but rather far back.
She disappeared into the ravine and wandered
about there for a little time. Then Channer,
who was shooting with a small-bore, high- velocity
rifle, saw her and fired, and shortly after she
was seen to be dead. Two bullet-holes were
visible in the skin, one a small one in the back
near the neck, and the other a large one in the
near side. Lumsden was quite confident that
he had hit the tigress and knocked her over,
and suggested that the large hole in the side
was the hole of exit of his bullet. Both the other
sportsmen thought that the tiger was Lumsden's,
and Channer did not claim a hit. There was
much blood in the ravine, but it was impossible

32 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

to say from which wound it proceeded, and I
therefore contented myself with pointing out
that the hole in the side was the hole of my bullet,
and did not claim the tigress and was not present
at the post-mortem. The natives who skinned
and cut up the tigress were told to produce the
bullets, and mine was duly produced, and was
admitted by Major Lumsden to be not his. His
bullet, which was also an expanding one, was
not found. On the following morning, when we
were looking at the skin, Lumsden himself noticed
a small round hole in the skin of the belly, but he
was so convinced that he had shot the tigress
that he did not give the matter much attention.
I said nothing, but thought a good deal. It was
clear to me that Lumsden had missed the tigress,
and that I had put the first bullet into her, and
that she had then been killed by Channer, whose
bullet had entered the back and come out through
the belly. I kept my conclusions, however, to
myself, merely resolving that I would always
be present at a post-mortem in the future. Poor
Lumsden was a good sportsman, and was perfectly
convinced that he had shot the tigress; but, as
already said, a painstaking investigation is often
necessary before it can be determined who has
scored the first hit.

A forest officer of my acquaintance told me
that on one occasion he had arranged a tiger-
shoot for two military officers. One had, if I
remember right, shot a tiger before, and the other
had not. The tiger went first to the more
experienced sportsman of the two, who fired at
it. The tiger then went to the other man, who

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 33

fired at it and killed it. Overjoyed at his good
fortune, he chaffed his friend about his bad shot,
and the other accepted the chaff. The forest
officer, from curiosity, went along the route by
which the tiger had approached the second
machan, and found blood all along the track.
But, where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise ;
both the sportsmen were satisfied, and he left
them in blissful ignorance of his discovery.

Major Lumsden shot two of the small cubs.
The third must also have died, as they were much
too young to hunt for themselves.

Our next hunt was an exciting one. A tiger
was marked down in a thick bed of reeds in a
swampy clearing in the middle of sal forest.
We posted ourselves round the reeds, and the
tiger broke out near the place where Channer
was posted ; but, as well as I remember, he did
not, owing to some difficulty with his elephant,
get a shot. As the tiger was disappearing into
the forest Lumsden fired and put a bullet into
him. There was very little blood, and it was
uncertain how far the tiger had gone; but we
formed a long line in the forest, with the elephants
about 50 yards apart, and drove forward in the
hope of rounding him up. I was on the extreme
right of the line, and before we had gone far the
mahout said that he heard the tiger growling. I
heard him also and ought, perhaps, to have called
a halt and sent for the others. I was afraid,
however, that the tiger might escape, as he did
not appear to be badly wounded, and was also,
it must be admitted, very anxious to see a fine
charge. The prospect of an encounter, therefore,
3

34 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

was not unwelcome. I accordingly encouraged
the mahout to proceed ; and, as soon as we
advanced, the tiger burst from some bushes at the
foot of a tree in which he was lying and charged.

I have heard it said that a tiger always
charges at a fast run. This one charged at
a gallop. He was in the middle of a spring,
with his forelegs stretched out in front and the
hind-legs stretched out straight behind him,
when I fired. Directly I fired, the elephant
swung round so that I could not fire the second
barrel, and the tiger pushed home the charge
and seized her by the middle of the thigh. In
the struggle that ensued I received a severe
bruise on the forearm, but was not otherwise
injured, though I was in great danger of being
crushed, as the howdah was in constant collision
with a tree or trees. The howdah, which was
very strongly built, was much damaged. I was
quite unable to shoot, and got down into the
howdah and trusted for safety to the elephant.
Presently she flopped down, and I thought the
tiger had pulled her over, but apparently she
sat down so as to pinch the tiger's head and make
him let go. The manoeuvre succeeded, as she
shook him off, and then got up and bolted.
She did not, however, go far, and the mahout
recovered control and stopped her. Mihtab Khan,
who was behind me in the howdah, seized a
bough in the struggle, and, being a powerful
man, swung himself up into a tree. He had a
Lee-Metford rifle in one hand, and it was a fine
acrobatic performance ; but he made no attempt
to fire at the tiger.

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 35

I then sent for the others, and Wood and Lums-
den joined me. The tiger had retreated to the
bushes from which he had charged, and lay there
growling. We all advanced upon him together,
but my elephant was badly shaken and would not
keep in line with the other two. Wood saw, or
thought he saw, the tiger, and fired the first shot,
but the tiger made no response and continued his
low growling. Lumsden then pushed forward on
Chainchal, and saw the tiger lying on the ground,
and put a bullet into his brain. There were two
bullet-holes in his side, and his hind-leg was broken
to pieces below the hock. My bullet had struck
him in the flank and run down his hind-leg, as
it was stretched out behind him in the gallop,
But for this he would probably have sprung on
top of the elephant, and might have pulled one
of us out of the howdah, as he was in no way
crippled and made a most determined charge.
The elephant was badly mauled, but recovered
under treatment. If she had not turned round, I
might have finished off the tiger without difficulty
with the second barrel.

This was the best tiger-shoot in which I ever
took part, though in the matter of the bag I
personally came off badly. My elephant did not
serve me well, but in the first beat I made a bad
error of judgment. I think, however, that I
put the first bullet into one of the three full-
grown tigers which were killed, and contributed
materially to the death of another. I may
possibly have transposed the order of one or two
of the hunts, but the different events and scenes
are still fresh in my memory.

36 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

On the next expedition the party consisted of
Mr. Wood, Major Lumsden, and myself. Wood
shot a tigress and a young tiger in a beat in which
we were seated in machans, but I think these
were the only two shots which were fired at tigers
in the course of the expedition, which was compara-
tively unsuccessful and uneventful.

I had, however, a very interesting experience
with panthers. We were on our return from the
expedition, and, having heard that there was a
panther in the vicinity of our camp, decided to
sit up. We accordingly tied out three goats
in the evening in the sal forest, and sat over
them in machans for some hours. It was a very
hot evening, and the perspiration on my hands
attracted a large number of bees, which made
matters very uncomfortable. I had heard, how-
ever, the sharp warning bark of a kakar, and
in the stillness of the forest I thought that I
heard two animals moving in the undergrowth,
so I sat on full of hope until it was nearly dark.
The others had no encouragement, and went
home early. When Mihtab Khan arrived with an
elephant to fetch me, I said that I had heard two
animals, and the mahout, stating as a fact what
appeared to him to be probable in the way that
Indians frequently do, said that they were pigs.
I thought that he had seen pigs, and got on to
the elephant, and a village yokel untied the goat
and followed us with it along the path in the forest.
Presently he gave a cry of alarm, and we stopped
and inquired what was the matter. He said
"Mujhe gher liya " (It surrounded me). The
mahout asked what it was, and he said that

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 37

he did not know. The mahout said it was a pig,
and the yokel was reassured, and we proceeded.
Before we had gone far Mihtab Khan, who was
looking backwards along the path, said that a
panther was following us. The mahout, who had
had much experience of shikar, did not agree ;
but I thought that in the gathering gloom I
could see something, and accordingly stopped
the elephant and turned it round. We then
tied the goat on the path a few paces from the
head of the elephant and waited. We had not
waited more than a few seconds when a panther
charged down the path, straight for the elephant.
It was dark, but I might have had a fair shot at
him as he came, but thought that he would check
for a moment on seizing the goat, and that I
would then have a better chance. In his rush,
however, he swept the goat off the path into
the jungle on the right, and I was obliged to fire
into the bushes. The shot made the panther
drop the goat, which was still living, but had no
other effect. As I fired I heard a rustle in the
forest on the left of the path. There evidently,
therefore, were two panthers. Being suspicious
perhaps of a trap, they did not attack the
goat while I was waiting in the machan ; but,
when they saw the goat being taken away, their
hunger got the better of their caution. One
of them tried first to intimidate the yokel,
who was leading the goat, by jumping out on
to the path in front of him ; and then the
attempt was made to carry off the goat froin
the close proximity of the elephant. Panthers
are sometimes exceedingly daring, and when

88 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

they do take to man-eating are very troublesome
and dangerous.

On the next occasion on which I visited the
Terai the party consisted of Major Lumsden,
Mrs. Lumsden, and myself; and Mrs. Lumsden,
who was a very good shot, killed a tiger in fine
style. The tiger had killed in a sandy nullah,
and lain up with the kill in a small patch of thick
cover under the high bank of the nullah. We
were all posted in the forest facing the high
bank in question, Lumsden on the right, Mrs.
Lumsden, who was on Chainchal, in the centre,
and I on the left. We took up our positions
just in time, as the tiger, scenting trouble, tried
to slink away before the beat commenced. He
came towards Mrs. Lumsden, who hit him with
her first shot with the Rigby-Mauser she was
using, but missed him with the second, as he
turned and dashed back into the beat. He
soon appeared again on the same line, and Mrs.
Lumsden fired, hitting him in the mouth. The
bullet, however, merely broke one of the canine
teeth, and was diverted. A shot in the head is
often a very unsatisfactory one. The tiger then
tried to slink out on the right, and Lumsden had
two shots at him, hitting him with one and
turning him back into the beat, but missing him
with the other. He then broke out at a gallop
between Major and Mrs. Lumsden ; and the latter,
with a well-placed shot, rolled him over. I was
on lower ground, and, although I was not more
than 100 yards distant from Mrs. Lumsden,
I could not see what was going on.

The tiger had rather a small head, and was

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 39

certainly wanting in spirit, as he made no attempt
to take the offensive; but he was the largest
tiger that I have ever seen shot, measuring
between pegs fixed in the ground, at the head
and tail, 9 feet 8 inches.

A day or two after this we had a beat for two
young tigers in the very place in which Wood had
shot the two tigers on the previous expedition ;
and, as before, we were posted in machans. Mrs.
Lumsden had shots at the tigers, as they broke,
but failed to stop them. We then formed a long
line, and hunted them through the sal forest
for some hours. Lumsden had a shot at one
of them, a young tigress, which then passed me
at a gallop. The distance, when I fired, was
considerable, but the tigress passed me apparently
unwounded. One of the two shots, however,
was evidently a hit, as the tigress was seen shortly
afterwards lying up behind a tree. I had a
staunch but very slow elephant, and Lumsden
reached the place before me and put a bullet
into the tiger. One or two more shots were
then fired to finish her off. I made no claim,
as the tigress may possibly have been wounded
by Lumsden's first shot, and he certainly gave
her the coup de grace ; but the idea among the
men was that I had put a bullet into her.

After the death of the tigress we sat unsuccess-
fully over two kills which had occurred in the
forest until a late hour, and then had a long
elephant-ride back to camp, arriving there long
after dark. It was hot weather, and, for a lady,
it was a wonderful exhibition of endurance. We
got no more tigers; but I shot the panther

40 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

already referred to in the course of this ex-
pedition.

I had also an interesting but most exasperating
experience, when sitting up over a kill for a tiger.
One of our buffaloes had been killed, and we
had beaten the ground, but the beat was blank.
It was decided, therefore, that I should sit
up for the tiger on the chance of his returning
to the kill. A machan was constructed, and a
local shikari, who was with us, climbed into it.
I ordered him out, but he pleaded very hard to
be allowed to remain ; and, as the kill was lying
among bushes, I unfortunately thought that his
hearing might be of use, and allowed him to sit with
me. Before it was dark the tiger came, and
the shikari, suddenly seeing him standing on some
rising ground above the level of the machan,
completely lost his nerve. He stammered out
that the tiger had come, and threw his arms
round me to turn me round to have a shot at it.
The tiger of course saw the movement, or heard
the noise, and was off. I have always regarded it
as creditable to my forbearance that I did not
lay a hand on the shikari.

On one of these two expeditions I saw a very
interesting instance of the sagacity of the elephant.
One of the pad elephants had trodden upon the
point of a long acacia-thorn ; and, as the thorn
was stout and very sharp, it ran into the foot.
The elephant had rubbed the skin of the foot
quite thin in trying to get rid of the thorn, and
the head of the thorn was so deeply crushed into
the foot that it was impossible to get hold of it.
The elephant was made to lie down, and, while

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 41

the mahout sat near her head and kept her quiet,
Lumsden cut away the foot all round the thorn
until it was possible to seize it with a pair of
pincers and extract it. The elephant was groaning
with pain, and a kick might have caused Lumsden
most serious injury ; but the beast had the
intelligence to know that he was helping her,
and remained perfectly quiet during the operation.
I do not think any dog would willingly permit
a stranger to cause real pain to it without vigor-
ously objecting, even if the pain were caused
in the dog's own interest.

In April 1905 I made my last expedition to
the Terai. The party on this occasion consisted
of Mr. W. B. M. Bird, Mr. A. Wood, and myself.
Major Fullerton, who had succeeded Major Lums-
den as Civil Surgeon of Bahraich, was also with
us during part of the time. On this occasion
I rode the elephant Chainchal, and had better
fortune. Our shooting-camp was on the bank
of the Rapti River ; and we reached the camp on
the 2Oth of April. In the afternoon of that day
and on the 2ist we hunted without any definite
information and without success, but on the
22nd a tigress was marked down in some very
thick cover. The first beat we had for her was
unsuccessful, but she did not leave the place,
and we beat the cover again on the following day
from a different direction. I was on one side
of the cover a little in advance of the line of
elephants, and when the line had advanced for
some distance the tigress came along the edge
of the cover, quite near the elephant. She was
not properly visible, and I was doubtful about

42 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

firing; but the mahout, Karim, pointed in the
direction in which the bushes were moving and
urged me to shoot. I decided, therefore, to
chance a shot and fired. The shot, by good
fortune, struck the tigress near the root of the
tail, and she turned and rushed in the direction
of the beaters outside the edge of the jungle.
Chainchal stood staunchly, and with the second
barrel I broke the tigress's left shoulder as she
charged past me. She then lay up under a bush
in the cover, and with some difficulty I made her
out from the howdah and finished her off. This
tigress had a very beautifully marked skin, which
makes a very handsome trophy.

On the next day a good tiger was marked
down, and, having shot the tigress, I was put in
what was supposed to be the worst place, at the
end of the beat, Wood having the position on the
side of the beat, while Bird was covering him.
But fortune favoured me, and, as the line of
elephants advanced, I saw the tiger's head in the
jungle about 80 yards away. He was standing
broadside on to Wood, and at no great distance,
but was hidden from him by the bushes. Mo-
mentarily I expected to hear his rifle, but he did
not fire, and the tiger remained standing with his
head slightly turned, listening to the advancing
elephants. I accordingly fired from a standing
position in the howdah, aiming between the eyes.
I made a good shot, the bullet striking the tiger
between the nose and the left eye. Subsequent
examination showed that the bullet, which was
a shell from a -500 black powder Express, broke
the palate, nearly severed the tongue, and tore

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 43

off two big molar teeth, one in the upper and one
in the lower jaw. The tiger probably would
have died, but for the time being he was in no
way crippled. For some seconds, however, he
was knocked out of time ; and, as nothing was
visible, I hoped that I had killed him. He then
got up and dashed out of the jungle at a gallop,
mad with pain and rage. I failed to stop him ;
but, after galloping aimlessly about for some
seconds, he passed near Bird, who knocked him
over and then finished him, with two well-directed
shots. As already said, a shot in the head or
face often gives very unsatisfactory results.

On the 26th of April Bird got his chance and shot
a fine tiger, killing it with a single shot. He was
using a double-barrelled '360 bore high- velocity
rifle, and the tiger, with a bullet through his
heart, galloped, apparently uninjured, for at least
one hundred yards. Thinking he had missed,
Karim urged Chainchal to speed to cut him off,
and, just as an encounter was imminent, the tiger
collapsed in his gallop, and fell stone dead in a
small ditch. He lay in this ditch all limp and
crumpled up, like a well-shot rabbit, as may be
seen from the illustration.

On the 28th Bird shot a bear, which was
marked down by the shikaris in a clump of bushes ;
and on the 30th of April he shot a second tiger.

This tiger had apparently had a fight with
another tiger, or with a bear, and had come off
second best. He had lost one eye and was badly
clawed about the body. When beaten out of
the cover, in which he was lying, he broke at a
gallop ; but his blind eye prevented him from

44 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

seeing Bird, whose elephant was standing in a
fairly open place. The tiger therefore passed
close to him, and was killed by a single well-
placed shot.

On the ist of May Bird and I had a very interest-
ing but unsuccessful sit for another tiger. The
tiger had killed and eaten two or three of our buffa-
loes, but could not be located for the purposes of
a beat. He was, evidently, a very cunning brute.
One day the shikaris returned full of confidence,
having marked him down in a very favourable
locality, but he cleared out before we arrived
and the beat was blank. We decided, therefore,
to sit up over a live buffalo, which was tied upon
the road upon which the other buffaloes had been
killed. Our machan was well screened, having
been tied in a thick leafy tree, but we could see
only to our front, and could neither shoot nor
see anything up the road behind us. The buffalo
was tied about 20 paces from us down the road.
There was no moon, but the night was clear,
and the tiger came at about ten o'clock. I was
dozing at the time, but Bird was watchful and
heard him, and, at a touch from him, I took
in the situation. The tiger stood for some time
on the road to the rear of the machan, watching
the buffalo, and then, as could be seen in the
morning, lay down in the grass to our right,
nearly parallel to the machan. Then he got up
and walked round the buffalo, without showing
himself ; but apparently he was suspicious of a
trap, and made no attack. The buffalo did not
appear to be particularly alarmed, but kept
head on to the tiger, and, as the tiger moved,

SOME TIGER AND PANTHER STORIES 45

the buffalo's head followed it round. After an
hour or so, the tiger departed, and we sat there
until the dawn without any further excitement.
We heard spotted deer calling in the distance,
and the tiger was apparently in pursuit of them.

I have heard it said, more than once, that a tiger
will not kill readily a buffalo with a white blaze
on his forehead. The one tied out had a white
blaze, and this may have been the reason why
the tiger would not attack. There certainly was
no other cause apparent. I do not think the
tiger could possibly have detected our presence,
as we both sat very still and quiet, and the machan
was well hidden.

Some days of waiting and unsuccessful hunting
followed, but on the 6th of May a tigress was
marked down in the same cover in which I had
shot the tiger on the 24th. Fullerton was given
the best place, and had a good shot at the tigress,
but unfortunately missed. I had two shots at
her as she galloped away, but she broke out of
the cover to my right and at some distance from
me, and I failed to stop her.

This ended the hunt, and on the 7th of May we
struck our tents and started for Nipal Ganj on
our return journey to Bahraich.

The illustrations of the dead tigers and of
other scenes during the expedition are reproduced
from photographs taken by Mr. Bird. It was
his first tiger-shoot, and he had good fortune and
shot very straight.

CHAPTER III

THE PATLI DUN

THE Ramganga, in the Patli Dun, is a beautiful
little river running through a reserved sal forest,
which is teeming with animal life ; and when I
was Commissioner of Northern India Salt Revenue
I made two expeditions to the river from Bijnor
in the United Provinces.

On the first occasion I combined shooting with
fishing, and two incidents which occurred in the
course of the expedition made it a very memorable
one. The Divisional Forest Officer gave me a
permit to shoot for fourteen days, and an elephant,
which was said to be staunch, was lent to me.
I accordingly secured the services of a local
shikari, and purchased three or four young
buffaloes on the chance of getting a shot at a
tiger. The buffaloes were tied out, and before
many days had passed one of them was killed
upon a forest line. The place was not favourable,
and the buffalo had been securely tied to a tree-
stump to prevent the tiger from dragging the
carcase into some long grass, which was immedi-
ately adjacent, and where there were no trees.
At the site of the kill there were some trees, and
a machan was tied for me in a leafy tree almost
immediately over the kill. There was no moon

46

THE PATLI DUN 47

in the coming night, and the day was dark
and drizzling. The shikari, therefore, agreed
that it would be quite useless for me to sit up
after nightfall ; and it was arranged that he
should come with the elephant to fetch me as
soon as it was dark. When the machan was
tied I had approved its position, but on climbing
into it I found that it was unsuitably located.
In the first place, it was not more than 12 feet,
at the outside, from the ground, and this was
not high enough to be comfortable on a dark night ;
and, in the second, it was tied at right angles to
the carcase of the buffalo, and so close above it
that I could only see to shoot at an animal near,
or on, the carcase, by sitting on the very extreme
outer edge of the machan. The afternoon was,
however, well advanced, and I decided to make the
best of the situation and settled myself for a vigil.
The calling of the chital, with which the
Dun abounded, kept my mind occupied; and,
although the drizzling rain was uncomfortable,
the time passed not unpleasantly until darkness
settled on the land. I then began to be impatient
and annoyed with the men for not coming to
relieve me. It was too dark to see anything,
and I was sitting with my rifle across my knees,
quite without hope, when what appeared to be
the call of a sambur rang out in the stillness,
and I felt that the tiger had arrived. I have
heard a Forest Officer, with much experience
as a shikari, say that a tiger can, and does,
imitate the call of a stag when approaching a
kill ; but my impression at the time was that the
call was the startled call of a stag. That the

48 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

tiger was there I felt sure, and my conviction was
presently proved to be correct by two tremendous
sniffs, the tiger having apparently detected the
smell of the elephant. I was so situated, and was
so near the ground, that it was decidedly exciting,
and if I had been able to see, it would have
been too exciting to be agreeable. My impression
was that the tiger was under me, but an examina-
tion of the footprints in the morning showed that
he was standing at right angles to the carcase
of the buffalo, parallel to the machan with his
paws nearly touching the carcase. As I was
sitting on the extreme edge of the machan, he
could not have been more than 14 feet from
me ; in fact, with a fishing-rod, I could have
touched him. Presently he moved over the
carcase, and, as he moved, the colour showed
for an instant against the blackness of the night.
He then settled himself immediately under me,
and in the stillness I heard his teeth click in the
hide of the buffalo, which he tried to drag. I
turned the rifle down right under me and fired,
but unfortunately did not turn it quite far enough,
and an examination made in the morning showed
that the bullet had missed his head by a few
inches. The marks of the teeth in the hide and
the mark of the bullet in the ground were quite
clear. There was silence for a second, and then I
heard him gallop off.

It was very disappointing, as the tiger would
probably have killed again, and I should have had
a better chance with a three or four days' moon ;
but, as the saying is, " It is better to have loved
and lost, than never have loved at all," and the

THE PATLI DUN 49

incident was very exciting at the time, and
provided me with much food for subsequent
reflection.

I fished the river with good success. The late
Sir Edward Buck, who gave me information
about the Ram Ganga, said that mahser might
be caught in it up to 18 pounds in weight; but,
fishing with natural bait, I caught much larger
fish in the river than this.

A few days after the adventure with the tiger
I had another very interesting experience. The
Maharajah of Balrampur, a wealthy landowner
in the United Provinces, keeps a large number
of elephants, and the elephants and their drivers
are trained to run down and capture wild elephants
in the jungle. When the elephant which is
being hunted is a male, a battle is necessary
before capture can be effected ; and the wild
elephant is attacked and beaten into submission
by the trained male elephants in the hunt, or
Kheddah, as it is called by the Indians. The
forests in the Dehra Dun between the rivers of
the Ganges and the Jumna, where elephants
are numerous, is a favourite hunting-ground ;
and invitations to hunt-parties given by the
Maharajah are naturally much sought after.

It had long been my desire to witness one of
these hunts, and, by a piece of rare good fortune,
Nanneh Khan, the Captain of the Kheddah,
on his return journey to Balrampur from the
Dehra Dun jungles, brought his elephants to the
place at which I was fishing on the Ram Ganga,
to hunt a solitary bull elephant which had been
marked down by his shikaris. A large male
4

50 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

elephant is an important prize. Broadly speaking,
the value of an elephant in India increases in
proportion to his size ; and a male elephant,
when captured young, does not attain his full
natural development in captivity. I had heard
the elephant breaking trees in the forest a day
or two before the arrival of the Kheddah, but
had not given the matter any attention. The
shooting of elephants in India, unless they are
rogues, is not permitted.

A more favourable place for an exhibition
hunt could not possibly have been found. The
forest rest-house, at which I was staying, was
situated in a large clearing between the river on
the north and the sal forest on the south.
Parallel to the clearing, and at no great distance
from it, a line of low hills ran through the forest,
and the elephant was in the strip of sal forest
between the clearing and the hills. Mr. Millward,
the Divisional Forest Officer, who was on tour
in the neighbourhood, came to the rest-house
on the day that the Kheddah arrived, and very
kindly gave me a mount on his riding- elephant
Nellie, to enable me to see the hunt. Both
Millward and I naturally wished to accompany
the trained females, which were to run the wild
elephant down; but Nanneh Khan at first made
some demur to this. Eventually, however, he
yielded to Millward' s insistence, and in the
morning we moved off with the hunters to the
western end of the clearing to take part in
the drive. The fighting-elephants were massed,
under the command of Nanneh Khan, at the
eastern end of the clearing. From the clearing

THE PATLI DUN 51

we turned a semicircle and proceeded to beat
down the strip of forest between the clearing and
the hills. The wild elephant was soon started ;
a shot was fired to head him in the right direction,
and the next moment we were all in a mad pursuit.

The other elephants were stripped for the fray,
their only gear being ropes and a tiny seat at the
stern, where the driver's assistant sat with a
mace studded with nails to belabour the elephant
on the rump and urge it onwards. We were
handicapped to some extent by our equipment,
as the usual pad, or mattress, on which the riders
sit, had been tied upon Nellie, and she was not
specially dressed for the occasion. She was, how-
ever, a splendid elephant, and, although we were
not in the first flight, we were well up in the
second. While we were in full career a creeper
caught me round the throat, and nearly pulled
me off the elephant ; but I managed to shout,
and Nellie answered beautifully to an order
from the mahout to halt, and the situation was
saved.

After a space of half a mile or more, we came
in sight of the wild elephant. Three or four of
the tame elephants were around him, and the
mahouts were attempting to fasten their nooses
on to his neck or limbs. The first mahout who
fastens a noose on a wild elephant receives a
reward of twenty rupees, and there is naturally,
therefore, keen competition. For some time
the wild elephant made no objection to the
presence of the tame females, and I thought that
an easy and uneventful capture was about to be
made ; but eventually he turned crusty and

52 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

stood at bay. A pause followed, and then
Nanneh Khan appeared on the scene with the
fighting elephants. There were five or six of
them, and shoulder to shoulder they bore down
upon the wild elephant. The wild elephant had
only one tusk, but this was sharp, while the
points of the tusks of the tame elephants had been
sawn off. The tusks do not, however, appear
to play much part in an elephant fight, and the
blow or shove is given with the centre of the
forehead. The wild elephant was quite undaunted
by the phalanx with which he was confronted,
and charged gallantly into the midst of his
opponents ; and I distinctly saw the head of one
of the tame elephants jerked backwards with
the blow he received. A grand melee ensued,
the tame elephants pummelling the wild one,
while the drivers of the females most courageously
dismounted and attempted to fasten their nooses
on the hind-legs of the wild elephant. A charge
by the wild elephant knocked one of the tame
elephants clean over, but the two men on his
back escaped serious injury. We were in close
proximity to the combat, and the drivers of the
Kheddah elephants continually shouted to Nellie's
mahout to take her away to a safe distance, but,
under Millward's orders, he kept close to the
battle. More than once there was no elephant
between us and the wild one, but Nellie's sex
protected us, and the wild elephant was too
gallant to attack.

A battle of elephants is not, to outward appear-
ance at any rate, a specially ferocious combat.
Tremendous blows are given and taken, but

THE PATLI DUN 53

the bulk of the animals is so great that their
movements are necessarily characterised by a
certain amount of deliberation, and the fierce,
rapid impact which you see for example in a
ram fight, is accordingly wanting. Elephants
also fight in silence, and, in the absence of any
roaring or screaming, it is not easy to realise
that a life-and-death struggle is proceeding.

Pressed on every side by his enemies, the wild
elephant appeared to be tiring, and I think that
he would have been overborne had he not,
either by accident or design, fought his way to a
deep pool of water in the forest, into which he
plunged. As he emerged dripping from his bath,
with one of the other elephants pummelling him
from behind, Bobs Bahadur — so called because
he had been captured in a Kheddah at which
Lord Roberts had been present — was brought
up to charge him in front ; and the two elephants
stood for some seconds facing each other, offering
a splendid opportunity for a photograph if we
had had a camera. The wild elephant calmly
awaited the onset; but, from Bobs' attitude, it
was clear that the prowess displayed by his
antagonist had overawed him, and he would not
close. In fact, shortly afterwards Bobs declined
to face a charge delivered by the wild elephant,
and fled ignominiously, with the wild one in hot
pursuit.

The bath settled the issue. The wild elephant
was inspirited and invigorated, and the attacks
became more and more feeble, and the drivers
less and less willing to trust themselves on the
ground. As the wild one stood in the midst of

54 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

his assailants, a gun was fired by one of the
hunters, who was on the outskirts of the battle,
presumably with the idea of overawing him ; but,
disregarding the other elephants, he rolled up
his trunk and made a splendid charge at the
smoke. The gunner made himself scarce, and
the elephant was by this time clearly master of
the situation. At Nanneh Khan's request, Mill-
ward jumped off Nellie and had three shots at
the wild elephant, with the object of crippling
him. The first shot was fired at the leg, and the
second at the head ; but both of these were without
effect, and a third shot was fired which, as the
elephant turned, struck him on the stern. It
was a solid bullet, however, and could not have
done any serious injury. Fortunately perhaps,
as the beast had put up a gallant fight, Millward
had no more bullets, so the elephant lived to
fight another day. I even heard it rumoured
that he returned some months afterwards and
proceeded to court Nellie when she was feeding
in the jungle.

The fighting-elephants were, as Nanneh Khan
said, worn out with fighting, and McDonnell
Bahadur, one of the best of them, was injured,
and was not out on the day of the battle.

A visit to the camp of the Kheddah to inspect
the captives was very interesting. There were
two captured tuskers which required rigorous
treatment, but it was amazing to see how quickly
the captured females accepted the position. I saw
a full-grown female walking peaceably to water,
with only one tame elephant in charge and one
rope attached to her neck ; and it was said that

THE PATLI DUN 55

she had been captured only a few weeks before.
The males, when taken to water, were roped to
an elephant in front and to another behind,
and were evidently kept on short commons, as
they were thin and worn-looking. The natural
docility of the elephant soon reconciles the animal
to captivity.

My second fishing expedition to the Patli
Dun was a failure. The weather was cold and
unseasonable, and the water was out of order,
owing to a succession of storms in the hills, and I
caught only a few small fish. I had no shooting
either on that occasion, except at alligators.
The lower reaches of the river were full of large
fish-eating alligators (gariat) which must take
a heavy toll of the fish, but I did not see any
flesh-eating alligators (maggar) in the Ram
Ganga.

CHAPTER IV

MAHSER FISHING

MAHSER fishing is, in my opinion, in some respects
superior to salmon fishing. In water which has
been much fished big mahser can only be caught
by spinning or trolling; and spinning, although
it requires a good deal of skill, is, I admit, inferior
to fly-fishing. If trolling is necessary, the sport
and the methods are much the same, whether
you are trying to catch mahser or salmon. Mahser
fishing has, however, some special features of
its own, which, to me at any rate, have always
made it very attractive.

A mahser hooked in a hole with no other deep
water in the vicinity, will not, as a rule, leave the
place, and consequently sulks and shows poor
sport ; but the maddened rush for his lair of a
mighty fish, which is struck when on the feed up-
stream is something to be experienced. The
line fairly shrieks through the rings, and the
slightest check is fatal. I have had 200 yards of
line taken out in one terrific rush by a 35 -Ib.
mahser on the Bias River. The rush finished
him, and he did not move again, and was hauled
in at the end tamely enough. A mahser certainly
does not struggle against destiny as gamely as a
salmon, but after all it is the first two minutes

56

MAHSER FISHING 5T

which really count ; and after that I am always
eager to finish with a fish and get on to the next.

