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FOR EDVCATION
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NATURAL HISTORY

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THE DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN
NATURALIST IN INDIA

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THE DIARY OF A
SPORTSMAN NATURALIST
IN INDIA BY E. P. STEBBING

F.Z.S., F.R.G.S.

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
AND SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOR AND OTHERS

LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMXX

The MayJlo%ver Press, Plymouth, England. William Breiidon & Son, Ltd.

PREFACE

THIS book was nearly completed on that momentous
date in August, 1914, when the Great War burst
upon us. Early in 1915 my Publisher accepted
the suggestion that its pubhcation should be
delayed until the German challenge to the World had been
dealt with and disposed of.

Since the Armistice Part II has received some revision.
The rest remains as written. In Jungle By-Ways I dealt
fully with the description and habits of the various game
animals of the Plains of India. I have not therefore
considered it necessary to repeat this matter here. The
sporting anecdotes and material selected from my note-
books, which form the greater part of the book, are designed
to lead up to and emphasize the necessity which exists of
affording an adequate protection to the Game and other Ani-
mals of India. That this matter, with its threefold objects
of maintaining the animals of the Chase, securing a revenue
from the economic products yielded by the Fauna of the
country, and preserving the Fauna as a whole, is one of the
first importance, is known to that small band of shikaris
who are both sportsmen and naturalists. A perusal of the
chapter dealing with the operations of the Indian unarmed
poacher will, of itself, bear evidence to the fact that India
is threatened with an irretrievable decrease in and deteriora-
tion of the most interesting members of its Fauna.

To Sir John Prescott Hewett, G.C.S.I., Mrs. E. M.
Sparkes, and my Wife my thanks are due for the striking
Plates which illustrate the Diary.

E. P. STEBBING.

Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian.
March, 1920.

INTRODUCTION

HAVE you ever been out in camp in the jungles of
India in the cold weather ?
If so, you will have had a foretaste of a
Paradise. If you have not and can by any
manner of means compass a visit, take the advice of
one who has and go.

The jungles of India are nowadays — alas that it is so ! —
easy of access, even to the man with but a small purse,
and a few months' leisure. Fourteen days will take you
from Charing Cross to Bombay Harbour. A luxurious
first-class carriage will then carry you close to as wild a
jungle as heart of man can desire, the number of hours
spent on the railway being dependent on your choice of
locality. And, once arrived, you must indeed be hard to
please if the glamour and fascination of your surroundings
do not grip you.

You may be sportsman, zoologist or botanist. Your
hobby may be sketching — the jungles have but rarely
been adequately portrayed. You may admire scenery,
wild scenery, or be merely a lover of nature in its purest

viii DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

untrammelled freedom. Or your quest may be for solitude
and rest and freedom from worry, or perhaps it should be
said major worries — minor worries you must expect in the
East. Whatever your object, it should be possible to
attain it in one or other of the great jungles of India.

It is not proposed to write an Indian Baedeker. The
choice of locahty must be left to yourself. There are
some 245,612 square miles of Government Reserves and
other forest, and about 128,300 square miles of forest land
in the Native States and private ownership in the country.
There is room for all. That is room so long as your object
is not sport, i.e. sport concerned with the slaying of animals.
When such is desired much more trouble has to be taken
nowadays in the selection of one's jungle, and certain first-
hand knowledge is essential.

The stay-at-home EngHshman often hears the Anglo-
Indian descanting at great length upon the disagreeables
of Indian hfe, and you may be sure that they do not lose
anything in the oft-repeated narration. The heat, the
wearying monotony of the rains in the monsoon period, the
malaria and mosquitoes, the " bugs " of all sizes and con-
ditions, the depressing, narrow life of the small up-country
Station, the constant transfers, the great expense of coming
" home," the customs of the country, so entirely at variance
with those of the West, the dilatoriness of the native, his
conservatism and all the rest of it.

Granted that all these factors do detract from the
pleasure, ease and comfort (and pocket) of the members
of the Ruling Race. It was to make up for these drawbacks
that in the days of yore the salaries of official and non-
official alike were fixed on a scale equivalent to double the
amount received by holders of corresponding posts in Eng-
land. There was some meaning in the expression " Pagoda
tree " and " nabob " in those halcyon days — now, alas !
gone to return no more.

But there is another side to the question !

It is not all work in India ! We have not always the
heat or the rains with us ; nor even when they are present
are they necessarily always uppermost in our thoughts.
We are not always counting our rupees or grumbhng at
our lack of them, or saving them for that trip home ! One
could write of many pleasant hours passed amongst friends
in the Station. Of dinners and dances, gatherings at the

INTRODUCTION ix

Club, football and hockey contests, gymkhanas and race
meetings, of days under the burning sun in enjoyment of
that prince of sports pig-sticking, hunting the wily " jack "
or paper-chasing (on horseback, bien entendu) ; of keen
tussles at tennis and badminton, of theatricals and con-
certs, all amateur performances, and for this reason the
more enjoyable, especially the rehearsals ! Of bridge and
the Club bar ; of the softer delights and amenities of the
Ladies' Room, and of those thrillingly dangerous drives
and rides in the delicious, cool evening air, or 'neath the
brilhant moonlight with as companion the particular
goddess amongst the fair sex. The mere enumeration of
the above delights must assuredly convict the most con-
firmed Anglo-Indian grouser of a lapse of memory.

But to a considerable portion of our race in India the
delights of the Station hold but a subordinate place in their
scheme of life in the East. The most unalloyed joys are
realized in the untrammelled free life in camp in the jungles.
True in these busy, worrying, hurrying days the post
and telegraph can reach one even there, sooner or later.
But not, thank God, that invention of the fiend, the
telephone !

The fascination of the Jungle !

Who can say in what it really lies. Its appeal is so wide.
To the stay-at-home the very word " jungle " conjures
up all sorts of visions, entrancing for some, fascinating for
others, repellent, it may be hoped, for the few. The word
is perhaps most commonly associated by the man in the
street with the tiger — the Royal Bengal Tiger. And yet
there are many who have spent months, aye and years,
in India's jungles and have never set eyes on a tiger.
Yet others again who, mirahile dictu, might have done so
and yet have not cared to.

True the novice when he first goes out is under the im-
pression that he will find a tiger behind every bush or walking
up every ravine or nullah. I can well remember my first
walk in such a locality — finger on trigger, breath coming
short, brain in a whirl of excitement — and probably not a
tiger within ten miles of me ! Quite as well perhaps that
there was not. I had been but six weeks in the country
and was accompanied by a forest guard and a coolie only,
whose language I did not know. It is not very long, however,
before the new-comer is disabused of this common fallacy.

X DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

No, the jungle may be, and in parts is, the happy play-
ground and hunting-ground of the tiger, but he does not
play or usually hunt in the open in the daytime, and he is
precious difficult to find at any hour of the twenty-four.

And with the other jungle denizens — that wonderful
sagacious beast the elephant, the shy gaur or Indian bison,
the fierce and treacherous buffalo, the rhinoceros, now so
near extinction, the bears and leopards and deer and
antelope, they are not to be found in the jungle cooped up
cheek by jowl as we have become familiar with them in
our childhood or maturer years at a Zoo.

Without a knowledge of their habits and characteristics
you may pass months, even years, in the jungles without
seeing, save by accident, pelt, horn or hoof.

Nor to many does the great fascination of the jungle
reside in its animal life either as sportsman or zoologist.

In what then does it reside ?

It is difficult to say. The jungle is so intangible, and
there is probably to be found in each one of us that instinct
which still survives, no matter how deeply it may be over-
laid by present-day civilization, the instinct which takes us
back to the time when the world was young and its
inhabitants few ; to the days when the greater portion
of the land surface of the Globe consisted of pathless jungles
against which our ancestors waged unremitting war, and
amongst which they lived and died.

Most Anglo-Indians (of the Services, at least) know the
feeling of rehef, of relaxation from care and worry, which
pervades the mind when, the Station left behind, one sits
down to the first dinner in camp. The log fire burning and
crackling merrily outside, the subdued buzz of talk from
the servants' lines, the whinnying of the picketed ponies
or the shrill voices of the syces raised in execration when a
biting or kicking match commences, the dull rumbling of
the elephants engaged on their fodder, resembling distant
thunder ; the great columns of the trees forming a back-
ground to the camp, on to which the camp-fires cast fitful
shadows, whilst overhead the picture is closed in by the
blue-black vault picked out with innumerable jewels and
spangled with diamond dust. How pleasant it all is. Are
these the delights which make for fascination ? For many,
perhaps. For others that indefinable sense of mystery
which attaches to the Indian jungle, and to so much else

INTRODUCTION . xi

in India, and which, to a degree probably unsurpassed in
any other country in the world, assuredly pervades these
vast tracts of wild country which cover so great a part of
India. For in many of these wild tracts history has been
made in the past — forgotten history. Hidden in these
pathless wastes the remains of cities and towns and evidences
of a high civilization in a remote past are to be found — now
represented by crumbling walls or columns or mere heaps
of stones and bricks covered up by a victorious vegetation,
the homes of many and often the crueller members of the
jungle folk.

The fascination of such spots is readily understood, and
the mind easily weaves spells and calls up pictures and
phantoms of that long dead and buried past.

India's jungles have then many aspects apart from the
usually accepted and inaccurately portrayed one of the
uninitiated.

The notes embodied in this book, jotted down for the most
part under very varying conditions in camp and under the
influence of these great jungles, are an attempt to reproduce
one side, that of the sportsman and naturalist, of the many
fascinations of the life passed amongst them. An endeavour
is also made to point out how much they will lose of interest
and health-giving enjoyment if protection is not afforded
to some, at least, of their most interesting inhabitants.

For if sport or the study of the fauna be your object in
visiting the jungles, you will find matters in a very different
state from what they were a score of years ago.

With the wonderful improvement and cheapening in
price of the modern rifle, and with the great development
in railways and opening out of roads, not to mention the
more recent introduction of the motor-car, extraordinary
facilities (compared to former times) have been placed
within the power of the sportsman, and what were formerly
famous shooting jungles are now within easy fifteen days
of London, and their former denizens know them no more.

The destruction of game has proceeded apace with the
increase of facilities for attack, and some of the finest of
Indian game animals are now within measurable distance
of extinction. Protection in various forms has been started
in different parts of the country, chiefly in the Government
Forest Reserves and in some of the Native States. But
the steps taken for the country as a whole are still far from

xii DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

adequate and affect but a tithe of the extremely interesting
fauna of the country ; and even those are protected but
partially. Poaching, at which the native is an adept, still
flourishes with all its pristine and cruel vigour.

The creation of Game Sanctuaries has been commenced
with a view to affording protection to certain animals, such
as the gaur or bison and rhinoceros and elsewhere to deer.
The question as to the length of time a tract should remain
a sanctuary is, however, still a debatable point, as also
the period of the close time which should be instituted for
animals in areas outside the sanctuary.

It is the object of these notes to draw attention to the
urgent necessity of considering the Indian Fauna question
as a whole. The chapters devoted to sport bring out the
ever-increasing diminution in the numbers of game animals
in different parts of the country within the last two to three
decades. The economic value of the fauna is also dealt
with ; a matter which has received but httle attention in the
past. In the last chapter it is suggested that the Indian
Fauna as a whole requires a more adequate protection based
on a correct understanding of the habits of the varying
species. Zoologists consider this fauna to be one of the
most interesting of the land fauna of the Globe. In the
face of modern developments — the extension of agriculture,
in the activities of the Forest Department, the opening out of
the country by railways and roads for motor traffic, in the
construction of canal and irrigation works — it has become
vital that measures for the protection of the fauna based on
an impartial review of existing facts should be undertaken
before it becomes too late.

^^i-SA.-.;

CONTENTS

Introduction

PAGB

vii

SPORT

CHAPTER

I.

II.

III.

PART I

IN THE BIG GAME JUNGLES OF INDIA

The Jungles of Chota Nagpur
Happy Days as an Assistant .
Beating for Bear in Chota Nagpur — A Station
Shoot .......

IV. A Hunter's Paradise ....

V. In the Berars — My First Tiger
VI. Shooting Trips in the Central Provinces — I
Fine Shikar Country ....

VII. More Experiences in the Central Provinces
VIII. Forest Life and Sport in Eastern Bengal
IX. Wanderings in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
X. The Jungles of the Bengal Duars and Assam
XI. The Jungles of Southern India
XII. Sport in the Jungles of Northern India

XIII. A Morning's Stalk after Black Buck

XIV. The Havildah's Story
XV. Back in the Jungles Again

XVI. An Adventure with a Leopard
XVII. Jungle Lore ....
XVIII^ Jungle Lore — continued .
XIX. A Real Tiger Story

3
15

30

51

68

77
86

97
III

126
138
150
162
169
178

193
200
216
227

PART II

GAME PROTECTION AND THE PROVISION OF SANCTU-
ARIES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE INDIAN FAUNA

XX. The Indian Poacher and His Ways . . 241

XXI. Game Sanctuaries and Game Protection in

India ........ 256

XXII. The Economic Value of the Fauna . . 282

XXIII. The Preservation of the Indian Land Fauna

as a Whole — The Permanent Sanctuary . 288

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

The Author out for an afternoon stroll on a pad elephant,

through the tall tiger grass Frontispiece

TO FACE PAGE

Tracks of bison or gaur .....

A memorable May Day's bag in the hot Terai Jungles

Bringing back a tiger to camp ....

Returning after the bath .....

The line of elephants in straggling open order proceeding to the

next tiger beat ......

The forest launch on the Kornafuli River

On the upper waters of the Kornafuli River

Shoo ting -elephants beating through the high grass jungle in

the Terai Forests in Northern India
The beautiful jungle-covered slopes of the Siwalik Hills
The Author stalking sambhar in the forests of the Siwaliks

Northern India ......

The golden-backed woodpecker at work in a sal tree search

ing for insect grubs ......

Park-like grass land in the Rhanikhet Jungles, United Prov-
inces ........

Howdah elephants coming out into a high grass savannah in

the Terai Jimgles, United Provinces
A corner of the sacred city of Hardwar, looking up the Ganges
Scenery in the beautiful Dun. The Mussoorie Hills in the

background .......

The Author fishing at Lachiwala in the Dun (from a drawing

by M. E. Stebbing)

Dead tiger in the high grass jungle where it fell on being shot
Dead leopard in high grass jungle in position after being shot
On the Jumna River, where it leaves the Himalaya in the

Western Siwaliks .......

Pad elephant proceeding through dense tree forest in the

Terai, United Provinces ......

The line of elephants crossing a river en route to the tiger

jungle in the United Provinces Terai ....
Howdah elephants lined up for inspection before the start for

a day's tiger shooting ......

Beating elephants in the beautiful dense jungles of the Nepal

Terai — an ideal game sanctuary ..... 256

4
20

74

102
102

128
154

154

156

J72

172
178

178

190
204
208

220

230

230

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

XV

TO FACI'. PAGE

Tree forest and old riv^er bed on the Ramganga in the Terai,

United Provinces ....... 256

The hincheon during a tiger shoot in the hot weather in the

Terai Jungles ........ 264

Starting out for the fiirst beat after luncheon . . . 264

ILLUSTRATIONS IN TEXT

Wild elephants feeding on the jungle men's paddy crops .
Jungle men sitting in a machan to protect their crops from wild
animals ......

A clump of bamboos in the Chota Nagpur jungles

I was brought to a standstill by the vision of the bull facing me

The furtive waj^s of the hyena

The village headman was already on his way to me

The " kill " tied up for a tiger

The tiger appears

The dirge-like wail of the jackal .

Wild dog were plentiful

Rolled up in a blanket on a camp cot

The bear rose up . . .

The leopard inspects the goat from a distance

A dead cow with two crows upon it

Vultures sat about in the trees .

Two black crows sat and cursed me

The bear stood on his hind legs and went for him

A bison stampeding away .

My Khansamah ....

The khakar or barking deer

Saw the bull viciously charging down on me

Head of a tiger .....

Two crows sat contemplating the kill .
A couple of vultures perched in a tree .
Without a sound a fine tiger stepped out
The old Rajput Forest Ranger .
A dead tiger .....

The leopard climbed up towards me

The leopard went clean through the gateway at a bound

A number of big grey lungoor monkeys

A young barking deer

It was the agonized mother

The bear slinking off up the hill-side

It was the old boar

He was only a pi-dog

I dropped on my knee and fired at the mithan

An old tusker wild elephant marching through the forest

Shooting from the back of an elephant ....

The elephants undertook the summer migration to the hills

PAGE

6

7

9

12

15
20
21
22
23
24
25
30
32
35
36
38
48

51
55
56
61
68
70
70
71
74
76

77
83
89
92

93
95
108
no
123
126
129
131

xvi DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

Sitting up in a machan

Shooting from a howdah elephant

The mighty herd of bison stampeded in all directions

The black mass plunged to the ground

A pad elephant ....

The porcupine with quills out

A grey shadow appeared

A j ungle cock perched on a fallen tree .

There was an old boar in this party

A small herd of chital crossed the river-bed

In front of me were the chital stags

I lay behind a ber bush

Black buck on the qui vive .

The marvellous jumping powers of black buck

I had a fine bull's eye to fire at

A tiger looking out of a patch of tall grass

On a pad elephant in high tiger grass .

A rhinoceros in grass jungle

As we approached the village

We climbed the steep slope with heavy loads

Howdah elephant kneeling

Out in the tiger-grass jungles

A spotted deer or chital with young

A tiger was on the edge of the forest .

The native shikari sits in a machan

The leopard lay flat on his stomach

The havildah and the rifles .

A small herd of chital were grazing

The pea-fowl were calling in the forest

The leopard sprang into the air with a roar

The elephant backs a step or two

Suddenly a tiger looked out of the edge of the grass

The tiger charged out of the grass and flung itself

elephant's head .....