A mahser nearly always rushes down-stream
when he is hooked, and, if there is an island or
big rock in the river, he will take the deeper channel.
If a fish is on one side of an island or rock, and you
are on the other, he will break you ; and, as the
fish rushes down-stream, you must contrive to
follow him and keep on the right side of any
obstacle. This often necessitates fording the
river in strong water, where there is a very
appreciable risk of being drowned. Some of the
Indian fishing- ghillies, I have had have been
first-rate in the water, as they were good swimmers
and with their bare feet they got a good foothold
on the sand or rocks on the bottom. Often I
have been borne struggling down-stream, clinging
desperately to my ghillie with one hand, and
holding on to a big fish with the other. My
friend, the late Colonel Downman of the Gordon
Highlanders, who was a fine fisherman, told me
that he once went down a rapid on the Giri with
a 34-pounder, but this is a feat which I have never
been called upon to attempt.

On one occasion I was fording the Giri River in
high flood with Mihndu, the syce, Mihtab Khan,
who was lame, having crossed the river on the
mare's back at another place. A local native
had shown us the fords, and with arms linked
we were working our way across. Suddenly
the local native, fearing apparently that I might
be drowned, lost his nerve, threw off my arm
with a cry, and went to one side. I exhorted
Mihndu to be firm, and he clung desperately to

58 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

my arm, and slowly but steadily we won our
way across. " Mihndu," I said, " if we had
slipped, we should have been drowned.'* " Aur
kya ? " (What else ?) said old Mihndu rather sulkily.

Another point in favour of mahser fishing is
that you frequently fish in beautifully clear
water, and see, therefore, more of the game.
It is a pretty sight to see your bait twirling away
far down-stream, and to see a big fish dash out
from the side of some rock and take it.

Mahser fishing is also more of an adventure.
Much of the best of it is obtained in rapid streams
flowing through wild country, in which animal
life is abundant, or through the low hills, fringing
the outer Himalayas, where the scenery is very
beautiful and the camping very enjoyable. Some
of my fishing expeditions have been to me the
perfection of a holiday.

Justice compels me to add that the sport is
precarious, and that a fishing expedition often
ends in failure. When a river is in flood and the
water is very discoloured, fishing is a hopeless
business, and you have to sit on the bank, like
Horace's rustic, and wait " dum defluit amnis " ;
and this is naturally very annoying. The fish,
too, are very capricious, and sometimes will not
take for days together, though all the conditions
appear to be perfect, so that you begin to wonder
if there are any fish in the river. The fish are
certainly migratory to some extent, and move
up and down the rivers in accordance with the
season ; and you may easily be too early or too
late for this migration at any particular point.
As Aziza, the Sopur fisherman, said to me once :

MAHSER FISHING 59

"Themahser are like the Sahib log [the English].
They come and visit Kashmir for three months,
and then go away."

Some disappointments in my youth turned
my attention from fishing to polo and pig-sticking,
but when these were " shuv' be'ind me long ago
and far away " the piscatorial instinct revived.

As a hunter, I always regarded myself as a
tyro. As a mahser fisherman I had considerable
success ; and some notes as to my methods may
therefore not be unacceptable to some of my
readers.

In large, clear, fast, and even-flowing rivers,
like the Bias in the Punjab, a spoon is a very
good bait. It is visible to a great distance, and
the fish take it with a rush without having the
time to reconnoitre. The old-fashioned oval spoon
is, in my opinion, superior to the hog-backed
spoons, which are now so much in vogue ; as,
when you get an offer,' a fish is much more
likely to be hooked. But in a river with rapids
and pools, the recesses of which have to be
carefully searched out, my experience has been
that, for big fish, there is nothing like natural
bait and a Hardy's crocodile-spinner. These
spinners, however, I usually had more strongly
mounted than they are when offered for sale.
I attached the long flight along the belly of the
bait with the middle triangle at the anal fin,
and the other triangle just short of the tail ;
and the short flight I attached along the back,
with the triangle at the dorsal fin. It is important
to get a fish that really fits the spinner, and I
always sewed in the hooks and flights so that

60 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

there was no projection. I paid much attention
to these points. The proper adjustment of a
bait takes time, but the time is well spent.

In spinning for salmon the slow-dragging spin
is said to be more attractive, but in mahser
fishing my experience is that a bait can hardly
spin too fast, and the crocodile spinner imparts a
very rapid rotatory motion. When a rapid
dashes into a pool there is usually a back eddy,
and the current flows up-stream at the side of
the rapid. It is in this side-water that it is very
important to spin your bait ; and, as old Isaac
says, " if he spin not, ye be like to catch nothing."

Personally I always used a Malloch reel, as, in
the Giri and the rivers of this class which I usually
fished, accurate casting was of more importance
than the mere length of the line thrown. The
necessity for turning the reel is a drawback ;
and on the Namsen River in Norway I found
that, amid the more confused and plunging
struggle which occurs with a salmon, the reel
is not unlikely to jam, or the line to loop round
it. With the straightforward, headlong rush of
the mahser, however, the reel works well ; and
practice soon enables you to get over the turning
difficulty. It is not often that a mahser takes
on the moment of the bait striking the water.

For traces I generally used the Killin single-
wire steel trace, which can — or, perhaps I should
say, could — be bought for a shilling ; and I invented
a method of testing these traces which I found
very effective. In the morning, before going
out fishing, I used to send one of my men up a
tree with one end of the trace, and the other

MAHSER FISHING 61

end was attached to a bag or bundle containing
12 or 14 Ibs. of stones. The stones, when lifted
sharply by the hand two or three times from
the ground, put a strain on a trace, which is much
more like the sudden tug of a big fish than the
usual method of testing it to pull a certain number
of pounds on a balance. The testing of these
traces is all-important. I have found by ex-
perience that a trace which will for several days
lift 14 Ibs. with ease will, in time, become
unreliable and will readily break under the same
test.

Farlow's plaited wire traces, which I sometimes
used in big water, will hold a crocodile, and I
have never known one of Farlow's swivels to
fail ; but in clear water, if you want to catch
fish, you must fish fine and far off, and must
keep yourself concealed as far as possible. In
places where mahser are unsophisticated and
water has not been much fished, any tackle is
good enough, as a mahser on the take is a bold,
fierce fish; but where mahser have become ac-
quainted with baits they are very shy, and,
except on a day when they are all taking eagerly,
they are not readily deceived. I have seen a
mahser of 5 or 6 Ibs. sail up to my bait in clear
water and have a good look at it at close quarters,
and then pass it by. A salmon, or sea trout,
does not appear to concern himself with the fate
of his fellows in a pool ; but this is not the case
with the mahser, and the struggles of a captive
excite either sympathy or curiosity.

The hook that mahser cannot break has yet
to be made. When a fish takes the bait in

62 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

comparatively still water he usually pouches it
and you feel the hooks go home ; but when your
bait is working in strong water, it is sometimes
seized with great violence and hooks are often
crunched, or one or both of the flights are wrenched
off the spinner. It was this fierce tug that was
to me one of the joys of the game. The power
of compression possessed by the mouth of a
mahser is amazing. He has three rows of teeth
in the lower jaw, but I do not think these are
used, and the damage has always appeared to me
to be done by the hard roof of the mouth. I
have frequently had hooks crunched by compara-
tively small fish, and one of the safest holds you
can have is in the skin of the lips outside the
mouth. I have lost very few fish by the hold
breaking out, as the skin is very strong.

When a fish takes your bait and goes to the
bottom of the river without running, he should
be dislodged. A strong pull down-stream will
generally dislodge a fish, but if this is ineffectual
he should, if possible, be forced to move by
stone-throwing, or by sending your attendant
into the pool. If he is allowed to remain
undisturbed, he will almost inevitably play havoc
with the tackle. A fish which has run hard
apparently becomes too blown to permit of his
bringing the same pressure on the hooks.

When fish are not taking well they often dash
at the bait and make a sad mess both of the bait
and spinner, without hooking themselves; but
the only remedy for this is patience.

In the spring and autumn you may fish all day,
but the middle of the day, when the temperature

MAHSER FISHING 63

in the sun is about 165 degrees Fahrenheit and
the water becomes warm, is usually a better
time than the early morning, at any rate in
rivers where the pools in the early morning are
in shade and the water coming down from the high
hills is cold. Another very favourite time of
mine was sundown. It is a good plan to arrange
your day's fishing so that you may be at a good
pool about sunset. In the hot weather when the
Giri was low and very clear, I have caught good
fish after dark ; but this, so far as my experience
goes, is exceptional ; and when the sun goes down
and the after-glow is off the water, it is time to
knock off.

In rivers which have been much fished a little
colour in the water is desirable, and even if the
colour is produced by snow-water it is much better
than no colour at all. As is the case with salmon
fishing, the best time in such rivers is after a
spate, when the water has begun to clear, but is
still sufficiently discoloured to prevent the fish
from seeing the tackle. Where the fish are
unsophisticated perfectly clear water may be
an advantage, as Mr. Thomas says in The Rod in
India, because the bait can be seen to a greater
distance; but in a river like the Giri you can
only hope to catch big fish when the water is
clear, either in the strong water of the rapids,
or by fishing late in the evening. When the
water is discoloured the mahser are unable to
see the bait unless it passes close to them ; but,
if they do see the bait, they take it well under
such conditions. The junctions of small streams
with the main river fish well at such a time. The

64 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

smallest trickle of clear water, when the river
is dirty, offers an attraction, and the fish lie
near the junction.

As a friend once remarked, I am very conserva-
tive in my habits, and it is now a matter of regret
to me that I did not do more tank fishing for
rohu in India. It is good sport, and good fish
can be caught in this way. On one occasion I
fished a tank in the Hoshiarpur District, and
caught two fine rohu of 12 Ibs. and 14 Ibs. I
then hooked a fish which must, from the swirl
of the water, have been a monster, and which
smashed the tackle which had landed the other
two fish at the first rush. But, as the Emperor
Shah Jehan wrote to his sons : " Shikar kar i
bekaranast " (Shikar is the business of men
who have nothing to do). And I found it im-
possible to devote to sport all the time that I
would have liked to devote to it. I played hard
whenever opportunity offered, and, being very
energetic, I managed to find time for a good
deal of sport; but I worked very hard in the
course of my service in India, especially in the
twelve years from 1885 to 1897.

On the occasion referred to in the preceding
chapter, when I first fished the Ram Ganga in
the Patli Dun, a mahser of 27 Ibs. took out all
my line and very nearly defeated me. I hooked
him in a rapid at the head of a long deep pool,
along the side of which there had been a land-
slip and travelling was difficult. The fish made
a good run down into the pool and I followed,
never dreaming that he would leave the pool,
which was both long and deep. To my horror

MAHSER FISHING 65

I saw my line moving rapidly to the place
where the pool ended in a tremendous rapid, and,
though I scrambled vigorously over the debris
of the landslip, he was into this rapid before I
cleared the pool. Down the rapid he went, and
over 200 yards of line was out before I could
get clear. There was dead water at the end of
the pool, and I plunged wildly into this ; but
fortunately swimming was unnecessary, and I
managed to get on terms with the fish, who had
worn himself out by his efforts.

When hauled ashore, a mahser lies like a log,
and it is easy for a man to put his hands round
his head and haul him in. I never used net or
gaff, and Buta, the Drai, who handled fish for
me in the Bias, never failed to land a fish. Some
dexterity is, however, necessary, or fingers may
be crunched.

The Ban junction of the Poonch River is a
place to be remembered. There is a long rapid
in the Poonch at the junction, fairly slow at the
beginning, but ending in strong white water.
Half-way down the rapid there is a great rock
on the bank of the river, jutting out into the
stream ; and, unless you have a boat, if a fish
passes this rock you are done. Even with a boat
it is exciting work. The boatmen have to row
wildly to turn the boat out of the rapid to the
shore, and then to spring into the strong water
of the rapid up to their middles to hold the boat ;
and during this time your line may be flying
out down the rapid, and even across the pool
below, if the fish makes for the next rapid beyond.
I went down the first rapid, across the pool, and
5

66 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

down the second rapid with a 17-pounder, and wish
it had been my luck to do it with one of 30 Ibs.

I personally never caught any very big mahser.
I caught a fish of 42 Ibs. in the Giri and several
fish of 30 Ibs. more or less, and I also caught in
the Giri, and the Giri junction with the Jumna,
goonch of 70 and 68 Ibs., the latter of which did
not sulk and showed good sport, taking me down
the river for several hundred yards. Colonel
Downman caught a mahser of 54 Ibs. in the Giri ;
and this is, I think, the record for the river.
But mahser unquestionably run to a great size ;
and fish over 100 Ibs. in weight have, as I
understand, been caught in the tributaries of
the Cauvery River in Madras, and fish up to 90 Ibs.
in the Irrawaddy River in Burmah. I have
heard also of a mahser of 80 Ibs. being caught
in the Bias.

The fish you lose are always bigger than the
fish you catch ; and two days are very vividly
impressed upon my memory. The first was a
day in autumn on the Bias, and I was fishing
near the famous rock in the river at Changarvan,
a noted lie for big fish when the water at this
spot is favourable. All Indian rivers alter much
from season to season, and in the Giri the pool,
where Colonel Downman caught his 54-pounder,
was nearly dry two years afterwards. An enor-
mous fish took my bait, just by the rock. He
did not dash off, as a mahser usually does, but
wallowed about for some time, giving me ample
opportunity to feel his weight ; and I called
out triumphantly in Hindustani : " I have got
a fish this time." Then he made a rush down-

MAHSER FISHING 67

stream and checked in deep water near the left
bank of the river. I was in a boat, and dropped
down to him, recovering my line until I was
close to the fish. Along the left bank of the
river there were jagged rocks ; and Changan
Singh, the officer in charge of the ferries, who
often accompanied the late Mr. Bruere and
myself on fishing expeditions, and who was very
keen about the sport, had seen a line cut more than
once upon these rocks. He suggested, therefore,
that we should cross to the other bank, which
was shelving and sandy. The right bank looked
very tempting, and I fell into the snare, and
we started across. The stream was strong, and
as I paid out line I lost contact with the fish,
and when I began to reel up the trace was broken.
The fish must have availed himself of the slack
line to fix the trace on a rock and so get a dead
pull ; and when a big, unexhausted fish gets a
dead pull, no fine tackle can stand the strain.
I ought to have tried to frighten the fish and
start him off again, as another rush would have
carried him past the rocks into safety, and my
strategy was badly at fault. I never quite
forgave Changan Singh for having played the
part of Satan on this occasion ; and, if he is still
in the land of the living, I am sure he will remember
the incident.

The other day of wrath was a day in the spring
on the Giri. I was fishing the water between
Mandal and Sattawan, which was, that year,
in fine order, and I hooked a large fish in white
water at the head of a long pool. He moved
off down the pool like a man of war, not with the

68 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

usual violent rush, but at a good, steady pace,
inclining to the left bank of the river, from which
I was fishing. There was a tree in the river
near this bank, which had been carried down by
a flood, and at the time my only anxiety was that
the fish might foul this tree. When he passed
it I thought that he was mine, but the fish had
other ideas on the subject. As he approached
the rapid at the head of the pool below he shot
across to the right bank and went down the
rapid with incredible speed and broke the trace,
which presumably touched a stone. The slightest
check, when a big fish is running, is fatal. I
made no mistake on this occasion, and the fish
fairly beat me.

A friend of mine told me a story of a Bengali
Babu, who had fished for some weeks without
success in one of the tanks at Calcutta, and who
at last hooked and successfully played a very
large fish. The boy with him put the landing-
net under the fish, but the fish was heavy and the
net was rotten, and the fish went through the
bottom of the net and disappeared. The Babu
gave the boy a sound box on the ear, and then
burst into tears. I did not cry, but I have not
yet got over these two disappointments. The
Bias fish in particular, was, I am sure, a very
large one.

In some parts of India fishing can not be de-
scribed as a gentle art. I spent the Christmas
of the year 1904 with my friend Mr. (now Sir
Henry) Wheler, at the rest-house on the Bombay
side of the famous Gairsappa Falls, a beautiful
spot between Bombay-Canara and Mysore,

MAHSER FISHING 69

which is not visited by sightseers as often as it
deserves. There were tigers about, and we had
an unsuccessful beat for a tiger; but I spent
most of the time fishing. On one day, as we
were approaching the river, Mihtab Khan drew
my attention to the skin of a very large snake,
which had recently been cast. I did not pay
much attention, but went on to the river and
began to fish. There was a long, low rock in the
stream, three or four yards from the right bank
on which I was ; and I waded in and began
to fish from behind the rock. I had made a few
casts when Mihtab Khan shrieked out : " Come
here, come here ! " I turned, rather annoyed
with him for startling me, and, as I turned, my
eyes fell upon an enormous snake, which was
lying curled up sound asleep upon the lowest
portion of the rock, with the water lapping the
coils on either side. I retreated hastily enough
and armed myself with a stout walking-stick
which had been given to me at Forsinard, in
Scotland, and then returned to the snake. The
head was hidden and I did not know where to
strike. " Leave him alone," counselled Mihtab
Khan, but this I absolutely refused to do ; and,
while the snake slumbered peacefully, we organised
a combined attack. Mihtab Khan and a Bombay
peon, who was with us, armed themselves with
big sticks, and we advanced together. At a
signal from me, the three sticks landed with a
whack on the sleeping snake ; and, as he uncoiled,
the head appeared, and I bashed it to pieces
with my stick. We dragged him through the
water and stretched him out. The length was

70 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

fully four times that of my walking-stick, which
was a long one, so that he was at least 12 feet
long. The head was that of a poisonous snake ;
the neck was rather thicker round than a man's
wrist, and the body was considerably larger.
The coloration was magnificent ; the body was
glossy black flecked with some white streaks,
and the throat and the upper part of the belly
was a brilliant orange shading into yellow.
I had had no previous experience of hamadryads,
but have seen and killed numbers of snakes,
and have always taken an interest in them ;
and I studied the hamadryads in the Calcutta
Zoological Gardens very carefully after this
incident, and am sure that the snake was a very
fine specimen of the hamadryad. It was most
assuredly not a python. The head of all the
Pythonidae is quite different in shape from the
head of the Thanatophidia. I regret, however, that
I did not take the skin, though I had bashed the
head so completely to pieces that, as a specimen,
it would have been imperfect. I wished to take
the snake to the rest-house to show to Mr. Wheler,
but the native boatman absolutely refused to
have it in the boat upon any terms, and it was
accordingly left on the ground. For two days
it lay there and became decidedly odoriferous.
On the morning of the third day, when I passed
the spot on my way up-river, it was gone. Some
animal or animals had apparently eaten it, but
I certainly did not envy them their repast.

I have not heard of a large hamadryad being
killed with a stick by anyone else ; but we took an
unfair advantage of this one.

MAHSER FISHING 71

The country adjoining the Ram Ganga was full
of tigers and other animals, and even on the
Giri in the middle and the lower reaches of the
river the fisherman was in touch with wild life.
On one occasion, when I arrived at the Anu
camping-ground, I was informed that a man
and his wife had been attacked by a bear as they
were collecting wood in the jungle, and that the
man was dead and the woman's life was despaired
of. On another occasion, when I arrived at
Sattibagh with my friend Colonel Triscott, who
often accompanied me on fishing expeditions,
we were informed that a panther was giving
trouble in the vicinity. The animal passed up
a nullah at the back of our tents on the first night
that we were there, uttering the curious sawing
roar which is characteristic of a panther ; and a
night or two after this he took a boy out of a
hut within 200 yards of the tents. The boy was
sleeping in the hut with his uncle in charge of
some goats, and the panther dashed in through
the door and seized the boy by the head, as he
was lying among the goats, and dragged him out.
It is probable that the boy was seized in mistake
for a goat, as, when an outcry was raised by the
boy and his uncle, the panther dropped him and
bolted. The boy was brought to our tents at
dawn in a semi-comatose condition, bleeding
from wounds made by two of the canine teeth
in the cheek and the scalp. The other two
canine teeth appeared to have missed their hold.
Colonel Triscott had a medicine-chest, and was
handy with his fingers; so he washed the boy's
face, cut away some of the hair, checked the

72 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

bleeding with tannin, and then put iodoform
on the wounds. The place was a Sub-Divisional
Headquarters, and the officer in charge sent us,
on application, a string-bed and four men, and
we started the boy off to the hospital at Nahan,
which was only 17 miles away uphill. Within a
month he was back in his home completely cured,
having escaped blood poisoning. The boy
probably owed his life to Colonel Triscott, and the
Medical Officer in charge of the Nahan Hospital
expressed warm approval of the manner in which
the case had been treated. I sat up for the
panther over a bait on the following evening,
but without success.

An Indian by the name of Waris, who was,
and perhaps still is, the headman of the village
of Mari, opposite Kalabagh, on the Indus, invented
a novel and ingenious method of capturing mahser.
Into a smooth-bored gun he fitted a barbed
arrow, which projected about four inches from the
muzzle, and to the arrow below the head he
attached a coil of strong cord. The gun was
loaded in the ordinary way, but with half a
charge of gunpowder, and the cord was kept
in a coil at the fisherman's side. In the spring
season the fry make their way up the Indus,
hugging the bank as they go, and the big mahser
raid the shoals in their upward progress, rocks
on the bank projecting into the stream being a
favourite place of attack. During an attack a
big fish often shows himself upon the surface.
Armed with his gear, Waris would lie, with
the unwearied patience of the Oriental, upon a
rock watching the stream until a fish showed

MAHSER FISHING 73

himself, when he would fire the arrow into his
body. The rush of the stricken fish across the
Indus was, as he said, fine sport, and I have no
doubt it was. When the fish had made his rush,
he hauled him in with the cord.

Waris said he had caught fish in this way up
to 50 Ibs. in weight, and that he found the sport
so fascinating that he had given up all other
shooting. I did not actually see any fish caught
in this way, and I was not at Mari in the right
season of the year ; but the arrow was fired at my
request into the water, and the gear appeared
to work well.

The Indian is often a tremendously keen shikari,
though he is not very sportsmanlike, according
to our ideas, in his methods. His object is to
bag the animal, fish, or bird he is in pursuit of ;
and it appears to him to be folly to give the
prey a chance to escape. The most fastidious
of sportsmen, however, could not take exception
to Waris's methods.

CHAPTER V

MY FIRST EXPEDITION TO BRITISH EAST AFRICA

MY friend, Mr. W. B. M. Bird, had arranged to
shoot in East Africa in the early part of the year
1906, and had asked Mr. A. Wood to accompany
him on the expedition ; and, as I was proceeding
to England on furlough in the autumn of 1905,
Mr. Bird kindly invited me to join the party,
and the invitation was very readily accepted.
We left England shortly after Christmas 1905,
and arrived at Mombassa in East Africa on the
I3th January, 1906.

The case containing Bird's rifles and shot-gun
had been sent by mistake to Beira ; and for some
weeks Bird was obliged to shoot with borrowed
rifles. All the other cases containing our outfit
and stores arrived safely, and the mishap was
therefore particularly annoying.

My battery consisted of a D.B. "450 cordite
rifle and a Rigby-Mauser magazine rifle, which
I purchased from John Rigty & Co. for the
occasion ; and with the Rigby-Mauser I had a
telescope-sight, but this got out of order after
a few weeks' shooting.

Bird had employed Mr. Judd, an experienced
elephant-hunter, to engage gun-bearers, servants,
and porters, and make the necessary preliminary

74

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 75

arrangements for the expedition ; and, as Judd
had frequently hunted in the Aberdare or Settima
hills, and had established friendly relations with
some of the Kikuyu hunters, Naivasha was made
our headquarters.

Other arrangements had been made, but no
riding animals had been purchased ; and, as it
was the hottest time of the year, and no one of us
was young, this was rather a serious matter.
We trudged on foot, however, round the Naivasha
Lake, and had a very pleasant and interesting
trip.

A Berthon boat formed part of our equipment,
and we spent several days shooting hippotamuses
from this boat on the lake. The portion of the
head which is exposed when a hippo rises to the
surface to breathe is not large, but I was successful
in hitting my hippo at the first attempt. In the
afternoon it was found in the papyrus fringing
the lake in a moribund condition, and was finished
off by Bird. The sport did not particularly
appeal to me, but it was exceedingly popular
with our porters and with all the natives in the
vicinity. The hippo and the eland appear to be
the only animals in Africa which have any fat,
and the three hippos we shot provided a series
of banquets, which were much appreciated.

We had good shooting at antelope in the course
of the trip, particularly on the Longonot plain.
We halted there for some days and sent Judd to
Nairobi to purchase some riding animals for us.
The continuous marching on foot was fatiguing,
and occupied time which might have been devoted
more profitably to hunting.

76 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

While we were at Longonot Bird had a shot
at a lion, which had taken possession of the
carcase of a hartebeest, shot by Wood on the
previous day, and had dragged it into some
bushes. The lion galloped away on Bird's ap-
proach, and he fired at it unsuccessfully. He
followed the track of the lion, with the assist-
ance of his gun-bearer, for a considerable distance,
and had a second chance; but he was shooting
with a borrowed rifle, and either missed or only
slightly wounded the animal. We all turned
out in the afternoon and followed the track
for a considerable distance ; but we saw him no
more.

From Nairobi Judd returned with a pony and
a very good mule, and we purchased a Masai
donkey at Naivasha. This made travelling much
more pleasurable. An occasional ride, even for
a short distance, saves you from leg-weariness,
and also saves you from becoming uncomfortably
thirsty. Up to a point, it is pleasant enough to
" raise a thirst, " as Mr. Kipling describes it,
but when your mouth and throat are absolutely
parched thirst detracts very much from the
pleasure of a shooting expedition. The pony
fell sick and died very soon after we bought him,
but the mule and the donkey were very useful.

From Naivasha we marched to the Aberdare
Mountains on the 5th of February, and, camping
in a place at the foot of the mountains about
21 miles from Naivasha, we began a hunt for
elephants.

Rhinoceroses were fairly numerous in the
vicinity, though they did not appear to carry

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 77

good horns ; and, while the Kikuyu hunters
employed by Judd were trying to find elephants,
we hunted rhinos and other game. We knew
each other well, and Judd was an interesting
and instructive companion, so that we had a
very pleasant time; but three is not a good
number for a shooting party. Two men can
shoot comfortably without interfering with each
other, but it is difficult for a third man to shoot
without interfering with the sport of the others,
or without being interfered with in his own stalking
and shooting. The chances, also, which are to
be got at elephants are few ; and much of the
time which we spent at the foot of the mountains
was not very profitably employed. In the vicinity
of our first two camps elephants were fairly
numerous, and in the first week each of us had
a chance of bagging an elephant. We then,
however, marched and camped for ten days
along the foot of the hills without getting any
more chances at elephant, and the other shooting
was not particularly good. The country was
pleasant, and one of our camps was beautifully
situated, with a fine view of Mount Kinangop
in the distance ; but the rains had commenced
in the hill country, and our shooting was interfered
with to some extent by heavy showers.

When the elephant-shooting was over at the
end of February my friends had not much more
time at their disposal, and Bird was anxious
to see the Victoria Nyanza before leaving the
country. They decided, therefore, to spend some
days on the Athi River. I was anxious to travel
to a greater distance from the railway-line than

T8 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

we had done up to this time ; and accordingly
obtained a permit to enter Laikipia, which was
then reserved country for the Masai.

Taking leave of my friends, I started on the 2nd
of March for the Boma, or headquarters station
in Laikipia, with Mr. Black, a hunter friend of
Judd's, whom we fell in with when we were at
one of our camps in the elephant country, and
who kindly undertoook to control the Kikuyu
porters. As I proposed to march to a considerable
distance from the railway, my friends very
unselfishly gave me the mule and the donkey,
so that both Black and myself might be able to
ride. The gun-bearer, whom Judd had engaged
for me, had not been a success, and was, moreover,
entirely ignorant of English. In his place,
therefore, I took, as gun-bearer, one of the tent-
boys, who went by the name of Johnny, and
who could talk a little English. I had also
picked up and employed an Indian by the
name of Imam ud Din, and had a Muhamma-
dan body-servant ; so that, so far as my
personal wants were concerned, I was well pro-
vided for.

Black was a capital fellow ; but, before we had
proceeded far, he happened to meet an officer
from the Boma, who informed him that if he
entered Laikipia he would be arrested, as his
name was not in the permit. In the circumstances
Black was constrained to return, and, leaving
the mule and the donkey with me, he walked
back to Naivasha.

This misadventure interfered with the success
of the expedition. Johnny, the tent-boy, and

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 79

the Kikuyu porters, had all been engaged by
Judd ; and, not unnaturally, looked upon me
as an outsider. The Kikuyu also is a poor-
spirited creature ; and, as Abdu, the Somali
headman who had charge of the porters on my
second expedition, contemptuously said, is only
fit to cultivate a field. In the vicinity of his
home, with people who know and understand
him, he is tractable, and he is certainly a very
good porter, and takes good care of his load. He
has not, however, the pluck and enterprise of
the Swahili, the Wakamba, the Kavirondo, or
the Baganda, and is not a good man for a long
journey, as he soon becomes homesick and wishes
to return. I had, therefore, a good deal of trouble
with the porters. My ignorance of the language
made it difficult for me to control them, and I
was not as firm with them as I should have been.
I managed, however, to reach the Boma, and
did some shooting round the Pezi swamp beyond
the Boma; but the porters absolutely refused
to go any farther.

Bird also was anxious to see me before leaving
the country, and I accordingly reluctantly retraced
my steps and marched to meet him at Nakuro
in the Rift valley to the west of Naivasha. I
heard a lion one night when I was in camp near
the Pezi swamp, but did not see one.

At the Boma there was a sergeant from a British
infantry regiment, who was drilling the Swahili
Police. He informed me that not long before
he had successfully treated a Masai who had
come to the Boma with his arm badly mauled
by a lion. The Masai, according to his own

80 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

account, had attacked the lion single-handed
with his assegai and his shield, and had succeeded
in killing him, though his arm was badly bitten.
The wounds had suppurated, but the man escaped
blood-poisoning, and the arm recovered under
simple antiseptic treatment. A lion's mane is
much prized as a headdress by a Masai warrior,
but, if the man told the truth, his action in attack-
ing the lion single-handed with a spear and shield
was a very gallant one.

Before we reached the Boma we lost the donke}^
After Black's departure I had both the mule
and the donkey; and, as I walked a great deal,
and, when I did ride, generally rode the mule,
the donkey did not get sufficient exercise. The
donkey, who was receiving a feed of grain every
day, became in consequence somewhat obstreper-
ous. On the day before we reached the Boma,
a herd of zebras, seeing the donkey and apparently
recognising a kinsman, came within 40 or 50 yards
of him and began barking. Roused at this, the
donkey wrenched the bridle from Imam ud Din's
hand, and dashed in pursuit of the zebras, who
fled at his approach. It was a most amusing
sight, and, although I was annoyed with the man
for letting him go, and thought that I might
have difficulty in recovering him, I could not
help laughing. The saddle was on his back
and the bridle in his mouth, and he galloped
into space in pursuit of the zebras, and I saw him
no more. I sent Imam ud Din after him, but
he appeared at the Boma about five p.m. and said
that he had not been able to catch him. At
nightfall he would have had a better chance,

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 81

but he was evidently afraid to remain out alone
on the plain.

In the morning I sent Masai to look for him,
but they were unable to find him. The zebras
may have turned upon him and killed him,
but it is more probable that he was killed by
a lion.

On my return journey from the Boma to
the railway at Nakuro, I had an unpleasant
experience. I was marching as usual, with
Johnny and two of the Kikuyu, in front of the
porters, and the path or track we were following
led through a large open plain. I ought to have
stopped and waited for the porters, but a man
whom we met pointed out a track, which, as he
said, led to Nakuro, and we marched on. We
were then within 40 or 50 miles of Nakuro. It
was about 9 a.m. and we marched until noon,
when I selected a suitable place for a camp and
sat down and had a light lunch, a fragment of
Paysandu tongue and a few petit beurre biscuits,
and a drink of lime-juice and water. At about
i p.m. I told Johnny to go and look for the porters,
as they usually arrived at the camping-ground
about one hour after we did ; but he was lazy,
and made some excuse and did not go. At 3 p.m.
matters were beginning to look serious, and I
sent the two Kikuyu to see what had happened.
In a short time they returned, and it was clear
to me, from their manner and bearing, that
they had not seen the porters. We accordingly
started back along the track, and after going
for some distance met a native, who was camp-
ing out alone in the forest, and he and Johnny
6

82 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

had a conversation. Stupidly, however, Johnny
would not admit even then the seriousness of
the situation, and said that there was another
Safari (party of travellers) in the vicinity, and that
we would go to their camp. Thinking that he
had heard this from the native with whom he
had been in conversation, I made no demur,
and we pushed on ; and at nightfall we reached
the large open plain where the mistake about
the road had evidently occurred. In the middle
of this plain night came upon us with tropical
suddenness, and Johnny, after lighting one or
two matches in an aimless and bewildered manner,
turned to me and said : " This good place : we
stay here/' It was an unpleasant situation,
but my sense of humour was tickled by the
remark, and I laughingly replied that it was
anything but a good place, but that I agreed
that we must stop where we were. We proceeded,
therefore, to make the best of it. It was the
month of March, and even in the plains the rains
had begun, and, shortly after we halted, it
began to drizzle. I seated myself on the saddle
of the mule with my big rifle across my knees ;
and, as it was lion country, I had the mule
tethered in close proximity, and the three
negroes lay on the ground beside me. We were
at an elevation of about 7,000 feet, and the night
was decidedly chilly, but I had a Burberry
coat, and also, what I consider to be an indispen-
sable item of a traveller's equipment in damp
weather, a good stout umbrella. Fortunately
also, seeing that it was likely to rain, I had put
on that morning a somewhat thicker vest than

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 83

I had before been wearing, under my thin khaki
shooting suit. I endured therefore until the
dawn without any ill effects, but I was exceedingly
cold and uncomfortable. Sleep for me was out
of the question, but the three negroes huddled
together on the ground and slept peacefully.
When one of them in the night rolled against me
in his sleep, the warmth from his body was so
grateful that I did not shove him away. If
Johnny had admitted the seriousness of the
situation, I should have made a camp in the
forest country ; and there, under a tree with a
fire, the experience would not have been so
unpleasant ; but, as it was, I had a very bad
night. I had nothing to eat, but drank about
a tumblerful of lime-juice and water.

In the morning the drizzle stopped, and we
picked up the track of our " Safari." The '450
rifle, which was on my knees, was all right, owing
to the protection afforded by the umbrella; but
Johnny had placed the Rigby-Mauser on the
ground outside the cloth covering which the
negroes made for themselves out of their clothes,
and it was very badly rusted, and this was an
additional cause of annoyance. Buoyed up with
hopes of breakfast, however, we followed the
track of the Safari ; but when, at about 10 a.m.,
we arrived at the place where the men had spent
the night, we found, much to our disappointment
and disgust, that they had struck the tents and
marched on in the direction of Nakuro. My
Indian servant was, I think, responsible for
this piece of stupidity.
The only thing to be done was to follow, and we

84 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

kept on the move all day. For some time we
followed the track of the Safari, but in the course
of the day we lost the track and made as direct
a line for Nakuro as we could. Having the mule,
I was able to ride whenever I felt unpleasantly
heated, and this was a great assistance. It
drizzled off and on during the day, and in the
afternoon we had a thunderstorm and heavy
tropical rain, which made my feet and legs very
wet in spite of the Burberry coat and the
umbrella.

After the storm we reached the crest of the
slope descending into the Rift Valley and saw
Nakuro, like the promised land, in the distance.
The road then lay through thick elephant bush,
and we came to a place which was honeycombed
with tracks of elephants. I was not at the
time at all anxious to have a battle with an
elephant, and fortunately we did not meet any.

We came across very little game on the way,
but in the evening we saw some hartebeest.
I might have hunted and shot some animal and
broiled some of the meat, but we certainly could
not have provided anything appetising, and my
one desire was to avoid, if possible, the discomfort
of another night on the ground. By steady
travelling I hoped that it might be possible to
reach Nakuro before nightfall, and we therefore
kept on the march all day. The want of food
caused me surprisingly little inconvenience, and
I simply tightened my belt and pushed on.
The dampness of the air and an occasional ride
on the mule saved me from thirst, and this was
a great point. At one time during the day I saw

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 85

some mushrooms, which appeared to be edible,
but refrained from eating them. I felt that I
had sufficient strength, even without food, to
reach Nakuro, provided that I kept well, and an
attack of indisposition might have been fatal.

At 6 p.m. we were still in thick bush, and it
was clear that we had no chance of reaching
Nakuro that night. We therefore collected some
firewood and prepared for another night on the
ground. I had no matches, not being a smoker,
but Johnny fortunately had a few ; and with
some difficulty, as the wood was very damp, we
managed to light a fire. I dried my damp clothes
as well as I could at the fire, drank the last of
my lime-juice and water, about half a tumblerful,
and lay down. Johnny had some corn-cobs, and
the Kikuyu had some dried meat, which they
had carried along with them. They cut the meat
into strips and offered me some, but I declined
with thanks. I doubt if I could have eaten any
of it, if I had fasted for a week.

The night was dry, and the three negroes, who
were evidently very tired, slept soundly. It
devolved upon me to get up at intervals and
attend to the fire, as the negroes slept like logs.
It was very cold after the rain, but I warmed
each side of my body in turn. I had also some
sleep, and the night was a great improvement
on the preceding one.

At the first streak of dawn I roused the negroes,
and we started full of hope for Nakuro. The
mule got loose during the night and strayed for
some distance, but we found her in the morning.
For three full hours we travelled through thick

86 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

elephant bush, the only paths in which were the
tracks made by animals ; and, as many of the
tracks had no exit, we were constantly obliged
to retrace our steps and try some other line.
The mule also had to be flogged over fallen trees
and other obstacles. It was hard work, and when
we emerged into the open I felt somewhat
exhausted. The plain of the Rift Valley was,
however, in sight, and after a rest I got up and
continued the journey.

As we entered the plain we saw our porters
descending the steep slope into the valley by
another track, we having overtaken and passed
them on the road. The headman of the Kikuyu
shook hands with me warmly, and I was so glad to
see them that I found no great fault either with
them or my servants for their stupidity in running
away. After a biscuit and a glass of port wine,
I continued the march to Nakuro. While I was
making for the railway station I met a gentleman
and lady very smartly dressed, and the gentleman
came and spoke to me, causing me considerable
embarrassment. Unwashed and unshaven as I
was, I must have presented a most disreputable
appearance. Even the Swahili Johnny, though
he had fared better than I had, both in the matter
of food and sleep, showed most evident traces of
the experience. I explained, however, what had
happened, and kept out of the lady's way. At
Nakuro I had a meal, but did not eat appreciably
more than usual, and the adventure had no ill
effect upon me.

I got up the next morning at 4 a.m. to meet
the train by which Bird was expected to arrive

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 87

from the Victoria Nyanza, and had to wait at
the station until 3 p.m., as the train was delayed;
but the long wait at the station was not specially
irksome. About a tumblerful and a half of lime-
juice and water was all that passed my lips in
forty-seven hours, and in the preceding sixteen
hours I had eaten very little. As already said,
however, the fast caused me surprisingly little
inconvenience; but the discomfort of the two
cold, damp nights upon the ground was very
great.

After settling up matters with Bird at N aivasha
and saying good-bye to him on the 25th of March,
I moved camp to the Elmenteita railway station,
and hunted the plain there for some days. At
Elmenteita I made the acquaintance of Mr.
Chamberlain, a colonist who had a large grant
of land in the vicinity, and who kindly gave me
permission to shoot upon his ground. In one
part of the estate which he indicated Mr.
Chamberlain had, as he informed me, come upon
several lions in the grass. They stood and looked
at him for some time ; and, as he was entirely
unarmed, it was an unpleasant adventure. But
eventually they moved off. In dry weather
the place probably was a favourite haunt for
lions, as it was low-lying and the cover was dense,
and the Elmenteita plain, upon which there was
much game, was within easy access. When I
was there, however, the rains had begun and the
ground was partly flooded, and the lions had
evidently sought drier quarters. I hunted the
ground carefully, two or three times, but saw no
signs of them.

88 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

By this time it was raining heavily, and,
although it was always possible to shoot for some
part of the day, the ground near the station was
low-lying, and the flood water could only be
kept out of my tent by an elaborate system of
trenches. The discomfort, in the circumstances,
was considerable. As soon, therefore, as Judd
returned from a short holiday which he had taken
after seeing Bird off at Mombassa, we moved
camp to a place on the railway between Elmenteita
and Gilgil. There was an Indian gangman at
this place, who informed me that it was often
visited by lions. There were lions in the neigh-
bourhood ; and if I had hunted them assiduously,
and refrained from other shooting, I might have
got a shot. There were mountain reed-buck,
however, on the extinct craters of volcanoes
near the railway, which offered attractive shooting,
and Judd thought that a few shots at them
would make no difference, and I was only too
ready to take the same view. I came to the
conclusion afterwards that we were mistaken
in this, as the Indian gangman told me that on
one evening he saw a lion, which was travelling
towards the place where I was at the time, but
which altered its direction when I fired a shot.
Judd and Johnny also, on another occasion,
saw a lioness slink away when I fired at an
antelope. We followed in pursuit, but she was
not seen again.

I saw a leopard one morning, when I was
hunting with Judd at this place, the only one I
saw in the course of two expeditions to Africa;
but the beast would not allow me to approach

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 89

near enough to shoot. I personally saw no
lions. We had a good dry camp, and the rain-
water, collected from the corrugated iron roof
of the hut occupied by the workmen employed
on the railway, was the best water I had tasted
in the course of the expedition. Some of the
water we drank from lake Nainasha was very
bad, the papyrus roots imparting to it a most
nauseating flavour; but when filtered it did not
appear to be unwholesome. With the exception
of the reed-buck, however, there was not much
game in the vicinity, and as soon as we had
hunted all the ground we moved camp again.

I had about ten days more at my disposal,
and a lion was the animal which I particularly
wished to shoot, so I went from Gilgil, with a
few Kikuyu porters, to the Simba railway
station, which is a noted place for lions. Judd
followed me in a day or two. I arrived at Simba
late in the evening, and slept in the waiting-
room in the station, and the porters slept in the
verandah. The station-master said that no
lions had been heard of near the station for six
months, but during that night a lioness and
cub walked past the station on the railway-line
within a few feet of the sleeping porters.

If the weather had permitted of our sitting
up in a machan I think we should have bagged
that lioness, but the rains were by this time so
heavy that a night out of doors might have
involved appalling discomfort. The nights also
were cloudy and very dark. I shot a hartebeest,
and we made the porters drag the carcase across
country to a disused plate-layer's house on the

90 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

railway-line near the station ; and there we
tied it to the railing of the verandah. In
the morning the hartebeest had vanished, and
examination showed that the lioness and her cub,
and also hyaenas, had visited the kill. The
lion apparently hunts a great deal by scent.
The tiger, being a forest animal, trusts almost
entirely to sight and hearing.

On the next day Judd shot another hartebeest,
and we repeated the experiment, and Judd and
I sat on chairs in the house in front of a wooden-
barred window. The night was so dark that
we were obliged to tie the carcase to the verandah,
so that it was not more than five yards from us ;
and the window, through which we had to shoot,
was higher than our chairs. When moving our
rifles, therefore, it was almost impossible to
help touching with them the bars of the window,
and, when sitting up over a kill, any noise of this
kind is fatal. I have an extended experience
of mosquitoes, but shall always remember the
mosquitoes of Simba with respect. We were
not far, however, from being successful. Some
hyaenas came first to the kill ; and then, fairly
early in the night, we heard the lioness announce
her arrival with a growl, and the hyaenas
scampered away in terror. The lioness, however,
evidently detected our presence and would not
approach the carcase, and we sat there until
the dawn without result.

On the following night, at the suggestion of
the pointsman, who posed with some reason as
an authority in the matter of lions, I sat up
under the water-tank of the station, with a goat

90]

GRANTII AND THOMSONII GAZELLES.

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 91

belonging to the pointsman tied out as a bait ;
The goat, however, appeared to have played the
game before; and, without bleating or making
any noise, curled itself up and went to sleep.
Not even a hyaena appeared, while I was again
devoured by mosquitoes.

This ended the hunt. I saw some eland at
Simba, but the general shooting was not good.
From my camp I had some beautiful views of the
peaks of Kilima-Njaro appearing through the
clouds; but the frequent heavy showers made
life very uncomfortable. I therefore accepted
defeat, and left the country. I had had some
good shooting, and had enjoyed myself very
much, but I had gone to Africa mainly to shoot
lions, and had not succeeded in doing so, and
the expedition was therefore to this extent
a failure. I was in the country altogether
for a little more than three months. Some
photographs taken by Mr. Bird in the course
of the expedition have been reproduced as
illustrations.

While shooting round Lake Naivasha and in
Laikipia and at Elmenteita I shot very good speci-
mens of water-buck, and Grantii and Thomsonii
gazelles, and of the Nakuro or Neumann's hybrid
hartebeest, and Coke's hartebeest. I shot a
particularly good Thomsonii gazelle, the horns
measuring 15} inches. This was for a time the
second best head shot in East Africa, but has
now fallen to number six on the list in the last
edition of Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game,
I shot two others with horns which measure
14! and 14^ inches. One of my Neumann's

92 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

hybrid hartebeest heads also, the horns of which
measure 21 inches on the front curve, is only
short of the record (22 inches) by an inch, and
figures as number n on Rowland Ward's
latest list. Two other heads of this hartebeest
which I shot measure 20 inches and 19 inches ;
and one of these is a finer head than the one
in Rowland Ward's list, though the horns are not
quite so long.

I had also an interesting experience with ante-
lope in the course of this expedition. I have
seen it stated that the elephant is the only animal
which comes to the assistance of its fellows when
they are in distress. The remark was evidently
not intended to apply to monkeys and baboons,
and I personally witnessed a case of intervention
in the interest of a comrade by a hartebeest bull.

I had put a bullet from my -450 cordite rifle
into a fine Coke's hartebeest bull. It was im-
possible to get near to the herd, and I had
fired from a great distance, fully 300 yards, using
the heavy rifle in the hope of giving a knock-
out blow. The bull was standing dazed, and I
was closing in upon him to finish him off, when
another bull in the herd came behind him,
and butted him vigorously in the stern until he
compelled him to move off with the others.
When a wounded hartebeest begins to gallop
the endurance of the animal is so great that he
will probably get away from you, even if he is
mortally wounded, and I saw the bull no more.
The wounded animal may have subsequently
succumbed, but the other bull certainly made a
determined attempt to save his comrade's life.

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 93

Among the gazelles there is no chivalry of this
kind. On two occasions I wounded Thomsonii
gazelles, one of which appeared to have excep-
tionally fine horns, and, as I was following them
up, they were attacked by rival bucks. Being
unable in their wounded state to face the attack,
they sought refuge in precipitate flight, and were
savagely pursued by their assailants, until they
disappeared from sight in the distance. In each
case the attacking buck apparently intended to
kill his antagonist.

I shot the two rhinoceroses which I was
permitted to shoot by the conditions of my game
licence. The first was shot in company with
Judd, on the 24th of February, when we were
in camp near the Aberdare Mountains. It was a
cow with small horns, but the amount of lead
that animal carried before it fell was amazing.
The cow was accompanied by a young one nearly
full-grown, which had a better horn than its
mother, but was not such a large animal. We
saw them on one evening through the glasses,
at a great distance, cantering along, and evidently
making for the wallow in which we eventually
found them. By hard walking we managed to
come up with them before dark, and approached
within 50 yards of them. As the wind was
favourable I fired at the cow and hit her exactly
in the place at which I aimed, but it was not
the right place. It is not difficult to kill a rhino,
if you know where to place your bullet, but some
experience and some knowledge of the animal's
anatomy are necessary to show you where to
shoot. On receiving the shot the cow stood

94 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

for a moment, and I planted a second bullet in
her neck. She then swung round and galloped
from left to right across our front. Judd, in the
meantime, to prevent possible trouble, had put
two solid bullets from a '577 cordite rifle into
the young rhino, which sheered off. As the
cow galloped across our front Judd and I put
four bullets into her, two from a "577 and two
from a '450 cordite rifle. One of my shots made
her stagger, but she held gallantly on. I proceeded
to follow her, but Judd strongly urged me to
shoot, so I sat down and commenced shooting
at her stern, and at the sixth shot she collapsed
and sat down. While we were inspecting the
cow the young rhino appeared and circled round
for some time, looking for its mother. Apparently
the two solid bullets from the '577 had not caused
the animal any serious injury or inconvenience.
Two days after this I had an unsuccessful
encounter with a rhino. I was hunting alone,
and my gun-bearer saw a rhino standing in a
thicket which was surrounded by comparatively
open country. I tried to stalk him, but he
winded us and bolted back through the thicket.
I followed on the outside, and when the rhino
emerged from the thicket at a gallop I sat down
on the grass and put a solid bullet into his stern.
Resenting this treatment, he stopped and turned
to face his assailant ; and I thought I was in for
a tussle. A bullet from the second barrel, however,
made him change his mind, and he sought refuge
in flight. There was no blood, and, as I had
used solid bullets, and the distance was consider-
able, the rhino was probably not seriously injured.

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 95

Both my friends shot rhinos, after one or
two unsuccessful attempts, and Mr. Bird shot
two, but their rhinos had not particularly good
horns. As is the case with other animals, rhino
heads appear to vary much in accordance with the
locality, and the heads in this part of the country
were poor.

We all made the mistake of firing at rhinos
with solid nickel-coated bullets. A soft-nosed
bullet from a high velocity rifle will penetrate
sufficiently far to reach the vital parts of a rhino's
body, and a soft-nosed bullet causes a much
more serious wound.

My second rhino was bagged in Laikipia. I was
returning from the Pezi swamp to the Laikipia
Boma ; and, in the evening, as we were rounding
the corner of the swamp, I saw an eland bull and
proceeded to stalk him. Johnny was with me,
and I had my '450 cordite rifle, while he was
carrying the Rigby -Mauser. Before we had
gone far we saw directly in our path four large
animals, which I at first thought were hippos,
but which on further inspection appeared to be
rhinos. I had both heard and read so much
about the ferocity of these animals that I confess
I was disposed to pass them by and to continue
the pursuit of the eland. Johnny's blood,
however, was up. His eyes blazed with excite-
ment, and he began aiming with the Rigby-
Mauser at the male of the pair nearer to us,
which had the finest horn of the four. I could
not allow myself to be bluffed, so I approached
through the cover afforded by some thorn-trees
and got within 50 yards of the big rhino, and

96 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

sat down behind one of the trees at the edge of
the cover. The rhino was rooting in the ground
like a pig, and was standing with his stern inclined
towards me, and I decided to try a head shot.
Aiming steadily therefore at his throat, between
the jaws, I fired. In my ignorance, I thought
I was likely to be attacked by one or more of
the other rhinos, and resolved to reload the
first barrel, immediately after firing, so as to
have the two barrels ready for any emergency.
The rhino fired at would, I thought, probably
stand for a second or two after receiving the
shot, and this would give me sufficient time
to reload.

The shot, as I afterwards found, struck the point
of the jaw near the throat ; and the bullet,
although it was a solid nickel-coated one, went
to pieces in the animal's head, and only fragments
of it could be found. Some of the fragments,
however, caused mortal injury.

On receiving the shot, the rhino dashed straight
at the tree behind which I was sitting, and stood
about 15 yards from me, tossing his head about
and looking so formidable that I slammed the
half-opened breech and tried to fire the second
barrel. In my haste I pulled the wrong trigger,
and the rhino dashed past the tree to my right,
on which side Johnny was standing. He, in the
meantime, had fired twice with the Rigby-Mauser ;
and, as the rhino disappeared, he fired a third
shot at its stern. Turning to me with a beam-
ing countenance, he pointed to his heart and
said, " I shoot here/' As we subsequently found,
his first two shots missed the rhino altogether,

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 97

though he was practically broadside on at 50
yards, and was head on at 15 yards, and the
third shot at the animal's stern was the only
one that took effect. Johnny was brave, like
most Africans, but had had no experience, and
was not at this time of much use as a gun-bearer.

The female rhino, which was with the male
I fired at, bolted precipitately at the first shot.
The other pair, which were feeding a little farther
away from me, trotted back into the swamp,
after the wounded rhino had disappeared, travelling
together, shoulder to shoulder, like a pair of
carriage-horses.

By this time it was too late in the evening
to follow the rhino, but on the following morning
we went out and tried to track him. There
was no blood, and the Kikuyu were homesick
and worked very half-heartedly, and I was com-
pelled to abandon the pursuit. I hunted the
country, however, on the following day, and by
great good luck we found the animal dead. He
had travelled a considerable distance from the
place where he had been shot. This rhino had a
good head, the anterior horn being 24^ inches
long and 19! inches in circumference round the
base.

My one day's elephant-hunting ended in a
failure, but provided a good deal of excitement.

We drew lots for the first shot at an elephant,
and the lot fell to me ; and, when news of
elephants was brought in, I went after them with
Judd.

The elephants were in bamboo jungle at some
distance from our camp, and we had a long walk
7

98 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

before we reached the place. The bamboos
were hollow and were easily crushed by an
elephant, and they accordingly afforded no pro-
tection. The wind was favourable, and we got
into the midst of the herd ; and while we stood,
listening to the crashing of the bamboos, a
number of elephants in single file walked across
our front. They were at least 100 yards from
me, and were walking fairly fast, but Judd
whispered : "The last one is a bull." I under-
stood this to be a hint to fire, and I accord-
ingly tried a heart shot. There was silence for
a moment, and then an elephant trumpeted and
the herd stampeded. We followed, and the
elephants, leaving the bamboos, entered thick
forest, trees hung with creepers making very
dense cover. My gun-bearer, the man I had
before Johnny, who behaved well on this occasion,
saw an elephant standing in the forest and
beckoned me. I was on an elephant-path through
the forest not far from the animal ; but, before I
made him out, he saw me and charged. Pre-
sumably he was the elephant at which I had
fired, but it is impossible to be sure of this. I
could hear him coming, but could see nothing, so
decided to reserve my fire until his head should
appear through the screen of branches and
creepers above the path. By this time he would
have been within three or four yards of me ;
but, even for an elephant, rapid travelling through
such dense cover was impossible, and a shot in
the forehead might have stopped or turned him.
Fortunately for me, Judd, who was on my left,
caught sight of the elephant, when, as he said,

FIRST EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 99

the beast was about ten yards from me, and
fired at him with the '577 cordite rifle. The
elephant vanished, and Judd was unable to
fire again; but, by the turmoil in the forest, it
was clear that the shot had knocked the elephant
over, and that he was trying to rise. Eventually
he recovered his feet and bolted. We followed
the track, on which there was plenty of blood.
We met a young elephant, and then a cow elephant
and a calf, which we avoided ; and then, as we
were following the track through bamboos, a
cow elephant came crashing through the bamboos
in our direction. Judd said : " Hullo ! what
have we got here ? " and when the head of the
elephant appeared facing us, with both ears
extended, he raised his rifle and fired. I did
the same ; and, as the four shots rang out, the
elephant sank down dead in her tracks. One
of my bullets struck the animal's forehead above
the eye and glanced off. The other bullet and
both of Judd's bullets struck the animal between
the eyes.

I paced the distance from us at which the
dead elephant was lying ; and it was 17 yards.
It is possible that the elephant merely intended
to have a look at us ; but she was too near and her
attitude was too threatening to permit of our
giving her the benefit of the doubt.

Cow-elephants, however, could only be shot in
self-defence, and Judd was rather put off by the
incident. It was also becoming late, and he
accordingly suggested that we should return
to camp, and follow the track of the wounded
bull in the morning. In the night heavy rain

100 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

fell ; the blood-stains were washed away, and the
track of the wounded bull could not be followed.
Both my friends, after some days of waiting,
got chances; and, shooting with Judd, bagged
tuskers with ivory above the regulation weight.
Both elephants were killed by straight shooting,
by head shots ; and there were no particularly
exciting incidents.

CHAPTER VI

A WEEK OF DISASTER

I SPENT the Christmas week of the year 1908
in the Sondhar Forest in the Baihar Tahsil of
the Balaghat district in the Central Provinces.
Mihtab Khan was with me and a peon named
Shama, and I had secured the services of a fairly
good shikari. Shama was a native of the Kangra
district, and had never seen dangerous game
until he entered my employment ; but he had the
makings of a splendid shikari. He had keen
sight and hearing, and also the docility and
trust in the Sahib which characterises the Dogra.
Some days passed very pleasantly in still-hunting,
and two good swamp-deer stags, one of which
was a ten-pointer, and also a fair sambur,
were bagged. Buffaloes had been tied out as
baits, but for some days we neither saw nor
heard anything of tigers. On the night of the
3O~3ist of December, however, there was a kill
by a tigress. The place was favourable, the kill
having occurred in a strip of jungle between the
Banjar River and a forest road, and a beat was
easily arranged. My machan was tied on the
further edge of a deep dry nullah, running into
the river at right angles, and the tigress, to escape
from the strip of jungle, had to cross this nullah.

101

102 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

The beaters came on well under the direction of
the shikari and the forest guard, an intelligent and
very plucky Gond, and the tigress soon showed
herself among the clumps of bamboos on the
opposite side of the nullah. I was in high hopes
of getting a favourable shot at her on the bank,
but she hid herself behind one of the bamboo
clumps and remained there so long that I was
afraid she had given me the slip and broken
away across the forest road to my left. When
the beaters drew near, however, she emerged and
descended rapidly into the dry nullah. She was
on my left, and I had to fire in a somewhat awkward
position. The bullet struck her on the near
foreleg low down, breaking the fetlock, but not
crippling her very seriously. She dashed up
the bank, but soon slowed down, and by the time
I had turned in the machan she was going away
at a fast walk. She was about 100 yards from
the machan when I fired my second barrel, and
the bullet struck her high up on the same foreleg,
completely shattering the shoulder and knocking
her over. She tried to rise, and rolled over again,
but then recovered herself and made off. I was
using on this occasion a double-barrelled '450 cordite
rifle by Rigby with soft-nosed bullets. Between
the place where she was knocked over behind
the machan and the thick jungle there was
some open ground, and, when the beaters came
up, we tracked her across this, and, while follow-
ing the track, we picked up a large piece of
the shattered shoulder-bone. She successfully
reached the thick cover, however, and halted
near the edge of it ; and, as we approached,

A WEEK OF DISASTER 103

she roared loudly. The beaters up to this had
been full of confidence, and I had had some
difficulty in keeping them behind me; but the
roar, as poor Mihtab Khan said, was very full of
life (" bara jandar awaz "), and they became more
cautious. We halted on the edge of the forest,
and after a time she shifted her position and
retreated to some thick bushes farther in the
forest, and there lay up. Shama, who was with
me, said that she was breathing heavily, but I
could not hear this. I sent for the ladder, and,
putting it against a tree, posted myself on it, and
then, having sent the other men away, I made
Mihtab Khan get up a tree with a shot-gun
and fire into the bushes. This caused her to
bolt, but I did not get a shot. By this time it
was getting dusk, and an adjournment until
the following day was necessary.

By the time we returned to camp the men in
charge of the young buffaloes had tied them
out in the forest ; and, as luck would have it,
there was another kill that night. I had sent
for some grazier's buffaloes over-night to help
in the hunt for the tigress, and in the morning
ten or twelve buffaloes with two herdsmen duly
appeared at my camp. I was in favour of starting
at once to hunt the tigress, but the forest guard
and Mihtab Khan strongly urged me to have a
beat first for the tiger which had killed over-
night, and to follow up the tigress afterwards.
The beaters were in attendance and, having been
well paid by me in person for the previous day's
work, were anxious to beat, so somewhat re-
luctantly I consented. The beat occupied more

104 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

time than was anticipated. The tiger was in
the beat, but broke out to one side without
offering me a shot.

Valuable time had been wasted, and it was
3 p.m. on the 1st of January when we reached
the place where we had last seen the tigress.
I have read and heard stories of buffaloes following
eagerly the scent along the blood- track of a tiger ;
but the buffaloes we had, when laid on the track,
took no interest in it and quickly began to graze.
There was no time to lose, so we picked up the
track and followed it. The ground was fairly
open, and my intention was to drive the buffaloes
in front of us if we should enter thick jungle.
The track led to some stunted sal, and, as the
cover was thick, I stopped and said, "This is a
bad place; send for the buffaloes/' The tracker
was a Baiga, and was an unusually large and
powerful man for an aborigine, and he and I
were leading, he being on my left, whilst the
rest of the party were in the rear. There was,
as we afterwards found, some open ground
immediately in front of us, and the tigress, seeing
this, had turned to the left and lain down in the
thick jungle. The words were hardly out of my
mouth when she gave a roar and charged. I
swung round to shoot, and the Baiga, hearing
the tigress close behind him, made a panic-
stricken dash forward, and came against the
rifle. He struggled desperately and forced me
back a'gainst two trees, and in the struggle my
rifle went off, and my hat was knocked off and was
crushed and damaged. While we were struggling
the tigress charged by us at only five or six yards'

A WEEK OF DISASTER 105

distance, making for the men behind. But for
this unfortunate misadventure I think I should
certainly have killed her, as I was cool and col-
lected, and the tigress was broadside on and
was clearly visible as she passed through the
bushes. When I succeeded in disengaging myself
I picked up my hat and remember that I looked
ruefully at its condition, and then made my
way into the open ground in front. The forest
guard and Shama soon joined me, and they thought
that all had escaped ; but presently Mihtab Khan
emerged from the jungle, saying that he was
wounded. He had some blood, but not much,
on his breeches, and his eyes were staring, but
he did not appear to be badly injured. There
was then another roar and a rush in the jungle
immediately in front of us, and while my attention
was directed to my front Mihtab Khan crawled
away to the rear. According to the account
which he subsequently gave of the occurrence,
when the tigress charged there was a stampede,
and he was jostled and fell, and she bit him in
the thigh. The others, being active aborigines,
got up low trees, but one of them, who was on
a small sapling, was seized by the foot and pulled
down. The tigress was, however, badly crippled,
and he managed to crawl away from her. I saw
the place the next day. The tigress had reared
up and driven the claws of her uninjured forearm
into the trunk high up on the tree, and in this
way had been able to pull the man down. I
heard a shriek, but it was not until I returned to
camp in the evening that I heard that one of the
Gonds also had been mauled.

106 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

I sent Shama with Mihtab Khan back to the
camp, and then with the forest guard I went
all round the thick patch of jungle to try and get
a shot at the tigress ; but the cover was too thick.
I then tried to drive the buffaloes into the cover.
For a moment, evidently scenting the tigress,
they did draw together shoulder to shoulder,
but they then dispersed, and it appeared hopeless
to expect any assistance from them. My shikari
disappeared at an early stage in the proceedings,
but another man appeared who said he could
use a gun. I therefore gave him the shot-gun,
which we had with us, loaded with S.S.G., and he
climbed a tree on tiNe edge of the patch of cover
and fired, but I do n^t believe that he saw the
tigress.

We could see one man standing in a tree in
the middle of the cover, and shouted to him
several times, asking for information as to the
position of the tigress, but he was too terrified
to answer. He explained afterwards that the
tigress was immediately beneath the tree, and that
he was afraid of attracting her attention. I
saw the tree on which he was standing next
day. It was a thin tree, less than one foot
in diameter, and there were no branches. |The
man was standing on a projection from the
trunk not much larger than the palm of a man's
hand. He was about 20 feet from the ground,
and was therefore perfectly safe so long as he
did not lose his nerve; but his anxiety not to
attract the tiger's attention was very natural.
It was certainly a most uncomfortable perch,
and he was there for quite a long time.

A WEEK OF DISASTER 107

During all this time the tigress kept up a
continuous low growling, but I was unable to
locate her exact position. I advanced again
and again to the proximity of the cover to try
and induce her to charge out into the open, but
without success. The forest guard, who stuck
to me most pluckily, apparently thought I was
taking things too easily, as he repeatedly urged
me to be watchful ; but the tigress had evidently
no intention of leaving the cover. Night was
coming on, and something had to be done. The
old Baiga, who did his best to atone for his
misdemeanour by remaining on the scene and
giving any assistance he could, urged me to go
in and finish off the tigress in the cover. This
I was not keen to do, as I was unable to locate
her, and was afraid that she might pull me down
from behind in the thick cover. There appeared,
however, to be no prospect of getting a shot at
her in any other way, and I was determined not
to withdraw defeated : but, before going in, I
decided to make one more attempt to drive in
the buffaloes.