The end of the tiger ......

at the

132

137
138
149
150
153
155
155
157
158
159
162
163
167
168
169
170
171

173
177
178
179
184
187
191

193
193
194

195
199
228
233

235
237

PART I

SPORT IN THE BIG GAME JUNGLES
OF INDIA

'm:i

CHAPTER I

THE JUNGLES OF CHOTA NAGPUR

The jungles of Chota Nagpur — A fine shikar country — The Kols and
their villages — Bishu, head shikari — Marvellous tracking powers of
the Kols — The Indian gaur or bison — Pick up the tracks of an old
bull — Deserted villages in the forest — Villagers' hopeless struggle
with wild animals, malaria, and the encroaching jungle — -Promising
young tree crops occupy areas — Follow the bull — River terraces —
Giant old trees and feathery bamboos — A rocky ravine and beautiful
scenery — Come up with the bull — An unlucky contretemps— A
grateful halt — Set out again — A long trek — Again find the bison —
Face to face with the bull — A hurried retreat — The bull badly hit
— Follow him down the valley — A last shot — Bishu's determination
— Death of the bull.

SOON after dawn, one December morning, a score
of years ago, I stood leaning on my rifle and
surveying a scene of great beauty which lay out-
spread before me. The point reached after an
arduous chmb was the summit of one of the higher ranges
of hills in the wilds of Chota Nagpur, at that time forming
the Western division of the province of Bengal. Below
stretched a sea of brilliant green forest of the valued s41
{Shorea robusta) tree densely clothing the valleys, ravines
and lower part of the sides of the tumbled chaotic mass of
hills upon which I gazed. Away in the distance a yellow
ribbon with a silver streak (a tributary of the Mahanadi
River, the only river of importance in Chota Nagpur) ser-
pentining across it, over which hung a white filmy mist,
showed where the hills dropped into an elevated area of
cultivated table-land.

The sun had just risen and was rapidly sucking up the
white vapour which lay in the deeper ravines. Here and
there a faint smoke rising above the deep sea of green pro-
claimed the presence of a jungle village, consisting of a
collection of miserable mud-walled thatched huts, the

4 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

abodes of the jungle tribe, known as Kols, who inhabit
these hills. They are a fine race of hunters these men,
absolutely fearless and entirely trustworthy ; but in other
respects indolent and thriftless, content to earn sufficient
to keep them in rice and the material they require for their
scanty garments. The men pass the rest of their time
roaming the forests and in cock-fighting, a pastime they
are passionately fond of. In fact, it is as difficult to get
them away from an inter-village cock-fight where the stakes
are annas and pice, as it was to stop our far more aristo-
cratic grandfathers wagering sovereigns over similar events
in this country.

The forest-clad hills upon which I gazed with delight
(I had but a year's service to my credit at the time) formed
part of a great Government Reserve — a reserve at that
time practically untouched by man, the home of the
elephant, bison, sambhar, spotted deer, tiger, leopard and
bear, and many other animals of interest to the sportsman
and naturalist. It was as fine a hunting-ground as the heart
of the hunter could desire. And it was on sport that I was
bent that keen, sharp, exhilarating December morning, one
of the finest sports in India or elsewhere — bison-tracking
on foot.

In those days it would have been difficult to find a finer
tract of country for this purpose in the whole of India. The
great forest stretched untouched and unbroken for league
upon league, the Government Reserves joining on to vast
areas of forest in neighbouring Native States. Although
the Reserve had been under the management of the Forest
Department for some years, the forests had not been
worked for timber to any extent, and were in their primeval
condition. In other words, in that condition in which they
had afforded an asylum par excellence for centuries past,
and still did, to the elephant and shy bison. For both
these animals require great stretches of undisturbed forest
to live in — in fact, they can only exist in a wild state under
such conditions.

The Indian gaur or bison {Bos gaurus), as it is always
termed, has no affinity with the true species. It is far
superior to the American bison, being much larger and
heavier. When wounded and turned to bay, it is reputed
amongst sportsmen to be far more dangerous than either
the tiger or elephant.

TRACKS Ol' l![.SO\ OR (;AIR— W AI.KINc;

.Scale aliout i/i2th natural sizt;

THE JUNGLES OF CHOTA NAGPUR 5

With my head shikari, Bishu, and two assistants I had left
camp several hours before dawn, and we had reached our
present position without having come across what we were in
search of, the tracks of a solitary bull bison. Those of a herd
with a young bull in it had been followed for a short distance
and dropped at the foot of the last steep rise to the position
now occupied as they trended off round the slope, and I had
wished before proceeding further to obtain a bird's-eye view
of the surrounding country, and check if possible the
direction of a certain valley and stream which there was
reason to believe were wrongly marked on the map.

The point had been settled, and having gazed my full
at the wonderful scene outstretched before me I turned to
the head shikari with a query as to the direction in which
we should proceed. As the question left my lips one of the
assistants, who had been sent to prospect down the far
side of the crest, returned, a broad smile upon his not
unprepossessing visage. In a whisper he conveyed the
information that less than half a mile away he had picked
up the tracks of an old bull who had passed the afternoon
before. A few questions from the head shikari and we
set off for the spot. A very cursory inspection proved
that the assistant was correct, and Bishu added the
information that the bull had passed at four o'clock, in-
dicating the position in the sky the sun would be at that
hour. They are marvellous trackers these Kols, and will
carry a trail over the most difficult country in the world
with scarce a falter, often taking it at a smart walk over
hard trap rock, where, to the uninitiated and untrained
eye, it appears to be an impossibility to say that an animal
has passed by. If they have a fault it is a fondness for
cutting round the base of a hill instead of following the
trail to the top in the expectation that their guess of the
animal's direction, often a most shrewd one, will prove
correct. And it must be admitted that they are not often
wrong.

A council of war was called, and it was soon determined
to follow the tracks of the old bull, for he appeared to be
something out of the ordinary.

The trail took us straight down the rocky, stony hill-side
through a sparse forest at first, the going proving arduous
owing to the masses of the long, trailing " sabai " grass
{Ischcemum angustifolium) which grew in tufts from amongst

6 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

the loose stones and twined round the ankles in a most
aggravating manner. This grass, known as " bhabar " in
Northern India, is a valuable forest product as a coarse
paper is made from it.

As the upper slopes of the hill were left behind the forest
grew thicker, the trees became taller, with finer boles and
larger crowns, and clumps of bamboos made their appear-
ance.

The bison had proceeded slowly, feeding as he moved along,
and the tracks trended eastwards, dropped into a valley,
and wandered down the banks of the stream, eventually
emerging on to a clearing covered with tall grass. This
was the site of a deserted village. For some years several
families had settled here, cleared off the forest for a few
hundred acres or so, built themselves the usual mud-
walled thatched huts, and cultivated a paddy crop on the
cleared ground. It was a precarious existence and almost

I /\

doomed from the first to failure. For the contest between
the Forest and its inhabitants and man was too unequal.
As soon as the crops commenced to show above ground, the
herbivorous jungle folk, from the elephant downwards,
arrived at night, and even by day in these secluded regions,
and took toll. Little recked they of the puny efforts of
the owners to drive them away. The elephants soon
learnt that the tremendous noise made by the one or two
old matchlocks in the possession of the jungle men was
harmless ; and occasionally if more than usually worried, or
from one cause or another short of temper, would charge
the frail staging, or machan as it is called, on which the
would-be protectors of the crops sat and scatter it to the
winds, probably killing the occupier. The never-ending
fight against the encroachments of the neighbouring jungle
and weed growth, combined with the deadly malaria,
resulted in a life of great strenuousness. The grim con-

H.^

THE JUNGLES OF CHOTA NAGPUR 7

test sooner or later ended in the defeat of the jungle man

and his departure for the outskirts of the great forest

tracts, where he had a better

chance of combining, through

greater numbers, against animal

foes ; although he was here

certain to suffer more from the

depredations of the human

sharks who found him such

easy prey. ^ yfCJ^'";:^

Such was the history of the /^-^yj.^/if^yA
clearing, and in the course of
my wanderings in these jungles
I came across others. Some,
relapsed into forest conditions
once more, were already covered
with a fine crop of thriving
young sal poles, the size of the latter enabling a shrewd
guess to be made as to the date the former occupiers of
the clearing had vacated it or all died of fever. For this
tract of country holds a deadly malaria in its forests
throughout the rainy season.
To return to the bison.

The tracks skirted the clearing and proceeded through a
thick piece of forest beyond until they reached a beautiful
little stream, the Koina. Up this stream we quietly pro-
ceeded for about a mile, a succession of lovely views opening
out before us. The stream at this part was of fair size, and
for the most part flowed over a rock-bed. Consequently
cataracts, rapids and miniature waterfalls, alternating
with deep, silent pools, most tempting to the eye of the
fisherman, were numerous. Or again we came to places
where the stream flowed in a long, silent reach between
terraces clothed here and there with beautiful brakes or
clumps of the feathery bamboo, interspersed with the
great red columns of magnificent, giant, old sal trees, upon
which the morning light played with an indescribably
beautiful effect. The great trees were festooned with thick
ropes of creeper growth, whilst beneath, in glades where
the forest floor was more open, the short grass was in
places almost reminiscent of the soft, deep, velvety turf
of a home park. Here the stalking was pure joy. It was
gloriously cool under the shade of the great trees, and a

8 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

couple of minutes' breather being called I flung myself
down on to the cool green turf.

Then we took up the trail again. Soon a rocky ravine
opened out in front, and the brook, which had been
running so decorously down the quiet reach, became
a brawling, turbulent torrent once again. The tracks
proceeded up the rocky side of the ravine, and we had to
take to hard climbing ; for the bed of the stream now
dropped in a series of giant steps, over which the brilliant,
sparkling water tumbled in beautiful foaming cascades.
High above stretched the great forest, the boles of the trees
rearing up straight on either side, their crowns forming a
gigantic dome to the rocky chasm. Here and there in the
rock-walls clumps of bamboo clung with precarious foothold,
their feathery tops gracefully drooping over the sparkling
water beneath ; whilst the maidenhair fern grew in drifts and
patches against the dark rock.

The path which we followed, if a series of steps could be
entitled a path, must have been trodden through the
centuries by the hooves and feet of countless animals, for
the rock was worn down on the line the bison had taken.
As we mounted higher the sides of the ravine grew less
steep, the forest came down to meet us once more, and
we soon found ourselves on the edge of a sloping hill-side,
sparsely covered with bamboo clumps.

Here Bishu signalled a halt, whilst he moved off to
prospect. I was nothing loath, for the climb in the heat
had been arduous, and for the time being I was pretty
well done and was only too glad to stretch myself out for
a few minutes in the shade of a clump of bamboos. The
interlude was brief. Within a quarter of an hour Bishu
appeared, and on his ugly physiognomy was the broad
smile I had learnt to interpret as the near presence of the
animal we were stalking. Getting silently to my feet I
seized the rifle, cocked it and prepared to follow the shikari.
Very slowly we moved forward, skirting in and out of the
bamboo clumps, every inch of the ground being studied
before the foot was set down. For I had learnt that the
slightest unusual sound at this stage would mean the
alarm and flight of the bison. We may have gone a quarter
of a mile, it may have been less, when Bishu stretched
out an arm. Eagerly looking in the direction indicated I
tried to make out what my companion saw. For a frantic

THE JUNGLES OF CHOTA NAGPUR

minute I could see nothing. Then gradually four white
legs with black upper edges framed themselves on my vision
beneath a bamboo clump. The rest of the animal was
invisible.

As soon as Bishu was satisfied that I had made out the
animal, he signified, by a movement of the arm, that we
would move to the left, at the same time indicating that
I should be ready to fire. Rightly or wrongly we started
to execute this flank movement. Bishu, with bare feet,
ghded over the ground with ease and in absolute silence.
Not so myself, weighted down with a heavy rifle and heavy
boots, which I had not at that time learnt to discard for
light stalking shoes. To me the movement was a night-
mare. After twenty yards I looked up. There was Bishu,
the smile on his face and his fingers signalling frantically,
the arm held rigid to the side of the body. A hurried step
forward and the sharp snap of a twig sounded on the still
air, to be succeeded instantaneously by a short, sharp
bellow and a crash in the bamboo jungle, followed by a rush
I hurriedly glanced round. The white '^ -^
stockings had disappeared. I dashed
forward, my noise more than drowned
in that made by the bison ; but within
forty yards I came to a standstill,
the bamboo clumps growing so thickly
together as to render further progress or
any chance of seeing the animal hopeless.
I could have cried with vexation,
matter of fact I swore.

Bishu called a halt and we sat down,
one of us in no enviable frame of mind,
and for the first time for hours conversed
in a low voice. The shikari said that it
was probable that the bison was more
startled than frightened, and that he
would be unlikely to go far as he was
certain the animal was not aware of our
presence. We could rest for half an
hour and would then take up the tracks
again.

I took advantage of the respite, though with very bad
grace, to have some lunch, as I had then been on the move
for six hours. It was a grateful rest in spite of my anxiety.

As a -^^-LV

10 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

and as I lay upon my back looking up into the shimmering
green of the dehcate bamboo leaves I speculated on the size
of the owner of the stout white stockings so recently seen ;
upon the size of the trophy they supported and whether
it would ever become mine. Also what sort of a dance he
was likely to lead us that afternoon, and at what time we
were likely to see camp again. I was just dropping into an
untroubled slumber when a touch on the arm brought me
wide awake on the instant. It was Bishu. The quest was
to begin again.

Skirting the dense mass of bamboos we soon came upon
the bull's tracks leading straight up a rocky slope covered
with long grass. I had some trouble here owing to loose
stones, the trippy nature of the grass, and the blazing
heat of the sun, and it must have taken us an hour to go a
mile. Then the ground became easier and we followed the
tracks over the ridge and down into the cooler valley below.
It was a relief to get out of that sun and glare. The valley
was filled with bamboo clumps, and great circumspection
had to be used as we knew that if the beast was put up
a second time and I failed to get a shot we should never see
him again. The bison was not in the valley, however, and
another long, hot hill-side had to be negotiated. For three
hours we slowly followed the tracks, using a tantalizing
caution wherever the jungle thickened. Again the trail
dropped to a nullah, somewhat broader than those passed
through latterly, the ground on the opposite side of the
stream rising but gradually. The forest here thickened,
the trees being of good growth and height.

Once again Bishu went on alone after signing to me to
halt. I had become very despondent over my chances, for
the bison had evidently been more alarmed than Bishu
had imagined. But this spot looked so favourable for a
bison to lie up in that I became again optimistic and waited
the reappearance of the shikari with high hopes. Nor were
they vain ones.

Without a sound Bishu suddenly reappeared, and one
glance at his face told his tale. I stepped silently towards
him, grimly resolved to move at my own pace and repress
all excitement no matter what my companion did or what
appeared in front of me. I advanced through a low under-
growth of small plants and shrubs which yielded easily
as I pushed noiselessly through them, eyes alternately on

THE JUNGLES OF CHOTA NAGPUR ii

my feet and in front. Slowly and yet slower we moved
forward, Bishu slightly to my right. The ground dropped
gently to the stream, and I had approached to within
twenty yards of the bank when away on the opposite side
I suddenly perceived the bison. My breath came short
and sharp, and then I seemed to cease to breathe altogether,
whilst my heart pounded like a sledge-hammer. It was the
first solitary bull I had had a full, clear view of in its native
jungles. Its bulk staggered me, for the animal stood
almost broadside on beneath a great tree, wholly in view
save for the hooves and part of the white stockings. Ye
gods ! What a sight the great fellow was !

Have you ever seen one under such conditions ? If not
I fear I cannot help you to realize his full beauty ; for
words fail to adequately portray it. They can but feebly
convey the colossal total of his massive " points." Eighteen
hands — and this specimen stood well over that — of coal-
black beauty shining like satin on the back and sides,
where the light filtering through the branches struck him,
with four clean white stockings from the knee downwards.
On to this enormous bulk the great head and thick,
short neck were set, the frontal bone high, covered with
whitish yellowish hair, the curved horns thick, much
corrugated at their bases and blunted at their tips. Such
was the sight upon which I gazed with a palpitating heart.
As he stood there he was not more than forty to fifty yards
distant, his tail swinging lazily from side to side as he
flicked away the flies.

For a few seconds I stared at the bison, fascinated at the
grand sight, and then slowly sank on one knee and brought
the heavy ten-bore " Paradox " rifle I carried to bear on the
shoulder. The rifle was a weighty one and I recognized
that I was feeling fagged after the day's exertions, and so,
with a deep-drawn breath, I let the barrels sink slowly
down till the sights made a bead on the shoulder and im-
mediately pressed the trigger. There was a loud roar as
the six drams of powder propelled the heavy bullet forward
and a thick cloud of smoke enveloped everything. But the
roar was followed almost instantaneously by a second, as
the left barrel, which was at full cock, jarred off with the
concussion of the first. It was a habit this rifle had, as I
was to discover later on several occasions, until I learnt
to remember to cock only one trigger at a time. The

12 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

" kick " of the rifle under the sudden discharge of twelve
drams of black powder almost knocked me backwards,
and had I been firing at a target in cold blood would probably
have done so. As it was I was braced to a considerable
tension. Recovering myself and forgetting that I was
unloaded I rose to a stooping position and dashed through
the smoke to see what had happened to the bison. A
glance was sufhcient. The old bull had dropped and was
struggling on the ground. Without a thought I rushed
forward with a shout, dimly hearing Bishu's voice raised
in a piercing exhortation of some sort.

Leaping lightly into the bed of the stream I splashed
through the water and clambered up the six-foot bank on
the opposite side. Reaching the top I stood erect and
took a few strides forward, only to be brought to a stand-
still by the vision of the bison up on his feet and facing me.
For a second or two we stood looking into each other's
eyes. It was the first time I had ever looked at the eyes of
a wild animal mad with rage. I saw red fury blazing out
in all its untamed nakedness from the enraged brute's eyes,
whilst, with his forefoot, he tore up the turf beneath him.
Mechanically I raised the rifle, the movement being accom-
panied by a bellow of wrath from the bull, glanced along
the barrels, noted that both hammers were down, and

THE JUNGLES OF CHOTA NAGPUR 13

realized in a flash what it meant. At the same moment
down went the head of the bull and with a hoarse roar he
charged. I turned, and in a couple of bounds had dropped
into the nullah bed. The drop brought me to my knees.
I was up in a trice, blundered through the shallow water,
my spine deadly cold, and dashed through the low jungle
to a large sal tree round which I dived. Pulling up, I cau-
tiously looked round the trunk from the opposite side,
opening out the rifle and jamming in a fresh cartridge as
I did so. The sight I saw caused me to breathe a sigh
of rehef and mutter a thankful prayer.

The bull had not charged home. There he stood on the
edge of the little cliff on the far side of the stream, his head
swaying from side to side, evidently hard hit and apparently
dazed and undecided as to whom to go for. His position
was a bad one for a shot, but I was too excited to think of
that, and raising the rifle I fired at the head facing me.
The animal half turned to the shot, shook his head viciously,
but did not drop, and after a few seconds' apparent in-
decision set off down-stream, keeping just within the
forest. His direction was easily followed from the blundering
way he crashed through the undergrowth.

As soon as I had slipped two fresh cartridges into the
rifle I looked round for the shikari. At the same moment
a head appeared slowly from behind a neighbouring tree
and a pair of eyes, blazing with excitement, gazed into
mine, the lower part of the face being set mask-like in a
diabolical grin. It was Bishu. His body followed the
head, and without a sound he glided up and motioned me
to follow as he led the way. Slowly and cautiously we
proceeded down our side of the stream, and had gone some
fifty yards when out from the edge of the forest on the
opposite side, some seventy yards away, slowly walked
the bison and entered the bed of the stream, the bank
shelving into it at that point. Bishu stepped aside, and I
hurried forward for some twenty paces and then again sank
on my knee and fired my right barrel, the left being safely
at half-cock this time. Without a sound the great bull
sank to his knees and rolled over on his side on a gravel
bank at the edge of the little stream,which at that point
ran deeply under the bank on our side.

Aflame with excitement and forgetful of my previous
experience, I was again about to rush forward when I felt

14 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

a firm grip on the arm. I turned angrily to meet the
shikari's gleaming eyes and bared teeth. Incensed, I was
opening my mouth in wrath when the old hunter vigorously
shook his head and whispered that the sahib should re-
load his empty barrel and stand ready to shoot whilst he
would go forward to see if the animal was dead. Youngster
as I was and mad with excitement I was all for disobeying,
but some instinct made me give into the man of the jungles
and I nodded. Bishu disappeared, worming his way like
a snake through the short undergrowth and taking
advantage of every tree as a shelter in his progress forward.
As soon as he got near enough, after a tantalizing interval
of quiescence, he picked up some stones and commenced a
fusillade on the great black bulk of the stricken bull. But
no sign of life or movement came from that quarter. Slowly
and more slowly the shikari approached, keeping up his
rain of missiles until, at last, he was within some fifteen
yards. He then circled round so as to get below the beast,
and at last, after what seemed an eternity to me, who had
eagerly watched every movement, he held up his hand
and sprang lightly down into the stream, and stood beside
the body. I was with him in a trice, and how describe the
pride with which I stood beside my first old bull bison !
And truly he was a magnificent beast as he lay there silent
in the majesty of death.

With a youngster's disregard for the sun, the cHmate
and everything else, the head of a bottle of ice-cold Bass
was knocked off, and in a nectar fit for the gods an acknow-
ledgment of the great and brave spirit of the gallant bull
was drunk with fitting ceremony.

CHAPTER II

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT

Sport as an Assistant in Chota Nagpur — Game animals in the forests and
open country — ^The man-eating tiger- — Two men killed—An un-
successful quest — The cattle killers— Sit up for them — Other efforts
to meet tigers — M.'s adventure — Leopards — Hyenas, wild dogs and
jackals — Stalldng sambhar in the hills — Abundance of good heads —
Sambhar and the mhowa flower — Shooting sambhar in the rains —
Set out to find a stag — Death of the big stag.

jA S an Assistant in the Chota Nagpur Jungles I had
/% the time of my Hfe. Although bison were my
/ % first love, and remained my last, my attention
-^ -m. was not confined to this fascinating animal from
the hunter's point of view. It was the accident of my first
posting to this fine country which enabled me to participate
in a sport which many good shikaris only enjoy at the end
of their time of service and then often only as the result of
a specially planned trip and the expenditure of many hard-
earned rupees ; whilst the vast majority probably never
have the chance of seeing a bison at all. Even in these
jungles, however, I could not spend my days in the one

IS

i6 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

pursuit since the animal was only to be found in the ex-
tensive areas of heavy jungle. Some of my work kept me
near the outer borders of these tracts, whilst at times I was
in isolated small forests out in the agricultural parts of the
district, although this was rarer. No bison, of course, came
anywhere near these areas. There were, however, plenty of
other animals to make acquaintance with. Sambhar {Cervus
unicolor) in this thinly populated district were to be found
at certain seasons quite near the open cultivated lands to
which they were attracted at the periods when the young
crops were springing up. Spotted deer or chital {Cervus
axis) were numerous. Also that curious antelope, the blue
bull or nilgai {Portax pictus) , with khakar, or barking deer
{Cervulus muntjac), and pig or wild boar [Sus indicus), and
the little four-horned antelope, Tetraceros quadricornis.
Bear, the Indian black bear, Ursus labiatus, in the open
parts of the district were very plentiful. Amongst the
carnivora tiger {Felis tigris) and leopard or panther {Felis
pardus), hyena [HycBna striata), wild dog (Cuon rutilans)
and, of course, jackal [Canis aureus) were comparatively
common ; the first-named difficult to get as owing to the
abundance of the herbivorous jungle-folk cattle-killing was
by no means common and man-eaters during those two
years were rare.

I remember one occasion, however, when I had strong
hopes of seeing my first man-eater. It was during my first
year in India, and although I had sat up for tiger on several
occasions I had never yet seen stripes. My chief and I had
been snipe-shooting in the morning whilst on our way to
one of the forest rest-houses. On reaching the latter place
about II a.m. a sub-inspector of police came up and reported
that two men had been killed by a tiger early the morning
before at the railway tunnel about a couple of miles away.
A man had gone out grass-cutting later in the day and had
come suddenly upon the tiger, who was engaged in eating
one of the bodies.

We decided to go out at once, and having ordered the
small elephant to be got ready and as many beaters as
possible collected made a hurried breakfast. We had two
elephants with us, but unfortunately the larger one was not
staunch to tiger, having been badly mauled on some previous
occasion in her history. Moreover, in this part of India our
elephants were chiefly employed as transport animals,

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT 17

carrying one's camp paraphernalia, or in dragging timber.
Occasionally one made use of them for riding purposes, but
only rarely for shooting from. Shooting was primarily done
on foot, a great contrast to the more usual methods adopted
in the high grass jungles in the north of India and in the east,
in Assam and elsewhere.

We set off just before noon and arrived at the village
nearest the end of the tunnel at which the men had been
killed. On the way we gathered a good deal of information
about this man-eater. Of course, he was known in the
district, and by repute to us as a reward had been offered
by the Government for his destruction, a reward which was
subsequently raised to a considerable sum as the beast
became more daring. But already he was the scourge of
this district and of, at least, two neighbouring ones. Wood-
cutters fled from the forests and grass-cutters and others
refused to stir from their villages into the jungles as soon
as a " kill " took place in the neighbourhood. He was said
to be a very old beast with worn teeth, this being a reason
for his having taken to man-killing, as he was no longer
able to pull down deer or cattle.

On arriving at the village we enquired for the guide
who was to show us the place, and to our disgust discovered
that he had gone out to cut grass in the fields in an unknown
direction, but certainly not in the one where the tiger was
supposed to be. It transpired that he had promised the
sub-inspector to remain at the village till 11 a.m., and if
the sahibs did not turn up by then he would go out to get
his daily load of grass. The policeman on being heatedly
interrogated, of course, said the villager had misunderstood
him. After a consultation one of the villagers volunteered
the statement that he thought he knew where the man
had gone and could bring him back within the hour. We
agreed to wait for this period, and, sending off the man,
dismounted and sought the shade of a tree, where we
smoked and endeavoured to possess our souls in patience.
The villager did not return at the appointed time and
after giving him half an hour's grace it was decided to set
out for the tunnel and see if we could find a trace of the kills.
This we thought should be easy, as the man had so definitely
said they had taken place near the tunnel mouth.

The elephant was taken very cautiously over the half-
mile which separated us from the spot, the beaters marching

i8 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

close behind the animal, whilst the village so-called shikari
and another man walked just in front. We were on a pad,
my companion sitting up behind the mahout facing the
front and I behind facing left. Not the most enviable
position from which to beat out a tiger ! But we had no
howdah, nor had I yet ever been in one.

We reached the tunnel, but no sign of the kill could we
see, and my chief absolutely refused to allow the shikari
to enter the jungle and rather dense grass which lined
either side of the railway line and clothed the top of the
tunnel. The elephant was taken into the grass and made
a bit of a cast to the right of the tunnel, but we found no
pugs nor any other trace of stripes, and then reluctantly
gave it up, arranging to be on the spot at daybreak next
morning in the hopes of being able to beat up the beast ;
but the hope as we knew was a very faint one. I was so
frightfully keen that I expect my chief arranged this mainly
for my benefit.

Next morning the original villager led us to the scene of
the bloody deed. It turned out to be nearly a mile from
the tunnel mouth, and in the scrub and grass jungle on top
of the tunnel ! But the native's ideas of distance are
negligible.

What we found of the remains of the men I prefer not to
dwell upon. It was to me a ghastly and gruesome sight.
It roused our blood, however, and we spent four or five
hours beating for the devil who had done the deed ; but,
although we found his pugs and followed them up, we saw
no trace of him. Nor was he heard of in those parts for
several months. I sat up for the brute in another part of
the forest at a later period, but did not see him. He was
far too cunning and I never heard that the reward offered
for him in our district was claimed, or rather, paid. It
was claimed often enough by native shikaris on flimsy pre-
texts which would not bear the searching light of the
enquiry to which they were subjected.

But as I have said, we were not plagued at that time
with man-eaters. Nor was it surprising when game was so
plentiful in the forests, necessitating but slight trouble on
the part of the tigers to maintain a full stomach. And
when they got old and heavy and, therefore, lazy, they
could always fall back upon the cattle of the villagers,
large herds of which grazed in the outer forests in the

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT 19

neighbourhood of the villages, and had done so from time
immemorial.

I remember once, as I was riding back to my camp
situated in a beautiful grove of banyan trees {Ficus
bengalensis) , coming across an instance of the work of one
of these cattle-lifters. It was in the cold weather — January
— and the sun was already low in the sky. A large herd of
cattle, buffaloes and cows, was being driven back to the
village by the herdsmen, of whom there were two. I could
hear their cries to the animals and see the red dust rising
on the edge of the forest as I trotted along the mud road
towards the forest boundary. I had had a long day and
was looking forward to the quiet of the camp and a
comfortable tea with, I hoped, letters from home to render
it more enjoyable.

Suddenly the shouts in front turned to piercing yells,
and I heard a rush of many hooves trampling down the
jungle and coming back into the forest. " What on earth
has come over the beasts ? " I muttered, rising in my stirrups
to try and get a view to my right. Suddenly one word
clipped clear-cut on the air amidst the vociferations of the
herdsmen, " Bagh ! Bagh ! Bagh ! " repeated several
times. " Tiger ! Good Lord ! " I thought, and jammed
the spurs into my mount. I was out of the forest and in
the open country beyond in a flash. It was only a matter
of a couple of hundred yards and my action must have been
purely instinctive. I reined up and turned the pony, who
was rather restive, though she had been done brown just
before, and looked to see what was happening in the forest.
The two men were on the boundary line outside the forest,
and some of the animals were shambling out sideways
from amongst the trees, tails standing on end and ears
cocked in a ludicrous fashion.

On seeing me the men at once came up wailing and
lamenting, and said that a tiger had killed three of their
animals. This story was rather tall and I could hardly
credit it. Why, I had been in the forest myself at the
time and the whole performance could scarcely have taken
a minute ! However, I told the men to call out their
animals, count them and bring them close to my tents, a
bare quarter of a mile away. I then galloped off, and on
reaching the camp at once sent for the headman of the
village. He was already on his way to me, apparently

20 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

having heard all there was to hear, the news having
spread to the village in the mysterious manner it does in

the East.

There was still nearly an hour
of daylight, so I told him to
raise as many men as he could
at once, and if enough were forth-
coming we would go and see if
we could find the three beasts
said to have been killed. I had
a hasty cup of tea and then set
off, all my available staff of
servants, save the cook, whom I
refused permission to come in
deference to my dinner, accom-
panying us.

We must'- have presented an extraordinary and incon-
gruous sight as we set forth, and the noise was deafening
as none of the men wished to meet the tiger. And to be
perfectly truthful I do not think I did myself with that
rabble. Sure enough we found three dead cows all struck
down within the space of twenty yards. A great argument
took place as to whether there had been one or two tigers,
and I inclined to the side of the party who maintained that
there was a large and a small one — probably a tigress and
her part-grown youngster — giving him lessons in the art
of how to kill. There was no trace of the tigers now, how-
ever, the cattle having effectually frightened them off after
the killing had been done, and our noise had probably
caused them to leave the locality altogether. I selected a
tree and had a machan built at once, as I thought it would
be a certainty for me this time. But although I sat up
over the kills for two nights and early afternoons into the
bargain the tigers never came back, and presumably had
to be content with wild game on that occasion.

I have often thought, however, that had I possessed a little
more experience and had we not gone to seek the stricken
cows with such a horde that I might have had a soft thing
in tigers early in my career.

I had curious luck altogether with tiger in this district.
In another part I sat up at least four times in the same
machan, erected in a tree at the junction of a narrow
nullah with a broader stream-bed. The locahty was per-

A MEMOKABI.K MAY Dy'v's UAL IN TllF. HOT TERAI UNCIFS

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT 21

fectly ideal for tiger and was, in fact, a well-known tiger
" walk," if I may so express it. The first time I sat up was
over a freshly killed young sambhar. It was very eaily in
the morning and our approach had evidently disturbed
the tiger at his meal. The struggle and death of the deer
could not have taken place more than half an hour before.
I had a machan made there and then and sat up. The
tiger was close by all the time. Of that I felt certain, but
he was suspicious. Once I feel sure that he came out behind
me. I dared not move as the hastily constructed machan
was of the flimsiest, and I feared to make a sound. With
bated breath I waited to see him appear below, but he
never came and I had to give it up in the end.

On three other occasions I sat up in that machan, more
sohdly constructed now, each time over a " kill " which
had been tied
out. In one in-
stance the tiger
came out all
right and had
a good meal just
below me. My

luck was dead/jf/M'U /

out, however, ) '/if- .

as the moon, i^^^^Tji/^-^^]/-^!^ ^'^^^^'u/J

which hsLd""^' ^{^fp^— —ZST '

been brilhant,

became overcast with rain-clouds, most unusual at that
time of the year, and I could not see even the outHne of
the kill, much less the tiger on it.

It is a curious and uncanny feeling which invades one
on such occasions. The tiger, on first interviews at any
rate, like the snake, exercises a weird mesmerism over the
senses. I felt this to the full as that beast lay there below
me crushing and cracking up the bones of the kill with his
powerful jaws and making all the sounds, though greatly
intensified, produced by a cat eating its food.

At length, out of patience, I fired in the direction of the
sounds. A startled roar from below and I heard two slight
sounds as of an animal making off very lightly, and then
silence. Immediately after pulling the trigger I bitterly
regretted the action, and I spent the rest of the night in a
most agonized state hoping against hope that I had made a

22 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

lucky hit, vowing I would never act like that again, and so
forth. We have all been through it ! The orderly with me

slept like a log, and
snored and grunted at
intervals. I could not
sleep a wink. Anxiety
kept me awake. With
the first grey appear-
ance of the dawn I strained my eyes downwards. Dimly
I made out the outline of the kill. There was no
tiger lying on or near it. I still hoped that he might be in
the neighbourhood, badly wounded perhaps ! As soon as
it was light enough we carefully surveyed the stony beds
of the two streams, but could see nothing. We then
descended and hunted from below all round the kill, but
found no trace of the tiger save for his pug marks nor any
blood.

There is another tiger incident, I remember, in con-
nexion with this district. I was out on duty bent with an
assistant, M. We had parted on the slope of a forest-
covered hiU, I going straight to the top, only a few hundred
yards away, he with orders to make a slight detour to
inspect some work and then to join me at the top. I had
just arrived at the summit, and was standing to get my
breath and look round me, when I heard hurried foot-
steps behind. I turned. My assistant was advancing
rapidly, and as I caught sight of his face, pale and tense
with excitement, I jokingly said, " What on earth's the
matter ? You look as if you had met a tiger." In jerky
words M. replied that that was just what he had done.

" What ! " I exclaimed, " impossible here." However,
he soon convinced me— words and manner were convincing
enough. M. had apparently got on to a narrow, stony
animal run, which followed a contour round the hill, and
turning a corner sharply had come face to face with a tiger
within fifteen yards. The man stopped, petrified with
amazement, and stared at the beast. The tiger recovered
himself first, or felt fear first, for he was obviously as sur-
prised as the man, and with a startled " wuff " sprang into
the jungle and disappeared. M., who was quite unarmed,
turned and more or less stumbled blindly up the hill after
me — at least, this is how he expressed it. He did not take
long to recover, and then fury took him at the fright he had

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT 23

been given. I had a rifle in my hand at the moment and he
soon got his from a forest guard who was carrying it. On
the advice of one of the local forest staff we made for a
ravine down which it was thought the tiger would move
if he had not been frightened enough to make a clean bolt.
We took up positions about one hundred yards apart,
commanding the approach. I was squatting on top of a
ten-foot rock, and before long began to doubt seriously
whether I was sufficiently safe should I only wound the
beast. We sat in our positions till dusk, but no tiger
appeared, and we found subsequently that he had come
down into the nullah much higher up, having kept to the
forest on the hill for some considerable distance. It was
some time before M. got over that experience.

The district I am writing of swarmed with leopards in
those days. Practically the only sure way of bringing them
to book, and that was by no means a certainty, was to sit
up over a goat — I never would sit up over a dog, even a
village pi-dog, as some men did — and try and kill the
leopard before he killed the goat, if he made up his mind to
attack it. But so cunning is this beast that in numberless
cases he smells a rat when there is no seemingly apparent
cause, and refuses to come up to the scratch. I did my
share of this sitting up in my salad days, probably as much
as most youngsters, and I enjoyed it immensely and cer-
tainly learnt a great deal by doing it. But it must be
admitted that once the novelty had worn off, and I really
loved it at first, I got horribly bored by the monotony of
it. It was all right so long as dayhght lasted. There was
plenty to watch in the jungle round about. But at night
in the fitful moonlight the strain of trying to decipher
objects was wearisome, and when the fight with sleep
began it became painful. In spite of the drawbacks, for a
number of years I enjoyed it very much.