We accordingly collected the buffaloes, and
brought them to the edge of the thick cover at a
point where it was easier for them to enter than
it was where we had first tried to drive them in.
One of the herdsmen had vanished, but the other
behaved splendidly and cheered on the buffaloes,
while I stood beside him and covered him. The
plucky little Gond guard was also close at hand.
The buffaloes entered the cover and found the
tigress, and, as they did so, they drew together
shoulder to shoulder, forming a solid phalanx, and

108 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

advanced. It was an ever-memorable scene. As
they advanced upon her the tigress commenced
roaring, but she could not break the advancing
phalanx, and the buffaloes pushed her before them
out of the thick cover into comparatively open
ground. The man who was perched in the tree
said afterwards that one old cow actually prodded
the tigress with her horn; and there was a hole
in the skin which might have been made in that
way. The herdsman and I were within a few
yards of the buffaloes, but the tigress was hidden
from us by their bodies, and we could not exactly
see what was happening in front.

Suddenly the roaring ceased and the buffaloes
turned and bolted madly past us. The herdsman
turned to me, oblivious for the moment in his
excitement of his personal danger, saying, " My
buffaloes are beaten ! [Kutch himmat nahin rahi] .
They have no spirit left." I looked in vain for
the tigress. " Where is the tigress ? y) I said.
Then the man looked about and in a second or
two pointed her out, at about 25 yards' distance
crouched alongside a fallen tree, with her back
towards us. At any greater distance it is doubtful
if I could have seen her, as she was flattened to
the ground. She was at my mercy, and I raked
her with two bullets and finished her off.

The disappearance of the tigress apparently
caused the panic among the buffaloes; but they
had done their work, and made my task an easy
one.

The plucky herdsman and forest guard were
well rewarded, and they certainly deserved it.
Without their assistance I should very likely

A WEEK OF DISASTER 109

have been mauled, as the tigress was not lying
in the thickest part of the cover, where I expected
to find her.

I returned to camp in good spirits. The
accident to Mihtab Khan was certainly not my
fault, and I did not think he was badly injured.
My nerves had stood the strain well, and I do
not think I have ever held the big rifle steadier
than I did when I gave the tigress the coup de
grace. On arrival at the camp, however, I
heard that one of the Gonds had also been mauled,
and Mihtab Khan's condition caused me
considerable anxiety. He was in full possession
of his faculties and described coherently what
had happened ; but he appeared to be very
weak and dispirited, and in the early part of the
night he vomited freely.

When news of the mishap reached the camp
Mihndu the syce, and a local Excise officer, who
was there at the time, rode off to Baihar to fetch
the Hospital Assistant, who was in charge, and
he arrived in a cart during the night. He took
a hopeful view of the case, and said that both
the patients would recover ; but I had my mis-
givings, as Mihtab Khan was very depressed.
The relatives of the injured Gond wished to carry
him to his home, and I had some difficulty in
persuading them to agree to his being sent to
the hospital at Balaghat for treatment.

In the morning both the injured men were
sent in charge of the Hospital Assistant to Baihar
en route for Balaghat ; and on the following
day they went farther along the road. Mihtab
Khan's condition, however, became steadily

110 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

worse, and towards nightfall on the second day
he succumbed. He was not in good health, as
an attack of malarial fever which he got after
an unsuccessful hunt for bison in the Christmas
week of 1907-8 in the Jagar Valley, in the Mysore
State, had shaken him considerably, and he
apparently died from heart failure owing to the
shock.

He had some premonition of his death, and my
cook, with whom he was on friendly terms,
informed me that he had told him, some time
before the accident occurred, that he did not
expect to survive the season's tour, and had
asked that he might be buried either by the
side of the road or the railway.

The only meaning that I can assign to this
singular testament is that he hoped that his
soul, like John Brown's, would go marching on.
Poor Mihtab Khan ! He took much pride in
our wanderings. On one occasion, when I was
marching rapidly through the Kohat Salt dis-
trict, he said that the Pathans had inquired if
the Sahib never made a halt, and that he had
replied that we marched every day and never
halted ! This was an exaggeration, but I certainly
did march very rapidly when I was on inspection
tours, and halted very seldom. The time saved
in this way could be devoted unobjectionably in
shikar.

The Muhammadans of Baihar turned out and
buried Mihtab Khan's body with fitting ceremony,
and he lies, according to his wish, by the side
of the road from Baihur to Balaghat with an
inscribed tombstone at the head of his grave.

A WEEK OF DISASTER 111

He had his faults, but he served me faithfully
for several years, and I was much grieved at his
death. He left a mother and a widow for whom
I made provision, but both of them are now dead.

The Gond who was injured reached Balaghat
safely, and recovered completely after treatment
for some time in the Balaghat hospital. A
friend of mine in the Forest Department inter-
viewed him a year or two afterwards and said
that he appeared surprised at so much notice
being taken of his mishap, which at that time,
at any rate, appeared to him to be a matter
of no particular importance.

CHAPTER VII

FOUR DAYS

SOME of the finest sport in India with the rifle is
to be had in tracking and shooting the wild
buffalo and the gaur, or bison. To have any
chance of success, you must be at the place where
you hope to find tracks at the first streak of dawn ;
and this involves getting up in the dark, and,
unless you have an elephant to ride, a long and
uncomfortable walk in the darkness ; but, if
Fortune is kind, the sport well repays you for
your exertions.

Gaur are still plentiful in Mysore and Travan-
core, and are to be found in fair numbers in some
districts in the Central Provinces and Chota
Nagpur, but the heads appear to fall off progres-
sively as you go northwards, the best heads
being obtainable in Mysore and Travancore,
while the heads in Chota Nagpur are inferior
to those obtainable in the Satpura Ranges and
other places in the Central Provinces.

Wild buffaloes are numerous in Assam and
carry enormous horns, but the cover there is
dense and the animals are, as I understand,
usually shot from elephants. The element of
danger, which gives zest to big-game shooting,
and the pleasure of tracking and stalking the

112

FOUR DAYS 113

animal, are therefore lacking. Wild buffaloes
are also to be found in a limited tract of country
in the Central Provinces and in the north of the
Madras Presidency, and in this country the
animals can be stalked and shot on foot. The
buffalo heads obtainable in this country are
smaller, but appear to be more symmetrical than
the heads obtainable in Assam, and make very
handsome trophies.

To anyone who is fond of animal life, the long
walks in the jungles of the Central Provinces in
pursuit of the buffalo and the bison are most
enjoyable. The jungle is not too thick, the
animals in it can be seen, and you can walk
without discomfort. If you have a good tracker
also, his skill is a pleasure to watch. Kana,
the Gond tracker of Raipur, has a very green
spot in my memory.

The Bindra Nawagarh Zamindari of the Raipur
district of the Central Provinces, though game
there is not particularly abundant, shares with
the adjacent Jaipur Agency tracts of Madras
the distinction of being at the present time the
only part of India where the tiger, the buffalo,
the bison and the bear may be found and shot in
the same jungle. The Raipur Zamindaris are
steadily hunted, as they are a favourite shooting-
ground for keen young officers, who are prepared
to devote their two months' leave in the hot
weather to shikar; and, if the game were not
protected by some excellent regulations, which
have been made by the Government, the larger
animals, especially the buffaloes, would be in
danger of extinction. Under the regulations the
8

114 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

numbers of animals, other than the carnivora,
which may be shot annually in the Zamindaris is
limited, and a sportsman must obtain a shooting
permit, which is available for a fixed number
of days only. A permit thus granted authorises
the holder to shoot a specified number of animals ;
but permission to shoot more than one buffalo
or one bison is not given, and the sound rule
is also in force that an animal wounded counts
as an animal killed. The sportsman must follow
and bag his wounded buffalo or bison, or must
withdraw from the scene.

Fortunately, also, the Gonds in this part of the
country, although they will eat almost anything,
will not, for some reason or other, eat the wild
buffalo, and have, therefore, no temptation to
kill these animals. They are passionately fond of
bison meat, but the bison usually live in more
difficult ground than the buffalo, and have,
therefore, a better chance of escape.

The country is, moreover, malarious and un-
healthy, and this affords some measure of pro-
tection, as the forest land is not likely to be
broken up for cultivation. It is to be hoped,
therefore, that this splendid hunting-ground
may be preserved to provide sport for many
future generations.

I paid my first visit to the Zamindaris while
I was still in the Indian Civil Service. A con-
troversy between the Government of Madras and
the Governments of Bengal and the Central Pro-
vince provided an occasion for a visit to the
Madras border ; and the direct road from the
Central Provinces to the border lay through the

FOUR DAYS 115

Bindra Nawagarh Zamindari. The Excise officers
of Bengal and the Central Provinces complained
of the smuggling of Ganja (a narcotic prepara-
tion of hemp) from the Vizagapatam district
and the Jaipur Agency tracts. The Madras
Government, relying upon incorrect reports sub-
mitted by the local officers, contended that no
Ganja was produced in this area. The case
could not be settled by correspondence, but
the facts could easily be ascertained by a local
inspection made by anyone possessing the requi-
site expert knowledge. Accordingly in Febru-
ary 1909 I started from Raipur on a march to
the Madras border. My friend Captain Tweedie
(now Colonel Tweedie, D.S.O.), accompanied me
on the expedition. I had my D.B. '450 cordite
rifle and Tweedie had a black powder "500
Express.

After a long and uninteresting march lasting
over a fortnight, during which time not a shot
was fired, we arrived at a place in Bindra Nawagarh
where a man-eating tigress had carried off a few
people and had created a scare. The tigress,
however, was not to be heard of when we passed
through ; and we continued our march. A
shikari, whom I had employed, and who had
preceded us, reported that there were tigers at a
place on the road about two marches distant.
This information proved to be correct, and on
arrival at this place, the name of which was
Taurenga, we found that in a sandy nullah, leading
from the high-road near the camping-ground,
there were many fresh tracks of a tiger and a
tigress. A third tiger, as stated by our servants,

116 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

escorted them along the road to the camping-
ground as they marched during the night.
According to their account the tiger repeatedly
appeared on the road in front of them ; but a
villager, who was showing the way, beat a kerosene
oil-tin, and a peon, who was in one of the carts,
fired off a gun at intervals, so that they were
not actually molested. This tiger was certainly
very bold and persistent, as in the morning,
when I was making the march on horseback,
I met some cartmen coming from the direction
of Taurenga, who were afraid to proceed, as the
tiger was said to have been seen by the side of
the road in broad daylight. As the Gonds said,
this tiger, if he had not been shot, would probably
have caused serious trouble.

My ambition was to shoot a buffalo, which on
several occasions, in the Bustar and Patna States,
I had tried unsuccessfully to do. We arranged,
therefore, that Tweedie was to have the first
shot at a tiger, and that I was to have the first
shot at any buffalo we might come across. The
shikari was very confident that the tigers in the
nullah would kill any animal which might be tied
out as a bait, but was disposed to disregard the
knight of the road, whom he apparently considered
to be a wanderer. We decided, however, to have
a try for him also, and tied out two bullocks,
one in the nullah, and one on the high-road, about
three miles from our tents. In the morning we
visited the nullah before sunrise, and found that
the bullock had been killed and dragged up the
bank into the jungle. The drag turned to the
left from the top of the bank ; and, as we were

FOUR DAYS 117

following it, a native behind us saw the tiger
slinking away in the jungle to the right. Very
little of the bullock had been eaten, and the
kill had evidently occurred in the early morning.

We then went to the place where the other
bullock had been tied and found that it also
had been killed, and that the carcase had been
dragged to a considerable distance. Part of it
had been eaten, and the remainder was hidden in
a bed of high reeds in a dry ravine. The country
is sparsely populated, and beaters could not be
obtained in sufficient numbers, and there appeared
to be no water in the ravine. We decided,
therefore, to sit up over the two kills. There
was, as we subsequently discovered, a pool of
water in the ravine in which the carcase of the
bullock was lying ; and, if we had known this
at the time, we should probably have attempted
to beat the ravine with any men we could collect,
and might have frightened the tiger away. As
I have before said, the margin between success
and failure in big-game shooting is often a very
narrow one.

To have any hope of a shot in the ravine, the
reeds hiding the carcase of the bullock had to be
beaten down, and the kill by the side of the
sandy nullah appeared to offer much the better
chance. It was probable also that the tiger
would return early to that kill, as very little of
the bullock had been eaten. Tweedie, therefore,
left camp to sit over the carcase of that bullock
at 3 p.m. in the afternoon, though the weather
was by this time quite hot, and there were still
four hours of daylight. The tiger had, however,

118 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

returned to the kill, and there was a repetition
of the incident of the morning, the tiger slinking
away as Tweedie and his companions arrived.
A machan was constructed, and Tweedie sat
over the carcase of the bullock all night ; but the
tiger, having been twice disturbed at the kill,
was scared, and did not return.

I also took up my post in the ravine before
dark. There was a leafy tree with branches near
the carcase, in which we tied a good machan;
but the reeds, which were over six feet high, had
to be beaten down all round the carcase, and
this would have scared many tigers. I had
not, therefore, much hope. I kept Shama the
peon with me, and arranged with the shikari
that he was to come with some Gonds and fetch
me at ten o'clock, by which time the moon would
be down, as it was only three or four days old.
My experience with the shikari in Nepal ought
to have prevented me from sitting in a machan
with an Indian again ; but I had faith in Shama,
who had, like most Indians, splendid eyesight,
and I thought that his sight and hearing might
be useful.

At sundown the tiger roared in the jungle, and
it was clear from the sound that he had lain up
for the day at a considerable distance from the
kill. A beat, therefore, would certainly have
been blank, and might have spoilt everything.

Before it was dark I thought I saw the tiger
moving in the forest on the hill above the reed-
bed. Darkness came on, and there was complete
silence, and we waited in eager expectation.
Shama, in his excitement, began to breathe heavily,

FOUR DAYS 119

but a nudge from me kept him quiet, and he
behaved well. With his keen eyesight, he made
out the tiger crouching in the reeds at the edge of
the small clearing we had made ; and there, as
Shama said, he lay for a considerable time looking
at the carcase of the bullock. I was unable to
see him, but Shama very wisely did not attempt
to draw my attention to him, and sat perfectly
still.

At last, reassured by his inspection, the tiger
emerged into the circular clearing we had made
in the reeds and stood by the carcase, looking
strangely small by the faint light of the moon.

Our tree was, however, near the kill, and I had
a luminous sight on my '450 cordite rifle. Catching
the moonlight on this, I lowered the muzzle of
the rifle until I covered his shoulder and fired.
With the gasping " Wouf " which almost invariably
follows a deadly shot, he sprang into the reeds
and disappeared, and, after a moan or two, all
was still. Shama wanted me to fire again ; but
this would have been quite useless, so we sat
still and waited.

At 10 o'clock the shikari came with some
Gonds to fetch me, and, as we had no wraps and
the nights were still chilly, I was much tempted
to risk the descent. Shama, with the usual
recklessness of the Indian when the danger is
not present and tangible, urged me to go home,
and the sounds we had heard were encouraging,
but poor Mihtab Khan's death had only recently
occurred and I would not risk it. The tree was
in the middle of the reeds, and, if the tiger had
charged while I was descending, several casualties

120 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

might have been the result. I accordingly sent
the men away, and we lay on the machan and
kept ourselves as warm as we could until the
dawn.

At daylight the men returned and helped me
down, and I was very glad to find myself safe
upon the ground with my rifle in my hand. The
place was a most uncomfortable one for an
encounter with a wounded tiger. The men,
however, climbed trees on the edge of the reeds
to reconnoitre. I indicated the direction from
which the moans we had heard appeared to come ;
and the shikari, after some difficulty, made out
the body of the tiger lying in the reeds about
thirty yards from the machan. Sticks and stones
thrown at the body produced no response, so I
advanced cautiously through the reeds and
found that he was quite dead. The body was
accordingly dragged out of the reeds and carried
to the camp in triumph.

After skinning the tiger we moved camp to a
place about ten miles distant, where there was
said to be a bull-buffalo. The information was,
I think, given to the shikari by a Gond named
Dhokuri, a capital fellow, brave and intelligent
and a fair tracker, who joined our party sponta-
neously in the hope of a reward.

On the following day we were out before dawn
and picked up the track of the bull in one of
the sandy nullahs, which were numerous in the
country, and which were of great assistance
to the sportsman, as all tracks made in the sand
were clearly visible. The tracks led from the
nullah on to some rising ground, and I followed

FOUR DAYS 121

them with the hunters while Tweedie waited
in the nullah. The bull had joined the herd,
and we had not gone far upon the track when
the herd took alarm and moved off. Tweedie
joined us, and we followed mechanically without
any real hope of coming up with the buffaloes.
Despair possessed me. I had made many attempts,
and much the same thing had happened on each
occasion. Luck, as subsequent events showed,
had been against me, but at the time it appeared
to me that the fault lay with myself, and that I
must abandon the hope of stalking and shooting
buffalo and bison, and must leave the pursuit
to other and younger men.

Fortune, however, was kind on this occasion.
Unknown to me, there was another sandy nullah,
which joined the nullah from which we had
followed the buffalo, at right angles, about half
a mile from the place where we then were, and in
this second nullah some men were felling a tree.
This acted as a Stop, and blocked the retreat
of the buffaloes, and they accordingly slackened
their pace. Presently Tweedie spotted some of
them moving among the trees in front, and we
followed with renewed hope. Headed off by the
wood-cutters, the herd swung round and retraced
their steps along the slope of the rising ground,
upon which we were travelling, between us
and the nullah in which we had found the tracks.
I saw a moving mass below me on the slope at
a distance of about 200 yards ; and, seeing the
direction in which they were going, I pushed
on with Dhokuri as fast as I could along the brow
of the hill to cut them off. The manoeuvre

122 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

succeeded, and the buffaloes emerged from the
wooded slope on to the level ground rather more
than 100 yards from me, galloping at a fair pace.
A cow with big horns first caught my eye, and
I half raised my -450 to fire, but fortunately
refrained from doing so. Then, from the middle
of the herd, an unmistakable bull appeared and
crossed over to the left. Wasting no time over
the shot, I aimed and fired at his retreating
stern. He flinched, and, swerving sharp to the
left, disappeared down the slope.

Dhokuri agreed with me that it was a hit ;
but, when Tweedie and the others came up, we
followed for some distance the tracks of the
herd, and, as there was no blood, they thought
that I had missed. I was confident that the
bull was wounded, and further investigation
in the sandy bed of the nullah showed that the
bull had, as I surmised, left the herd and crossed
the nullah alone. There was some blood on his
track, but not much of it, the bullet having,
as we afterwards found, broken the hind-leg
near the buttock. As the bull was galloping
directly away from me, it was a good shot, but
I was lucky to cripple him so effectually.

We waited a little in the nullah and then followed
the track, and before we had gone far the shikari
saw the wounded bull standing in some bushes
at a distance of about 200 yards. Before we
had made him out he saw us and started off,
limping badly. I raised my rifle to fire, but
Tweedie, who had not at this time had much
experience of big-game shooting with high velo-
city rifles, thought that a shot at that distance

FOUR DAYS 123

would be useless and checked me. Dhokuri,
however, rose to the occasion. Seeing the direc-
tion in which the buffalo was going, and
recognising that the necessary sprint was
beyond my capacity, he seized Tweedie by
the hand and started at a run for another nullah,
which the buffalo was bound to cross, and in the
centre of which a convenient rock offered a
splendid position either for attack or defence.
They reached the nullah and posted themselves
upon this rock ; and after a short wait the
buffalo appeared, limping badly, and two more
bullets from Tweedie's -500 black powder Express
laid him low.

He had a good symmetrical head, the length
round the outside of the horns and across the
forehead being 7 feet loj inches.

I was very elated, and should have been quite
satisfied if I had had no more shooting ; but the
most wonderful good fortune was still in store
for me.

On the following morning we returned to the
camp where I had shot the tiger. Our permit
in Bindra Nawagarh covered one buffalo and two
gaur or bison, but the Deputy Commissioner of
the district, when giving us the permit, had
expressed himself very doubtful as to the
possibility of our getting any bison so early in
the year. The rainy season, when the ground
is damp and the animal can be noiselessly
approached, is the best time for stalking and
shooting bison in the Central Provinces.

The hot weather, however, was coming on,
and the firing of the grass on the hills had

124 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

commenced, and this had driven the bison down
from the hills into the damp grass land near
the sandy nullahs. The grass in places was
dense and high, affording good cover.

In the morning Tweedie and the hunters picked
up some fresh bison tracks and followed them.
I rode straight to camp, and on the way noticed
the track of a good bull bison which had crossed
the sandy nullah near the camp. Tweedie' s hunt
was unsuccessful ; and he decided to sit for another
night over the carcase of the bullock which had
been killed by the tiger. There was not much
hope of the tiger returning ; but I have seen a
good tiger shot over a buffalo which a tigress
had killed and deserted two days before, and
which the tiger had found and dragged into
cover.

In the course of the day Kana, the tracker,
arrived, having been sent to our camp by my
friend Mr. Lowrie, who was then the Divisional
Forest Officer of Raipur. Kana had a henchman
with him on this occasion whose name I forget,
but he was a good tracker. I had not much
hope of getting a bison, but, to induce Kana to
make the utmost efforts, I promised him a reward
of thirty rupees, which is a large sum for a
Gond, if he should succeed in getting me a shot ;
and at 3 p.m. we started to explore the ground
into which the bull, whose tracks I had seen
in the morning, had crossed. We walked along
high ground for three hours ; and at about
6 p.m. descended into the damp ground near
the nullah, where the grass was very high, and
there we saw bison. The nearest one was about

FOUR DAYS 125

200 yards from me, and was moving through
the grass. " The nearest one is a bull/' whispered
Shama ; and, having full confidence in his eye-
sight, I took aim and fired. As it afterwards
appeared, I made a bad but very lucky shot,
hitting the bison, which was broadside on, far
back on the near hind-leg and fracturing the
bone near the hip. The bison disappeared in
the grass on the right of a long line of trees,
and I hurried along the left of the trees to see if
I could get another shot, opening the rifle to
reload as I went. On clearing the trees, I saw
the head and shoulders of a fine bison appearing
above the grass, which was high enough to cover
his body. The distance was about 150 yards,
and the animal was nearly broadside on, but
was on slightly lower ground. I, of course,
thought it was the wounded bison, though even
at that moment it struck, me that the attitude
was not that of a wounded animal. The bison
had not, in fact, seen what had happened to his
comrades, and was looking about to see from
which direction danger threatened. I closed the
rifle, took a hurried aim, and pulled the wrong
trigger, the right barrel being empty, as I had
not had time to insert another cartridge. The
miss-fire pulled me together, and, taking a steady
aim at the animal's shoulder, I fired the second
barrel, and the bison disappeared. We advanced
cautiously, Kana displaying a prodigious respect
for wounded bison generally ; and on arrival at
the spot we found him lying on the grass. He
was dying, but was still breathing; and, to put
him out of his suffering, I fired another bullet

126 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

through his heart. I had fired at the bison
from a standing position, and the distance was
considerable : so that it was a fine shot.

It was then dusk, and I started for the camp,
leaving Kana in charge of the bison until we
could send him help to bring in the head. The
more I thought about the animal's attitude,
the less could I reconcile it with the flurried
appearance which is almost invariably shown
by a wounded animal, and I told Kana to see
if there were more than two bullets in the bison.
On the other hand, it seemed most unlikely that
I should have shot two bison bulls in less than
two minutes.

Tweedie returned to the camp on hearing
the shots ; and the servants were sent off during
the night to a village about nine miles distant
on the way to a Reserved Government Forest,
which was situated on the Madras border, and
in which we had a permit to shoot one more
buffalo. In the morning, when we were ready
to march, Kana appeared with the head and
said that there were only two bullets in the
bison. Instead, therefore, of marching, we re-
turned to the place where I had fired the first shot,
and found there the blood-track of a wounded
bison. We followed the track from daylight
until 10 a.m. I then sent for the mare ; rode
to the village where the tents, which we had
sent on, had been pitched ; had some breakfast,
and ordered the tents to be brought back ; and
then returned with food for Tweedie. We then
followed the track of the wounded bull until
nightfall. Tweedie had one glimpse of him in

FOUR DAYS 127

the forest, but we did not succeed in getting
a shot at him.

In the morning we again took up the trail at
daylight and followed it until 9 a.m., when it
was temporarily lost. The exertions of the pre-
vious day had exhausted me, and the weather
in the daytime was becoming decidedly hot.
It appeared also that we were in for a long,
stern chase, so I returned to the camp for a rest,
intending to go out again at 3 p.m. Tweedie,
who was young and strong, stuck to it ; and his
perseverance was rewarded, as about noon he
came up with the bison, which was exhausted
and could go no farther, and faced his pursuers
to fight it out. If you have good trackers, a
buffalo or bison with a broken leg has no chance
of escape, and has also ceased to be dangerous,
and Tweedie had no difficulty in giving the bull
the coup de grace.

We took the head and left the carcase to the
Gonds ; and K ana's henchman apparently lived
in and upon bison for some days. We saw him
once, but he was so odoriferous that he was
almost unapproachable.

In four days with four shots, in a country in
which game was not particularly abundant, I
had killed outright a tiger and a bull-bison,
and had so crippled a bull-buffalo and another
bull-bison that their eventual destruction was
certain. There is still fine sport to be had in
India.

The bison first killed had a good head for this
part of the country, the spread from horn to
horn at the widest part outside being 36 J inches.

128 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

Heads in Mysore and Travancore are, of course,
often much larger than this. The other was a
young bull ; uncle and nephew, as Kana suggested.

We moved camp the next day to the village
on the way to the Reserved Forest, I riding with
the Forester and an Excise officer, and Tweedie
walking with the syce Mihndu. The road lay
through the forest, and towards evening I saw
two men and a boy, who were on the road in
front of me, look into the forest and then begin
to run. I shouted and stopped them, and they
said that there was a bear near the road. My
rifle was not with me, and I did not wish to
frighten the mare, so I did not stop to investigate,
and rode on to camp. When Tweedie and the
syce arrived at the spot it was nearly dark, and
the bear made a rush at them, but halted growling
at the edge of the forest, and did not actually
come out on to the road. Mihndu whirled his
stick round his head and gave a loud yell, which
may perhaps have had some influence on the
bear. In the evening I chaffed him, and said that
he was a great bahadur (hero) and had routed
the bear, to which he replied : " Kya kare ?
Sahib to ghabraia tha" (What was I to do ?
The Sahib was flabbergasted) . As Tweedie was a
brave man, this was decidedly amusing ; but old
Mihndu had a good deal of grit, and did the
best thing that could have been done under
the circumstances. It is quite possible that the
bear's rush may have been checked by his
demonstration.

The sloth-bear of India is a surly, ill-conditioned
beast ; and even the black bear of the Himalayas

FOUR DAYS 120

often attacks wood-cutters and others without
any provocation.

We reached the Reserved Forest in two or
three days, and Tweedie began a hunt for buffalo.
On the first day on which he went out I followed
after sunrise along the forest line, and a bear
crossed the line in front of us. Seeing us, he
broke into a gallop, and I could not resist having
a shot at him. He was about 70 yards away,
and I hit him, but too far back, and did not fire
again. The noise made by the -450 in the stillness
of the forest was so great that I was afraid of
scaring away all the buffaloes in the vicinity,
and of spoiling Tweedie' s chance. The bear
therefore got away. I was sorry afterwards
that I had not fired again, as I might have had a
second good shot, and a bag of all five animals
in so few days would have been unique. I was,
however, very anxious that Tweedie should get
a buffalo.

He hunted for four or five days without success
in the Reserved Forest, and in the adjacent
Jaipur Agency tracts, in which the Raja most
courteously invited us to shoot, and the prospect
looked black; but the chance came. As he was
walking one evening with the trackers along the
bed of a sandy nullah Dhokuri spotted the horn
of a buffalo projecting above a long rock in the
bed of the nullah. On the other side of this rock
there was a pool, and in the pool a buffalo bull
was having a bath. It was a great opportunity.
The bull had not heard their feet on the sand,
and was taken completely by surprise. They
walked straight up to the rock, and the frightened
9

130 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

buffalo dashed off at great speed and disappeared
in the forest. Tweedie fired once with his *5oo
black powder Express and hit the buffalo in the
flank ; but, as it afterwards appeared, too far
back.

By this time it was too late to do anything
more, but at daylight in the morning we took
up the track and followed it for three hours.
There was blood, but it was frothy blood, and I
thought that the animal was hit in the stomach.
So evidently did Dhokuri, as he sidled up to
me and recommended me to keep my eye on a
tree. " Yih bainsa to chot karega " (This buffalo
will charge) he said.

At 9. a.m. I was reluctantly obliged to abandon
the hunt, as this was the day for the market in
Jaipur at which Ganja was said to be freely sold,
and which I had specially come to see. I
accordingly gave Tweedie my blessing and my
•450 cordite rifle, which was more useful, and
left him.

According to Tweedie' s account they came up
with the buffalo in the middle of the day, and
found him lying in some bushes facing his track.
A high wind was blowing from the buffalo to them,
which prevented the buffalo from scenting or
hearing them, and they had sufficient time for
a council of war. One ear of the buffalo was
showing ; and, on Kana's advice, Tweedie fired
at the animal through the ear. Tweedie and
Kana were behind one tree, and Dhokuri and
the coolie with the tiffin-basket were behind two
other trees. At the last moment the tiffin coolie
changed his position ; and the buffalo, charging

FOUR DAYS 131

instantly at the shot, with amazing velocity for
so heavy an animal, caught sight of the coolie
and went for him. The buffalo, as Tweedie
said, passed within a few inches of Dhokuri's
tree, but Dhokuri had the intelligence and the
nerve not to move, and his presence was not
discovered. Tweedie fired the second barrel of
the -450 into the buffalo as he charged; but this
did not distract his attention, and he dashed
straight at the tree behind which the tiffin coolie
had taken shelter, and up which he was trying to
climb. The gallant but stupid beast crashed
into the tree ; and then, instead of hunting the
man round the tree, drew back a little and
crashed into the tree again, trying to knock it
down. By this time Tweedie had reloaded, and
two more bullets from the -450 laid him low.
The coolie's arms were bruised, but he was not
seriously injured.

The head was a better one than mine, being
slightly over 8 feet, and the horns were very
symmetrical and well marked.

A visit to the market established the fact
that Ganja was freely sold there. I also, in the
course of another tour, ascertained that Ganja
was produced to a considerable extent in the
country inhabited by the Khonds in the Eastern
Ghats in the Vizagapatam district, and that
these primitive savages understood the necessity
for the extermination of the male plants.

Special tours for the investigation of facts
are not encouraged in India, and I think this is a
mistake. A hard-worked district officer, when
asked to report upon a subject to which his

132 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

attention has not been directed, and of which
he has no special knowledge, is not unlikely to
submit an incorrect report. In the course of
my tours as Inspector-General I found out
some things of importance regarding Excise
and Opium which were unknown to the local
officers.

The object of my journey to the Madras border
having been accomplished, and the two buffaloes
and the two bison, covered by our permits,
having been shot, we returned to Raipur. On
the way back Tweedie shot a she-bear in a beat,
which had a small cub, and he carried away
the cub as a pet. I did not fire another shot. A
successful big game expedition in India does not
necessarily involve much shooting. In Africa,
where you have to shoot daily for food, there is a
much greater expenditure of cartridges.

I retired from the Indian Civil Service in the
spring following this expedition ; and Mihndu,
the syce, went back to his home in Oudh.

CHAPTER VIII

BORNEO

Ax the request of the Directors of the Chartered
Company, I visited British North Borneo in the
spring of 1911, after my retirement from the
Indian Civil Service, to report upon the adminis-
tration. From England I went to India, arriving
there in November 1910; and from India, in
February 1911, I went on to Borneo, landing at
the port of Jesselton on the west coast on the
8th of March.

In India I took part in a big bear drive in the
Poonch State, in the course of which, I think,
I killed one bear outright and helped to kill
another, and then went on to Dachigam in Kash-
mir to shoot hangul (barasingh). On the day
I arrived at Dachigam I shot two large male
black bears while still-hunting ; but on the
following morning I had an attack of malarial
fever, which compelled me to give up shooting
and return to Srinagar. After some days I was
able to travel, and made my way to Lahore and
then to the Central Provinces, but it was the
most severe attack of this fever I have ever had,
and I was on the sick list throughout the greater
part of December. In January I shot a good
sambur stag in the Tapti Valley, but this stag

133

134 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

and the two Dachigam bears were the only
important additions which I made to my collection
of Indian trophies during this season.