Of the other carnivora hyenas were
plentiful. I was never drawn to this
animal, for his furtive ways and his
diabolical laugh used to make my
blood run cold when going through
my first experiences out in the
jungle in camp by myself. In fact,

I think the satanic laugh of the "^ "^

hyena and the mournful dirge-like wail of the jackal used

24 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

to make me more depressed, and consequently homesick,
during my first year in India than any other experience to
which the youngster is subjected. But sleep and sunhght
next morn quickly dispelled such fits of the blues, and my
dislike of these beasts did not prevent my endeavouring to
shoot them whenever I met them in the jungles. Hyenas
I only saw in beats, on no occasion in that district did I
ever meet one face to face.

Wild dog were fairly plentiful, and they gradually in-
creased in such numbers in neigh-
bouring districts in parts of the
Central Provinces as to seriously
threaten the game of those areas.
Whole blocks of forest would be
entirely deserted by deer and
such-like once a pack of wild
dogs commenced hunting in them.
Next to bison I suppose I
devoted most hours at that time
to the fascinating sport of tracking down sambhar on
foot. The miles I must have footed it with Bishu in this
pursuit !

We used to start out long before dawn and make for some
more or less lightly tree-clad, stony hill-side, and be some-
where high up on this just before dawn. A careful survey
of the neighbourhood as the light became strong enough
would often disclose a number of sambhar feeding at various
elevations on the hill-side. When I look back at those
excursions I am lost in amazement at the number of good
heads, even large heads, we sometimes saw in this fashion.
There was usually little difiiculty in so arranging the stalk
that one got a shot at a good stag. Of course, the doe
sambhar with their " sentry-go " propensities gave trouble
when the stags were with the hinds. But in those days of
pick and choose we paid much more attention to the solitary
old stags, often possessing record heads, which would be
found feeding alone.

Another good place for a find was the broad, cleared,
fire traces or lines which ran round or through the forests
for miles. Here, when the young grass was coming up over
the burnt area — the traces were cleaned and burnt in the
cold weather — after the first rains of the " chota bursat,"
in the early morn or just before dark, you might, by quietly

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT

25

walking up the fire-line, come across numbers of sambhar,
and with moderate luck bag a good stag.

In March and April — the period varies with the differ-
ences in climate throughout India — the mhowa tree comes
into flower. Like other deer the sambhar are very fond
of these flowers and collect in the jungles in which the tree
is abundant. A knowledge of this fact will enable the
sportsman to pick up many a good head and will save him
many weary hours' search in areas in which at other periods
of the year he may confidently expect to find the deer, but
from which they will have migrated to the tracts in which
they know they will find this favourite food. It furnishes
a good illustration of the paramount necessity, if he
wishes to enjoy successful sport, that the shikari should
make himself acquainted with the jungle lore of the district
in which his operations are carried out.

After the rains had broken and we were all back in the
Head-quarters Station again, Bishu would now and then
come in or send word that he had marked down a good
sambhar. At this season when rice crops were coming up,
the sambhar used to come out from the recesses of the great
forests and take up their quarters for the time in the outer
fringe of the jungles. From the position so chosen they
would issue forth at night and walk down into the
fields and take toll of the crops. By careful watching
it was possible to mark down a particular stag, who
might have a doe or two with him, and with luck get
a shot at him.

I remember an occasion of this kind, one of many similar
incidents. Having received word from Bishu I sent off a
breakfast-basket with a couple of men and rode out after
dinner about eight miles from the Station. Arriving at a
small bungalow I rolled up
in a thin blanket on a camp
bed to sleep for four hours.
Bishu awakened me almost
to the minute with that
wonderful sense or instinct,
or whatever it is, for time
possessed by the jungle man.
After a cup of tea and some toast we set off. Luckily the
rain had ceased about six o'clock the previous evening, and
the night, though dark, was not distressingly so. The noise

- ^\,,^^^1

26 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

made by innumerable frogs and night birds and the drone
and hum of milhons of insects filled the night air with an
extraordinary medley of sounds as we made our way across
the paddy fields by that most aggravating mode of pro-
gression, walking along the bunds. The native, born and
bred to it, proceeds with such ease, whilst the European
stumbles about on the often greasy and invariably narrow
surface, the constant " cuts " made to let the water
through, necessitating a frequent change of step or jump,
adding to the annoyance. There is only one thing more
aggravating to my knowledge and that is having to ride
along them.

We proceeded in this fashion for an hour or more, now
and then following a village road for a short distance or
going through a sleeping village itself, when the whole
village pi-dog pack would turn out and bay at us, setting
the jackals waihng in the distance and even waking up the
village chowkidar or watchman, who ever sleeps his soundest
during his hours of supposed duty.

At last we arrived at a slight rise in the ground with a
clump of trees situated on it. Here Bishu wanted me to
take up my station. He pointed to a low range of forest-
covered hills dimly looming up about a quarter of a mile
away. " That's where the stag spends the day, sahib. He
regularly passes here at dawn, usually with one doe, and if
he is down to-night we should see him." We were, in fact,
on one of the deer " runs."

A hght mist was hanging over the paddy fields, in which
the water lay deep in parts, the green heads of the paddy
showing above it. A narrow village path ran a circuitous
course from the little knoll where we were to the forest-clad
ridge. It was partly by this village path that the stag
usually returned after his nightly foray into the fields.
Bishu wanted me to take up a position to command this
path. That would be simple, the only difficulty appeared
to be the mist. It was hght now, but should it get thicker
it would be almost impossible to get a shot unless the stag
walked right on to us. I was not very keen on a shot of
this description, however, and staying here meant limiting
myself to the chance of seeing one stag only, and that
problematical. I determined, therefore, to make for the
hills in front of me, and this, in spite of Bishu's opposition,
we did, proceeding there by a circuitous course. On reaching

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT 27

the foot of the ridge we cHmbed up through the scrub of
Eugenia and other plants to about thirty feet elevation and
then sat down to wait the dawn, now rapidly approaching.
The mist was much hghter here. Already the sounds of
the night folk were lessening. Away to our left a pea-fowl
sent forth its peculiar call and the koel bird had started
singing in a tree hard by. Gradually the darkness lying
over the cultivated lands below us lifted as the East
flamed red and gold with dark, threatening streaks,
and patches of rain-clouds hanging above the brilliant
colouring of the dawn. A hght breeze had risen, blowing
down from the ridge behind us, and was dissipating the
mist in front.

Eagerly we scanned the ground beneath, and I looked
out carefully for the run by which the stag was said to
return to the hills. One dark patch I discovered about
three hundred yards off, and was just turning to Bishu to
ask him about it when he touched my arm and pointed
away to the right or south-east. Out in the plain I descried
the small rise and clump of trees where Bishu had wanted
me to take up my station. I could see nothing else at
first. Then suddenly I saw what Bishu meant. Two
deer were advancing from the direction of the clump. The
rapidly increasing light showed them up sharply. The one
in front was a doe, stepping daintily along the path, her
ears constantly flicking backwards and forwards and her
eyes travelling in all directions as she turned her head to
left and right and nosed the air for danger. Behind, some
fifteen to twenty paces, came her companion, a lordly
stag. I suppose he was about two hundred and fifty yards
off, perhaps a little more when I first saw him, and he
appeared a fine heavy beast. Anxiously I watched the doe.
In what direction would the run, for she was evidently on
a run, take her. If she advanced towards us I should not
get an easy shot at the stag. I glanced at Bishu, but could
make nothing of his face. I looked back to the doe. She
was now advancing directly for us. The stag would accord-
ingly take the same direction as soon as he reached the turn
in the run. Should I fire while I still had him more or less
diagonally on to me ? I half lifted the rifle and then
lowered it. I did not hke the shot. Bishu moved his
fingers, but I did not know what he meant.

The doe was now within one hundred and fifty paces,

28 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

the stag directly behind her. Suddenly she halted and
stood like a statue, her ears flung forward and her nose
held horizontally. She stamped her forefoot into the
ground and for some reason or other was evidently sus-
picious. We were hidden behind some bushes and she
could not have seen us. But she evidently did not feel
easy in her mind, and after advancing another twenty
paces or so, changed her direction to the left, moving
diagonally towards the foot of the hill. The rays of the
rising sun formed a sort of halo round her as she moved off,
suspicion in every line of her body. To my relief the
stag still continued to advance, but not for long. He
quickly noted the changed direction of his companion and
suddenly up went his head, he turned half-left and stood
stock still.

What a sight the old fellow was ! Well over fourteen
hands he stood, heavy and massive, the long bristly hair on
his neck and the thick, widespread antlers, together with
the heavy dark-brown body giving him a rugged and
majestic appearance. A very king amongst stags is a fine
old sambhar. The sun's rays gave a golden edging to the
antlers, and the drops of moisture on the rough coat shone
'like jewels.

In a tense silence and with bated breath I raised the
rifle and sighted on the shoulder. As I did so a sharp,
warning cry came from the doe, and the crack of the rifle
synchronized with a sudden start forward on the part of
the stag. He stumbled to his knees, but was up again and
galloping off in a lumbering fashion when the second barrel
caught him true behind the shoulder and he dropped in
his tracks and never moved again. I rushed forward with
a shout of delight, for he was my first big stag. As I
did so I heard a sudden bell of a stag behind me, and,
looking round, saw a couple of does followed by a fair-
sized stag entering the jungle at the foot of the hill,
about three hundred yards in our rear, whilst several
other does were stampeding across the fields at a still
greater distance.

" Sahib, we might have had another stag if you had not
moved," said Bishu sorrowfully. For a moment I was
annoyed, but only for a moment. " The big stag's
enough for me, Bishu," I replied, and we went and stood
over him, and measured every part of him. The horns

HAPPY DAYS AS AN ASSISTANT 29

were very massive and thick, but just did not tape the
forty inches.

Measurements made I returned — luckily picking up my
pony on the way — to the small bungalow where I made a
good breakfast before riding back to the Station and the
inevitable (at this season) day in the musty, fusty office.

CHAPTER III

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR — A STATION SHOOT

" Mixed " shooting parties — The bundobast necessary for a Station shoot
— Beating for bear in March — Ordered to prepare the machans —
Bruin brought to book — The leopard and the goat — Bear country —
Bears as plentiful as blackberries — Tackling bear — Crows — The
Indian vulture and its habits — Bears' partiality for the mhowa
flowers — Incidents of the day's shoot — Several bears bagged — Usual
method of shooting bears — Bear caves — Beating bears out of caves —
Bears hard to kill — A day after bear — A. B.C. and his laugh — Success-
ful sport — A. B.C. and the bear — A perilous moment — The bear's
discomfiture — Failure to get him — A. B.C. explains — A good day's
bag.

M

IXED " shooting parties are not, perhaps,
greatly favoured by the keen shikari man.
In my experience such parties are commoner
in the cooler and less malarious climate of
North- Western India than in the Central and other parts
of the country.

As an Assistant, however, I plead guilty to having thought
them great fun, the presence of some members of the fair
sex adding a piquancy to the proceedings not entirely due
to the sporting element.

And what a business it is, a day's Station shooting picnic
when the ladies are included !

The bundobast necessary to ensure matters going smoothly
is terrific. It is not costly. It is not the expense of the

30

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 31

thing that appals one, but the magnitude of the scale on
which the arrangements are made. And yet it is simple
enough compared to what an outing on the same scale
would entail at home. In the East many of the wheels
require little oil. We ourselves and our servants live a
nomadic life for at least half the year, and therefore the
commissariat presents small difficulties. Servants, food,
its preparation, drinks, etc., are placed in the hands of one or
two of the most experienced servants in the Station. When
all is ready a few bullock carts are loaded up and dispatched
the evening or morning before in charge of an attendant or
two, and a cook ; and the necessary number of table
servants to wait are told off to start in time to ensure their
being ready with a meal on the arrival of the sahibs.

The members of the shoot drive or ride out in the early
morning so as to be at the rendezvous by the hour settled
upon. A certain amount of manoeuvring and heart-burning
take place over the question as to " who " shall go with
" who " ; but that is usually trivial compared to the struggle
amongst the bachelors at the end of the jolly day as to who
shall be their companion for the drive or ride back !

One of the many shooting picnics of this kind I enjoyed
in my salad days comes to my memory, and I will describe
it as roughly noted down at the time in my journal.

It was in the third week in March and the sun was already
making its presence felt with unpleasant intensity. The
hot weather in that district was terrific, and no amount of
description will give those who have not experienced its
fierce power an idea of what the sun can really do when it
means business. That year we had a real " corker," and it
began early.

I was out in camp and the first intimation I received of
the coming festivity was an order from my chief to proceed
to a certain favourite beat of ours and inspect the repairs
which had already beer, ordered to be carried out to a hue
of machans which were in existence. Having been by my-
self for some weeks I hailed the order with delight. Leaving
my camp standing I set out at 3 a.m. next morning and
rode through the forest to catch the mail at 4 a.m. at a small
station about six miles off, the train arriving at a junction
at 5.30 a.m. Here I got some breakfast with new bread, a
luxury I had not seen for weeks, and mounting a pony,
which had been sent out for me, galloped to K. about eight

32 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

miles away. It was gloriously fresh, and I can remember,
as if yesterday, every incident of that ride. As I passed a
tank where I had often shot I noted there were still some
duck and teal on its placid surface. Further on was a patch
of forest on a small rocky hill where we had one day rounded
up a bear. Bruin had stayed too long one night feeding on
some succulent crop in the open country, a habit of the species
to which I shall refer later on, and being surprised by dawn
had not had time to get back to his cave, and so had lain up
here for the day. Unfortunately for him the irate owner
of the crop he had been robbing had noted him leaving in
the morning and marked down his refuge. Ordinarily too
lazy to carry shikar khubbar to the sahibs, rage in that
instance overcame apathy, and the man himself had ap-
peared at the door of the office where my chief and myself
sat over dreary files and returns. Within half an hour the
two of us, a tiffin basket, orderly, and the villager were in a
trap bowling along for the patch of woodland and bruin
was brought to account.

A mile further on just behind the small wayside village
was the tree in which I had sat up over a village goat,
which had been killed by a leopard. The animal had
seized his prey, but, frightened by the shouts of some men
in the neighbourhood, had dropped his kill in his flight. I
spent ten hours in a machan in the hope that the leopard
would return and give me a shot. No trace of the beast
did I see, though the villagers told me in the morning, and
the pugs of the animal supported their statement, that he
had come to within fifty yards of the kill and then, growing
suspicious, or being too cowardly, had retreated. There

was a fine moon that night and my surroundings were
brilUantly lighted ; but a leopard can hide himself behind

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 33

the smallest bush or patch of low grass, and moonlight is
at best very deceptive. Moreover, I had not yet acquired
much of a jungle eye for night work.

What glorious days those were as an Assistant, before one
reaUzed fully that responsibihty had to be shouldered and
that Hfe was not all shoots with the work sandwiched in
between !

Arrived at K. I started on the inspection. The terrain
of the day's business consisted of a steep rocky hill covered
with low stunted sal trees, here very different in appearance
from the same species of tree when growing in the great
reserves to the south-west. But the rocks, piled up in
tumbled masses, formed caves of varying size, affording
magnificent residences for bear. These rocky scrub-
covered hills, which were plentiful in the more open parts
— the agricultural parts — of this district, were in fact ideal
homes for bruin, and gave shelter to innumerable families of
the common sloth bear {Ursus lahiatus) or bear of the plains.
We used to say that they were as plentiful as blackberries
in those days, and with very little difficulty great sport,
often accompanied by ludicrous incidents, could be enjoyed.
In fact some of the sportsmen of the district, those not
officially connected with the great forests, had numbers to
their credit. That my own bag was small in my Assistant's
da3^s was primarily due to the fact that my work lay in the
large jungles to a great extent, and that I was bitten with
the " bison fever " rather badly. Whenever I consistently
could, and whilst still an Assistant one's conscience is some-
what elastic perhaps, my energies were devoted to bison.

The black bear of the plains of India is a far more sport-
ing beast than his Himalayan confrere with whom I sub-
sequently had numerous encounters. The bear of the plains
is both plucky and aggressive as the native well knows. It is
not an uncommon sight to meet a villager with one half of
his face or his shoulder scarred in an unsightly manner owing
to an unpremeditated encounter with a bear. As the latter
is about six feet long and three feet high, when standing up
on his hind legs, a practice to which he is much addicted, he
stands some seven feet high to the crown of his head, and is
then an ugly customer to meet unless one is suitably armed.
And he will carry a lot of lead unless shot in a vital place.
From the point of view of danger he is not to be com-
pared to tiger, leopard, much less a wounded bison, or a

34 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

buffalo. The danger from bear and the nasty " accidents "
which have occurred to sportsmen when attacking bear are
attributable to the fact that the average shikari is apt to
look upon the bear as an easy quarry to bring to book and
to take liberties with him in consequence. And then bruin
turns nasty. And his antics, for at all times his comical
appearance and actions have a strong effect on the risible
faculties, unsteady one at a critical moment and one of the
party gets mauled. Sportsmen are not so apt or inclined to
play the fool when a wounded tiger or leopard is in the
vicinity ! But I digress.

The line of machans was posted about one hundred yards
below the crest of the hill, and on the side which was least
broken up by narrow nullahs. There were a number of
small caves on this side below the machans. On the other
side of the crest the hill was much broken up, contained
the chief of the large bear caves, and formed by far the
greater portion of the eminence. There was also a small
outlying spur to the right of the line of machans facing
down the slope. The procedure was to have three beats or
" hanks " as we called them locally. In the first or morn-
ing one the men beat the larger part of the area bringing the
quarry over the crest and down to the machans. The
animals which escaped unhit or unseen took refuge in the
caves below the line of machans. This area was beaten
back in the afternoon, and as a finale stops were placed
along the crest and the outlying spur was beaten on the
flank of the machans, the animals coming past the whole
line, or if extra cunning passing so far below them as to
almost certainly ensure their escape to any but very good
shots.

I spent the day in examining each machan. In view of
the fact that I was well aware that my work would be
exposed to the criticism of all the men of the Station, older
and more experienced than myself, and that such criticism
would be made openly in the presence of the ladies, whose
playful raillery I was young enough to be mortally afraid of, I
worked extremely hard. Several of the machans were taken
to pieces and rebuilt. Others were given beautiful roofs of
green boughs to protect the fair heads they were to shelter.

The day was spent over those machans, and as the event
disclosed some were made too comfortable for sportsmen
satiated with lunch and the society of ladies fair.

some
firmament and

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 35

I also had soma litters prepared in which to carry the
ladies up the hill. In this then unsophisticated part of the
world we had only one palki or palanquin in the whole
Station, and dandys and rickshaws were unknown ; not
that the latter would have been of any use.

At last I was satisfied and, as the sun neared the horizon,
I chmbed down the rocky hill-side to the small bungalow
on the road where I was to pass the night, and spent the
evening in a dream of delightful anticipations, the only
excitement being the arrival of the carts with the com-
missariat for the next day — and by their number that was
evidently to be done in no niggardly fashion. Just before
I reached the bungalow on my return I noticed
vultures winging their way across the
dropping to
earth at the foot
of the hill to
my right. Being
stiU new to the
country and in-
terestedin every-
thing I deviated ••
from my route
to see what they - '
were about. I
soon spotted a dead village cow with two crows on it, and
several vultures approaching with ungainly hops to their
unsavoury feast.

These vultures are a common sight in India. They each
have a station of their own high up in the heavens, and
soar slowly round in circles throughout the day, keeping a
close look-out both upon the country below them and on
their neighbours in the sky. If they see a dying or dead
animal on the earth below them they drop to the ground
in great sweeping circles,- ever dropping and dropping till
they get close to the earth, when they plane down a steep
incline of air to the ground. If, on the other hand, they
see one of their neighbours high up in the heavens leave
his station and start off in a certain direction, they know
he is making for a place where there is a dead carcase, and
they take the same direction, keeping on and on till they
see the bird in front of them dropping to earth, when they
do Hkewise,

>><.

f^. -^JSi—^U

36 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

It is an interesting spectacle for the naturalist to watch
these great birds soaring in the heavens, and to speculate on
the tremendous powers of vision they must possess to enable
them to see what is going on below them on the surface of
the earth from the great heights at which they slowly
revolve. As interesting, though somewhat repulsive, is it
to watch a number of them collected round a carcase and
fighting for a position from which they can tear out a lump
of flesh. Fierce pecks they give each other with their strong
bills, and squabble and push and struggle amongst them-

\". -^Ni-i

-,•^^

\VV

selves, for all the world like a pack of unmannerly humans
in a low-class tavern. And then after the feast they sit
round on the ground, or perch on neighbouring trees, with
wings outspread and drooping, looking like so many drunken
bedraggled birds, whilst they slowly digest the mass of flesh
they have gorged themselves with. As soon as the mass is
partially digested the heavy birds take a short run along
the ground and launch themselves into the air, moving
their great heavy wings in unwieldy flaps till they have got
up sufficient momentum, when they rise in a straight hne
and then slowly soar upwards in ever-widening circles.

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 37

The next morning I was up at " crow's dawn " and, after
a cup of tea, climbed up the hill to have a last look at my
machans. I expected the party at eight o'clock, and as I
descended the hill I descried a dogcart about a mile away
— the first contingent. We were not a large party in the
Station in those days — a dozen all told, and ten, of whom
four were ladies, were to form the party, the other two men
being away in a distant part of the district. Three traps
completed the driving contingent, the other four, two of
them our fair unmarried spins, riding out.

The breakfast had been laid out on tables under the
shade of some fine banyan trees, and we lost no time in
sitting down to it. To myself, after several weeks of my
own company, the mere fact of finding myself amongst
fellow-beings of my own race once more put me in roystering
spirits, only dimmed now and then by anxiety about the
verdict on the machans. I had good news to impart as to
the certainty of there being bears in the caves on the hill,
and that sent up all spirits.

The mhowa {Bassia latifolia) tree flowers at this season,
and it was particularly abundant in the vicinity. Bears
are very fond of feeding on the shed flowers of this tree.
The flowers have a vile smell, but are sweet tasting, and
consequently loved by bruin as also by the various deer
and the curious antelope known as the nilgai [Portax pictus).
The jungle tribes distil a kind of arrack, a most potent
spirit, from the flowers. White ants, which abounded in
the district, are also much liked by the bear, who pulls
down with his powerful claws the conical dried mud heaps
of the termites and feeds noisily on the builders.

We did not dally over breakfast, hot meal of many
courses — so dear to the heart of the native cook — though
it was. Before nine o'clock we were on the narrow
winding rocky path leading up the hill, the two older
ladies installed in the palanquins. The girls had elected
to walk, each accompanied where possible by two attentive
cavaliers.

It was always an amusing episode (for the older people
at least) that walk up to the machans. The path at times
narrowed so that only two, and often only one, could
proceed at a time, and it was at such places that the atten-
tive swains endeavoured to displace one another, so as to
keep nearest the girl of their choice for the time being.

38 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

The older men used to say, confound them, that it was as
good as a play that walk up the hill. Perhaps it was to
them !

Arrived at the first machan the party halted, and the
process of allotting machans for this the most important
beat of the day was proceeded with. On such occasions
and in such company this was a most anxious moment for
the youngsters, and my rueful face gave rise to uproarious
mirth, in which the girls merrily joined, when I was allotted
the machan we were standing before. By no means could
a lady be put in it.

" You will keep a good look out, S.," said the senior
male member of the party. " Don't go to sleep, and
don't let your thoughts go wool-gathering to the other
machans."

Another shout of laughter and the order to move on was
given.

I watched the party halt before the next machan.
Hurrah ! Young T. was left behind and his attitude of
dejection relieved a part of my gloom. This was all I saw
of the party till the end of the beat
and I climbed into my machan. I had
one man with me, and we took up our
positions so that I commanded all the
likely places.

A long wait now ensued. The sun
rose higher and higher and the very
trees themselves took on a listless air,
the leaves appearing to droop. The only
signs of life I could see were two black
crows, who sat in a neighbouring tree
and cursed at me at intervals ; there
were also lizards and insects. The heat
bothered neither, especially the flies !

Suddenly I heard a very faint halloo,
and as it always does it braced me up
at once. The beat had begun. I sat
motionless. The chaff and pinpricks of
the morning were forgotten now, in the keen desire to dis-
tinguish oneself if the opportunity arose. This beat took the
best part of two hours to put through, and at times one lost
sound of the voices when the men dropped into a ravine. At
others they swelled in volume when they were endeavouring

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 39

to ascertain whether the larger caves contained occupants.
It must have been an hour after the start when the sharp
crack of a rifle to my left broke the stillness. It was not
repeated. A little later I happened to glance at T.'s
machan and saw him raise his rifle, but he did not fire.
Not long afterwards he went through the same motion,
but again lowered the rifle. He told me afterwards he
had seen a four-horned antelope, but never clear enough
to fire at it.

A loud burst of noise now quite close to the crest above
me and quite suddenly a black ball appeared on the sky-
line, and without a moment's pause, made down the hill-
side, rolling along from rock to rock in an extraordinary
manner and at a considerable pace. At first I thought he
would come straight for me, but the bear, for it was bruin,
changed his direction for a diagonal course and I soon lost
him to sight. A shot, followed by a second, showed that he
had been seen by one of the machans. Soon afterwards the
first of the men appeared on the crest. A storm of yelling
on the left followed by a fusillade, a dropping shot or two,
and the beat was over. I waited. Dusky, beautifully
built men, naked but for a loin-cloth and a huge turban,
used as a covering at night, gathered below my machan,
talking and laughing like children, going over the incidents
of the beat.

Two blasts of a whistle and I hurriedly climbed down
and made for the rendezvous, a solitary, stunted but shady
banyan tree situated near Machan No. 4, which time-
honoured custom had made the tiffin place. Here the
party soon assembled, some rather gloomy at their bad
luck, others very excited at their bags. The result arrived
at from the excited babel of talk was three bears killed, two
supposed wounded, and, according to the native shikaris,
three others which had apparently got by unseen. Anyway,
ran the verdict, there would be plenty of fun in the after-
noon. Whilst this went on the servants brought with us,
who had been stowed away in the larger machans, were
laying out the lunch. Ice-cold drinks were produced,
and most members of the party slaked a thirst that was
worth quenching. We gathered round the board — snowy
damask tablecloths spread on the ground — in a festive
mood.

The heat did not impair our appetites — not of the younger

40 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

members of the party. The tiffin, hot and cold, with a
curry such as one can only get in the East, was a regal
meal, compared with the few sandwiches which formed
my usual midday fare when out in the jungles away from
camp, and was a repast I did full justice to.

What merry parties those were, even with the unmerciful
chaff, always dealt out to the youngest griffin of the Station,
" to lick him into shape, you know," as the elders put it.
And it was a fiery furnace which certainly accomplished
the end in view so far as that was possible.

The shikaris came up and reported that one of the bears
said to have been wounded had been hit, but they could
find no blood in the other case. They also intimated that
it was time to commence proceedings again. By then
most of the party were in a semi-drowsy condition, save the
more energetic of the youngsters, who were fanning the
girls with palm leaves.

The machans were again apportioned. The fiat went
forth ! All ladies were to either go with their respective
husbands or fathers or with a senior male member of the
party. The younger members of the party protested
vigorously and the girls looked their disapproval. But
apparently two leopards had been reported on the hill, and
as it was quite likely that one or both might come out in
the beat, no risks with excitable youngsters were to be
taken !

Gloom settled over the younger members as, with elaborate
politeness, they helped the elder ladies and men to collect
their belongings and set off for the machans. I had No. 4
given me. Nos. 3 and 5 were large roomy ones in each of
which a lady was to go, elderly to the left, young one to
the right.

As there was a wounded bear afoot the beaters were to
proceed out into the plain to beat a small rocky islet about
half a mile from the hill to which one or other of the bears
might have gone. This would make a longer beat of it,
and should, with good fortune, send at least five bears
back to the machans.

I had a most entertaining afternoon in that machan.
D. and his wife with the other elderly, rather voluble lady,
who, on hearing about the leopards, said she would only go
with D., occupied No. 3 to my left, whilst No. 5 was
tenanted by one of the fair spins and an elderly bachelor.

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 41

Poor T., desperately gone on the aforesaid fair damsel,
was in No. 6, and his shooting was at first sadly affected
thereby.

It was very hot — in fact appallingly so — though I cannot
say that I ever minded the heat very much.

Watching the occupants of the machans to my left and
right settle down proved most interesting and entertaining.

D. was a very good shot and a fine shikari. But he
always treated these picnics in a light-hearted fashion and
not as serious business ; and, moreover, he had had an
excellent lunch and a bottle or two of beer. Mrs. D. did
not shoot, but was always very alert and keen in a machan,
and not much escaped her gaze. The other lady evinced no
interest in shikar. The couple to my right had commenced
sparring before they got into their machan, and flippancy
was all that could be expected from them. That the match
continued after they were comfortably settled was evidenced
by the occasionally slightly raised voices and silvery laughter
followed by deeper guffaws. This annoyed me rather as I
feared it would frighten the bears from our line, and besides
it was directly against all the rules I was having inculcated
into me as to correct behaviour whilst engaged in beats and
sport generally. Also the spin had no business to be enjoy-
ing herself with the old bachelor. However, I knew allow-
ances had to be made when ladies were present, even
though I myself was desperately in earnest and out to kill.
But my anxiety and interest was mainly centred in D.'s
machan, which at the present moment did not seem to be
in much better case.

D. was at the time my beau-ideal of the shikari, and I
was endeavouring to model myself on him. My faith
suffered a rude shock that afternoon !

The two ladies apparently found it difficult to settle
down in comfort. An awful row went on in their machan
for some little time in which the voice of the talkative one
predominated.

Such fragments as —

" What on earth you can find amusing ..." voice became
indistinct.

" My dear, as I said, this machan . . . and that young
man ought ..." murmur, murmur — at which I blushed to
the ears at the apparent scornful reference to myself. Silence
for a space.

42 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

" It's absurd. It's fearfully hot. Preposterous. . . .
No ! Mr. D.," in a freezing voice, " I will stay where
I am, if you please. Nor do I see anything amusing about
my position ..." murmur, followed by a loud guffaw
from D.

" Don't be foolish, D.," from his wife. Silence.

" My dear," loudly, " I tell you I'm positively melting ;
it's trickling all down my back and front, so hot am I. No,
it's not indecent, Mr. D. . . . " murmur, murmur.

This continued for a time even after the beat had com-
menced and proved most diverting. But I could not make
out what D. was about to permit it. I could see him, or
rather his topi and shoulders, and he appeared to be watch-
ing the hill-side below him. He was in the front of the
machan which was one of the roofed-in ones. The ladies
were behind, and I could see Mrs. D. and hear her com-
panion. The voices, the latter's chiefly, gradually sank
and finally lulled to a murmur and then stopped. My
comments on ladies out shooting during this stage were not
polite. At last total silence reigned in Machan No. 3,^
Mrs. D. sat erect, but when I looked for D. I could
only see the top of his topi. This did not strike me
at the moment. Ripples of laughter still came from
No. 5, and not much of a look out I surmised was being
kept there.

The beaters were now at the foot of the hill below us and
the fun was evidently waxing fast and furious. My eyes
glanced down the slope. The shadows of the trees, hard
and clear cut on the rocks, were commencing to lengthen
somewhat. Suddenly a black form appeared on the top of
a rock some way below. It disappeared. I waited with
bated breath. There it was again coming in my direction.
Finger on trigger, in intense excitement I waited. Again
it disappeared. Then I saw it again, more to the left now,
and making straight for D.'s machan. Disappointed, I had
no thought of firing. I had learnt that lesson. Now it was
within thirty yards. I glanced at the machan and saw Mrs.
D.'s head bend suddenly forward. D.'s topi and shoulders
immediately appeared. The bear was by then below the
machan. The next moment it appeared to be half-way to
the crest. I heard a shot from D. ; the bear disappeared
over the crest, and I turned to see D. with his rifle at his
left shoulder. He had fired from that position and had

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 43

obviously missed. I loyally tried not to think it, but I
knew D. must have been asleep — the last enormity to be
committed by the occupier of a machan. I was absolutely
horrified and dared not look in the direction of that machan
from which I heard subdued voices coming. The shot had
one effect. It stopped the frivolity in No. 5.

The beat approached. The noise was prodigious, inter-
rupted by peals of laughter from the Kols who were enjoy-
ing their outing immensely. A prolonged howl and a bear
appeared on a rock sixty yards from me. I fired on the
instant, for he was high above the beaters. He disappeared,
and for a second I thought I had killed him. In a flash he
was in front of my machan, and as he passed within twenty
yards I fired again, and he dropped and rolled over down
the hill. Seizing the smooth-bore, in which I had a spherical
lead bullet, I fired again and he was pulled up by a rock
and lay quiet. At the same moment I heard a shot on my
left. Turning, I was just in time to see another bear passing
D.'s machan, and on the instant it fell, crumpled up and dead
to the second barrel.

These shots had roused the beaters to a frenzy. They
were quite close, and I could see the men below bounding
from rock to rock. Suddenly another rifle shot clove the
air, followed by a second, and after a brief interval by a
third. Again the uproar from the beaters who now climbed
up to the fine of machans.

Our orders were to sit tight where we were till the small
third beat was over. But the news was passed along that
T. had bagged a bear, so that we had three more as the
result of the second beat.

The third beat was short and quickly over and proved
blank.

Again the party collected near my machan, and D. had
to answer some pertinent enquiries as to what the first shot
fired in beat No. 2 was at, and what the result ! I carefully
kept my mouth shut and so, of course, did his wife. The
other lady had been asleep, as had D. !

We were to have tea under the big banyan trees at the
foot of the hill, before the party started back to the Station.
I had to catch the night mail back to my camp many miles
away, as I had no permission to be away more than the one
day. It was a heavy heart I carried as we commenced to
wend our way down the rocky hill. I noted that T. had

44 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

secured his lady fair for the walk down, and that Captain
H. had walked off with number two without a by your
leave to anyone. But now that the fun was so nearly
over I was not in the humour for skirmishing. It was
a merry party, however, that went down that rocky
hill-side, and a noisy one at the subsequent tea. For
myself, in spite of being rallied about it — deep gloom had
settled down upon me. The jolly day was over. The sun
was within an hour of setting when the party began to
prepare for the journey back. As I got up from the table
D. suddenly said, " Oh ! by the way, youngster, I've a
telegram about you," and searching in his pocket he drew
out and threw the flimsy paper across the table. On it I
read " S. may spend night in Station and rejoin his camp
following day. C." It was one of the ways by which D.
endeared himself to the youngsters. He had guessed how
hit I should be at having to go back to my lonely camp
and leave them all at the end of such a jolly day. He had,
therefore, wired to my chief on his own account and obtained
permission for me to go back with them all. He read my
thanks in my face, and made some chaffing remark about a
damsel dark and damsel fair, but his wife said, " What a
shame not to have told him before." But would it have been
quite the same ? By special request I made a third with T.
and his lady-love in the ride back to the Station. However,
before we had gone half-way I, without a pretence of an
excuse, put spurs to my pony and galloped off. I was to
put up for the night with the D.'s, where all the Station
were dining that evening.

What a jolly dinner that was, and what yarns we all
swapped !

The usual method of operating against bears is not,
however, from the machan. The best fun is to be had in
tackling them on foot, either by lying in wait for them in
the vicinity of their caves as they return from the fields
where they have been guzzling on some sweet crop at the
expense of the unfortunate villager, or by beating them out
of their caves during the day. Two or more rifles are
preferable for this work as more bears are, or should be (by
no means the same thing in bear shooting), bagged than is
possible for one rifle when two or three bears are afoot at

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 45

one and the same time. Also there is always an element of
danger in the encounters, made stronger by the fact that
bear are extraordinarily hard to kill. This is especially the
case when you are awaiting the return of the animal from
the fields and it arrives before dayhght. Owing to its black
colour it is difficult to make out the form of the approach-
ing beast, much less distinguish the dull white horseshoe
mark on the chest or the place just behind the shoulder,
the two best spots for a fatal shot. Unless brained, shot
through the heart or spine, each shot put elsewhere appears
to act as an additional incentive to a vigorous attack.
In charging a bear usually gets up on to his hind legs,
and the bullet in this case should be placed just below
the middle of the white horseshoe. If he is on all fours
fire at his white muzzle, which is the one conspicuous
object which you will be able to pick up on the foresight
of the rifle.