I spent a very interesting and strenuous two
months in Borneo. His Excellency the Governor
and the other officials employed in the country
received me most kindly, and my tours and
inquiries were facilitated in every possible manner.
The rubber and tobacco planters also showed
me much kindness and hospitality. I visited
all the important places on the coast of British
North Borneo ; marched to Rundum on the
Dutch border in the interior of the country ;
and in a second expedition marched from Tenom
in the south through the interior to the slopes
of the Kina Balu Mountain ; and then down to
the coast at Tempassuk and along the coast to
Kudat in the extreme north. We had no tents,
but the natives rapidly construct shelter-huts
with bamboos and leaves, which are clean and
look very comfortable, and are also fairly water-
tight.

On the rare occasions when Kina Balu is not
hidden by clouds in the evening, a sunset in the
west of British North Borneo is something to be
remembered. The mountain is over 13,000 feet
high, and is crowned by fine jagged peaks ; and,
when the sun goes down behind the wooded
islands on the coast and Kina Balu is lit up in
the background by the golden light, the scene
is marvellously beautiful.

There is a good deal of animal life in North
Borneo. There are elephants on the east coast
and in the adjacent part of the country, which

BORNEO 135

are said to be descended from a pair of these
animals which were presented by the East India
Company to the Sultan of Sulu. Timbadau
(wild cattle) resembling the hsine in Burma,
but having dark glossy skins, are in some places
fairly numerous, and Malay bears and honey-
bears, sambur, mouse-deer, and a curious-looking
wild pig resembling the babiroussa, are abundant.
A small kind of rhinoceros and a small but
beautifully marked leopard, known as the
Borneo tiger, are also to be found. The leopard
is, however, very rare, and the rhinoceros is
hunted so eagerly by native hunters for the
sake of the horn, which fetches a high price in
China, that there is a danger of the animals
being exterminated. Orang-outang, or mias,
though rare, are also to be found in parts of North
Borneo ; and the theory that there are two
species is still held. I saw one skull which must
have formed part of a very formidable animal.
Alligators are numerous and attain an enormous
size. They are frequently man-eaters, and are
naturally much dreaded. I w?s, however, in-
formed that when an alligator has made itself too
great a nuisance, the natives organise a hunt ;
and, when the alligator has been hunted and
driven until he is panic-stricken, an expert
swimmer dives into the water, gets below the
alligator, and stabs it in the soft part of the
belly. The fixed fee for this exploit was said
to be five dollars. I had no opportunity of
witnessing the performance of this feat, but
officers serving in the country informed me that
the thing was done. The alligator or crocodile

136 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

is a cowardly brute ; and it seems possible that
an animal, when thoroughly scared, may become
temporarily incapable either of assuming the
offensive or of defending itself successfully against
attack.

On my journey through the interior of the
country, the only matter in regard to which
the natives approached us with representations
was an order which had been recently issued by
the Government prohibiting the use of bingkassan
(spring- traps) for deer and pig. The order was
evidently considered to be an unnecessary
interference with the liberty of the subject;
and my fondness for shikar disposed me at
first to listen favourably to the representations.
When I inquired into the matter, however, I
found that the order was really necessary, as the
traps are exceedingly dangerous. A sharpened
bamboo spear is held in position by a strong
bamboo spring at the side of any path or track
which an animal has been seen to use ; and
contact with a string stretched across the path
or track releases the spring and the spear is
discharged. If the trap is set for a sambur, the
spear passes through the thigh of a man who
may happen to release the spring, and, if it is
set for a pig, the spear passes through the leg
lower down. The use of such traps on any
path or track which is likely to be traversed by
human beings other than the person who has set
the trap is, therefore, very objectionable.

The blow-pipe, with small poisoned darts made
from the rib of a palm-leaf, is still the weapon
of the jungle-dwelling Muruts, or Sun-Dyaks.

BORNEO 137

A straight piece of wood forming the pipe is
ingeniously hollowed out, and the pipe, with a
piece of sharpened iron attached to the end, does
duty as a spear, while the darts are carried in a
small quiver on the shoulder. To ascertain at
what distance the blow-pipe is effective, I
organised, when I was at Rundum, a blow-pipe
competition for a prize in money. The Muruts
made very good shooting at a target, with a four-
inch bull's-eye, at a distance of 25 yards, but at
50 yards only one shot hit the target.

The Muruts, who are little men, are able to
hide themselves and move very noiselessly in
the forest, and by stealthy stalking they can
get within range of the man or animal they are
attacking. A monkey is, I understand, a favourite
article of diet.

I had only two days' shooting in Borneo, but
had the luck to shoot a timbadau bull. The
animals are largely nocturnal and keep in thick
jungle during the day, and by ordinary still-
hunting a shot at one is not easily obtained.
My son, who was then in the 2ist Indian Cavalry
in India, took leave and joined me in Borneo,
and was with me when I made the march through
the interior of the country from Tenom to Kudat.
On the way from Tempassuk to Kudat we passed
through country where timbadau were fairly
numerous, and at one place a local Bajao (Malay)
hunter reported that three bulls had been seen on
more than one occasion outside the forest. A
hunt was accordingly organised. It was arranged
that my son and I should start early to try and
get a shot at the bulls while they were still in the

138 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

open; and that Mr. Fraser, who was on special
duty with me throughout my stay in the country,
and Mr. Bunbury, the district officer, should follow
later with beaters and beat the jungle. My
son and I left camp before dawn mounted on
ponies, and rode about four miles to the place
which the bulls were said to frequent. The hunter,
who accompanied us, rode a buffalo which, much
to my surprise, shambled along and kept up with
the horses. The sun was nearly up when we
reached the place, but we were just in time, and
my son saw the three black bulls in the open
making their way slowly back to the jungle.
We made a detour and cut them off, and I had
a shot at the leading bull as he stopped for a
moment within a few yards of the jungle. The
distance was considerable, and the bull was
not quite broadside on, and the bullet struck
him too far back. I was using at the time a
Rigby Mauser magazine rifle with a "350 bore, a
very powerful rifle which I had purchased when
I had made my second expedition to East Africa.
The bull, when wounded, dashed into the jungle,
and the other two bulls made off in another
direction. My son and I had shots at them as
they went, and either of us, shooting alone,
would probably have bagged one, as, although
they were between 200 and 300 yards from us,
they were out in the open and were not moving
very fast. Rapid competitive firing does not,
however, conduce to good shooting, and the
bulls escaped.

I then armed myself with my D.B. -450 rifle,
and we proceeded to track the wounded bull;

BORNEO 139

but the hunter, who was with us, continually
lost the track. It did not occur to me that the
man was afraid, and I merely thought that he
was incompetent. We accordingly gave up the
pursuit, and went back to meet the other
sportsmen, with the object of obtaining the
services of a better tracker. We had not gone
far when we met the hunt arriving. The Bajao
beaters, thirty or forty in number, with their
large palm-leaf hats and bare legs, were all
mounted on country-bred ponies, and presented
a weird and amusing spectacle. A native Mu-
hammadan gentleman from Dutch Borneo, who
had settled in the Company's territory, was
one of the party. He had made the pilgrimage
to Mecca, and was an intelligent, courteous
gentleman, and was said to render considerable
assistance to the administration. He did not
look like a sportsman, but he had a gun and was
very keen, and showed himself in the course of
the day to be quite a good shot.

Mr. Bunbury supplied us with another hunter,
who had some mongrel dogs, and we returned
to the place where the wounded bull had entered
the forest. There was a herd of timbadau in
the forest, and as soon as the dogs were let loose
they dashed into the cover in full cry, and the
timbadau began bolting out into the open at the
end of the jungle, which was not far distant.
Mr. Bunbury and Mr. Fraser ran to cut them
off, and some free shooting began. My son also,
after a few minutes, followed the others. I was
much disgusted, as there appeared to be little or
no hope of my recovering the wounded bull,

140 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

but I remained on the spot with a Pathan orderly,
who was on duty with me, and told my son to
ask Mr. Bunbury to send back the hunter who
was with us in the morning. In a short time the
hunter appeared, and, while I was standing outside
the forest with the two men, there was a yap
from one of the dogs, and then a tremendous
snort, which evidently came, as we all recognised,
from the wounded bull. I proceeded to enter
the jungle, but the orderly, Suleiman, showed
the white feather and would not accompany
me.

" Don't go, Sahib," he said ; " he will kill you."
He was a Pathan from the Hazara district of the
North- West Frontier provinces, who had gone to
Borneo as a lad, and was employed in the Indian
Police in the service of the Chartered Company.
He was an intelligent man, and was very useful
to me as an interpreter; but he showed a great
want of spirit on this occasion. The Malay
hunter accompanied me for a short distance,
but, crouching down, he either saw, or thought he
saw, the bull and retreated, leaving me alone.
A second snort from the jungle, however, gave
me the direction ; and, as I advanced, I saw the
bull coming slowly towards me through the trees
and bushes. He came straight for me, and may
have intended to charge when he was near enough.
On the other hand, it is quite possible that he
did not see me. He gave me a good chance,
and a shot from the "450 rifle laid him low.

A female timbadau also was shot, but I do not
think that any other bulls were seen.

I then went on to the next camp, and the others

BORNEO 141

continued to beat the jungle until the evening.
A sambur was shot by the Haji, but the remainder
of the day does not appear to have been particu-
larly eventful.

The headskin of the timbadau unfortunately
was spoiled, and the head is the only one of all
my trophies which is mounted without the
mask. It rains almost every day in Borneo,
and we were marching rapidly, so I was unable
to look after the skin properly.

In the vicinity of Kudat I visited a Dutch
planter, who had shot a large number of these
animals. His plan of operations was very simple
and effective. He employed Malay trackers,
and kept a pair of English bull-terriers. When
fresh tracks of a bull were seen in, or near, the
plantation, he followed them with the trackers,
until the scent was hot, and then let go the dogs.
The bull, on being overtaken by the dogs, would
stand at bay, and the sportsman was able to get
in a good shot.

In dense tropical jungles, like those in Borneo,
I think this method of shooting was justifiable;
and it was certainly very effective, as my host
had a large number of heads.

I went out with the planter on one morning,
but there were no fresh tracks, and the hunt was
unsuccessful.

My son in another part of the country stayed
at a Malay village, and hunted for some days,
but did not succeed in bagging a timbadau.

Two incidents in the course of my tour in Borneo
impressed me much. While I was inspecting
the railway Mr. Fraser and I crossed in the

142 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

train a bridge over a small stream. The bridge
had no parapet, and Mr. Fraser told me that on
one occasion he had, while travelling by train,
arrived at this bridge when the stream was in
high flood. The bridge was completely covered,
and he asked the Malay engine-driver rather
anxiously whether the bridge was still there.
" God knows/' said the Malay, and started the
train. I think this was the most amusing instance
of Oriental fatalism I have ever heard of.

At Tenom, in the Resident's house, I saw the
" exhibit " of an important criminal case, which
had recently occurred. The Muruts in British
North Borneo, when I visited the country, were
still addicted to head-hunting, although under
the Company's rule the practice was being
steadily suppressed. Six Javanese coolies ran
away from a plantation in the vicinity of Tenom
and took refuge in a Murut village. The chief
of the village had, on previous occasions, taken
runaway coolies back to the plantation, and had
received rewards of three dollars per head for
doing so. On this occasion, however, a tempter
in the village had said to him, " What is the
use of eighteen dollars ? Let us take their heads."
The chief yielded to the temptation ; and the
unfortunate Javanese were led into an ambuscade
on the following morning and murdered. The
murder was kept quiet for several months, but
rumours of foul play began to circulate, and
Mr. Francis, the Resident, sent for the chief
and questioned him. His answers were unsatis-
factory, and further inquiries were instituted,
as a result of which the chief was placed on his

BORNEO 143

trial for murder, and was found guilty and
hanged.

The chief's gruesome trophies, eight human
heads (as well as I remember), were still in the
Resident's possession. They were all in a wicker
cradle, and in the nostrils of some of the heads
boar's-tusks had been inserted, curving upwards,
as an additional ornamentation.

As practised by the Muruts, head-hunting is a
most despicable business, the head of a woman
or child being apparently prized almost as much
as the head of an enemy killed in open fight.

It was said, presumably with truth, that I was
the oldest white man who had ever been in the
interior of British North Borneo. My report,
which dealt with all branches of the administration,
met with warm commendation from the Directors
of the Company, and was also highly approved
by His Excellency the Governor and other officers
serving in the country. This naturally was very
gratifying to me.

Many reforms have been introduced since the
time of my visit, but in 1911 the government of
this large country by a handful of resolute young
Britons, supported by less than 400 armed Indian
policemen and by a few Dyaks and other native
police, was a striking illustration of the genius for
administration which is possessed by the British
race. The Dusans, who constitute the largest
element in the population, are for the most part
peaceful and inoffensive; but the Sulus (Moros)
and Bajaos, especially the former, are blood-
thirsty and revengeful, and the Muruts are still
in a state of savagery.

144 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

On the occasion of a virulent outbreak of
small-pox a very large number of vaccinations
were performed, with much benefit to the natives
in the interior of the country, by the young
district officers with the assistance of Indian
policemen, as no medical aid was obtainable.

There was some discontent also in the service
at this time, but the officers employed did their
duty in spite of this. There were, of course,
many things in the administration which required
alteration and revision; but, in my opinion, the
government of the country, as then conducted,
was a marvellous British achievement.

CHAPTER IX

A SHOOT IN INDIA IN IQII-I2

IN the cold weather of 1911-12 I visited India
for the second time after my retirement from
the Indian Civil Service, and had a very pleasant
shoot in the Central Provinces and in Kashmir.
I arrived in India shortly before Christmas, and
marched for some days with my friend Mr.
Hart, the Inspector- General of Forests, and the
Honourable J. W. Best, the Deputy Conservator,
while Mr. Hart was on tour in the Bilaspur
district of the Central Provinces. We had some
shooting in the course of the tour. I shot a
rather small tigress in a beat, and Best shot a
tiger in another beat, killing him when he was
at a gallop, with a fine shot. Best also wounded
and lost a bear, and successfully stalked and shot
a good swamp-deer stag. I killed one of two
bears which came out in a beat, and missed the
other, as he galloped away, with the second barrel.
I also shot a second bear, when I was sitting up
over a goat, which had been tied out as a bait
for a panther. The goat, which was a white one,
was tied on a path in the forest. The panther
did not come, but, when it was dark and I had
nearly given up hope of a shot, a bear strolled
along the path. His surprise and alarm when
10 145

146 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

he found himself confronted with the goat were
amusing. After making a demonstration, he
retreated into the bushes before I had time to
fire, but in a short time he emerged on *the other
side of the machan, leaving the goat in undisturbed
possession of the path, and I killed him with a
single shot.

I then left Mr. Hart's camp, and made my
way to the south-east corner of the Central
Provinces, where I had had such fine sport in
1909. By the kindness of the Deputy Com-
missioner of the Raipur district, and of Mr.
Lowrie, the Deputy Conservator of Forests, I
had obtained permits to shoot two buffaloes,
one in the Bindra Nawagarh Zamindari and one
in the Reserved Forest on the Madras border,
and I began work in the Reserved Forest. My
battery on this occasion consisted of my D.B.
•450 cordite rifle, which I had obtained special
permission from the Government of India to
reimport into the country, rifles of this bore
being barred in India, and a '350 Rigby-Mauser
magazine-rifle, which I had purchased for my
second expedition to East Africa. Kana and a
friend of his, by name Deo Singh, joined me,
and we proceeded to look for tracks. We
soon picked up the track of a good bull, and
followed it unsuccessfully for two days, losing it
eventually upon hard ground quite near my own
camp.

When shooting alone in the Central Provinces
I used a small field-officer's Kabul tent, and took
with me very few servants, so that the game was
not scared by the presence of strangers in the

A SHOOT IN INDIA IN 1911-12 147

jungle or by the wood-cutting which a large camp
in the cold weather necessitates.

While we were searching for the lost track of
the buffalo we came across two bears, a female
and a cub about three-quarters grown. I shot
the mother with the -350 through the heart.
She ran off, making a great noise, and, after
going for some distance, fell dead. The cub,
which was slightly in front of his mother, seeing her
fall, turned back, caught hold of the body with
his forearms, and tried to lift her up. This dis-
play of natural affection rather put me off, and
I fired at the cub rather carelessly with the '450,
wounding him, but not badly. He gave a screech
and started to run directly past me into the
thick forest. As I threw up my rifle to fire the
second barrel, it went off in some unexplained
manner, leaving me helpless with the bear within
20 yards of me. He turned his head and snarled
at me, but fortunately for me he did not attack,
and ran on to the forest. We followed the blood
track for some distance, but could not come up
with him.

After this incident we again turned our attention
to the buffaloes. Kana had heard of another
bull on the opposite side of the camp, and on
the following morning we began a hunt for him.
We visited some likely clearings before dawn,
and in one of these we found the buffalo grazing.
The wind was right, and it was a complete
surprise, and I very unwisely tried to kill him
with a shot in the forehead from the '350. The
shot was a difficult one, as the animal was facing
me, and his head was moving as he grazed, and I

148 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

made a miss, the bullet searing his forehead
between the horns. The startled buffalo dashed
to the right, and stood looking for his assailant.
Deo Singh bolted for a tree with the big rifle. I
ran after him, seized the rifle, and fired rather
hurriedly, hitting the buffalo on the right foreleg
near the shoulder. He turned and faced me, and
my second shot grazed the same foreleg, and lodged
in the hind-leg, knocking him over, but not
breaking the bone. He soon scrambled to his
feet and bolted. We followed the track with
difficulty, as the ground was very hard and there
was very little blood. I had an interval for
breakfast, but the men were on the track all
day. It was, however, uphill work, and in the
evening Kana decided to visit some water in the
vicinity in which he thought the bull might be
lying. He was there, sure enough, his nose and
horns and part of the dorsal ridge being visible
above the water. I stalked him, and secured a
good position near the edge of the water, and ought
then to have frightened the buffalo and fired
at him as he rose. Very stupidly, however, I
tried to break his back by aiming just below
the exposed portion of the dorsal ridge. As I
fired the buffalo rose with some difficulty, but
disappeared into the forest with unexpected
celerity as soon as he left the water. I did not
fire the second barrel, partly because I was in
the open and in close proximity to the buffalo
and did not like to leave myself entirely
unprotected, and partly because I thought that
the first shot must have inflicted a mortal wound.
Subsequent examination, however, showed that

A SHOOT IN INDIA IN 1911-12 149

the few inches of water had deflected the bullet,
which merely tore off a large piece of the hide,
about six inches square, and caused the animal
no injury. It appears to be useless to fire at any
animal through even a few inches of water ; and
some of my readers may profit by the experience.

By this time it was nearly dark, and the buffalo
took refuge in a thick part of the forest about
one mile from my camp. We tracked him during
the whole of the next day through the forest,
but failed to come up with him, though we found
one place where he had lain down facing his track
and waiting for his pursuers.

On the third morning Kana was confident
that the buffalo must have left the cover to
drink during the night, so, making a wide circle,
we visited before dawn all the pools of water in
the vicinity, and eventually we picked up the
track. The ground was soft and the track was
easy to follow, and Kana soon whispered that
we were near him, and, after going a few yards
farther, we found him grazing. I was abso-
lutely amazed, as I thought he was grievously
wounded. His shoulder was hidden from me by
a tree, but I thought I could hit him far enough
forward to stop him, and fired. Off he went, and
we again followed in pursuit, coming up with
him once, but having no chance of a shot. I then
made for my camp to get some breakfast, and,
as we emerged from the forest, the buffalo, which
had apparently come to the conclusion that this
part of the forest was no longer a desirable
residence, appeared in the open, parallel to us,
and at about 200 yards' distance. He was making

150 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

his way rather slowly and painfully along, and I
brought him down with the "350.

He had not a particularly good head, the
circumference measurement being only 7 feet
2\ inches, and the horns, though massive, were
circular rather than elliptic. I had also made
two bad mistakes of judgment and some bad
shooting, and the only satisfaction I could get
out of the business was that I had stuck to him
persistently in thick jungle at considerable personal
risk, and had eventually finished him off.

We then moved camp to the village in the
Zamindari, where Tweedie and Mihndu, the syce,
had had the adventure with the bear in 1909, and
where Deo Singh reported that there was a big
bull-buffalo. This bull was disposed to be savage,
and had chased two or three people. On arrival
at the village a local shikari showed us tracks
of the buffalo; but Kana considered that none
of the tracks were absolutely fresh, and he was
therefore in favour of trying the ground where
we had met with so much success in 1909. We
accordingly started on the following morning for
Taurenga. The bull, however, was in the forest
near the village ; and, as we were on the march
before dawn, we came upon him in a large clearing
in the forest through which we had to pass. He
was a huge beast, and looked magnificent in the
grey of the dawn ; and the syce, who had taken
Mihndu' s place, and who had not before seen a
wild buffalo, was lost in amazement at his size.
Deo Singh was with me with the '350, but Kana
was behind with the big rifle. The bull was about
200 yards from me, and, as I was in the open

A SHOOT IN INDIA IN 1911-12 151

without any cover, I was not prepared to take
the risk of firing at him with the '350 from a
standing position. I sat down, but the grass
in the clearing obscured my view of the animal.
I accordingly tried to reach some trees, which
were about 80 yards from the buffalo on his right
flank, intending to fire from there. The buffalo,
however, would not allow me to approach so
near, and cantered off into the jungle.

We continued the march to Taurenga and hunted
for a day there, but found only tracks of cows ;
so we decided to return and hunt the big bull.
Dhokuri, whom I had not sent for, turned up
while we were at Taurenga. I was very glad
to see him, and his flattery in the best Hindustani
he could muster, " Turn bara pakka goli dete
ho " (You shoot very straight), was evidently
sincere.

On the way back through the clearing, where
we had seen the buffalo, I fortunately decided
to examine the ground, and found that if, instead
of advancing, I had retreated for forty or fifty
yards, there was a large stone, with some trees
in close proximity to it, upon which I might have
seated myself and fired with comparative safety.
On the next morning, in company with the
local shikari, we visited the clearing before dawn ;
but the bull was not there. We then visited
some other likely places without success ; and,
while we were thus engaged, the local shikari
left us, and, hunting on his own account, found
the track of the bull in some thick forest. We
followed the track in the afternoon, and after
some time came upon the bull standing in the

152 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

forest. The distance was not more than 100 yards,
and I could see part of one horn and a bit of the
animal's face, but the body was hidden by
the trunks of the trees. Much to the disgust,
therefore, of the local shikari, I would not fire.
The buffalo moved off, but he was not much
alarmed, and soon slackened his pace ; and, as
the track was leading in the direction of the
clearing in which we had first seen him, we decided
to visit the clearing at dawn and returned to
camp.

In the morning at dawn we visited the clearing
and there he was, quite near to the place in which
we had first seen him. By Kana's advice, I
made for the stone to which I have referred, and
while I was approaching it the buffalo saw me.
Thinking I was alone, as the two Gonds kept
themselves better concealed, he trotted forward
in my direction, apparently with the intention
of turning me out of the clearing, and stood
facing me at a distance of about 150 yards, snort-
ing and looking very magnificent. " Huzur ko
dekhne ko aya " (He has come to have a look at
you), whispered Deo Singh with a grin. I seated
myself on the stone, and, as I had the "350 in my
hand and the '450 at my side, I felt pretty
confident. Taking steady aim with the telescopic
sight, I fired straight at his chest. He turned
at the shot and galloped off ; but his movements
were very flurried, and, after going for a short
distance, he fell stone dead.

We found him lying at the edge of the forest,
and, at Kana's desire, I put another bullet into
him from the '450 ; but he did not move. When

A SHOOT IN INDIA IN 1911-12 153

I opened the rifle it jammed, and an examina-
tion made subsequently at Calcutta showed that
the mainspring of the left barrel was broken.
Whether it was broken by my firing at the bear
without putting the gun to my shoulder, or
whether the premature discharge of the rifle on
that occasion was due to the failure of the spring,
must remain for ever a mystery.

The incident showed that it is impossible to
completely eliminate the risk of accident in big-
game shooting. If I had known also that the
big rifle, upon which I relied for protection in
the event of a charge, was out of order, I should
not have felt so confident, and might not have
put in so deadly a shot.

The buffalo had a fine head, with very well-
shaped horns The length round the horns and
across the forehead is 8 feet 8J inches, and the
head is one of the most prized of my trophies.

I had the satisfaction of having done the right
thing in the hunt for this buffalo. On two
occasions I had refrained from firing when a
shot was not likely to have been successful, and
might, on the first occasion, have been disastrous ;
and the trouble I took to reconnoitre the clearing
in which we had first seen the buffalo, was well
repaid. Dhokuri's admiration for my shooting
was still further increased, and to that simple
savage I shall always be a bit of a hero. An
Indian judges by results, and the fortune which
had favoured me so markedly both in 1909 and
1911 would not, in his eyes, detract from the
merit of the performance.

I heard a tiger on one occasion, in broad daylight,

154 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

but saw nothing either of tiger or bison in this
expedition. The firing of the grass had not
commenced, and the bison were all in the
hills.

I have walked for days in company with Indian
shikaris and trackers in jungles in which tigers
and panthers were numerous, and have hunted
before dawn and until dusk, but I have never
had the good fortune to meet a tiger or a panther
casually. With Kana I always hunted until
we could see no more, and he would find his way
back to the camp in the dark, through a
trackless forest, with the unerring instinct of
an animal.

After shooting the buffaloes I went from the
Central Provinces to Kashmir, and at the end
of February I had a very successful shoot for
hangul (barasingh) in the Dachingam Reserve.
In three successive days, with the aid of Sultana,
a Kashmir shikari, I stalked and shot two good
stags and a serow. Both the stags had fine
heads, with horns 42 inches long. One of them
was a twelve-pointer with a very symmetrical
head, but one tine was broken. This has, how-
ever, been well repaired by the taxidermists,
Edward Gerrard and Sons. The other was a
ten-pointer, but the horns were very massive,
being 6J inches round the beam above the brow-
tine. The spread also was very fine, the width
from tip to tip outside being 42! inches.

I was very anxious to shoot a red bear, and made
a second expedition to Dachigam in the month
of March for the purpose; but without success.
It was early in the season, and red bears axe

A SHOOT IN INDIA IN 1911-12 155

not numerous in Kashmir. It was too early also
for the black bears, which were still hibernating,
and only one was seen by my men on the last
day we spent in the forest. It went back into the
hole from which it had emerged, and I was unable
to get a shot at it.

Both in the Central Provinces and in Kashmir,
however, I had a good sport in this season.

CHAPTER X

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS

I SHOT my first bear in Kashmir. As Com-
missioner of Northern India Salt Revenue, I
marched in the autumn of 1904 from Simla
through the Native State of Suket to Mandi, to
inspect the State salt-mines ; and from the mines
I travelled down the Bias River to Pathankot.
From there I went to Madhopur, crossed the Ravi,
and marched along the foot-hills to Jammu ;
and then, crossing the Chenab, I entered Kashmir
by the Banihal Pass, and marched down the
valley to Baramula, and from there I went by
tonga to Rawalpindi. Lord Ampthill, who was
acting as Viceroy at the time, was in Kashmir,
and no conveyance was obtainable for the journey
from Baramula to Rawalpindi. But, to avoid
any unnecessary waste of time, I took the place
of the babu who was in charge of the Viceroy's
mail, and drove in a tonga without stopping,
from Baramula to Rawalpindi, a journey of
36 hours. I completed this expedition, in the
course of which I crossed all the five rivers of
the Punjab, by steady, hard marching in two
months, and acquired much useful information
during the tour.

When some of my friends at Simla heard that

156

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 157

I was visiting Kashmir in connection with salt,
they thought that I was perpetrating an ingenious
official swindle; but in no other place in India
was the supply and taxation of salt so burning
a question as it was, and perhaps still is, in
Kashmir. The Governor of Kashmir, Pandit
Man Mohan Nath, who had begun his official
career under me when I was Settlement Officer
of Gurdaspur, informed me that he had seen
poor Kashmiris sitting round a lump of Punjab
rock-salt, and eating their sag (vegetables) in
its proximity, but without actually tasting it,
as it was too costly to be consumed. It was,
in fact, a case of " potatoes and point/* An
attempt to induce the Kashmir Darbar to adopt
the sensible arrangement in force in most of the
Native States in India under which the ruler,
in consideration of a fixed annual payment by
the British Government, forgoes the right to
impose any additional duty upon British duty-
paid salt entering his territory, was unfortunately
unsuccessful, and the primary object of the tour
was therefore not attained; but the information
acquired was very useful to me.

The salt used in Kashmir is brought from the
mines in the Salt Ranges in the Punjab, and this
salt at that time was liable to a British duty of
two rupees eight annas a maund of 827 Ibs. In
addition to this, a duty of one rupee five annas
six pies per maund was imposed on the salt,
when imported into Kashmir, by the Darbar ;
and, as the cost of transportation of salt in Kash-
mir is very high, the price of salt in the more
inaccessible places was prohibitive. Salt of good

158 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

quality can be gathered free of duty at the lakes
in Tibet on the border of Ladakh, and no duty
was imposed by the Darbar on this salt when
imported into Kashmir. The cost of its trans-
portation on pack-animals by hill- roads was,
however, so great that the highly taxed Punjab
salt could apparently be sold in Kashmir at a
lower price.

Along the low hills in Jammu Punjab rock-
salt was on sale at 16 Ibs. for the rupee, and in the
British villages in the Gurdaspur district, a few
miles away, the price was 30 Ibs. for the rupee.
The people, although I was the Salt Commissioner,
made no complaint to me about the high price
of salt, although they complained bitterly about
an increase which had recently been made in their
land revenue assessment.

I commend this fact to the consideration of
the doctrinaire politicians who talk glibly about
being no party to the taxation of a necessity of
life. A salt- tax in an Oriental country, in so
far as it represents the appropriation by the
Government of the excess profit of the producer,
the transporter, and the vendor, is a very good
tax. An indirect tax is always more popular in
the East than a direct tax, and by good and
intelligent administration a large revenue can
be obtained from salt without any increase, and
even in places with a positive decrease, of the
price of it to the people. The officers in charge
of the salt administration should devote their
attention to questions of production, transporta-
tion, and distribution; as the preventive work
of the Department is of comparatively little

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 159

importance. Salt is a bulky article, and illicit
salt, transported across country by carts, pack-
animals or porters, cannot compete with licit
salt, transported by water or railway, except in
the immediate vicinity of the place of production.
Organised smuggling from the recognised salt-
works must of course be prevented, but this is
not a difficult matter. If licit salt is good, and is
reasonably cheap, none but the poorest of the
population will use inferior illicit salt ; and, if
some poor people do use inferior illicit salt,
made or spontaneously produced in the vicinity
of their houses, the revenue of the Government
will not appreciably suffer. Vigorous preventive
measures in such cases merely emphasise the
objectionable side of the salt duty, and trans-
gressors of the salt laws who are in poor circum-
stances should be very leniently treated.

These views unfortunately did not commend
themselves to the Government of India ; and it
has been a great satisfaction to me to have had
an opportunity of proving their correctness in
China. At different times, in bygone years,
much consideration was given by able men in
India to the question of the salt duty, but in
recent years it has not been sufficiently recognised
that a successful administration of the salt
revenue requires some training and intelligence.