Many a rough and tumble we had with bruin in the
palmy days in Chota Nagpur. There was never any diffi-
culty in getting together two or three rifles, and when life
became irksome or monotonous in the Station in the hot
weather or rains a day's beat was arranged as a variation.
Ludicrous incidents occurred with a frequency which, if
related, would render oneself liable to the charge of romancing
by those who have not enjoyed the sport. The following
episode is a good illustration.

The rains had been falling for days, weeks, with that
boring persistency and monotony too well known to the
Anglo-Indian banished for the time being to one of the
small Stations of a province where half a dozen represents
the total complement of men of his race.

A welcome break arrived and the sun shone, and inci-
dentally the earth began to steam as only India knows
how during a break in the rains.

A day after bear was voted and out we went, four of
us, including a youngster in the police, possessed of the
loudest and heartiest laugh I had ever heard then,
or have encountered since for that matter. A. B.C. we
will call him (these formed part of his extraordinary
collection of initials) ; F., R. and myself formed the rest
of the party.

We drove out some ten or twelve miles to a small rounded
rocky eminence, separated by a couple of miles or less from

46 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

a rather higher elongated ridge several miles in length.
This latter was honey-combed with caves, and it required
considerable bundobast and a week's work to do it
thoroughly. It was a gigantic bear colony. The rocky
eminence, which a closer approach showed to possess a
cleft at the top dividing it into miniature twin peaks, was
our objective that day. It contained several caves, one of
considerable and unknown dimensions. We had always
intended, the younger ones of us, to explore that cave
thoroughly, but for one reason or another the expedition
never came off while I was stationed in the district.

We started at dawn with the Anglo-Indian's customary
idea, ingrained in all of us, of escaping the heat later on.
Though as we were going to play about all day amongst
rocks burnt to a fiery heat and would not begin much before
10 a.m. or so, the object of dragging us out of bed in the
dark was not apparent to the youngsters.

The rocky hill, save for a few stunted, sparsely foliaged
trees, was devoid of covering, and I can well remember the
scorching heat as we took up our posts perched on rocks
near the first cave. We had tossed for priority of shots and
I came third on the list, A. B.C. being fourth.

The ball commenced with the first cracker tossed in at
the cave opening. We were posted so as to cover the
probable hues of retreat, R. being in front and nearest.
Whether the cracker fell on bruin I do not know, but as I
heard the first report of the firework a black shape appeared
at the cave mouth. R. fired and hit him somewhere, too
low as we afterwards found, and the bear rose up and went
for him. The second shot tumbled the animal over. For a
space of seconds he lay inert and then was up and over the top
of the cave, aiming a blow at the cracker man, who had gone
up there for safety, which fortunately missed. A fusillade
opened at once, but bruin had gone two hundred yards
before he dropped in his tracks. Feeling fairly certain that
there was a second bear in the cave we spent a scorching
half-hour and a lot of fireworks in endeavouring to get it
out. It proved a waste of time.

From the next cave one bear only was bolted and killed
with a shot through the brain by F. A second expenditure
of crackers failed to elicit a sound from this cave.

It was now my turn for first honours. I perched on a
flat rock shghtly to the left of the cave mouth, and the usua

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 47

proceedings took place. As the second cracker commenced
to detonate and reverberate inside a snarling growl arose.
Tingling with excitement and finger on trigger I waited.
Suddenly a black form appeared at the opening and shot
out. I fired. On the instant it turned and set upon a second
bear which had just reached the entrance. A free fight
took place, the first bear on being hit attributing the pain
to an act of his companion. A fight of this description
almost invariably takes place when two bears come out
together and one is hit. I think we all emptied two barrels
into the fighting black mass of fur, the only result being
that the bears parted ; one going off up the hill-side, the
other down. We all had twelve-bore guns loaded with
Mead shells as our second weapons. I saw both of A.B.C.'s
shells fired at the uppermost bear explode on the rocks, and
also my first. The second hit somewhere, but the bear
disappeared as A.B.C.'s great exasperating laugh came
down to me. " What on earth is the fool laughing at ? "
I thought. R. and F. knocked over the other one. We
retrieved the upper bear dead later on. It had five bullets
in it, in addition to my Mead shell which had struck it on
the pad.

The main cave now lay before us, and here we fully
expected plenty of fun. Nor were we disappointed. I
should say that up to now, although at each cave we had
heard A. B.C. or rather his great laugh at frequent intervals,
he had not as yet taken any close part in the proceedings.
The only bear that had gone near him was one of the two
which came out of the third cave — the one he fired the
Mead shells at. I may also add that none of us had ever
been out bear shooting with him before.

The big cave had a wide cavernous mouth, out of which
a dozen bears could have charged abreast. There was also
a platform of considerable extent in front rising slightly
from the mouth of th-s cave to the far side. Midway
near the edge here was a small rock projection which formed
the post of the first rifle. A. B.C. installed himself thereon,
and the rest of us took up positions so as to cover all possible
avenues of escape, and with instructions to each choose a
bear and endeavour to kill him outright, an instruction of
perfection by no means easy to attain as has been shown
already.

As soon as we were posted three men approached the

48 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

cave mouth armed with our largest and noisiest fireworks
and threw them in as far as possible, immediately climbing
nimbly up to positions of safety. The cracking reverbera-
tions made noise enough but nothing happened. A. B.C.
started a laugh but was quelled into silence by our furious
gestures. Three times was the firework manoeuvre repeated.
Yet a fourth time the men advanced. One of the three,
owing to carelessness or laziness, hung behind the other two,

and their crackers were already banging inside as he raised
his arm to fling in his. On the instant two bears appeared
at the cavern mouth. The man dropped the cracker and
bolted. The firework, a big one, at once commenced that
erratic and elusive mode of cracking and jumping which is
so bewildering. Two rifles rang out, and the bears appeared
to fall upon one another almost at the same instant, snarling
and cuffing in a rough and tumble. Only two of us could

BEATING FOR BEAR IN CHOTA NAGPUR 49

see the animals in their present position, and we again
fired, and almost on the instant the cracker with a side
jump got between the bears. At its next explosion they
shot apart, and one of them went out of my vision. The
second rose on its hind legs, and in a second saw A. B.C.
immediately in front of him some fifteen paces or so away.
A. B.C. fired at the animal once without apparent effect,
and I was thinking that I would shoot the moment he had
put in his other barrel— he could not miss, and no more
could I, the animal looked as big as a haystack, so close
was it — when to my surprise and utter consternation A. B.C.
dropped the muzzle of his gun and commenced to shake
with great gusts of that preposterous laugh of his. The
bear was by then within five to seven yards of him.
Ho ! Ho ! Ho ! ... Hah ! Hah ! Hah !— he bellowed
in great rolling gusts of sound. The animal halted and
for a few seconds stood erect staring at A. B.C., then
dropping to its feet it turned round and bolted back into
the cavern. I was furiously angry. For some instants I
had thought A. B.C. a doomed man, for I did not dare fire.
And that the bear meant mischief and would kill A. B.C.
before my eyes appeared a certainty. Reaction came with
that wild laughter and the disappearance of the bear, and
in my turn I laughed till I was almost sick. To see that
maniac within a few 5/ards of a bear up on its hind legs
and meaning mischief, to realize that he was a doomed
man, and then to hear that great bellowing laughter. It
was an inconceivable and altogether impossible situation !
I did not think of it at the time. I was too anxious and
horror-struck. But after all I do not wonder the bear turned
tail. I think most of the natives believed A. B.C. to be a
bit of a deity plus devil combined.

It transpired, after some considerable and heated question-
ing from the older members of the party, that A. B.C. had
never been bear shooting before (we were all so accustomed
to it that no one had ever asked him), and that the rough and
tumble of the bears and their separation by the cracker
had appealed irresistibly to his sense of the comic — and it
was ludicrous enough it may be admitted. When the bear
got on to its hind legs and came for him it put the final
touch to the farce as A. B.C. saw it, and he just collapsed
and roared. " Couldn't hold the gun up, you know. Most
comic sight I ever saw in my life." " That b-b-bear , .

50 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

up on his d-d d h-h-hind 1-1-legs, you know," and off

he went again in that monstrous laughter of his.

We did not get that bear out of the cave. It would
not face A. B.C. again. The other men retrieved the first
and we got another one later.

It proved an interesting day taking it all round.

£-py

CHAPTER IV
A hunter's paradise

Chota Nagpur once more — The fascination of the study of the natural
history of the forest — -Malarious jungles — Extraordinary abundance
of the large game animals — Big herds of bison — Monsoon and hot
weather conditions — An animal census of the forests in the late nineties
— Arduous nature of bison tracking — Behaviour of wounded bison —
The commissariat question — Start off to fill the larder— A moonlight
■ walk — The decision — A barking deer — Come upon the fresh tracks
of a herd of bison — The -450 express and temptation— Proceed to
track the bison — Hot weather conditions — Come up with the herd —
I follow the herd — Fire at a bull — Am charged by a young bull — I
fire at him — Search for the bison — Am charged again — An ineffective
rifle — A third charge — Treed by the bull — A long vigil and a vindictive
enemy — A rescue — -The dead bull — Carried back to camp.

TWO years later I found myself back in, and now in
charge of, the division in which I had enjoyed
such fine sport as an Assistant. With a greater
knowledge of the jungles and Indian sporting
methods I promised myself a good time — hopes that were
to be fully realized.

Already, however, my attention had been attracted to
the study of the fauna of the great jungles in which my
work lay, and I had begun to realize that there was a stage
beyond the mere sportsman's pleasure in stalking and
shooting and searching for record heads, fascinating as
these pursuits proved ; that the study of the fauna of the
jungles as a whole, and not of the game animals alone, was
a most enthralling pursuit before which the mere acquisition
of heads would occupy a secondary position.

My work for the next year kept me out in the jungles
the year round. This was exceptional and a hardship in
its way. For owing to the deadly nature of the malaria
prevalent in these forests in the monsoon months, the
orders in force enacted that the whole of the forest staff

51

52 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

should retire to their head-quarters out in the open country
at this period, brief visits only being paid to the jungle.

The reasons which entailed my remaining on the
spot proved, as it turned out, a golden opportunity ; as
unique opportunities arose for studying the fauna of this
part of India as I could not otherwise have hoped to do.

They were an extraordinary place those jungles in the
monsoon in the late nineties of last century. Teeming with
animals they were, in fact, a giant sanctuary in which the
shyest members of the jungle folk, such as the elephant
and the bison, roamed at will, free and practically un-
molested. It is difficult to believe that this state of affairs
existed, for the short interval which has elapsed has brought
about very different conditions, so far as the numbers of
the game animals are concerned.

On one brilliant day during a break in the rains in August
of that year three separate herds of bison, two containing
over forty animals apiece, were tracked down and put up,
whilst two old solitary bulls were seen ; one inadvertently
run into as he was resting under the shade of a bamboo
clump, and the other after two hours' hard tracking. This
latter was a fine old bull, his skin jet black and shining
like satin, and horns deeply furrowed at the base and
blunted and worn at the tips.

The fleeting glance we obtained of the other bull, as he
sprang up and crashed away into a bamboo thicket, showed
an animal in its prime, with what appeared to be an un-
usually long and curved pair of horns.

That day, as regards the number of bison actually seen,
proved a red-letter one. But we had few blank days —
either seeing animals or coming upon absolutely fresh
tracks on most occasions.

And the same state of affairs was disclosed with respect
to other game. Sambhar were plentiful and many a good
head could have been bagged had I not held my fire, being
unwilling to disturb the jungles in the hopes of obtaining a
good bison.

In the light of the present condition of these forests in
this respect I often bitterly regret that I did not keep an
accurate daily record of the animals seen. It may be
admitted that such a record would not have been absolutely
correct, since the same animal may have been put up more
than once. But as the tract of jungle visited at different

A HUNTER'S PARADISE 53

intervals that year extended over some nine hundred square
miles, such a record would not have been without its useful
side.

It was not only in the rains that the animals were so
plentiful. At that season, when food and water were to be
had in abundance everywhere, the animals roamed through-
out the whole length and breadth of the vast jungles. In
the hot weather they were more restricted, as the vegeta-
tion died down under the fierce heat of the sun and the
streams dried up, leaving only pools. At this season these
water-holes and the perennial streams which maintained a
much reduced flow of water were the places to visit.
In the evening, throughout the night, and early morning
such places were the rendezvous of an extraordinary
concourse of the jungle folk, and it was quite possible to
arrive at some estimate of the numbers of the different
classes of animals present in the surrounding tract of
country. As the hot weather drew to its close the ground
in the neighbourhood of these drinking places became
trampled down into a shining, stony consistence, the surface
showing a network of fine lines and curves left by the
impress of the hoofs of the innumerable animals resorting
to the drinking places to quench their thirst.

Here again such figures as might be given, relative to
the numbers of the various species probably existing in
these jungles at that time, would scarce be credited in the
light of the more or less accurately estimated numbers of
the various species inhabiting the tracts at the present time.
From my own personal observations made in the late
nineties it can be said that considerable numbers of wild
elephants were present in these forests and large herds of
bison, whilst sambhar were very plentiful, big heads, forty
inches, being fairly common. Spotted deer, barking deer,
and four-horned antelope were numerous, as also pig, hyena,
wild dog, and so forth. Tiger and leopard, though difficult
to get at, were plentiful. Bear in the more open country,
as already mentioned, were easily obtainable.

As has been said, shooting in the Chota Nagpur jungles
is done on foot, and if one wishes to track the bison with
any chance of success it is absolutely essential to keep in
hard and fit condition. One will almost certainly have to
spend hours on end tracking, exposed to a hot sun. Camp
may be quitted at two or three in the morning, and should

54 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

a fresh trail be picked up it may be late afternoon before
one comes up to the quarry. All will then probably depend
on one shot. If the sportsman is so tired out that he cannot
hold the heavy rifle straight and steady he will have had
his trouble for nothing. And this is by no means a rare
ending to many hours' strenuous exertion. For these hours
of tramping over rocky hills under a hot sun are terrifically
arduous work. One must be abstemious — I do not mean
teetotal — and reduce the smoking allowance whilst engaged
on this kind of work or success need not be expected.

One of the fascinations of bison shooting on foot resides
in the fact that it is not possible to anticipate how an
animal will act once he is wounded. The gaur is amongst
the shyest and most timid of animals. He is endowed with a
most wonderful sense of hearing and smell, and the slightest
taint of man's presence in the air or the snap of a small, dry
twig breaking the great midday silence of the jungle will
send him crashing blindly away on a trek during which he
may cover, if seriously alarmed, thirty miles or more
before he stops to browse and take matters easy once again.
It is a knowledge of these characteristics which necessitates
that slow, cautious and absolutely silent approach which
is imperative when on a hot trail, if the stalker wishes to
obtain a result from his hard work. It is this timidity also
added to the natural wildness and constitutional inability
to remain anywhere in the neighbourhood of civilization or
man, alhed to the bulk of the animal and his roaming pro-
pensities, which necessitates the maintenance of large
tracts of untouched primeval jungle, if the species is to be
preserved from extinction.

When wounded this instinct for self-preservation and
solitude may prove uppermost in the animal's mind and
lead to a blind rush for safety dead away from the direction
in which he imagines the danger to be. He may act thus.
In many cases he does. On the other hand, in numbers of
recorded instances he has exhibited a very different spirit.
The wound appears to have roused in him a blind fury,
under which all his usual instincts of timidity, fear and
cravings for flight to a safe solitude, seem to be overpowered
by an overmastering passion for revenge ; and to that
consuming fury he often adds a cunning which is of the
jungle and commonly found in all jungle folk when they
turn to bay against their enemies. It is now that the bison

A HUNTER'S PARADISE 55

becomes one of the most dangerous and vindictive of
animals and resembles his cousin the buffalo. With his
marvellously developed senses of smell and hearing to guide
him he charges down on his antagonist, and if he misses him
will wheel, as soon as he can pull up his heavy bulk, and
come on again with rigid determination and eye blazing fire
and deadly fury. It is on such occasions that a life hangs
upon a thread and coolness and a heavy rifle alone stand
between the sportsman and eternity.

I had an experience of this kind that hot weather, and
although the ludicrous aspects of my position have often
appealed to me since that day, there was no possible doubt
at the time as to the tight fix I had got myself into.

One night at dinner my Khansamah
informed me that the stock of murghis
(fowls) had run short, that the com-
missariat arrangements had gone wrong
owing to some unforeseen delay, and would
the sahib go out next morning and shoot
a sambhar or spotted deer for the larder.
We had considerable difficulty over supphes
that year and cholera broke out badly in
the district, adding to our troubles. It was
a bad business for a time, but we managed
to weather the storm. To my Khansamah
I replied that his desire could be easily
fulfilled without interruption to the work *^^'^*^"'?
I had on hand. The moon was late that
night or I would have gone out there and then. Before
I turned in I gave orders to be called at 3 a.m.

Dawn next morning found me several miles from the
camp accompanied by a gun-bearer, who also carried a
light lunch-basket and a couple of bottles of cold, weak
tea, all I ever drank now when out in the jungles by myself.
The moon had afforded us plenty of fight and the path, a
broad elephant track, had been an easy one. We had
already seen or heard numerous deer, and a possible easy
shot or two might have been obtained had I not wished to
reach a certain hill in the cool before the sun rose and whilst
walking was pure pleasure. My object was to get the work
done, bag if possible a young stag, and be back by ten
o'clock in camp, where I had a long day's office work to
get through.

56 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

As the moon paled before the brightening rays of the
rapidly rising sun the surrounding forest became pervaded
with a lovely rosy hght which gave to the crowns of the
great creeper-covered trees a wonderfully soft effect. In
front a trappy, rocky hill-side covered with stunted, scat-
tered trees and sparse tufts of sabai grass lay already
bathed in a hard golden sunhght, which meant fierce heat
later on. It was this hill we were making for, and to my
annoyance we had not reached it as soon as I had hoped
to do. I was now faced with the problem as to whether to
chmb the hill and get the work done whilst it was still
comparatively cool, or make certain of replenishing the
larder and face the greater heat on the hill-side, once the
commissariat question was settled. The latter alternative
appeared the most prudent, and quitting the track, we
entered a narrow deer run to the left, and proceeded slowly,
keeping a look out for fresh tracks or animals.

We had not gone far when we
saw, away to the right, a small
dull reddish shape cropping the
grass at the foot of a fine old sal.
'I I ^^'^ i\ .^ It was about forty paces away

Vim ^^^^^i"^' ■' ^^^ quite unconscious of our
'VJ'^^^s^y-H^A'i"^ presence. The khakar or munt-
r^F,, ^iT",;"^ /''"' jac, the so-called barking deer,

for such the little animal was,
raised its head, listened intently for a second or two and
then stamped its forefoot into the turf, emitted a
succession of sharp barks, listened again and returned
to its feeding. I raised the rifle and then lowered it and
signified to my companion to move forward. I had not the
heart to fire at the little beast and I had remembered that
the camp followers would like to have some meat, and that
it would be as well to kill something larger than a khakar.

Within ten minutes we were standing before the abso-
lutely fresh tracks of a herd of bison ! The animals could
not have passed, by all the evidences, more than an hour
before, and were evidently browsing as they went along.

The jungle man's eyes gleamed as he thought of the
feast that he would have if the sahib bagged one of them.
A corresponding gleam was in my eyes. What would
Bishu, the head shikari, say if the sahib bagged a good
bison without his being there to show it him. The sahib

A HUNTER'S iPARADISE 57

whom he himself had taught to decipher the tracks and
signs of the jungle to some small extent.

My hesitation was but brief, and was perhaps chiefly
connected with the rifle I carried. Not wishing to
overburden myself, I had only brought with me a hght
•450 black powder express. Cordite express rifles had not
then come into general use. To those who know its signi-
ficance their advent alone speaks volumes for the decrease
in the game animals of India. Now to face a bison with a
black powder -450 express is madness. Of course, many
have done it and wounded their animal and never seen it
again or, a far rarer event, killed their beast by a lucky
shot ; others have done it or tried it and have paid the
penalty with their lives. Elephants have been killed
with a -303, but few would care to stand up to a charging
rogue elephant with only this weapon in their hands. I
had a fair-sized bump of caution about me, but I was
young and the temptation was out of all proportion to the
size of my caution bump — as it has been to many before
and will, in like circumstances, be to the end of time. Nor
am I quite certain in my own mind that I should not
succumb to the temptation now.

A motion of the head and we set forth to follow the
tracks of the herd.

I am not relating this episode with any idea that it
redounds to my credit. Far otherwise. It may read
amusingly, and I have since been able to perceive the
entertaining side of it. At the time, however, as events will
show, my attention and interest were held by the serious
aspects of the position. Also I have little hope of per-
suading any other keen youngster to act differently. With
the temptation in front of him he will certainly give way to
it. But this episode will show him one of the experiences
he may have to confront when, inadequately armed, he
follows up dangerous game on foot.

The tracks of the herd we now commenced to follow were
simple enough to read, and it was evident that there were,
at least, a score of animals in it. The difficulty lay in the
fact that the forest at this season of the year was all as
dry as tinder, and walking without making a considerable
rustle and crackle was by no means easy, so thickly did the
dead, dry leaves of the sdl trees he in the denser parts of
the forest.

58 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

Since I could not emulate my companion in his noiseless
progression which, in his eagerness, would quickly have
left me far behind, I placed him behind and we advanced
in this manner for well over an hour and a half. In the
period we covered a bare three miles, the tracks leading us
dead away from the direction I wished to go in. But
this appears to be almost invariably the case in bison
tracking, and you must be prepared to follow where the
trail leads. Latterly we had been silently walking through
a piece of high sal forest, following a narrow path which
was more or less clear of dead leaves — swept clear probably
by the fierce, hot wind which blows during the day at this
season. Gradually the ground began to rise and the forest
to open and thin out in front. Evidence had shown that
the trail was becoming hotter and hotter, and I was
breathless with excitement and anxiety, expecting
momentarily to run into the herd or to hear the well-
known short, sharp, snorting bellow which is the signal
for a stampede.

As soon as we noted the forest thinning again with the
rise of the ground, it became evident that the herd must
be close. I could not trust my companion sufficiently to
send him on to make observations ; nor, at this stage,
would I give up the honour I wished to have myself of
running down the bison and telling the head shikari about
it afterwards. Slower and slower still we advanced.
Suddenly I felt a touch on my arm and a hand came
stealthily forward, pointing to my right front. I turned
my head slightly and at once made out the head and
shoulders of a bison. The rest of the body was hidden
behind the stems of two sdl trees. We stood motionless,
not daring to move even an eyelash, as for all we knew
there might be bison on our left flank. Gradually I made
out three other bison immediately in front of us. They
were in the thinner part of the forest and the light fell in
large chequered patches on their backs. Look as I might
I could see no more. There was nothing for it but to wait
till they moved away. The animals were all browsing,
and in about a quarter of an hour or so they gradually fed
forward and disappeared. We waited another ten minutes
and I then motioned to my companion that I would go
forward and that he was to follow at some distance behind.
He nodded, and may or may not have understood. So far

A HUNTER'S PARADISE 59

as I was concerned I saw nothing more of him till a much
later stage in the proceedings.

I crept forward with infinite precaution, the -450 at full
cock in my hand. The weight of the light rifle had not
caused me much trouble or fatigue on this stalk ! As I
advanced my eye was held by a curious-shaped, forked,
almost deformed tree standing at the edge of the forest and
directly ahead of me. The tree was thick and stumpy, forked
at about twelve feet from the ground with a thick branch
growing out horizontally from the trunk about six feet up.
This tree was subsequently to play an important part
in the day's operations. I arrived at the place where the
forest thinned out, keeping so far as possible a tree or two
always in front shielding my line of approach. The rise
was more gradual here, and as I approached what may be
called the edge of the forest the grass, with the lighter
overhead cover, at once became thicker and higher inter-
mingled with bushes. Out beyond the hill-side, as is so
commonly the case in this part of the country, grew stonier
with elevation ; being covered with a scattered, rather
stunted tree-growth, interspersed with tufts of the sabai
grass and bushes growing in clumps. A glance showed me
that a number of bison were grazing here. Several were
near the top of the slope, whilst others had probably already
crossed the ridge out of sight. I was evidently only just
in time if I was to get a shot before the herd disappeared —
for once on the other side the animals might get into
bamboo jungle and give an infinite amount of trouble
before I could get up to them again.

I watched the herd with bated breath. In spite of
some acquaintance with this fine beast I had not yet learnt
to look upon him in his native jungle unmoved, and the
sight before me set my pulses tinghng and my heart beating
a double tattoo on my ribs. My object was, naturally, to
pick out the master bull of the herd, and I could form no
estimate as to what his size would be. I had not had the
practice, and even with it I knew I could never hope to vie
with Bishu in his wonderful capacity for picking out the
biggest head after a hurried glance over a feeding, or even
a bolting, herd. As I surveyed the animals in front of me
most fervently did I wish he were beside me. The animals
were half and, at times, wholly hidden by the bushes or
scattered trees, and as they moved about slowly browsing,

60 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

I only got glimpses of their heads. So far as I could perceive
there were twenty animals on the slope when I came up,
and already three of these had crossed the ridge and dis-
appeared. Again I ran my eye over each animal as his head
became visible. The nearest was, I suppose, about seventy
yards off, the furthest under two hundred and fifty yards.
There were two I had marked down as bulls and their
heads appeared pretty level as regards size, and therein
lay the difhculty. Surely there must be a larger bull in
such a herd !

Patiently I searched the bushes again, starting on the
left and working round past the curious forked tree in
front of me, until I reached my right front. Ah ! What
was that glint ? I waited and watched, and suddenly a
black form loomed up above a bush and moved slowly
forward. This must be the Lord of the Herd for certain.
A fine massive beast in his prime. One long look I gave him
and then as he moved diagonally away from me, too
diagonally I have since thought, but I had forgotten that
I had only the light rifle, I aimed slightly behind the shoulder
in the hopes of reaching the heart. The sharp crack of the
•450 was followed by amazed snorts and bellows from the
herd and a general stampede ensued. I saw the big bull
lunge forward and then my attention was diverted by a
crash to the right. I turned sharply to see a bison charging
down directly upon me from about fifty yards away. Where
he had come from I had not time to consider then. Raising
the rifle I aimed hurriedly at the neck just behind the
lowered head with the idea of trying to sever the spinal
column, and fired my left barrel. He was within about
twenty yards when I pulled the trigger. Springing aside I
got behind a neighbouring large sal tree, the bison passing
within ten yards of me, being carried on by the im-
petuosity of his rush. The whole thing was a matter of a
few seconds only, and I was totally at a loss for the moment
to explain the extraordinary action of the animal, for he
was nowhere near the large bull at which I had fired.
Afterwards I came to the conclusion that the animal, in its
first rush, was not charging me at all, but only stampeding
away in fright and by chance took my direction. As I
silently extracted the spent cartridges and put in a couple
of fresh ones I listened intently for any fresh sounds of the
bull, but could hear nothing. A deep silence had given

A HUNTER'S PARADISE

6i

place to the turmoil which reigned so shortly before. " Per-
haps he is down," I thought, and with the idea I at once
started to find out. Leaving my tree I advanced cautiously
in the direction in which the bull had disappeared. The
dry leaves were a bother, but the tree-trunks, being still
fairly numerous, afforded a certain amount of protection

and concealment, and luckily for me I was not encumbered
with the heavy boots I used to wear on such expeditions,
but was shod in light stalking shoes. I had gone about
fifty yards on the fine the bull had taken and was begin-
ning to think I must have overshot the mark, when suddenly
from behind me a deep bellow sounded, followed by the

62 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

rush of a heavy body. I sprang round to see the bull
viciously charging down on me. There was no mistake
about it this time. He had spotted me, and mad with
fury meant having me. I was quite close to a big tree and,
hurriedly firing my right barrel, got behind it, loosing off
the left as he carried on past me. I might have been using
a pea-shooter for all the apparent effect on the bull, who
only answered to the shots by enraged bellows. He was a
young bull, not having yet reached his prime, but brimful
of viciousness as I was beginning to discover. I was now
becoming seriously alarmed, and as I reloaded the rifle,
with fingers that trembled in spite of me, I cast about
hurriedly for a refuge. That the bull would return I had
no doubt, and I did not like this hide-and-seek business
amongst the trees. All round me the trees were large with
stout, clean stems and quite unclimbable. Suddenly there
flashed across my mind the queer forked tree I had noted
on the edge of the forest from my first position. It was an
inspiration and I at once set out towards it, my actions
hurried by the fact that I heard the bull stop and turn and
advance in my direction again. So far as possible I moved
backwards in the direction I knew the tree must be, having
the edge of the forest on my right hand as a guide
and facing in the direction of the bull. I moved very
slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible, but I had
not gone half the distance before, in stepping round a tree,
I walked on to a mass of dry sticks. The sharp crack
they produced was immediately followed by an angry
roar from the bull. I had by then discovered the position
of the tree and so knew the direction to make for. I started
running, but reahzed that I could not get there in time as
the grass and bushes were thicker now. Again I sought the
protection of a friendly tree and fired a shot at the bull as
he passed. But I was now shaking like a leaf and could
hardly see out of my eyes for perspiration, and the bullet
went in far behind as was subsequently discovered. This
charge settled me. I could hear the bull already pulhng
up and I ran stumbling through the grass and undergrowth
for the tree, the instinct of self-preservation uppermost.
Panting and swearing and perspiring and in a blue funk,
for I heard the bull again advancing, I made a jump for the
low horizontal branch, missed my hold and came to earth.
Scrambling up I had another try, got on to the branch and

A HUNTER'S PARADISE 63

climbed up into the fork of the tree. There I clung, shaking
with fright, the perspiration pouring down my face and
blinding me. Luckily, though I was unaware of it at the
time, my topi had not fallen off, as I usually wore it with
a stout, leather chin-strap. As I climbed up into the fork
I had a dim realization of a great heavy dark mass rushing
beneath me. It was the bison, and when I began to recover
my senses somewhat I looked about to ascertain the position
of affairs. I soon saw the bull. He was out in the open,
his impetus having carried him some considerable distance.
He was now advancing in my direction at a shambling
trot, and, passing quite close to the tree, went on into the
forest ; to shortly depart for good, I hoped, when he could
not find me. I had read, it is true, of men being " treed "
by bison, but I did not imagine then that my position
would entail anything but momentary inconvenience now
that I was out of his reach. As I recovered from my fright
my chief feeling was one of wrath at the young bull whose
blundering interference had, I then thought, caused me to
lose the old bull. However, I may say at once that no trace
of blood was subsequently found on the latter's trail and
I do not think he suffered much from the encounter.

As has been said the young bull passed on into the forest,
and as I made myself as comfortable as possible in the
fork of the tree with my back resting against the thickest
stem, I heard him blundering about amongst the under-
growth, though the surrounding foHage prevented me
seeing him.

As soon as I was comfortable I concentrated my attention
on the bison. He still seemed quite close, and then suddenly
the noise advanced in my direction and the brownish-black
form appeared about twenty yards away. I could not
make out what he was doing. He appeared to be, if I may
so express it, routing about in the undergrowth. Routing
about was the thought in my mind, and then suddenly I
thought of another term, " nosing " about. And with the
word my spine ran cold and I remembered what I had
read and heard of " treed " men — men in the position I was
in, in fact. That when wounded and thoroughly roused a
bison, discovering his enemy in a tree, would patiently wait
at the foot of it till weakness caused the latter to fall into
his power to be gored to death. I confess terror again
invaded me at the thought. My whole consciousness was

64 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

now concentrated on the actions of the bull. He again
passed quite close to the tree ; again went out or rather
blundered out into the open for fifty yards or so. I thought
he might be giving up the quest and following in the tracks
of the herd. But he circled round and once more entered
the forest.

As I lost sight of him I peered down through the leaves,
the foliage was scanty below me, to see if I could perceive
the rifle. On jumping up from the ground in my second
attempt to get into the tree I had left the rifle where it
had fallen after my first desperate effort. So I was unarmed
and helpless. From where I sat I could see nothing, but on
moving a little I got a wider view, and — yes, there lay the
rifle about ten yards from the foot of the tree. Though
tantalizing, it gave me some comfort to see it there.

Again the bull approached. This time he came quite
close and circled round the tree. His course seemed aimless
at first, but I cannot make up my mind that it was. Nor
could I say definitely that he ever saw me in my present
position. What he actually did was to blunder round the
tree at about fifteen to twenty paces away and then sit
down. He was in full view when he stopped and sat down,
and I was thunderstruck at the proceeding. The only
conceivable explanation that I could at the time give to
account for this was that he had scented his enemy and was
going to wait for him. It really appears the only plausible
explanation of this and similar incidents which have been
recorded. To say that my heart sank into my boots does
not adequately portray my feelings. At first I buoyed
myself up with the hope that he was so hard hit that he
was dying but I soon had to give up that idea. He was
sitting diagonally, head facing me, ears flung forward, the
picture of alertness and, so it seemed to my anxious gaze,
wickedness. For an hour, or perhaps longer, I did not keep
count of time at that juncture, I sat holding on like grim
death to my tree, dazed and despairing. The sun got hotter
and hotter, and I could feel it beating on to my topi and
through it on to the top of my head, in spite of the leafy
screen above me. It may have been this intensity of heat
that at last woke me to reality again.

Quite suddenly I found myself looking at the bull. He
was still apparently in the same position. He surely must
be dead I thought. Then I glanced downwards and my

A HUNTER'S PARADISE 65

eye fell on the rifle. A thought flashed through my brain
and I began to let myself down on to the horizontal branch
below, keeping my eye on the bison the while. From the
lower position I found I could only see a part of him, but
still most of the head. Taking my eyes from him I looked
down ; there lay the rifle, not immediately beneath me, but
still fairly close if I could only reach it without sound. This
I proceeded to try and do. I turned over on to my stomach
and was commencing to lower myself slowly when the
buckle of a leather belt I wore caught in the bark and made
a loud scraping crack. I heard a sudden movement to the
left, a bellow and crash followed each other instantaneously,
and I was sitting palpitating on the fork again. I could
not have explained how I got there. The bull, for he it
was, passed almost below the tree. What pace he was
going I had no idea. But I heard him turn and then sit
down again quite close ; but now I could not see him.

I made no further attempts to get the rifle.

The effort had done me good, however, and I now turned
seriously to a consideration of the position. I had no watch
on me, but calculated it must be between eleven and
twelve o'clock. The effect of the sun was what I
most feared. Drowsiness would do for me. The noise I
made no longer bothered me. I felt the bull knew all
there was to know, so I selected a better position, and
taking off my leather belt, slit a hole in the end of it, and
passing the end of a handkerchief through it, knotted it
securely. The added length enabled me to tie myself to a
fair-sized branch and thus ensure partial safety if I dozed.
The added tightness round my middle also stilled the
pangs of hunger that were making themselves felt, for I
had not eaten for about nine hours. The thought of food
brought to my memory my companion and the tiffin basket.
Where, I wondered, were they ? And then I began to
calculate. Assuming that the man was more or less aware
of my position and had returned to camp, how soon could I
expect relief ? Three hours either way should do it and an
hour to collect the men who in my absence might be
all over the place. Three o'clock at the earliest, and I
wondered if I could stick the heat, always greatest between
one and three o'clock, or felt most at that period. I had
luckily never taken to the afternoon siesta in the hot
weather so usual in the East for European and Indian

66 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

alike, and so the fight against drowsiness was not so awful
as it must otherwise have been. But I must have dozed.