But all this is a digression. In the course of
my tour through Kashmir I had two days' bear-
driving in the Achibal reserved forest and the
woods in the vicinity. The forest was cut into
rides, and, as the beaters came through the
strips of cover, any bears or other animals which

160 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

were in the cover bolted across the rides. I had
shot one small black bear, and was having the
last beat of the day. A Kashmiri shikari was
with me, and he had a shot-gun loaded with
ball. I had my -500 black-powder Express.
The shikari was looking up the ride, and I was
looking down it. I had not told him to shoot,
but had not forbidden him to do so. As the
beat proceeded the shikari saw what he thought
was a pig at the edge of the jungle, and I turned
round to have a shot at it. As I turned a fine
bear broke from the jungle and crossed the ride
at a gallop. I fired when the beast was on my
right front about fifty yards from me, and the
shikari, who was standing on my right, fired
immediately afterwards. The bear reached the
cover on the other side of the ride, and there
fell dead on his back with his four paws in the
air. He had his winter coat, and it was impossible
to see any bullet-marks. The shikaris, hoping
for a reward, all said that I had killed the bear,
but I was by no means sure of this, and the
carcase was brought to the rest-house, at which
I was staying, to be skinned. When the skin
was removed I was informed that there was only
one bullet-hole in the bear's body, and that the
bullet had passed right through him. I was
much disappointed, but fortunately walked over
to the fire, where the animal had been skinned,
to have a look at the carcase. It was dark,
but by the firelight I saw that the hole of exit
of the bullet was round and smooth, while the
hole of entry had jagged edges. At my direction,
a search was made inside the animal, and the

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 161

mushroomed core of my Express bullet was
found in the bear's heart, and a small piece of the
bullet in the hide on the far side. The shikari's
bullet had gone through the bear's heart by the
hole made by my bullet, and had passed out of
the animal. We had both fired at the same angle,
but that we should both have made perfect
bull's-eyes at a galloping animal and hit it in
exactly the same place was an extraordinary
coincidence.

My next encounter with a bear was an exciting
one. I was marching in the Balaghat district
of the Central Provinces in the cold weather of
1907-9 with a small camp ; and for several
days I had preceded my two carts in the hope of
meeting sambur on the road at dawn. At that
time I had not shot a good sambur stag, and was
very anxious to do so. On one particular morning
I was late, and the cook's cart started off a minute
or two before I was ready. Almost immediately
the men came running back to say that a splendid
stag was standing on the road, but, of course,
by the time I arrived at the place he had gone.
I was much annoyed and was strolling along
feeling decidedly sulky, when one of the men
from the camp behind me ran up to say that there
was a bear in the open plain. The road ran
along the side of a forest with a strip of unburnt
grass about fifty yards wide on the other side,
and beyond the grass was an open plain. I was
at first incredulous, but eventually turned back ;
and there, sure enough, was a bear far from any
cover in the plain, and at a considerable distance
from the forest. By this time it was near sunrise,
ii

162 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

and the bear, almost immediately after I saw
him, started off at a canter for the forest. I had
not recovered from my annoyance in regard to
the sambur, and made no attempt to take up a
strategical position, but simply marked the bear's
line and then stood on the road and waited for
him. When the bear was about one-third of the
way through the patch of grass he saw me standing
in front of him on the road and raised his head,
and I took the opportunity to fire. The shot
was well placed, but did not inflict a mortal
wound. He made a tremendous row and flailed
his two forearms about, and I fired the second
barrel at his chest. At the shot he charged
me straight, and I turned and retreated, reloading
as I did so, but expecting every moment to feel
the bear's claws or teeth in my back. Fortunately,
however, I had shot straight, and before he reached
me the bear fell dead. Mihtab Khan was
standing near me with my Rigby-Mauser in his
hand, but he did not fire, and had not even
removed the sight protector. It was my business
to see the thing through, and he was merely an
interested spectator.

The bear was a large one, and was very old,
and his coat bore the scars of many fights.

After this I shot the three black Himalayan
bears and the three sloth-bears referred to in
Chapters VIII and IX without any particular
excitement, but in the early part of the year
1913, when I visited India for the third time,
after my retirement from the Indian Civil Service,
I had a somewhat remarkable experience with
bears. I arrived in India about Christmas 1912,

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 163

and marched for some days with my friend
Mr. Hart, when he was on a tour of inspection in
the Yeotmal district of Berar. While Mr. Hart
and Mr. Malcolm, the Deputy Conservator, were
inspecting the forests, I amused myself by still-
hunting. Sloth-bears in this part of India are
numerous, but the odds against meeting one
in daylight are considerable.

On the morning of the 27th of January, in the
course of a stroll with a Gond forest guard, I
came across a male bear and shot him, killing
him with a single shot. In the evening of the
28th of January, the guard and I visited a grove
of wild plum-trees at dark, and found a bear
there, which I shot. The first bullet laid him low,
but, to prevent any trouble, as it was dusk, I
put a second bullet into him. On the morning
of the 2gth of January, walking with the same
forest guard and a local native, I saw a large
male bear in the distance. The local native was
very frightened, and sought safety in flight,
but I walked up to the bear, taking such cover as
was available, and when I was about 50 yards
from him I fired from a standing position and
killed him.

On the 3ist of January I was walking with the
Gond and another Muhammadan forest guard,
and the Gond saw a bear in a hole in the bank
of a small ravine. My success with the other
three bears had made me confident, and I simply
walked to the other side of the ravine and partly
ascended the bank, which was sloping on that
side, until I could see a black mass in the hole.
It was a she-bear with cubs, and apparently

164 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

she was lying on her back, as I could see her
arms moving. I fired into the hole, my idea
being that the shot would bring her out, and that
she would devote a few seconds to lamentation,
during which time I would reload and have the
two barrels ready for the subsequent encounter.
But the old lady burst from the hole with a howl
of rage and pain, gave one flounder as my bullet
had broken the off foreleg near the paw, and
then came for me on three legs at a good pace.
I had begun to reload, but I was not more than
25 yards from the hole, and saw at once that I
had no time for this. Steadying myself therefore
for the shot, I dropped her with a bullet through
the brain from the second barrel at five yards'
distance. It was a close shave, as she really meant
business. She charged me with such directness
that I think she must have been watching me
from the hole. There were three small cubs in the
hole, which we destroyed.

My companions, though they were in the forest
for at least as many hours in the day as I was,
did not see a bear. The natives, on the ist of
February, when we were returning on elephants
from an unsuccessful beat for a tiger, said that
they had seen three bears running away ; but they
were not seen by any of us. Hart shot a good
sambur, and Malcolm shot a fine panther, sitting
up in the evening over a kill, but most of the
shooting fell to my lot.

On the 2nd of February Mr. Hart continued his
tour, and, as game appeared to be abundant, I
remained in camp at the place where I had shot
the she-bear.

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 165

On the same day I was walking with the two
forest guards in the afternoon. The sun was still
high in the heaven, and the time for still-hunting
had not arrived, when, much to our surprise,
we saw three bears, a she-bear and two nearly
full-grown cubs, coming towards us at a canter
through the grass. These probably were the
three bears which the natives said they had seen
on the ist of February. My "450 was loaded,
and I had two cartridges somewhere in my pockets,
but I was not expecting to see game so early in
the afternoon, and was not properly prepared
for a battle. The bears were coming fast through
the grass, and there was not much time for
reflection, and the encounter with the she-bear
had made me cautious. I tried, therefore, to
shoot the leading bear, which was one of the
cubs, as it was coming towards me. The grass
partly covered the animal, and I wounded it
only, whereupon it gave a squawk and ran all
the faster in my direction. I allowed it to pass
me, which it did within a few yards, and then
fired the second barrel. This produced a second
shriek, but evidently neither of the wounds
was serious. I then turned round and found
that the old she-bear was looking at me from a
distance of about twenty yards. Her appearance
indicated surprise rather than anger, but my
rifle was unloaded and the situation was unpleasant
and I hunted anxiously in my pockets for the
two cartridges. After some time I found one
and loaded one barrel; but, as I did not know
where the third bear was, I maintained an
attitude of observation, and we faced each other

166 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

for several seconds. The wounded bear had by
this time swung round, and the mother joined it
and retreated. As she moved off I fired and
wounded her badly, but both of them got away
though we followed them for some distance.

The third bear, as the natives subsequently
informed me, bolted in the opposite direction at
the first shot.

My tactics on this occasion were faulty. There
was a bush near us ; and, if I had sat down
behind this and allowed the bears to come close
up, I might have shot the lot. I was, however,
taken aback by their unexpected appearance
in bright sunlight ; and, as they were coming
fast towards us, I had not much time either to
think what to do or to get my cartridges ready.

On the 3rd of February I was hunting with the
Gond forest guard in the morning, and we saw
a bear in thick cover. He was partly hidden
by rocks and brushwood, but I had the "350
magazine-rifle with me, and thought that I could
kill him with the aid of the telescope sight. I
accordingly took a shot at him. The shot was
a difficult one, and I either missed or only slightly
wounded the bear, which immediately disappeared
in the bushes. While I was trying to get another
shot at him a second bear, which I had not seen,
descended from a tree close by the spot. He
descended rapidly, but, as he reached the ground,
I had a shot at him with the '450, but the bullet
struck a sapling, and he also disappeared.

I then crossed into the Chanda district to try
and shoot a tiger. Shortly after my arrival in
the district I went out in the afternoon with a

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 167

shikari, whom I had employed, to look for tracks.
The shikari was leading the way with my '450
rifle on his shoulder, and we were walking along
a forest ride. The shikari was looking on the
ground, and over his shoulder I saw a bear emerge
from the grass and enter the ride at about 120
or 130 yards' distance. I seized the rifle and
fired from a standing position and knocked
him over. He jumped up and ran back into the
grass, and out on to the ride walked a second
bear. I knocked him over with the second
barrel, but he also jumped up and ran back into
the grass. One of the two we found badly
wounded in the grass, a few yards from the place
where they were knocked over. The other got
away, though we followed the track, and there
was much blood, for a long distance.

A few days after this I saw a solitary she-bear,
and shot her.

By this time I was in constant expectation
of the appearance of a bear, but, although I
hunted for some days after this, I saw no more.
On the whole, I did well with the bears. The
bag consisted of six full-grown animals and
three cubs, while three got away wounded, and
two, which were in difficult ground, escaped
apparently unhurt. I made notes, in the book
in which I kept the log of my fishing expeditions,
of the days on which I met the bears in the
Yeotmal district, as the number of them which
I came across in the eight days appeared to be
remarkable.

In the course of this expedition I shot, in
addition to the bears, a good chital stag in the

168 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

Chanda district, and also a good panther in
Yeotmal, which I got in a beat ; but the season's
shoot was in another respect an unlucky one.
I lost the finest panther I have ever seen by a
combination of bad luck and mismanagement,
and, as he had killed a man a day or two before,
it was particularly annoying.

I sat up for him over a kill with Mrs. Hart,
and he came before dark, offering me a shot,
which I particularly fancy, a diagonal shot
through the shoulder. The machan had, however,
been tied very high from the ground, and the
bullet, on striking the shoulder, ran down the
leg instead of passing into the body. The panther
was knocked over and lay on his back with his
legs in the air motionless, and, thinking he was
finished, I very stupidly did not put a second
bullet into him. When I turned to speak to Mrs.
Hart he recovered consciousness, and got away
with a shattered shoulder.

We followed him on the next day, and I had
a glimpse of him in the grass, but unfortunately
I was on a pad-elephant, and although I can
shoot very fairly well from a howdah, I never
have been able to shoot from a sitting position on a
pad-elephant, and I fired and missed him. The
mahout then took the elephant in the wrong
direction ; and, as the bleeding had stopped,
the panther could not again be found.

I also missed two tigers. We had one beat
in the Yeotmal district in which a tiger was in the
beat. Malcolm had a shot at him, but missed,
and the tiger passed to the rear of the machans,
and stood offering me a fairly good shot. I

MOSTLY ABOUT BEARS 169

fired, but the bullet struck a sapling, about
three inches in diameter, which was partly
covering the body of the tiger, and which I was
unable to see from my machan, as the distance
was considerable. The aim was a little high,
but the bullet would, I think, have struck the
tiger but for this obstacle.

The second tiger I missed in a beat in the
Chanda district when I was alone. The tiger
was making determined efforts to break out of
the beat on my left ; and the Stops, who knew
their business, were turning him back. I ought
to have trusted the Gonds, but I was afraid that
the tiger would break out without giving me a
shot ; and, as he dashed back into the beat
from the nearest Stop on my left, I caught a
glimpse of him in the undergrowth and fired.

I thought that I had missed, but could not be
sure ; and, not wishing to endanger the beaters,
I stopped the beat, and the tiger got away. If I
had allowed the beat to proceed, I might have
got the tiger, as he was still in the beat, and
the Gonds were beating well ; but I was unwilling
to expose them to an unfair risk.

The shot was a difficult one, but I ought not
to have fired at all ; and the fact that my last
two shots at tigers were misses is one which it
gives me no pleasure to remember.

CHAPTER XI

MY SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA

I MADE a second expedition to British East Africa
in 1909-10, after my retirement from the Indian
Civil Service. My intention was to make a pro-
longed tour, and I at first thought of travelling
alone. Colonel Gimlette of the I. M.S., who had
also recently returned from the service, had,
however, formed similar plans ; and, at the
suggestion of a mutual friend, we agreed to travel
together. Colonel Gimlette had taken his passage
for Mombassa in a steamer leaving Europe a
few days earlier than the steamer I had arranged
to travel by, so that he arrived in the country
before me; but, after shooting for some days at
Simba, he waited for me at Nairobi.

We were both of one mind about the expedition.
We both wished to see something of the country
off the beaten track, and we were both specially
anxious to shoot lion and buffalo, and also, if
possible, an elephant. We decided, therefore,
to march from Nairobi round Kenia Mountain,
and then down the northern Guaso Nyiro River
to the Lorian swamp, a place which up to this time
had been visited by only one or two Europeans,
and which was said to be much frequented by
elephants.

170

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 171

We were both well on in years, and had had
long Indian service ; and, by a curious coincidence,
Gimlette, like myself, had sustained serious injury
to one of his eyes at polo. His injured eye,
however, was the left one, so that the accident
did not interfere with his rifle-shooting. Not-
withstanding these disadvantages, we completed
successfully a long and adventurous journey,
and made a very good bag. We were both
hardy and inured to travel, and Gimlette was a
particularly good rider.

For gun-bearers, servants, and beaters we both
placed ourselves in the hands of Messrs. Newland
and Tarlton at Nairobi, and Gimlette also obtained
a tent and stores from the same firm ; and we
were both entirely satisfied with the men and the
articles which were supplied to us. To meet the
possibility of one of us failing in health, and
wishing to return, we organised two separate
safaris; but Gimlette subsequently discarded his
headman ; and my headman, a Somali named
Abdu, a most capable and intelligent man,
although he could neither read nor write, was
placed in charge of all the porters. Gimlette
had two gun-bearers, a Wakamba named Mabruki,
a capital fellow, both brave and cool-headed,
and a Swahili, whose name I do not remember ;
and he had also a Swahili body-servant, who
served him very well. I also had two gun-
bearers, Tagarru, a Somali, and Saasita, a
Wakamba. Tagarru was brave and intelligent,
and knew a little English, which came in very
useful. He was arrogant and boastful, but he
was not a bad fellow, and on the whole I got

172 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

on very well with him. My body-servant, Ali by
name, and the cook were also Somalis. Ali was
lazy, and it was difficult to get him out of bed
in the early morning, but in other respects he
gave great satisfaction. The Somalis had their
own rations, rice, ghi (clarified butter) and sugar,
but they remained content with these rations and
left me in possession of mine. Ali had the key
of all my store-boxes, but I did not detect any
pilfering, and he worked a Doulton's filter well
and carefully. The cook received good pay,
but he was a failure : and I believe that most of
our cooking was done by the negro porter who was
attached to the kitchen.

If you wish to be reasonably comfortable on a
shooting expedition in Africa you must take a
good many stores. The little oribi is good
eating, and the Grantii and Thomsonii gazelles
are passable ; but most of the other antelope
are terribly tough, and a mincing-machine is
a necessary part of your equipment. Minced
hartebeest I could eat, but a hartebeest steak
was beyond me ; and a water-buck, unless you
are actually starving, is untouchable. Even the
impala, which some people consider good, is,
in my opinion, very insipid. A sportsman, how-
ever, does not go to Africa to eat ; and with
the aid of tea, sugar, biscuits, jam and canned
fruit, and some whisky, sparklet syphons and a
good filter, you can make yourself comfortable
enough.

Gimlette had a '470 D.B. cordite and a '350
bore magazine rifle, and I had my '450 D.B.
cordite rifle, and a Rigby-Mauser with a '350

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 173

bore, fitted with a telescope-sight, and also a
spare "450, which was lent to me for the expedi-
tion by my friend Mr. Bird, and we both had
shot-guns. I had made good shooting with a
•275 Rigby-Mauser rifle, both with and without
a telescope-sight, during my first expedition
to Africa; but wounds made by a small-bore
rifle bleed very little, and animals mortally
wounded by them are not infrequently lost.
I have seen a chital stag in India gallop nearly
200 yards without leaving a drop of blood, after
being shot through the heart ; and the African
antelopes have remarkable vitality. I therefore
purchased the "350 for the expedition from John
Rigby & Co., and found it a very satisfactory
weapon.

All told, we had eighty- two porters. A
porter's ration is ij Ibs. of beans per diem,
and the porters expect to get this ration even
when they have an abundance of meat to eat ;
and food for the negro porters and for the
Somalis for some days represented many of
the loads. For riding purposes we purchased
three Abyssinian mules from Newland, Tarlton
& Co., which turned out well and were a great
comfort. We had also three or four Askaris,
with Martini rifles and a few cartridges, for the
protection of the porters while they were on
the march.

Before we started I spent one day in a hunt
for wildebeest in the plain near Nairobi. The
hunt was unsuccessful, but I saw a very interesting
sight. The African hunting-dog, as stated by
Mr. Selous, has a fine turn of speed. A big dog,

174 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

in my presence, chased single-handed a three-
quarter grown Thomsonii gazelle buck, which I
had watched for some time, and which appeared
to be full of life and spirits, and before they
disappeared in the distance, going at a great
pace, he had compelled his buck to jink once.
I was on foot and was unable to see the end of the
chase, but the dog appeared to have counted
the cost and to be determined to win. He
galloped, to commence with, parallel to the
buck ; and, as he was at a considerable distance
from me, I did not know what the animal was,
but the Wakamba, who had charge of my mules
during the expedition, was with me, and said
that it was a fine specimen of the hunting-dog
(imbu mazurf) and I have no doubt he was right.
It was certainly not a hunting leopard. If
these animals were more numerous, they would
probably be as destructive of the game as the
red-dogs are in India. They do not appear to
attack men; but my friend Mr. Currie told me
that on one occasion, when he had shot six out
of a large pack, near Nairobi, the other dogs
began barking at him ; and, as he had only three
cartridges remaining, he thought it prudent to
leave the others alone.

We marched from Nairobi to the Ithanga Hills,
which are frequently visited by buffaloes, and
camped for a few days at the farm of Messrs.
Swift and Rutherfoord, while we were hunting
the hills. These gentlemen entertained us most
hospitably, and told us some very interesting
stories of their early difficulties. Lions had, at
the outset, caused them much trouble and anxiety,

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 175

and, even after we left the neighbourhood, lions
raided the farm again and killed a pig. The
lion, like the tiger, appears to have a weakness
for pork.

We found no buffaloes, but I shot a good bush-
buck in the hills, and also shot oribi in the
country between the farm and Fort Hall.

At the farm we had a little trouble with the
porters. We had Wakamba, Baganda, Kavirondo,
and a few Kikuyu men, and some lawless spirits
among them interfered with the Kikuyu labourers
on the farm, and had to be punished by a flogging.
A case of theft occurred also, which necessitated
an elaborate investigation. Abdu accused two
of the porters of stealing some of the Somalis'
rice ; and I asked Mr. Swift, who knew the
Swahili language, to inquire into the case. The
porters put up a good defence, and said that they
had bought the rice, which they were accused
of stealing, at Fort Hall. They had been at
Fort Hall on the day before, and the defence
was plausible. Abdu first put forward the weak
argument that the negroes would not have
purchased Somalis' rice, as it was of superior
quality ; and the case was going against him.
He then said that the negroes, when committing
the theft, had left a trail of rice behind them
from the Somalis' camp to their own tents ;
and an inspection of the ground, which was made
in the presence of the porters, showed that this
was the case. The spokesman of the two accused
saw that the game was up ; and, when a sen-
tence of flogging was announced, lay down quite
resignedly to receive it. I remarked to Mr.

176 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

Swift, " I think we may fairly claim to have
sifted this case to the bottom " ; and the
punishment was duly inflicted. The turn of the
other man then came, and he tried to put the
whole of the blame on his more voluble companion ;
but it was clear that he also was guilty, and
accordingly received a dozen.

These two cases had an excellent effect, and
during the four months that I was on tour I had
no more trouble with my porters. Abdu had
fights with two of Gimlette's men, but in one
of these cases Abdu was to blame, as he tried to
make the man surrender some lion's fat to which
he was properly entitled. Gimlette's porters had
been selected by another headman ; and in the
circumstances it was surprising that there was
not more friction and trouble between them
and Abdu.

From Messrs. Swift and Rutherfoord's farm
we marched to Fort Hall, and from Fort Hall to
Nyeri in the west of Kenia Mountain. We
spent Christmas Day at Nyeri, and the District
Officer and his wife kindly invited us to a
Christmas dinner, which they were giving to all
the residents of the Station and the vicinity.
The head of one of the guests was in bandages,
the result of an extraordinary encounter which
he and his chum had had with a leopard some
days before. They had begun farming, and had
constructed a house on the farm not far from
Nyeri. While they were in the house a leopard
chased their dog into the room in which they
were, and managed, as he entered, to slam the
door, so that he was a prisoner in the room.

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 177

There was a gun in the corner of the room ; but,
when one of the men moved towards the gun,
the leopard attacked him and clawed him badly.
When the other man went to the rescue he also
was mauled. Eventually, with great difficulty,
they opened the door, and the leopard departed,
having injured both the men, while they had
been unable to retaliate. Both the men, however,
escaped blood-poisoning, and were recovering
from their injuries.

From Nyeri we marched along the northern
slopes of Kenia to the Station of Meru on the
north-east of the mountain. The road was said
to have been closed for some time owing to attacks
upon travellers by man-eating lions, but it was
again in use when we made our journey. We
passed through some beautifully watered country,
with clear streams running down from the
mountain, and had fine views of the glacier on
the summit of Kenia; but we neither saw nor
heard anything of lions along the road. There was,
in fact, very little game of any kind, as we were
high up on the slopes of the mountain ; and, to
break the monotony of the march, we deviated
from the route and made our way northwards
into the plain to do a little shooting. We shot
Baisa Oryx, which takes the place of the Grantii
and Thomsonii gazelles in this part of the country,
and I think I also shot a good impala and a good
specimen of the hunting-dog at this time, but am
not quite sure about this. One of the oryx I
shot, when lying crippled on the ground, struck
out viciously with his horns, the blow being
delivered by a rapid backward sweep of the head

12

178 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

and neck. My men, on one occasion, said that they
had seen the forms in the grass of a number of
lions, but we did not see nor hear anything of
these animals, and the shooting on this part of the
journey was not attended with any adventures.
After halting and shooting in the plain country
for some days, we continued our march to
Meru.

At the Station we met Mr. Home, the District
Officer, and his assistant. Seeing that some of
our porters were hefty fellows, Mr. Home
challenged us to a tug-of-war with his Merus.
Our men readily accepted the challenge, but they
were no match for the stalwart Merus, who
hauled them over the line easily enough. The
Merus, owing doubtless to the fact that they
reside at a high altitude and in a cool climate,
are fine specimens of the negro race, and their
affability was overpowering, every man we met
being anxious to shake hands with us. Sir
Charles Elliot, in his book on the East African
Protectorate, which was published in 1905, says
that the natives north and east of Kenia are
less friendly than the natives in most parts of
Africa. In 1909-10, however, we found the
natives both at Meru and Embu most friendly,
and had no trouble with the inhabitants of the
country in any part of our journey.

From Meru we marched northwards, following
one of the tributaries of the Guaso Nyiro, and
struck the river at the place where it is crossed
by the road or track leading to Marsobit, on the
Abyssinian border.

There were numerous herds of Baisa Oryx

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 179

on the plain here ; and, wishing to obtain a better
head than I had yet got, I paid the prescribed
fee which authorised me to shoot a third buck.
I also paid the prescribed fee of £5 which secured
for me the permission to shoot a second buffalo.
Thinking that the oryx would keep until our
return, I did not hunt them at this time, and
when we returned from the Lori an swamp hardly
any were left on the plain, the others having all
migrated.

From this point on the route our journey
became a difficult and adventurous one. For
four marches down the Guaso Nyiro River there
were a few scattered kraals, but no food or
supplies of any kind could be obtained from the
natives. The remaining eight marches to the
Lorian swamp lay through uninhabited waste.
We were warned that we might possibly meet
raiding parties of Somalis from Jubaland, but
in this country we did not see a single human
being. Special arrangements for food had there-
fore to be made. One day's food for eighty-
two porters was 123 Ibs. of beans, and the bags
of beans which we purchased from Indian traders
at Meru and other places, and which were supposed
to contain 60 Ibs. in each bag, rarely contained
more than 50 Ibs., and very often less. A bag of
beans was, however, usually one porter's load.
By great good fortune we met Mr. Archer, C.I.E.,
who was then the District Officer at Marsobit;
and he allowed us to take all the bags of beans
we could carry from the Government Stores at
the river-crossing, on the understanding that
the bags taken would be replaced by bags sent

180 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

from Meru. We also arranged to have a relief
expedition of thirty porters, whom we employed
temporarily for the purpose, despatched to meet
us with bags of beans on our return journey
up the river. By these arrangements we accom-
plished our journey without any appreciable
shortage of food for the porters.

Mr. Archer told me two very interesting shikar
stories, which I hope he will not object to my
relating.

He had with him a wizened Wanderobo, who
had served with Neumann, the great elephant-
hunter. On one occasion, when Mr. Archer
was hunting with an English friend, the Wanderobo
saw a lion, and, as the lion was moving away,
Mr. Archer put a bullet into him. Following
him up, they found him lying in some bushes
at the foot of a slope. He was apparently dead,
and a Sudanese orderly went up to the carcase
to drag it out of the bushes. Before doing so,
he asked Mr. Archer if he would not take a photo-
graph of the animal. Mr. Archer accordingly
exchanged his rifle for a camera, and his friend
also parted with his rifle. While Mr. Archer
was adjusting the camera, the lion suddenly
raised himself with a growl and charged. He
seized his rifle and fired two shots, but failed
to stop the lion, and then turned to run, with
the lion in pursuit. The Wanderobo, as the
lion bounded past him, sprang forward and
drove his assegai clean through him, killing
him on the spot. Mr. Archer showed me a
photograph of the Wanderobo, standing erect
with the assegai in his hand with which he had

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 181

killed the lion. The assegai was bent, but was
not broken.

On another occasion Mr. Archer was charged
by a tusker elephant, which he had wounded.
He planted two bullets in the animal's chest
from a '450 cordite rifle, but failed to turn him,
and the situation was saved by a Sudanese
orderly. When the elephant charged the orderly
deliberately knelt down and took a steady shot
at his forehead with his Martini rifle, and this
shot turned him. Unfortunately I cannot re-
member whether the elephant was eventually
bagged or not. The story was told in the course
of a discussion as to the relative merits of the
head shot or the heart shot for an elephant.
Many sportsmen, who do not know the meaning
of fear and intend to bag their elephant at any
cost, appear to prefer the heart shot ; but, as was
shown on this occasion, a well-placed head shot
will turn a charging elephant when a body shot
will not do so.

We crossed the Guaso Nyiro to the northern
or left bank, and from the river-crossing we
marched into the unknown in the heart of
Equatorial Africa. Our porters, with their rations
of beans to eat, and the prospect of some good
gorges of meat, marched along, making light
of their loads, and came into camp blowing horns,
after marches of about 14 miles in length. A
porter's load, as limited by regulation, is 60 Ibs. ;
but only the boxes of stores weighed as much as
this, and these were carried by the best porters.
The tents were rapidly pitched, and then the
porters dispersed to bathe or to fish or to hunt

182 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

for honey. For them, as for us, it was a gigantic
picnic.

We did not make any zariba or thorn fence at
night, but pitched our tents in the shape of a
half-moon, with a large bonfire in front. Our
tents were in the centre, with the cook's tent
and the trophies on the right. Then came the
Somalis, who, as superior individuals, occupied
the post of honour, and the tents of the porters
were ranged in order round the rest of the semi-
circle according to the tribe to which they belonged.

My warnings about the danger to be apprehended
from the crocodiles in the river were unheeded,
and the bathers and the fishermen were very
reckless, but for some days all went well. With
the most primitive tackle, the negroes used to
catch large quantities of coarse fish, which they
broiled on sticks over a fire ; and a wild bees'
nest was a great find. On one occasion Saasita
handed me a piece of honeycomb full of grubs,
out of the centre of which he had taken an
enormous bite, with the remark : "Mazuri Sana"
(It is awful good). He meant well; but it is
hardly necessary to say that I did not take the
second bite.

The contempt of the Somali for the negro
porters was always a source of amusement to
me. " Those damned fellows, they stink so,"
was a favourite remark of Abdu's. On the
whole, however, he treated them kindly and
fairly, though he apparently did not like Saasita,
and I occasionally had to use some diplomacy
to keep the peace.

Some of our porters, though they were good

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 183

and willing workers, were absolute savages,
and cries of " Nyama, nyama " (animal) used
to follow us when we went out to hunt in the
evenings. Any meat, even that of a rhino,
was better than none; but the buffalo and the
zebra appeared to be in great favour. When
there was no time to cook the meat it was eaten
raw, and an oryx, which I shot on the march
to Meru, was devoured in this way. On another
occasion, on our return journey from the Lorian,
Gimlette shot a Grevy's zebra, a large animal,
which ought to have provided a meal for the
whole camp. About ten men were sent out to
bring in the meat ; and, as the camp had been
short of meat for some days, Gimlette said they
started off leaping in the air like antelopes. After
about two hours Abdu came to me and said,
' Those damned fellows eat the whole of that
zebra " ; and only the thighs of the two hindlegs
reached the camp.

Savages though they were, there was something
about them which was attractive. It is frequently
said that Africans have no gratitude, but I had
a friendly leave-taking with all my men, and
Saasita and the mule attendant, who was also a
Wakamba, came down to the railway station at
Nairobi to see me off, several days after they had
been paid their wages and discharged.

When I first visited Africa I was advised by
a friend, who had had considerable experience of
the country, to carry my own rifle, and to have
it in front of me always, ready to shoot at a
moment's notice. The advice was perfectly
sound, but it did not suit me. When much

184 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

interested in my surroundings, I am not as careful
with my feet as I ought to be, and the rifle might
have been damaged by a fall. The big rifle
also, upon which I most relied, was so heavy
that to carry it for the eight or nine hours of each
day that I was marching or hunting would have
been a serious strain. The weather, especially
when we were at or near the Lorian, was hot,
as we were on the Equator and could not have
been very much above sea-level ; and, although
the sun in East Africa is not as powerful as the
sun in India, it is quite trying enough, and induces
a very intense thirst. I therefore drilled Saasita
to walk one pace in front of me, among trees, or
in high grass, with the '450 rifle on his shoulder
held muzzle forward, and gave the '350, with the
telescope sighted to 200 yards, to Tagarru. I
have always been able to shoot very much better
from a standing position with a double-barrelled
than with a single-barrelled rifle ; and I accordingly
used the "450 for any quick shot that offered at
close range, and used the '350 for long shots.
The cartridges for the two rifles I carried in
a belt round my own waist ; and, if we were
expecting to meet dangerous game, I of course
carried the big rifle myself.

This arrangement worked very satisfactorily.
I may have missed one or two shots, but the
advantage of having my arms fresh and untired
when I did take the big rifle more than compen-
sated for this; and the rifle was in my hands
in a second or two after we sighted big game.
Saasita could not have run away without giving
me an opportunity of seizing the rifle ; and,

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 185

to give him his due, he never attempted to do
this. If I happened to glance over my shoulders
on occasions when a rhino was snorting in front
of us, I saw always a broad grin on Saasita's
face, although he was standing with no weapon
in his hand. He may have thought, reasonably
enough, that, if the necessity should arise, he could
get out of the way before I could ; but my ex-
perience has been that the African is a brave
man, and, if properly treated, can usually be
relied on. Tagarru marched three or four paces
in front of us. He kept a good look-out, and
made very good use of my Zeiss glasses. When
riding on the mule, however, owing to the higher
elevation, I was often able to see game before it
could be seen by the men on foot.

I do not for a moment suggest that these
methods can be recommended for adoption by
others ; but they certainly suited me, and I
obtained better results by the use of them than
I could have obtained in any other way. With
the telescope-sight, I could usually make certain
of a shot up to a distance of 250 yards, and I
lost very few wounded animals.

Some of the scenery on the lower part of the
Guaso Nyiro River was very beautiful, but the
country away from the river was arid and
uninteresting. We hunted separately, one of
us following the river to the camping-ground,
and the other making a detour and striking the
river somewhere near the spot where the camp
was likely to be. In this way we did not interfere
with each other ; and any danger of a mishap,
such as I met with on my first visit to Africa,

186 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

was avoided. In the desert country north of
the river a sportsman losing his way would have
been in a very serious plight.

Game was abundant along the river. Rhino-
ceroses were very numerous, and we met with
elephants on two occasions on our way to the
swamp. Lions also appeared to be fairly numer-
ous. The Baisa Oryx became less abundant
as we went eastward, and its place was taken
by the Gerenuk gazelle. The Grevy, or mountain
zebra, replaced the BurchelFs zebra, which is so
abundant in the country to the south. The
giraffes near the river appeared to be of a different
species from those we had met with farther to
the south. The body was smaller, and the
yellow colouring was less vivid, and the black
patches were darker. We did not shoot a giraffe,
though I might have done so on more than one
occasion. The animal is interesting and beau-
tiful, but no part of it is worth preserving
as a trophy. On one occasion a giraffe stood on
the other side of some bushes, about 50 yards
from me, and looked at me for some time in
mild surprise, I being probably the first man
the creature had ever seen.

I do not remember seeing any hartebeest east
of the place where we crossed the river. There
were a few lesser kudu, and dikdik were very
abundant. Impala and water-buck were also
fairly numerous, and the impala carried splendid
heads. On several occasions I met large numbers
of ferocious-looking baboons, which I personally
was disposed to treat with respect, but which
fled in terror at the approach of any one of the

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 187

negroes. Venomous snakes, both cobras and
puff-adders, were numerous, and the river was
full of crocodiles.

On one occasion, near the Lorian swamp,
I saw a very curious snake. There was nothing
remarkable about the body, but it had a shiny-
looking red head, from the shape of which it
did not appear to be poisonous. I tried to kill
it with my stick, but it eluded me with much
agility in the grass and bushes. Suddenly, in
its panic, it made a dash straight at Tagarru,
who fled in terror amid roars of laughter from
the negroes. The snake, by this manoeuvre, made
good its escape.

Rhinoceroses and dikdik abounded in the
thorn-bush at a little distance from the river, and
in this country, when beckoned by Tagarru,
I did not know whether I was expected to shoot
a rhino or an animal which is not much bigger
than a large English hare. The most notable
features of the shooting were the number of the
rhinoceroses and the excellence of the impala.
I shot four impala in the course of the expedition
with horns of 27, 27^, 27^, and 3i| inches, the
record impala head that has been obtained in
North- West Rhodesia up to the present time,
according to Rowland Ward's book, having been
22|- inches.

Much nonsense is written about the deterioration
of heads owing to shooting. I have even seen
it suggested that the inferiority of the horns of
the Burchell's rhinoceros, which have been shot
upon the upper Nile, to those of animals shot
by Gordon Gumming in South Africa is due to

188 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

this reason. I do not believe that there has been
any deterioration of the heads of genuine wild
animals. The length of an animal's horns depends
very largely upon its habitat. The horns of the
impala in the vicinity of the northern Guaso
Nyiro evidently attain a development which
is unknown in Central and South Africa. The
horns of the sambur stag in the Vindhya and
Satpura Mountains in India may attain to a
length of 50 inches, and a head of 48 inches has,
I understand, been obtained in recent years.
Forsyth, in The Highlands of Central India,
published in 1871, says that the largest sambur
head he ever saw was one which he shot himself,
which had horns 41 inches long and 8J thick in
the thinnest part of the beam, and that 30 to
35 inches is the average length of the horns of
mature stags. Forsyth was a keen sportsman,
and, as Assistant Conservator of Forests under
the Central Provinces' Administration, which
was formed in 1861, he was probably the first
man who shot with a rifle in many parts of the
Provinces. His sambur head was no doubt a
very fine one, but many finer heads have been
shot since, and his estimate of the average length
of the horns of mature stags appears to be too
low. It is clear, therefore, that the horns of the
sambur have not deteriorated in the past sixty
years. The sambur is also found in Ceylon and
Mysore, but 30 inches is, as I understand,
considered there to be a fine head. In Assam
and Burma also, the heads obtainable are far
inferior to those of the Central Provinces.

We reached the Lorian in safety, but the

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 189

shooting there did not come up to our expectations.
We saw no signs of elephants, and the other
shooting was not particularly good, and it was
difficult to hunt amongst the high reeds of the
swamp. The mosquitoes also were in countless
myriads ; and after 5 p.m. even the negroes
broke off boughs to keep the insects from their
faces. The camp-fires kept them away from the
tents, but hunting in the evening was difficult
and disagreeable. The place offered few attrac-
tions to induce us to remain, and it appeared
to be decidedly malarious. In the circumstances
we only halted at the swamp for one day, and
then began our return journey up the river to
Meru.

After reaching Meru we marched across the
eastern slopes of Kenia to Embu. The scenery
was in places very fine, but travelling was difficult.
Streams, coursing down the side of the moun-
tain, have furrowed out deep watercourses with
precipitous sides, and the road crossed these
at right angles. Riding across these watercourses
was impossible, and most of this part of the
journey had to be performed on foot. We saw
no game, and did not fire a shot while we were
on the road. From Embu we made our way
down the Rupingazi tributary to the Tana River ;
and, after crossing the Tana, we camped for some
time in the vicinity of Juja farm, and within
sight of Donya Sabuk hill ; and in this neighbour-
hood we had some good shooting. From there
we marched to Nairobi.

The journey occupied three and a half months,
and we travelled during that time, according

190 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

to our estimate, about 900 miles, apart from
the distances covered in shooting excursions to
and from our camps. We had our best shooting
on the Guaso Nyiro and Rupingazi rivers, and
in the country near the Juja estate.

Whenever there was anything to shoot I was
out on each day from daylight until 12 or i
o'clock, and again in the afternoon from 3 p.m.
until dark. It was hard work, and my weight
was considerably reduced; but I do not think
that I could have done what I did in the same
latitude in any part of Asia. The heat in East
Africa appears to be less exhausting than the
heat in the south of Asia.

The mules returned with us safely and in good
condition to Nairobi; and, having been found
upon examination to be free from tsetse virus,
they were repurchased by Newland and Tarlton
at a good price. Some of the negroes said that
they had seen tsetse-fly on the Guaso Nyiro ; but
they may have been mistaken about this. One
of my mules was a docile beast, and was very
comfortable to ride, and he escaped a sore back
throughout the whole journey. I therefore
rarely rode the other mule, though my favourite
gave me several falls. When a pig or a Duiker
antelope suddenly sprang up near him in the long
grass, he executed a mysterious manoeuvre, which
almost invariably deposited me on the ground.
I bore him no malice, however, as he carried me
right well ; and, as he was a small animal, the
falls were not serious. The other mule was
quiet enough, but had such a hard mouth that
it was difficult to turn her readily. She was

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 191

incapacitated also for part of the time byia sore
back.

Gimlette brought out a patent saddle which
was warranted not to give an animal a sore back,
but it gave a sore back to his mule and also
to mine. My mule's back became very bad, and
a surgical operation was necessary. After a
desperate struggle, the mule was thrown by
ten or twelve of the porters, and the resourceful
Abdu lanced the swelling, and then ruthlessly
crushed all the pus out of the animal's back by
force. The operation was completely successful,
but must have been exceedingly painful, as, when
the mule got to her feet, she brayed loudly for
some time. She got, however, a " bit of her own
back," as the slang goes. Abdu was standing
incautiously near, and the mule suddenly swung
round and landed both her heels into the pit
of his abdomen. Abdu " curled up on the floor/'
and both Gimlette and I were afraid that he
must have sustained serious injury. Fortunately,
however, he was only temporarily knocked out
of time ; and, when our anxiety on his account
was relieved, the incident provided us with
much merriment.

Much of the country lying between Meru and
the Guaso Nyiro River was covered with small
blocks of lava, which made walking difficult and
uncomfortable, but the walking along the greater
part of the route we followed was good. We
were very little troubled also with the ticks,
which make shooting on the Athi plains almost
intolerable to anyone like myself, who has a
horror of vermin. We both picked up jigger

192 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

fleas. Abdu extracted mine skilfully, and the
place healed at once. Gimlette had a very bad
foot, which made him lame and caused him a
great deal of trouble.

I saw large numbers of rhinoceroses in the
course of this expedition. On our march to the
Lorian swamp along the Guaso Nyiro, the
prevailing wind came from the north-east, and
while travelling up-wind, I have seen as many
as six rhinos in the day, many of them at close
quarters. Tagarru appeared to be absolutely
without fear of a rhino. On one occasion he
beckoned me, and I moved towards him with the
big rifle in my hand, and found him standing
about 20 yards from a rhino's head, the animal
being apparently quite unconscious of his presence.
The rhino had not a good horn, and I accordingly
did not shoot. One of the porters, whom we had
brought with us to carry any game we might
bag, followed me, and, finding himself confronted
with a rhino, sprinted at his best pace for the
nearest tree. This made me laugh, and the
rhino, roused from his meditations, retreated
into some bushes which were near. There he
stood, and began snorting so indignantly that
Tagarru himself suggested that we had better
move away. I took Tagarru rather sharply
to task for his rash conduct on this occasion ;
and he was more discreet in future.

On another occasion, as we were walking quietly
along, there was a tremendous snorting in front
of us, and three rhinos dashed out of some bushes,
ran a little distance to our left front, and then
turned and faced us, apparently full of curiosity.

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 193

The ground sloped from us to them, which gave
me the advantage of position in the event of a
charge, and the rhinos had poor horns, so I did
not shoot. They stood and looked at us for some
time, and my men threw stones and bits of stick
at them, while I held the rifle ready in case any
one of them might assume the offensive ; and
eventually they became tired of looking at us,
and turned round and walked away. They
showed no fear and no desire to attack, and, so
far as I could judge, were merely curious.

In a place where rhinos were so numerous
I thought that I might be able to obtain some
exceptionally fine horns, and I accordingly passed
rhino after rhino without shooting. By the
conditions of my licence I was permitted to shoot
two rhinos, and I only fired at one throughout
the whole of the expedition.

I was returning on one evening with my two
gun-bearers to our camp on the Guaso Nyiro,
having seen nothing to shoot in the course of the
afternoon, and we passed on our way a very
thick leafy bush among the trees on the river-
bank. The bush was moving in three different
places, and we thought that some buffaloes must
be browsing upon it. I had not at this time
shot a buffalo, and was very anxious to do so, and,
accordingly, took up my stand behind a small
shrub, about breast high, which was about 25
yards from the cover, and waited in eager
expectation. Presently through the leafy screen
appeared the head of a water-buck. " Shoot/'
whispered Tagarru ; " good horn." The buck
had not as good horns as those which I had shot
13

194 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

on the occasion of my first visit to Africa, and I
was expecting nobler game, and was very dis-
appointed at the apparition. I did not shoot,
therefore, and the head was almost immediately
withdrawn. Then out of the bush ran a small
rhino calf, about the size of a large pig ; and, while
I was gazing in amazement, out walked the
mother, and stood almost directly facing me,
but slightly on my left front. The distance
between us was less than 20 yards. She had
good horns, the posterior horn being unusually
long, and Tagarru excitedly whispered to me to
shoot ; and I fired the right barrel of the '450 at the
point of her fore-shoulder. At the shot she
dashed past us, and Tagarru fired at her with
the '350, hitting her in the lower jaw. The calf
followed, squealing like a pig. The rhino ran
for about 150 yards and then stood, and I fired
the second barrel at her from a standing position,
and knocked her over with a well-placed shot.
The first shot was a deadly one, and would,
I think, have killed her. The bullet fired by
Tagarru lodged in the forepart of the lower jaw,
and apparently caused the animal no serious
injury, as it remained embedded in the bone.
Both the bullets I fired at the rhino were soft-
nosed.

A rhinoceros with young is not supposed
to be shot, but we were at exceedingly close
quarters ; and, as the calf was young, I did not
know what the mother might be tempted to do.
The calf, I am glad to say, survived. We were at
the time on our way to the Lorian, and on our
return journey some of our men saw the calf

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 195

not far from the place where I had shot the
mother. It had grown considerably. The men
ran after it, but it got away from them easily.

The anterior horn of the cow was 25 inches
long, and the circumference round the base was
18 inches. The posterior horn was i8J inches
long. I saw another cow rhino near the Lorian
with an anterior horn of about the same length,
but wanted to bag a good bull, and did not fire at
her.

The cow rhino which I shot was, as above said,
the only rhino at which I fired in the course of
the expedition. It was, of course, only during
the month that we were on the Guaso Nyiro that
rhinos were exceptionally numerous ; and, on
our return journey, when we were working down-
wind, I did not see nearly so many as I did when
we were on our way to the swamp.

I may have been exceptionally fortunate in
the animals I met, but I certainly formed the
opinion that the rhinoceros is a much less
dangerous animal than is commonly supposed.
The rhino has a keen sense of smell, and, when a
smell which offends him reaches his nostrils, he
makes a dash up- wind to escape it. It is this
dash up- wind which is often called a charge.
If you are in the way the rhino will no doubt at-
tack you, as the animal is not wanting in courage ;
but the rush, unless it is made from a very short
distance, is easily avoided. A rhino dashing
wildly into a string of porters will do much
damage, as the porters, not unnaturally, throw
their loads and bolt, and the rhino, finding himself
in the midst of a number of men, may think that

196 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

he is cornered, and strike out in self-defence.
The number of rhinos, however, which will
determinedly attack and pursue a man is, I
believe, very small ; and an encounter can usually
be declined or avoided without difficulty.

Since Mr. Selous published his African Nature
Notes and Reminiscences in 1908, I believe that at
least two gentlemen have been killed by rhinos
in East Africa ; but, as he says, dangerous and
aggressive rhinos are exceptional, and the aver-
age rhino is a dull-sighted and inquisitive but
not savage beast. Neumann, the great elephant-
hunter, and Sir F. Jackson give a similar
description of the animal.

A really vicious rhino is no doubt a most
formidable antagonist, as he is not easily turned
or stopped. The animal, considering its bulk,
is surprisingly active ; the horns protect its
neck as it charges, and a bullet lodging in the
massive bones of the head is not likely to be
effective. I believe, however, that these really
vicious animals are the rare exceptions.

Gimlette shot his two rhinos without difficulty,
using soft-nosed bullets. The first rhino was
placed hors de combat by a single well-placed
shot, and the other was so crippled by the first
shot that he was finished off without difficulty.

Gimlette had, however, one narrow escape
from a wild rush or charge by a rhino. He was
walking with his gun-bearer, Mabruki, in high
grass, when a rhino rushed straight at them.
Gimlette had nothing in his hand, but Mabruki,
who had the rifle, fired it in the animal's face ;
and, by great good fortune, the bullet went up

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 197

the nostril into the brain, and the animal fell
dead on the spot. This may have been a
determined charge, and it was certainly a very
unpleasant adventure, which was calculated to
make Gimlette sceptical of the correctness of the
views which have been above advanced. It is,
however, possible that the animal was merely
rushing madly up- wind. A surprise rush of this
kind, if made from your immediate vicinity, is
obviously more difficult to avoid than a rush
made from some distance after the animal has
been located.

On another occasion Gimlette and his gun-
bearers had to throw themselves off a track into
the bush to avoid the rush up-wind of two
rhinos.

There will always be the risk of an accident
with a rhino, and every possible precaution
ought to be observed when you are in the proximity
of one ; but, as already said, I believe that a
really vicious rhino is rarely met with.

I saw on one occasion, on our return journey
from the Lorian, a rhino which might fairly have
been described as white. It was a small animal
and had small horns, and I did not shoot it; but
by this time I had acquired some of Tagarru's
contempt for a rhino, and stood close to this
animal examining it — so close that Saasita thought
I had not seen it, as it was in high grass, and came
up, rather excitedly, to point it out. The animal
was evidently an albino, and I am sorry now
that I did not shoot it as a curiosity. I saw some
very light-coloured water-buck at the Lorian ;
and there is a head in the Kensington Natural

198 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

History Museum of an albino water-buck, said to
have been there obtained.

I took the head of the rhino I shot, and, as the
skinning of the head and the drying of the skin
was a troublesome business, we left some of
our porters, with all the trophies, in a standing
camp at the place where I shot the rhino, and
picked them up on the return journey up the
river.

We had no success with elephants, but might
have done better with these animals if we had
not been buoyed up with extravagant expectations
as to the number of them we were likely to see
at the Lorian swamp. On two occasions, on our
way to the Lorian, we ran into elephants in the
river. On the first occasion we came upon them
unexpectedly when we were marching with the
porters ; and, before we had time to organise
any plan of campaign, the elephants got our
wind and stampeded. We followed the tracks
for some distance, but the elephants were
thoroughly scared, and were walking very fast.
As Tagarru expressively said : " Him walking
like buni [ostrich]." We therefore gave up the
pursuit.

On this occasion we only heard the elephants,
but upon one other occasion we both saw tuskers
and Gimlette had a shot at one. I had made the
detour on that day, and, as I returned to the
river, I saw a male elephant standing under a
tree in the open at some distance from the bank
of the river. We approached and lay in the
grass for some time, watching him from a distance
of about 200 yards. He was a big animal, but

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 199

his tusks were not large, and of them one was
broken, and it appeared doubtful whether the
ivory would weigh the regulation 35 Ibs. per
tusk. I thought also that I would come across a
better elephant at the Lorian, and refrained,
therefore, from attacking him. After standing
in our view for some time, he turned and strolled
leisurely into the jungle by the river. This was
the only elephant I saw in the course of the
expedition.

Gimlette on the same morning fell in with
elephants on the river, and had a shot at a tusker
when he was crossing the river. He fired at the
heart with his '470 cordite rifle, and the elephant
dropped to the shot, but recovered rapidly, and,
scrambling to his feet, disappeared in the jungle
on the other side of the river. Gimlette and
Mabruki followed and came up with him; and
Gimlette put two more bullets into him. The
elephant then charged, and Gimlette and Mabruki
became separated and took cover behind trees.
Gimlette had no more cartridges, and Mabruki,
who had the reserve supply, was unwilling to
leave the tree behind which he had taken shelter.
The elephant availed himself of the lull in the
battle to make good his escape.

If we had not gone to the Lorian, and had
halted for some days at or near the place where
we saw the elephants, and had hunted carefully
the ground on both sides of the river, we might
have shot elephants, though, if we had done
this, we should not have had the satisfaction of
reaching our objective, and seeing the swamp.
At the Lorian, where we expected so much, we

200 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

did not see any elephants or any fresh tracks of
elephants; but, in the time at our disposal, it
was only possible to explore the country in the
vicinity of the place where the river enters the
swamp. This appeared, however, to be the
most likely part of the swamp for sport.

The crocodiles in the river were very daring
and ferocious, though they did not appear to
attain to a large size. On our way to the Lorian
the porters fished and bathed with impunity,
and no mishap occurred. On one day, however,
I shot a water-buck which entered the river.
The water was shallow on the side of the river
on which I and my men were standing, but was
deep under the other bank. The buck was
badly wounded, and stood in the shallow water,
and, while I was considering what to do, a crocodile
caught sight of him and swam up-stream to the
attack. When he started he must have been at
least 100 yards from the buck, and he swam
near the surface of the water with the eyes and
part of the head showing, and his tail churning
up the water behind him like the screw of a
steamer. The eyes gleamed with ferocity. My
Somalis were not obtrusive in their devotions,
and this was the only occasion upon which
I heard Tagarru call upon the name of God ;
but the " Allah " which he uttered conveyed
expressively the disgust and horror which the
sight inspired. A crocodile or an alligator is a
particularly loathsome brute. The crocodile's
head did not offer much of a mark, and the body
was submerged ; but the buck was not more than
50 yards from me, and when he was near the

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 201

buck I fired. There was a great swirl in the
water, and I thought that I had hit him ; but
we found afterwards that, in spite of the shot,
the beast had lashed at the buck with his tail
and had taken a piece of the skin off. Then,
on the other side of the river, a crocodile's eye
and part of the head appeared above the surface
in deep water. I fired at this, but the width of
the river at this point was considerable, and I
missed. At the time I thought it was a second
crocodile, but it was evidently the same one.

By this time the buck had collapsed, and, after
firing another shot or two into the water as a
precaution, I sent men in, and they dragged the
carcase out. I cut off the head, and made the
natives drag the body high up the bank so that
it might be safe from attack, and then went on
to the camp, which was not far distant. On
arrival there, I sent back some men to fetch
the meat, and after some time they returned
and reported that the crocodile had come out
of the river and devoured the buck. Presumably
he had merely dragged the body into the water
and hidden it in some hole.

Victory therefore rested with the crocodile ; but
I had my revenge. When we reached the camp
where this had occurred, on our return journey
from the Lorian, I went out after lunch in the
heat of the day in the hope of seeing the crocodile,
and found him lying asleep, with his mouth wide
open, on the opposite side of the river. A well-
placed shot at the base of the neck stretched him
lifeless. He was less than 10 feet long, but the
girth was 4^ feet. This was the largest crocodile

202 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

which I saw while we were on the river ; but the
brutes were evidently accustomed to prey on the
game when coming to drink, and were danger-
ous in consequence. This one, when cut open,
was found to be full of meat which the negroes
identified as impala, and Abdu said the
stench was insupportable. I was not at the
operation.

On the day that we spent at the swamp one
of the porters was attacked and mauled by a
crocodile. We were encamped at the place
where the river enters the swamp. The river at
this point is comparatively narrow, and the water
is shallow, much of the water having apparently
gone underground. In the morning I forded
the river and hunted the country on the right
bank in the vicinity of the swamp. The weather
was hot, and I had tried to ride the mule across ;
but the water was fairly deep under the right
bank, and the bank was steep, and I had been
compelled to dismount in the water and send
the mule back. I hunted until n a.m. without
success, having seen a good bush-buck, but not,
so far as I remember, any other game. I then
returned to camp, and, after fording the river,
had some breakfast and sat in my camp-chair
under an acacia-tree on the river-bank and went
to sleep. The river at this time was full of
negroes who were bathing and splashing and
enjoying themselves. All but two of the men
had, as I was subsequently informed, left the
water, when a crocodile seized one of them by
the hand and wrist and dragged him from the
shallows into the deeper water under the right

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 203

bank. The man, when seized, uttered an appalling
yell, which awakened me and roused the whole
camp. He was a big, powerful man, and in the
deeper water under the right bank he recovered
his feet and tried to climb up the bank. A regu-
lar tug of war followed between him and the
crocodile, which must have been a comparatively
small one, as the man held his own fairly well
in the struggle, yelling with agony and fear all
the time. The water, even under the right bank,
was not more than four or five feet deep, but the
crocodile kept under water and did not show
itself. The other negro, who was in the water,
fled in terror when his comrade was seized. I
shouted for my rifle, but, just as Saasita put the
•450 into my hand, one of the Askaris fired his
Martini. The shot nearly hit the man, but had
the effect of making the crocodile let go, and
the man crawled up the bank. His hand, wrist,
and a great part of the forearm was terribly
crushed and mangled and presented a gruesome
spectacle. The man was a Wakamba ; and,
after some more shots had been fired into the
water to frighten away the crocodile, my mule
attendant, who was also a Wakamba, waded
across the river and fetched the man back. The
man's forearm was in a dreadful state, and
Gimlette proposed to amputate it. At first the
man would not hear of this, but after two days
gangrene set in, and he then agreed, merely
stipulating that he might be allowed as long a
stump as possible. The man was put under an
anaesthetic ; and Gimlette, with some assistance
from Abdu, amputated the forearm below the elbow

204 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

very sucessfully. The portion amputated was
buried, but as soon as the man came to he asked
what had been done with it ; and on hearing that it
had been buried, he insisted upon it being dug
up again. Apparently he was afraid that he
might follow it below ground. He was, however,
a gallant fellow and behaved very well, marching
along daily, with his arm bandaged and an um-
brella over his head, until we reached Nairobi.

As his employer, I felt that I had some responsi-
bility, and on arrival at Nairobi, at the suggestion
of Colonel Montgomery, the Land Commissioner,
who was an old friend of mine, I took the man
to the District Officer, and requested him to de-
cide what I ought to do under the circumstances.
By the custom of the Wakamba, the loss of an
arm must be compensated for by a payment of
a certain number of cattle. As I pointed out,
however, I had not asked the porter to go into
the water. On the contrary, I had repeatedly
warned the porters of the danger they were in,
when bathing and fishing, from attacks by croco-
diles, although, until this accident occurred, no
one of us had appreciated the full extent of the
danger. The District Officer recognised the force
of this contention, and asked the man what
compensation he required for the injury, and the
man himself assessed the amount at thirty rupees.
I gave him fifty rupees, and he departed apparently
well satisfied.

The man's forearm, as he crawled up the bank,
was a horrible sight ; and after this catastrophe
we all avoided the river, and only entered the
water when it was necessary. On our return

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 205

journey, however, from the Lorian we had another
mishap, which was caused by direct disregard
of instructions on the part of one of the porters.
When we arrived at the camp near whic> he
had wounded the elephant Gimlette sent a search-
party with Mabruki across the river to look for
the animal, and also crossed the river himself,
and hunted on the right bank. There was a
ford near the camp by which all crossed safely,
and the negroes were warned not to approach the
water at any other point. In the course of the
day, however, one of the porters, becoming thirsty,
disregarded the warning and went to the river
to drink. He did not actually enter the water, but
was lifting water with his hand to drink, when a
crocodile seized him and pulled him in. This
also appears to have been a small crocodile, as,
according to Abdu's account of the occurrence,
which was based on statements made by the
porters, the crocodile got on top of the man and
tried to drown him. The negroes, who saw
the occurrence, raised a hue and cry, frightened
the crocodile away, and effected a rescue. The
man had some severe flesh-wounds on his chest
and other parts of the body, but his limbs were
uninjured, and his injuries were, therefore, much
less serious than the injury sustained by the
Wakamba. The man was, however, a Kikuyu,
and was a poor-spirited and surly creature,
and caused us much trouble and anxiety. His
wounds were treated, and he was carried for some
days. When he had sufficiently recovered he
was told that he must walk, and was placed under
the charge of one of the Askaris. The man was

20(5 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

sulky and would not exert himself, and the
Askari left him and went to the place where we
had established the standing camp, which was,
as he thought, our destination. We halted, how-
ever, short of the place, and the Askari turned
up at the tents late in the evening without the
man. It was an unpleasant predicament, as, if
anything had happened to the man we should
doubtless have been blamed. The early part
of the night was pitch dark, but at one o'clock
the moon rose, and we sent out a rescue party,
promising the men a reward if they should find
him and bring him in. He was found not far
from our camp, having made himself comfortable
for the night, with a small thorn-hedge round him.
After this he was carried for some days more ;
and, when he was again ordered to walk, he
deserted as soon as he reached the first Meru
village.

The late Major Welby, in his interesting book,
'Twixt Sardar and Menelek, says that, in his
journey from Abyssinia to Khartum, he and
his men crossed many streams and rivers, which
were full of crocodiles, and that one of their
sheep only was taken. " My own opinion/'
he says, " is that, in entering water overrun with
alligators, the chances are highly in favour of
coming out again in safety." Major Welby was
fortunate, and we may have been unfortunate,
in our experiences ; but I certainly would not
recommend anyone to put his theory to the test
on the lower reaches of the Guaso Nyiro River.

I shot my two buffaloes without difficulty.
Tagarru, though he had no fear of a rhinoceros,

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 207

had a great respect for a buffalo. Shortly after
he entered my service he said to me one day :
" How many bullets you shoot buffalo ? " I
replied that, if he would get me a good shot, I hoped
to be able to do so with one bullet. Tagarru
scouted the idea, and said rather scornfully :
" Ten bullets/' I said nothing, but when the
time came I made good my word. I was hunting
one evening, on our way to the Lorian, with my
two gun-bearers, and we were returning to camp
along the left bank of the river, which was at
this point high above the stream, and was free
from cover. Both the gun-bearers were a little
in advance of me, and they saw a bull-buffalo
drinking on the other bank of the stream. They
beckoned me, and I had a steady shot with the
•450 at the buffalo, which was quite unconscious of
our presence. He was standing at an acute angle in
the water, so that his stern was nearer to me than
his head, and to find his heart I was obliged to
shoot him in the side ; but I judged well, and the
shot inflicted a mortal wound. As I fired, the
buffalo galloped off ; and, much to Tagarru's
indignation, I did not fire the second barrel.
I ought to have fired, as African animals possess
wonderful vitality, but I thought that I had shot
straight and did not do so. " He will get away/'
said Tagarru excitedly in Swahili. " Hapana
kwenda [he will not go]," said Saasita, and the
confidence which the remark implied was pleasing
to me. Saasita was right, and in a few seconds
a moaning bellow, which reached us from the other
side of the river, showed that the bull was down.
In the morning we crossed the river with some of

208 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

the porters and found that he was quite dead.
Tagarru's respect for me increased considerably
after this incident.

I shot my second buffalo actually in the Lorian
swamp. I was hunting in the swamp in the
hope of seeing elephants, and while we were
in the high reeds we nearly ran into a rhino,
which was covered from his head to his tail with
white marsh-birds, which were evidently feeding
on the ticks. We avoided the rhino and sought
more open ground, as hunting in the reeds was
both uncomfortable and dangerous ; and in a
small clearing in the swamp we saw two buffalo
bulls. I examined them carefully with the
glasses and saw that their heads were not better
than the head of the bull I had previously shot,
and was not disposed to attack. Then, while
we were watching, the bulls separated ; one
turned off to the right, and the other walked
slowly, with his back towards us, in the direction
of the impenetrable swamp. It was a tempt-
ing opportunity, and we gave chase, Tagarru
having the '350 and I the big rifle. It was a
strange stalk. The buffalo walked slowly and
unconcernedly on, and we pursued, walking on
the animal's near side, Tagarru momentarily
looking at me in expectation that I would open
fire. But I was in no hurry : the buffalo was
not alarmed, and our footsteps made no noise
upon the grass, so I continued to walk until
we were nearly at right angles to the animal,
and then I fired at him behind the shoulder.
He was badly shaken by the first shot, but did
not fall ; and, as he moved away to the right, I

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 209

fired the second barrel. He then stood, and I put
one or two more bullets into him, and he turned
and faced us, looking very sick. While I was
considering whether it was necessary to fire
again or not, Tagarru put a bullet from the
•350 into his chest, and he fell. Tagarru was
very pleased with himself ; and I think that this
shot was partly responsible for the subsequent
indiscretion which nearly cost me my life.

Both the bulls I shot had well-shaped, sym-
metrical heads, the measurement from horn to
horn outside at the widest part being 43 inches
and 42j inches. In the matter of size, however, the
heads were not specially remarkable, but a third
bull, which Gimlette and I bagged between us,
was a very large one, and has a fine head, the
measurement from horn to horn outside at the
widest part being 46! inches.

On the day already referred to, on which
the Kikuyu porter was mauled by a crocodile,
Gimlette, when hunting on the right bank of the
river, saw a large bull-buffalo on the left bank,
and put a bullet into him from his "470 cordite
rifle. When I returned to camp he told me of
the incident ; and, after tiffin, we started to hunt
the wounded animal. As a tussle was probable,
I unwisely took out the spare "450 rifle, in addition
to my own "450 and the '350. Mabruki was away,
looking for the wounded elephant, but Gimlette' s
Swahili gun-bearer was with us, with Gimlette' s
•350 magazine-rifle, and also one of the Askaris
with his Martini.

We kept along the left bank of the river until
we came to the place where Gimlette had fired
14

210 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

at the buffalo; and there, after a little time, we
found the track of the wounded animal and blood
upon it.

Before we picked up the track, as we were
walking along the bank, I nearly trod upon a
large cobra. I had a stick in my hand, and was
stepping over a fallen palm-tree, when a large
brown cobra emerged from under the tree, travel-
ling in the same direction as myself. My foot
was descending right on him, when I saw him
and he saw me ; and, as I drew my foot back, he
raised himself very rapidly and sat, with his hood
erect, ready to strike. I had the stick, and might,
if I had been smart, have broken his neck with it ;
but I was not prepared to see a cobra in Africa,
and was so startled by the apparition that I stood
for a second or two on guard. I was very near the
snake, and think I was within his striking dis-
tance ; but he was only eager to get away, and,
seizing the opportunity afforded by my inaction,
he wriggled rapidly back under the palm-tree and
disappeared. He seemed to be a very large
cobra ; and a few days after this Gimlette killed
one, which was three full paces long. In India
six feet is supposed to be the maximum length of
a cobra.

I always wore leather gaiters as a protection
against snakes and thorns ; and on the lower
reaches of the Guaso Nyiro, when we were in the
heart of Equatorial Africa, protection was neces-
sary, as poisonous snakes were numerous.

We followed the track of the buffalo through the
forest to a strip of sand on the river-bank, and
there from blood, which was on a small bush

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 211

actually on the water's edge, it appeared that the
buffalo had entered the water. We naturally
supposed that the animal had crossed the river ;
and, as the depth of the water at this point was
uncertain, we were disposed to abandon the pur-
suit. The buffalo, as we correctly surmised from
the appearance of the blood, was wounded in the
stomach only, and it was impossible to say to
what distance he might have travelled. We had
been hunting, with an interval for breakfast,
since the early morning ; the sun was hot, and
our big rifles were heavy, and we sat down on
the sand, while the gun-bearers reconnoitred the
ground. I personally thought the hunt was over,
and so, I think, did Gimlette ; but presently a
tremendous fusillade commenced upon our left.
The buffalo had entered the river ; but, after a
bath, had returned to the left bank lower down,
and there the negroes found him standing in the
jungle. The number of rifles and cartridges they
had with them made them bold ; and hoping to
distinguish themselves, or thinking they would
have some fun on their own account, they opened
fire, Gimlette' s Swahili gun-bearer, who afterwards
paid the penalty of his rashness, firing the first
shot. The cartridges in the magazines of the two
•350 rifles, the two barrels of the '470, and the
Martini of the Askari were all discharged, and the
stern of the buffalo was well peppered ; but negroes
are not, as a rule, good shots, and they were firing
into forest, and there was not one well-placed
bullet.

When the shooting commenced I thought at
first that the men had come across a crocodile,

212 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

but the continued firing could not be accounted
for in this way. Snatching up my '450, therefore,
I ran to investigate ; and, at the end of the strip
of sand, I saw the men peering with rather scared
faces into the jungle, and knew at once that they
must have found the buffalo. " Where is he ? "
I said, as I came up. Tagarru took one more
look, and said, " Coming/' and then bolted for the
river, and the buffalo burst from the jungle in a
determined charge. I was not more than 30
yards from the edge of the jungle and was standing
in the middle of the strip of sand right in his
track, and he headed straight for me.

Saasita and the Askari ran with Tagarru to the
river-bank, and the Swahili gun-bearer bolted
past me, but at the time I was unable to take in
these details, as my attention was riveted on the
buffalo, who looked huge, and was charging at full
gallop. I was, however, prepared, and fired a
soft-nosed bullet at his head from the right barrel
of the '450 when he was about 25 yards from me.
His head was lowered to his chest, so that the
forehead was protected, but the bullet struck him
fair on the horny substance between the horns.
It produced, however, absolutely no effect, and he
did not even falter in his stride.

I had read a story of a British officer who, with
his wife and a gun-bearer, was charged by a
buffalo somewhere in Africa. Turning to run,
one of them tripped and they all fell, and while
they were helpless on the ground the buffalo
charged over them and did not return. The story
suggested an idea ; and, as my days of running
and dodging were over, I had made up my mind

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 213

to try this method of avoiding a charge if the
necessity should arise.

In two strides the buffalo was upon me, and
from the left barrel of the "450 I fired a solid
nickel-coated bullet into his head at five yards*
distance, and, as I fired, flung myself instan-
taneously on the ground to the left. There was a
moment of appalled expectation, and then I
realised that the immediate danger must be over.
Raising my head cautiously from the ground, I
saw the buffalo, as I thought, on his knees trying
to rise. As a fact, he was pummelling the Swahili,
whom he had overtaken after passing over my
body. Tagarru and the others shouted to me to
join them, and, picking up my rifle, I ran to the
river-bank. This was steeper than I anticipated,
and I fell into the river. The Askari, who was a
big, powerful negro, and who had, like the others,
lost his head, flung his arms round me, and I had
some difficulty in freeing myself. When I had
done so, I reloaded, and they pointed out the
buffalo, which had left the Swahili, and was
standing with his stern towards us, less than
50 yards away. Firing from the water, I put two
bullets into his flank, but he was evidently very
sick and did not move. Having satisfied myself
that the rifle was all right, I got out of the water,
walked up to the buffalo, and put a bullet into
his shoulder and toppled him over.

Subsequent examination showed that the soft-
nosed bullet had penetrated the animal's head to
a considerable distance, and the solid bullet had
fractured his skull, and a stick could be passed
through the hole into the brain cavity. The two

214 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

bullets were within a fraction of an inch of each
other in the centre of the animal's head.

Blood from the wounds on the stern of the
buffalo fell upon my neck and shoulders as the
animal passed over me ; and as he came straight
for me and I flung myself to my full length to the
left, it would appear that the gallant beast, not-
withstanding the tremendous shock he must have
received from the second bullet, must have altered
his course and made a lunge at me as I disappeared.

I was quite uninjured, as, although I had flung
myself down with great violence, the sand was
soft, and I was, not unnaturally, well pleased with
myself. I had shot straight, and had evaded the
buffalo with great dexterity. The Swahili gun-
bearer was very badly bruised about the back,
and was unable to do any more work during the
remainder of the journey. Fortunately for him,
one of the buffalo's horns was broken and the other
was not sharp. The animal also must have been
very dazed at the time. The man's injuries,
therefore, were not so serious as they might have
been.

Making over charge of the buffalo to Gimlette,
I returned to camp for some refreshment, and
there I found the man who had been mauled by
the crocodile, who was groaning and moaning.
There was blood on my neck and shoulders, so that
it looked as if I had been injured, and exaggerated
rumours as to the injury sustained by the gun-
bearer had reached the camp. Even Abdu was
disquieted, but I cheered him up by saying : "It
is all right, we have done with the buffaloes and
the crocodiles now, and have got to begin|with

.

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 215

the lions." Abdu was amused at this sally, and
I heard him retailing it to the negroes around, who
roared with laughter.

Tagarru was contrite, and I made it clear to him
that there was to be no more shooting in future
without an express order from me. To give him
his due, he accepted the situation, and loyally
complied with my wishes in the future. Many
sportsmen in Africa appear to allow their gun-
bearers to shoot freely, and the practice is both
inconvenient and dangerous. At any moment a
man may run into danger, and it is hardly fair to
a gun-bearer to expect him to accompany you
unarmed. The question of shooting had, there-
fore, to be adjusted tactfully in accordance with
circumstances.

The remark which I made in jest to Abdu
proved to be correct, and we had no more adven-
tures after this with either buffaloes or crocodiles.

One of our camps on the Guaso Nyiro was a
very fortunate one for me. I had heard that
there were some lesser kudu on the river, and was
particularly anxious to shoot a good specimen of
this beautiful antelope, but for several days after
we left the Marsobit crossing we were unable to
find any tracks of this animal. On one morning,
when we were about half-way to the swamp, we
were passing through bush of a kind I had not
before seen, and Tagarru pointed out tracks of
kudu, and shortly afterwards he saw one of the
animals. We hunted unsuccessfully for some
time ; and, feeling tired, I mounted my mule.
A short time after this we came upon a young
kudu buck. He gave one look at us and vanished ;

216 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

and, although I dismounted and seized the "450
as quickly as I could, I was unable to get a shot.
He had not a good head, but at the time it appeared
doubtful if I should see any better specimen, and
I was ruminating rather sadly over the situation
with the rifle in my hand. Suddenly there was
a scramble and a rush, and a really fine kudu
buck, realising that his companion had gone,
dashed out of a clump of bush and stood for a
moment, at about 150 yards' distance from me,
looking to see from which direction danger
threatened. I rapidly took aim and fired from a
standing position, and the buck dashed off, but
fell dead after going for a few yards, shot through
the heart. The length of the horns straight
(25 inches) is good, but the horns do not measure
well round the spiral.

After this I saw no more kudu, though Gimlette
came across them twice, and shot a fair specimen.
When we were on our return journey I started
from camp early on the day on which we passed
through the bush in which I had shot the kudu,
and hunted carefully in the hope of coming across
another buck. I had no success, however ; the
camping ground was near, and the leading
porters were passing us, when Tagarru saw some
impala in the bend of the river on our left. We
wanted meat for food, so I proceeded to stalk
them. A rhino, which wandered across our path
while we were stalking the impala, caused some
delay ; but the impala did not move, and I even-
tually got within range of a buck. He was
standing with his back towards me, and the dis-
tance was about 200 yards, but he was not

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 217

absolutely end on, and I thought that I could
hit him with the telescope-sight. I accordingly
sat down and took the shot, and the bullet struck
the buck on the flank near the buttocks. He
staggered away, and I saw that he was done for,
and was rising to my feet, when Tagarru whispered :
" Stop, stop ! " I sat down again, and found
myself directly facing another buck which was
standing quite close to the place from which the
wounded buck had moved away. His horns were
thrown back over his shoulders, and, like the kudu,
he was looking for danger. The horns were not
fully visible, but there was something about the
appearance of the head which showed me that the
animal was an exceptionally fine one, and I fired
immediately at his chest. He fell to the shot, and
directly I walked up to him I saw that I had
secured a prize. The horns are 3if inches long,
and the spread from tip to tip is i8J inches. His
head is the record which has been shot up to date,
though one shot by Mr. Judd approaches it very
closely. The bagging of a record head is, of
course, a fluke ; but it adds to the pleasure of a
hunt to know that you have secured fine represen-
tative specimens of the animals you have hunted
and slain.

The other buck required a second bullet to put
him out of pain. He also had one of the four heads
referred to before in this chapter, though, if I
remember right, his head was the smallest of the
four.

After crossing the Guaso Nyiro near the road
to Marsobit, on our return journey from the
Lorian, I shot a fairly good Baisa Oryx bull with

218 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

horns 3 if inches in length, the best of the two
shot previously having horns of 30! inches only.
My oryx heads were not, therefore, particularly
good ; but they make handsome trophies.

In the country near the Tana River I stalked
and shot a fine eland bull with heavy, well-shaped,
and well-marked horns, 26 inches long and nj
inches in circumference round the base. This
stalk was the best piece of work Tagarru put in.
We saw a herd of eland in the distance, and
Tagarru, by a careful examination with the
glasses, saw that the bull was lying down within
shot of a deep, dry water-course, his exact position
being marked by a tree. We accordingly made a
long detour, struck the water-course, and followed
it as far as the tree. I then crawled carefully up
the bank and found the bull lying down. He was
directly facing me, and the distance was about
200 yards. While I was trying to adjust myself
on the ground, so as to get a good aim at his neck,
the bull became suspicious and rose to his feet,
offering me an easy shot at his chest. I had the
telescope-sight and took the shot at once, and killed
him with a single bullet from the '350. With a
high-velocity rifle the shot in the chest is a very
deadly one.

I cannot be sure as to the place in which I shot
the wild dog, but think it was in the country
between Nyeri and Embu. My memory is clear
as to the incident. The negroes with me said
that they heard the cry of some animal in distress,
and ran forward. They came upon some hunting-
dogs, but if there was any other animal the dogs
must have completely devoured it in a few seconds,

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 219

as no traces of it could be found. I shot a good
dog, which was attacked almost immediately by
one of the others. I had a shot at the assailant,
but both dogs were in high grass and I missed.
Both dogs then bolted, and I followed up the
wounded one, which was badly crippled, and
finished it off.

I shot two wildebeest bulls in the country near
the Tana river, one of which had a very fine head.
These animals reside in the open plains, and, except
in large private estates, where the animals are
preserved, the herds have been often fired at and
are not easily approached. It is not easy, there-
fore, to bag a wildebeest, outside of a reserve, by
fair stalking.

The first bull I killed had not a very good head,
but the shot with which I killed him was, for me
at any rate, an exceptionally fine one. The bull
had attached himself to a herd of hartebeest, and
I had tried unsuccessfully to get a shot ; but the
herd was wary, and the animals disappeared in
the distance. They evidently, however, ran into
something which frightened them more than I had
done, as before long they came tearing back at a
gallop, and passed me at about 150 yards' distance,
with the wildebeest bull bringing up the rear.
They crossed me from left to right, which is the
shot I most fancy, and with the right barrel of
the "450 I made a bull's-eye, shooting the wilde-
beest as he was galloping at his best speed through
the heart. He galloped on, and I missed him
with the left barrel; but, after going for some
distance, he collapsed in a cloud of dust, quite
dead.

220 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

After this I made several attempts to stalk
wildebeest without success. On one occasion I
had a shot at a fine bull, head on, at a distance
which I estimated to be 500 yards. The shot
apparently passed through, or perhaps grazed,
his shoulder, as he reared straight on end like a
horse. I followed that bull for a long distance,
but was unable to bag him. He limped a little,
but was evidently not seriously wounded.

At last I got a steady shot at the shoulder of a
good bull, which was standing incautiously near
to cover at the edge of a plain. The distance
was not less than 400 yards, but I had a steady
shot with the telescope-sight, and when the bull
galloped away, apparently uninjured, I felt some-
what mortified. After galloping for a consider-
able distance, however, he collapsed and fell dead.
The soft-nosed bullet, which I fired, had passed
right through his body. This bull had a good
head, the width outside from horn to horn being
26 inches, compared with the records as given in
Rowland Ward's book of 29! inches.

Gimlette shot every kind of animal that I did,
except wildebeest and wild dog. He secured very
good specimens of the Gerenuk gazelle, but had not
as much luck as I had with the other animals in
the matter of heads. The watchful little Gerenuk,
with his long, thin neck, is rarely surprised, and,
when the animal is facing you at a considerable
distance, you have to shoot very straight to inflict
a mortal wound.

We had some success with lions, as much
perhaps as we could reasonably expect, consider-
ing that we trusted entirely to chance encounters

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 221

by daylight. We had not the luck to come across
any natural kills, and on the Guaso Nyiro we were
marching so fast that we had not the time to do
any sitting up over baits at night. On the
Rupingazi, and in the country near Juja farm,
where this method might perhaps have been
profitably employed, we ran into the two families
of lions which were in occupation.

I have heard of a good bag of lions being made
in East Africa by sportsmen who tracked the
animals from the plains, where the grass had been
recently burnt, to the places where they were
lying asleep in the adjoining cover. This appears
to me to be the most interesting and sporting
method of shooting lions I have ever heard of ;
but in the part of the country through which we
travelled this method would not have been
practicable.

Most of the good bags of lions which have been
made in recent years have, I think, been made by
the use of horses. Good light-weight riders gallop
any lion which may be sighted in the open plain
in the early morning. The lion, when he finds
that he is outpaced, stands at bay, and the sports-
man or sportsmen come up and shoot him. Dogs
also are naturally very useful. This appears to
have been the manner in which the Assyrians
hunted, as depicted in the friezes, and then, as
now, the method was very successful. Even the
large bags of lions which have been recently made
in East Africa are dwarfed into insignificance by
the noble bag claimed by Tiglath Pileser of 300
lions shot on foot "in the fullness of his manly
might," and 800 more shot from his chariot. The

222 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

monarch probably took credit for every lion killed
by any member of the royal hunting-party, and
the figures are evidently round estimates ; but lions
appear to have been extraordinarily numerous in
Western Asia, and the Assyrian was, as the Bible
tells us, a mighty hunter before the Lord. For
a battle at close quarters, the Assyrian equipment
was probably as effective as modern firearms.
The African of to-day shows what can be done
with a spear, and an arrow of the kind used by
the Assyrians, as depicted in the friezes, must
have been a very formidable weapon. A lion is
a soft-skinned animal, and an arrow, driven
through any part of a lion, would cripple him
more than a badly placed shot from a cordite
rifle ; and, if driven through the heart, would be
quite as effective as a rifle-bullet. Casualties in
these combats among the beaters and attendants
were doubtless numerous, but this would not
disturb the serenity of an Oriental potentate.

Hunting lions with horses in East Africa pre-
supposes, however, the possession of large means.
The horses cost considerable sums of money, and,
exposed as they are to the risk of accident and to
horse-sickness and the tsetse-fly, their tenure of
life is very uncertain. The chance encounter,
when it does come off, is fine sport, and if you
rise early enough in the morning and hunt steadily
in lion country, the probabilities are that you
will come across one or more of the animals sooner
or later.

While we were in camp on the Guaso Nyiro, on
our way to the Lorian, we heard lions roaring
finely one night, and on another occasion I saw a

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 223

place where several lions had been lying in the
sand. The first lion, however, which we saw,
was at a place near the swamp. I was hunting
with the two gun-bearers, and a lion was sighted,
standing in the grass, at a distance from us of
about 250 yards. Tagarru wanted me to fire, but
only the head was visible, and it was not possible
to see exactly how the animal was standing. The
shot was therefore a very difficult one, and I
decided to try to approach nearer. The lion
slunk away, however, in the grass and entered
thorn scrub, and we saw nothing more of him.
This lion, in all probability, had never seen a man
before, black or white, and it was reasonable to
suppose that he would have allowed us to approach
fairly near ; but the instinctive fear of man, which
animals possess, caused him to move off.

The next lion we saw was in the country between
the Guaso Nyiro and Meru, when we were on our
return journey from the Lorian. When you have
eaten tough and insipid antelope-meat for several
days a succulent guinea-fowl is a gift from the
gods ; and, having found a place where these birds
were abundant, we devoted one morning to a
guinea-fowl shoot. We had begun well, and had
shot three or four, when we heard a lion grunting
not far away. The shot-guns were exchanged for
rifles, and we started in pursuit. The grunting
continued, and gave us a line, and, as we were
following it, I saw a fine-maned lion, about five
or six hundred yards away, standing upon some
slightly rising ground and looking steadily at us.
After gazing at us for some time, he had a look to his
right and then to his left, apparently to make sure

224 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

that he was not surrounded, and then disappeared
in the grass. We followed as fast as we could, but
did not see him again. The going was bad, as
the ground was covered with small blocks of lava,
which were hidden by the grass ; but a good
rider, well mounted, might have been able to
round up that lion and prevent his escape.

I was beginning to fear that the second expedi-
tion would be a failure, like the first, and that no
lion would be bagged; but the chance came.
When we were marching down the Rupingazi
River, after leaving Embu, I was hunting one
morning with the two gun-bearers in a large grassy
plain with no cover. Gimlette, who was on the
river, fired a shot, and at the noise a lion raised his
head above the grass, and Tagarru, who was
scanning the horizon with the glasses at the time,
saw him. Further examination revealed the pre-
sence also of two lionesses. I was not with the
men at the moment, and when I joined them
Tagarru imparted the news with a beaming face,
and we started in pursuit. Either Tagarru was
quite wrong in the information he gave me as to
the distance, or the lion must have moved towards
us in the grass, as, before I had taken the "450 in
my hand, the lion jumped up before me in the
grass and cantered off. I seized the rifle, but,
before I could fire, he disappeared over the crest
of the slope. The plain, as is usually the case in
East Africa, was not perfectly flat, but was a
series of undulating slopes. On reaching the crest
of the slope, I could see the head of the lion, who
was standing in the grass about 250 yards away.
Hoping to force him to stand, I fired at him with

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 225

the '350, using the telescope-sight. It was a
difficult shot, as I could not sit down, and had to
fire from a standing position, and I missed. The
lion then moved off at a fast swinging walk, and
was joined by the two lionesses. I had two shots
at them, as they moved off, with the rifle sighted
for 300 yards, but without success ; and then,
accompanied by the gun-bearers, I started in
pursuit. The lions travelled faster than I was
able to do, but the larger of the two lionesses
stopped at intervals and looked round, as if she
was disposed to fight it out, and this encouraged
me to persevere. When we had pursued them for
a considerable distance, Saasita divined that the
lions were making for a conical hill in the middle
of the plain ; and, when they disappeared over
the brow of the next slope, we made straight for
the hill and thereby gained a good deal of ground.
As I ascended the slope, I caught a glimpse of an
animal disappearing round the corner of the hill,
and the larger of the two lionesses stood for some
seconds on the side of the hill, offering me a good
shot at about 300 yards* distance. Thinking that
the rifle was still sighted for 300 yards, I sat down
and had two shots at her with the '350 before she
disappeared round the hill ; but the bullets struck
very short, and I found, upon examination, that
the rifle was sighted for 100 yards only. Either
the sight had slipped back during the pursuit, or I
had altered it myself and had forgotten the fact
in my excitement.

I halted for a minute or two to reload the "350
and recover my wind, as we had walked very fast,
and then we walked round the corner of the hill
15

226 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

and began to ascend it. Almost immediately the
lion showed himself high up on the hill, and began
to walk round the top. He was a long way off,
but he checked for a moment, and I sat down and
put up the 400 yards sight and had a steady shot
at him.

" You hit him," said Tagarru triumphantly ;
and I myself heard the welcome thud which a
bullet makes when it strikes flesh. The lion dis-
appeared round the top of the hill, and, while I was
looking in his direction, Tagarru excitedly called
out, " Take big gun, take big gun/' I looked
round and saw the larger of the two lionesses,
which had jumped up at the shot, moving slowly
away. When she was 130 or 140 yards from us
she stopped and half-turned, and looked at us
over her shoulder. She offered a good mark, and
I fired at her, from a standing position, with the
•450 and put a bullet through her heart. After
some convulsive struggles she collapsed and fell.

" Good shot ! " said Tagarru, and shook hands
with me warmly. Saasita stood by my side with
nothing in his hand, while I fired this shot, which
might easily have been followed by a charge, but
he was perfectly steady and showed no sign of fear.
Tagarru, also, behaved very well. The lioness
appeared to be quite dead ; but, to make sure,
I had a shot at her as she lay on the ground with
the '350 without the telescope-sight, and, as we
subsequently found, missed her clean. The two
rifles were sighted differently ; and, as I almost
always used the "350 with the telescope-sight, I
had not up to that time discovered this.

The lioness was, however, quite dead, and we

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 227

walked to the top of the hill and descended slowly,
looking for the lion. The gun-bearers soon saw
him lying on the slope of the hill, with his head on
the ground facing in our direction. If we had
followed him round the hill there might have been
trouble, as we should probably have been below
him. As it was, we were about 100 yards above
him, and had therefore the advantage of position.
I saw a yellow patch, but could not make out the
head, and should not myself have known that it
was the lion. Both the men, however, were very
confident, and I put a bullet from the '450 into
the yellow patch. The shot struck the lion in the
back near the neck and passed out of the body
near the tail, and, as he raised himself with a roar,
I fired a second shot and knocked him over.

The direction of the first shot from the "350 was
excellent, but it was too high. If the rifle had been
properly sighted I believe that the shot would
have killed the lion. The rifle was sighted for
400 yards, and the distance, which I paced on the
following day, was 300 yards. As it was, the lion
was evidently badly crippled by the shot. I saw
nothing of the second lioness, but the men said
that she escaped over the hill.

I left Saasita on the spot, with the "450 rifle, to
skin the lions, and went on to the camp with
Tagarru. On arrival there I told Gimlette what
had happened and then sat down to have some
breakfast. Then, according to his account, I
became very quiet and suddenly asked, " Where
am I ? " He said, " You are here, on the Rupin-
gazi River, and have just shot two lions " ; but I
had absolutely no recollection of the incident.

228 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

For nearly three hours, as he said, I talked inco-
herently, and then my brain cleared and I was all
right again. Thinking I had been to sleep, I
called for tea and said that I was going to the place
where I had shot the lion. When he informed me
that I had not been well I asked what had been
the matter. An attack of amnesia had been
induced by the exertion and the excitement.

I continued shooting, and, so far as I was able
to see, there were no after-effects of any kind,
though for the rest of the tour I purposely refrained
from exerting myself quite as strenuously as I had
done up to this time. If Colonel Gimlette had not
been with me, I should not have known that I
had had a temporary loss of memory.

In the morning I went back to the spot, paced
the distances, and verified my impressions. Saa-
sita skinned the lions very well, and on the
following morning he and Abdu proceeded to peg
out the skins in the sun. I objected to this, as
a tiger-skin, when pegged out in the sun in India,
will inevitably go bad ; but Abdu insisted that it
was the right thing to do for one day, and, as I had
great faith in his intelligence, I withdrew my
objection. He was perfectly right, and both the
skins arrived in England in very good order.
The sun in Africa has not apparently the same
power as the sun in India.

We came across lions on one other occasion.
We had crossed the Tana, and were traversing the
country near Juja farm, when Gimlette met a
Boer farmer, who said that he was suffering much
from malarial fever. Gimlette gave him some
quinine, for which he was very grateful, saying

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 229

quaintly, " God bless you, my dear ! " He then
gave a more substantial proof of his gratitude by
informing Gimlette that there were lions in the
neighbourhood, and that, if we hunted for a day
or two, we should probably come across them.
Either on that afternoon, or on the following day,
Gimlette and his men did run into the lions, a
lioness and two nearly full-grown cubs, a lion and
a lioness ; Gimlette had a snap-shot at the old
lioness as she disappeared round a small mound.
One of his men also came upon the lion, which
made a demonstration but moved off without
actually attacking them.

We encamped near the place, and in the morning,
before dawn, heard the lions roaring. We rose
early and went in pursuit, and came upon them
before the sun was up in a small, dry, wooded
ravine, which connected with the broken ground
and jungle on the bank of the stream, forming
the boundary of Juja estate.

The lioness was standing in cover in the bed of
the ravine, and offered a difficult shot at about
200 yards' distance. With the telescope-sight I
think I could have hit her if I had sat down and
taken a shot ; but it was Gimlette's turn, and, at
his request, I refrained from firing. The lioness
then walked out of the ravine up the bank, and,
as the sun had just risen, she stood there with
the light shining on her skin, offering a very tempt-
ing shot. The distance was, however, consider-
able, and Gimlette always fired from a standing
position. He took the shot and missed, and the
lioness moved off. We followed her, but could
not see her again ; and, while we were on the left

230 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

bank of the ravine in pursuit of the lioness, some
negroes, who had followed us from the camp, saw
the two cubs pass behind us down the ravine.

Gimlette was very lame, having had trouble
with a jigger, and the situation appeared to be
hopeless ; but the sequel showed what may be
achieved by perseverance, even when the odds
are heavily against one.

I took the right bank of the ravine and Gimlette
took the left, which was the side near to the
broken ground and jungle on the bank of the
stream, and we worked slowly down the ravine.
The lions were unusually bold, and there was good
cover in the ravine for some distance, so they
made no great hurry to escape, and moved along
slowly in front of us through the thick cover. As
it approached the stream the ravine became
wider and the cover was not so good, and the lions
left the ravine and made for the broken ground
and cover fringing the stream. They were within
shot of Gimlette while they did this, and, as they
were walking through some high grass, he fired
and put a bullet into the lioness. The two young
ones than galloped away, and Gimlette fired at
them, but without effect. The lioness, on being
wounded, went into a small, dense thicket, which
was close by on the edge of the ravine, and there
remained. Hearing the firing, I crossed the ravine
and found Gimlette watching the thicket. There
appeared to be no possibility of driving the lioness
out, and Gimlette, who was determined not to
allow her to escape, decided to follow her into the
thicket. It was a most hazardous undertaking,
but Mabruki, very pluckily, made no demur ;

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 231

and Gimlette and he crawled into the thicket,
Gimlette having the "470 and Mabruki the '350,
while I waited outside to shoot the lioness if she
should bolt out. Mabruki saw the lioness crouch-
ing in the thick cover, but Gimlette could not make
her out, and accordingly ordered Mabruki to fire.
He put a bullet into her chest with the '350 ; and,
as she rose with a roar, Gimlette knocked her over
with a shot from the big rifle. It was an anxious
wait for me outside, but the sounds which reached
me from the thicket were reassuring, and before
long I was relieved to see them both emerge
triumphant.

This was the end of the day's sport, but on the
following morning we again rose early and hunted
the same ground in the hope of coming across the
young lion and lioness. Before we had gone far
Gimlette had an attack of malarial fever, and was
obliged to return to camp, and I therefore
hunted alone, with the two gun-bearers, along the
edge of the plain which adjoined the broken ground
and jungle on the bank of the stream. One of the
men saw the lions in the distance returning from
the plain to the jungle. The lioness was leading,
and was travelling fast, while the lion followed
more leisurely. We hastened in pursuit, but the
going was bad, and it was impossible to walk very
fast. We came up with the lion, however, while
he was making his way up the side of a small dry
ravine which connected with the broken ground.
" There he sit," cried Tagarru excitedly, and the
sound of his voice probably put the lion on his
guard, as, when he reached the level ground at
the top of the ravine, he stood behind a large

282 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

tree. It was most tantalising. The distance was
not more than 150 yards ; the lion was broadsuU
on, and I could see his nose on one side of the trunk
of the tree and a bit of his stern on the other.
I was shooting well at the time, and with a link
bit of luck there would have been another lion in
the bag ; but it was not to be. After standing for
a few seconds, he gave a " Wouf," and started at a
gallop for the jungle. If he had given me a
crossing shot I might have hit him, but he galloped
straight away from me, which is a shot I do not
like, and I missed him. Before I could fire tlu
second barrel he entered the thick cover. We
followed him for some distance into the cover, Inn
saw nothing more of him.

" There he sit " was a favourite formula of
Tagarru's, and it misled me much at the outset
of the expedition, until I learned by experience
that it merely meant " There he is ! " If he had
not spoken, we should have had a better chance of
bagging the lion.

After this we made our way to Nairobi, and
Gimlette left the country.

After spending some days at Nairobi with my
friends, the late Mr. Currie and his wife, I went by
train, with a few porters, to Muhoroni, on tho
west of the Rift Valley and not far from the
Victoria Nyanza, to shoot Jackson's hartebeest
and roan. It was pleasant country, and I luul
some nice shooting, bagging good specimens of
Jackson's hartebeest and also good topi, anil a
very good oribi. I failed, however, to get a roan.
They were not numerous, and were very wary, and
I was unable to get a shot except at a groat ills-

SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 23.3

tance. I brought a good bull to his knees with a
shot at an enormous distance, which I estimated
to be 500 yards; but he was apparently creased
only, as he recovered himself and went off with
the herd, and was evidently not seriously injured.
I had one other difficult shot, which I remember,
but this also was unsuccessful. Hyaenas were
numerous in this part of the country, but I did not
see any of the nobler carnivora.

I saw very few Thomsonii and Grantii gazelles
i n this expedition ; and the water-buck and Coke's
hartebeest, which I shot, were inferior to those
which I shot on the occasion of my first visit to
Africa. The illustration at the end of the volume
shows the trophies of the expedition.

From Muhoroni I returned to Nairobi by train,
arid shortly afterwards went to Mombassa and took
ship for England. While I was at Nairobi Mr.
Sandiford, the Locomotive Superintendent of the
Uganda Railway, whom I had known in former
days at Lahore, told me an extraordinary leopard
story. His house was in the middle of the town,
or, as we should call it in India, the Station, of
Nairobi, and a leopard, finding himself benighted
in the Station, jumped on to the sill of an open
window and entered the house. By great good
fortune it passed from the room into which it had
first entered into a disused bedroom, which had
a barred window, and there took refuge under the
bed. Miss Sandiford missed a tame cat, and went
through the house looking for it, and saw the
leopard under the bed. With much presence of
mind, she quietly closed the door and withdrew
and told her father. He was at first incredulous,

234 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA

but when he opened the door of the room and
peeped in he also saw the leopard. A man with
a rifle was sent for ; and when he arrived, the
leopard, realising that it was trapped, dashed
savagely at the window. It could not, however,
escape, and was shot in the room.

I was between fifty-five and fifty-six years of age
when I made this expedition to Africa, but, from
the sportsman's point of view, I was at my best.
I walked well, shot well, and my nerve was good.
In subsequent shooting expeditions, both in the
matter of walking and shooting, I was conscious
of deterioration. I may have done too much, and
I certainly worked very hard ; but I thoroughly
en j oyed myself, and the memories of this expedition
are particularly pleasant.

FINIS

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