Once I thought, or dreamt, that the bull came close up
to the tree and I grew cold with fright. But this incident
may have been a chimera of the brain. Another time I
felt myself falling off the tree. That effectually roused
me and I was broad awake. I looked round. The shadows
were lengthening. I noted that, and as I did so I heard a
faint halloo. I listened, my faculties keenly on the alert.
Silence, a dead silence, save for the tiny twittering of a
small tree-creeper on a neighbouring tree. Again — surely
that was a human voice. With strained faculties I listened
intently. There ! unmistakable that time, and on the
instant I opened my mouth to shout back. But no sound
came save a harsh cackle. My tongue was baked dry and
hard as a parrot's. Again I tried, with no better result.
Despair seized me. Suppose they went away and left me
to my fate. I grew frantic and gazed wildly round. My
eye fell on the sal leaves. I plucked a couple and crammed
parts of them into my mouth and chewed feverishly.
Again the hail — nearer this time. I attempted an answer
and got out a sound and continued my chewing. I tasted
nothing, but I felt a Uttle sahva beginning to form and the
blessed hails came nearer. At last I gathered up my whole
powers and yelled. A certain amount of voice had come
back and my third shout was heard, for a volume of shrieks
answered me. I plucked some more leaves and chewed
hard, for it was imperative that the men should be warned
about the bison. To my wandering senses, after the pro-
tracted vigil in the intense heat, he had assumed the form
of a devil, armed with the cunning of a serpent, and I did
not want my dehverers to suffer at his hands. The voices
approached, and I did what I could to warn them. But I
doubt whether they understood me at the time. And it was
immaterial. They thoroughly understood the wily nature
and cunning of the animal they had to deal with. Bishu
told me afterwards that the men guessed, from the moment
they heard my voice, how it was with me ; for my companion
of the morning had been apparently convinced that I was
" treed " before he left. I did not clearly follow the men's
subsequent movements, as in the reaction my senses must
have wandered. I was brought back to reality by a great
shout and I heard indistinctly voices saying, " He's dead,

A HUNTER'S PARADISE 67

sahib. The shaitan's dead." They found him lying on his
side at the place I had last heard him sit down. And he
must have been dead an hour or two before the men arrived !
They took me from the tree and I drank two long whiskies
and sodas, and ate a couple of sandwiches whilst they
hurriedly made a palanquin of creepers and branches.
Into this I got, for I could not have walked a yard, and
immediately fell fast asleep, only waking up as we reached
the camp.

CHAPTER V

IN THE BERARS — MY FIRST TIGER

From Simla to Berar in the rains — Sport in Berar " played out " — A
rough monsoon morning in the Berar jungles — A tiger kill — Arrange to
go and sit up — The machan and kill — A depressing performance —
The crows and the feast — Weather gets worse — A weary wait— The
tiger appears — Removes the dead buffalo into the jungle — My
despair — The tiger has dinner^ — Portion of head only visible — An
anxious wait — Determine to risk the shot — Silence after firing — ^The
orderly's opinion — See stripes lying dead — The tiger's requiem and
the villagers' gratitude — Start for home — Lose the way — A weary
tramp — My friend's greeting.

ON a gloomy morning in the month of July a train
was dragging its tortuous way, with much noise
and Httle speed, across the rain-sodden plains of
Central India. In a first-class compartment
another man and myself lay at ease on the seats. My
companion, just landed from the Old Country and South
Africa, was on his way to rejoin his regiment, stationed in
the part of the country to which I was bound. I had just
left the " Summer Capital " and the mighty Himalaya,
and we growled in concert at the mugginess and unpleasant
climate of the plains. The conversation turned on shooting,
as it so often does between men in India, and I questioned

my companion as to the sport to be obtained in the

hills in the neighbourhood of his Station, to which I was
bound.

" The forest, you mean ? " was the reply. " That

part of India is played out. Nothing to be shot there.
The recent drought finished off what we had left. The

68

IN THE BERARS— MY FIRST TIGER 69

th, you know, are a sporting lot, and we have some

keen shikaris amongst us." ^

My companion, L., told me a great deal about the successes
they had had in times past, but assured me it was " no go "
now, unless a black buck head would suit me, and that would
in all probability be but a small one !

On arriving at our destination I wished L. good-bye,
promising to look him up on my way back, and next
evening found me ensconced in a bungalow in the heart of
the forest. There I met the Forest Officer, and almost his
first words finally settled my hopes of sport. In reply to a
question he repeated almost the identical words made use
of by L.

" Shooting ? None ! Shot over too much, and the
drought carried off what was left ! " This was a clencher.

The next morning broke a good average gloomy monsoon
day ; but the showers were hght, and we started out early
on a tour of inspection, returning to breakfast at about
eleven o'clock. I had spent the last four days in hard
travelling in tonga, train and saddle, and confess I was
looking forward to a lounge and a book after the meal was
over.

During the latter part of our walk the clouds had come low
down, and half a gale of wind was blowing them in blind-
ing showers across the hills as we arrived at the bungalow.
This increased during breakfast, and when an orderly came
to the door and reported that a man had come in with the
information that a tiger had killed his buffalo early that
morning at a spot about six miles away, the news was not
received with very great enthusiasm. I suggested that he
be told to wait till breakfast had put more heart into us,
and that meanwhile men might be sent off to build a
machan over the kill.

The weather was worse after breakfast, but when the
villager had told his tale, and added that a machan had
already been prepared, I felt that the opportunity was
too good a one to miss. One had been on a wild-goose chase
of this description before, but there was always the chance
of the luck turning. From the outset my companion had
made no pretence of either wanting or intending to go.
As he remarked, the weather was vile, not fit for a dog to
be out in, even whilst on the move ; much less so for a man
sitting in a machan in a wet jungle.

70

DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

However, I collected together the remnants of my
rapidly diminishing courage, and changing into jungle kit,
hurriedly started so as to get wet through at once. This
done, it was not worth while going back, and forward was
the word. I rode two miles and tramped the remaining
distance up over the wet molehills — for so they appeared
to me after the giant Himalaya — until I reached the kill,
and a more depressing show I have rarely assisted at.

The tiger had killed in the open on the top of a grassy
plateau, which was quite treeless. The ground sloped
suddenly and steeply on the western edge of this plateau,
the hill-side being covered with scrub jungle ; through this
scrub the tiger had dragged the carcase of the dead buffalo
— out of which only a few pounds of flesh of the hind-
quarter and the tail
had disappeared — a
short distance, and a
narrow track had
been cut by the men
to expose the body.
In a small space at
the end of the trail I
could see the spot
where the carcase lay, the jungle having been cut so as to
leave a small clearing just round it. Up above in a tree full
of wet creepers, in which
two crows sat contemplat-
ing the kill, some fifteen
feet from the ground I saw
my quarters for the next
three hours or so. Over-
head hung the lowering
clouds, whilst a strong
wind blew the driving
rain across my face. The
prospect was not enliven-
ing.

Having inspected the
defunct buffalo from a
distance, and noticed a
couple of vultures perched in a tree close by, I climbed
up into the machan, covered myself up in my mackintosh,
and sent the men, all but the orderly, away. Hardly

IN THE BERARS— MY FIRST TIGER ^l

had the}^ disappeared when a Winding shower came on,
and for the time being jungle and buffalo were hidden
from me. The squall was accompanied by a gusty wind,
which necessitated frantic clutches at the nearest branch
to prevent myself being blown down the khud below.

The time crawled on with leaden wings. The weather
appeared to get worse and I grew weary of abusing myself
for my folly at having come out on such an afternoon. The
buffalo carcase, on which my eyes had been fixed so
intently and for so long, began to assume fantastic shapes
to my dazed vision and to lift the legs I had thought so stiff
and stark.

Suddenly, from absolute lethargy and inertness, my body
assumed a tense rigidity, the tension of the muscles being
almost painful, so tightly were they
braced. Without a sound, without the
movement of a branch or crackling of
a twig, a fine tiger stepped out into
the small clearing round the buffalo
with all the lightness and grace of a
kitten, carrying its head held high in
regal fashion. One lordly glance up the
track by which the carcase had been
dragged down was all he vouchsafed,
and then stepping half round the buffalo
he picked it up in his powerful jaws as
easily as a kitten would pick up a ball,
of yarn, carried it just out of the clearing into the jungle
alongside, and squatting down — I could guess this — began
to crunch up the carcase. To describe my own feehngs
were impossible. From the seventh heaven of hope and
delightful anticipation of bagging my first tiger I was
reduced in a moment to the black depths of despair.

Do you understand what had happened ? The space cut
round the dead buffalo was only just sufficient to enable
me to see it clearly, and I had understood that the carcase
had been tied down to stakes in the ground. It had not
been so pegged, and the tiger by moving it out of the
clearing had taken it and himself out of my range of vision.
I turned round to the man with me, and in frantic panto-
mime asked him what was to be done. He was shaking like
a leaf with excitement or something else. Nothing was to
be got out of him ? I turned my eyes back to the clearing.

72 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

Luckily the wind was still blowing, although not in the
terrible gusts experienced an hour or so before, and the
machan had steadied down and was no longer like the
deck of a ship in a gale. The noise of the rustling branches
was still sufficient, however, to drown any sounds I made
in getting free of my mackintosh and standing up in the
machan. By moving to the extreme right-hand edge,
clinging on by a small branch and leaning well over, I
perceived, after a time, to my infinite delight, the tiger's
left ear showing snowy white against the surrounding
foliage, and soon after for a short moment the left half of
the crown of his head as he moved it in his crunching
operations. He was apparently squatting on the ground
with the hind-quarters of the buffalo between his fore-paws,
feeding just as a cat would. This I conjectured, but
although I watched for nearly half an hour, not an inch
did the beast budge from its recumbent position. It
became evident that I should have to fire at what I could
see, or take a chance shot at where I thought the tiger's
body was. I soon determined that if I had to fire at him
in his present position I would take the head shot and risk
it. The minutes went by, and I became aware that the
light was failing ; in addition to this serious fact I could
stand the irksomeness of my present position no longer,
I have said that to see the tiger at all I had to cling to a
small branch and lean right out of the machan, standing
at its extreme right edge. There was no parapet of any
kind, and the drop below was about thirty-five feet, as the
ground sloped steeply, so that the position was not an
enviable one. Even the slight support accorded me by the
branch was unavailable when I wanted to fire, as I should
require both hands were I to succeed in hitting the mark
presented. The only way to negotiate the difficulty was to
make the orderly hold me round the waist, as I could not
hold on to the branch, and my pantomime signals were
most energetic as to the consequences to himself should he
let go and send me below. If he held tight, all would be
well. If he let go, well I did not care to think about the
consequences. I didn't like it, not a bit, as it was depend-
ing on a native more, much more than I had ever done
before. But what could I do ? There was my first tiger
below me, and ordinary common-sense and prudence were
relegated to the background. With one final glare at my

IN THE BERARS— MY FIRST TIGER 73

companion, resulting in a frantic and almost too energetic
tightening of the clasp round my legs, I leant out of the
machan and, waiting till a movement showed me the left
ear and almost half the portion of the head nearest to it,
I took as long a breath as my extremely irksome position
permitted, wondered where I should be in a second or two,
and fired. The shot was followed by a clutch that pulled
me backwards into the middle of the machan, and I found
myself reposing on the head and shoulders of my com-
panion, but luckily still semi-erect and with my rifle, of
which the left barrel was still ready for further operations,
in safety. I gathered that the clutch was only the result
of the great tension to which the man's nerves were strung.
The report loosened them, and luckily for me in a backward
direction. Had it been forward I should have had a poor
time of it, the conditions below being an unknown quantity.
I confess I was jumpy myself, but I had listened as care-
fully as the circumstances would permit after the shot, and
save for one sound, as of something falling in the grass, I
had heard nothing. No growl ! No crash ! Had I killed
the beast outright ? It seemed almost impossible that such
a piece of luck should be mine after the half-hour or more
of anxiety I had gone through. Or, dreadful thought, was
it a clean miss ? I turned to the orderly and enquired
what he thought. His answer sent my hopes to zero. He
thought he had heard the beast spring away. As I was
sitting on his head at the moment, and he himself was in
as big a fright as was possible, I might have spared myself
the pang which this reply gave me. I was too excited,
however, to think rationally just then. I told him to get
half down the tree and see if he could see anything. He
did so, and presently came back and reported that he
thought he saw the jungle waving about near the buffalo.
As a wind was blowing and every tree was dripping, the
jungle most certainly was on the move ; but from other
causes than the death-throes of a wounded tiger. Never-
theless, his words were golden to me at the time. I then
bethought me of standing up in the machan and endeavour-
ing to get a little higher than the position I had fired from.
It was just possible to raise myself a little and yet see
through the branches the place which had been occupied
by the tiger's head, and there^surely a sight for the gods !
— was a little patch of pure white with two or three black

74 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

streaks across it. 'Twas all I could see, but I knew it was
my first tiger lying on its back ! I got down, called up the
man who had again gone part of the way down the tree,
and sent him up to see what I had seen, which he quickly
corroborated. The question now to be faced was, what
was to be done ? It was no good firing at what I could not
see, and I had no intention of spoihng the skin by trying
aimless shots at what I was convinced was a dead tiger. I
had fired at the head and I felt that the bullet, by some
marvellous luck, had gone truly home. After some con-
sideration we called out to the men who were some way off
in the open above, and, as soon as they were near enough,
explained the position to them. They
sent down a few bushel-loads of stones,
sticks, and mud, etc., to wake up the brute
should he be only stunned or wounded,
and I then got down and, accompanied
by the Rajput Forest Ranger, armed with
a prehistoric implement he called a rifle,
we marched up to the tiger and found
him lying on his back, his legs in the air,
with a bullet-hole just beneath his right
ear. Death had been instantaneous ! We
stood round, and the requiem of the dead
monarch was shouted by a babel of voices,
all explaining how much they had helped
in the deed of death, the number of buffaloes and cows the
marauder had eaten, with other details of his hfe history,
the refrain, which came in at intervals when want of breath
stopped the chief performers, consisting of a chorus of
grunts and wah ! wah ! wah ! wahs ! !

It was now nearly dark, and leaving instructions that
the beast was to be brought straight in, I turned away,
and for the first time for nearly an hour became aware of
the fact that I was wet, cold, hungry, stiff and tired. The
rain was coming down as if it meant to continue, and I had
six weary miles to get over.

We got up out of that jungle and started best pace for
home. Before a mile had been covered it was pitch dark,
and the dense mist came down on the hills like a thick
white pall, fit shroud for the dead lord of the jungle. Two
miles or more were got over in safety, and I was beginning
to think that in a short time we should drop down on to

fe m } , -^.^^

Sir y. r. Ihicrll.phi.lo

BRINC.INi; HACK A DEAD TIGEK To 'AMI'. THE BODV.IS IM.ACKI) IN
A STKONC, ROI'li NKT, TO PREVENT II' SI.I I'PINC, AND THEN TIED T(i
THE I'AD ON AN ELEPHANT. THE EI.EI'IIANT DISI.IKE.S A LOAD OF
THIS KIND, CONSEQUENTLY SOME CAKE HAS TO liK IC.XEKCLSED IN
"l'ADDIN<;" THE ITGER AND MAKING SURE IHAT THE BODY Will,
NOT SLIP, lOK IHK LATTER WOULD IRiHiABLV RESULT 1\ THE
ELEPHANT .STAM I'EDI Mi

IN THE BERARS— MY FIRST TIGER 75

the cart-road where all would be plain sailing, when the
orderly, who was leading at a good round pace, faltered in
his stride, went on, hesitated again, took a few more steps
forward, and then came to a dead stop and volunteered the
information that we were on the wrong road. My castles
began to fall, but I was in too good a frame of mind to allow
them to cnimple quite to pieces, and I tramped for twenty
weary minutes behind the man, while he tried various
directions in search of the road. I only kept my eyes or
rather attention fixed on the direction we had come from,
but I soon gave that up as hopeless, as it was terribly dark
and the thick mist made it impossible to see the ground
even at one's feet at all plainly. The rain was steadily
falling and the wind blew pitilessly through my bones, for
we were apparently on the summit of an open down with
small scrub jungle here and there in patches ; at least I
gathered this to be the position of affairs by running into
the said patches at intervals. I began to have visions of a

night passed on the hills in a thin khaki shooting suit

with no food or drink (there was plenty of the latter it is true,
but my vitiated taste required, I fear, something stronger)
— and even my tiger began to recede slightly from its
prominent position in my thoughts as my imagination
pictured only too vividly the realities of the situation.

At length the man seemed completely at fault, and I
suggested that we should go back to the place where we
had first lost the way, if we could find it, on which point I
had grave doubts, and make a cast round there. This we
proceeded to do. On the way we came upon a dark-looking
line running at right angles to the direction in which we
were moving, and my companion, after kneeling down and
examining it, pronounced it to be our path. Heaven only
knows how he knew, but he turned sharp to the right and
trotted on. I followed, fearing every moment to see him
check again. He held steadily on, however, and proved
correct, for we came to a slightly broader track full of
sharp-cornered trap-rock stones which, from its vile nature,
I had marked down on the way up in the afternoon. Bad
indeed was the walk down that path, which wound in zigzag
fashion down the hill to the cart-road below, and throwing
dignity to the winds I, in many places, took to the methods
of our remote ancestors and went on all fours. The weary
two-and-a-half-mile tramp along the cart-road I do not

76 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

remember much about. The hghts of the bungalow brought
me back to the world, and tired, wet and muddy, I stamped
in, subsided into a long chair, and laughed at R.'s incredulous
" Nonsense, what ? Well, I'm ... ! What ? " as I assured
him I had bagged (within twenty-four hours of my arrival
in the " no shikar " country) the tiger, my first tiger.

I sent the skin to L. next day with a note worded much
as follows : " Dear L. — Herewith a tiger skin. Will you
look after it for me till I turn up. Shot the brute yesterday.

Understood you to say there was no shooting in the

hills, and that it was a poor country. I find it top hole."

His reply was perhaps more emphatic than polite,
although extremely pithy. It consisted of —

" Dear S.— Well, I'm d d ! "

]»S?^

CHAPTER VI

SHOOTING TRIPS IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES — A FINE SHIKAR

COUNTRY

Visit the Central Provinces — Description of country — ^The Satpuras and
area to south — The Nerbudda River — ^The Central Province jungles
— A magnificent sporting area — Methods of travelling — Tigers before
breakfast — Elephants, bison and buffalo numerous — Sambhar and
spotted deer with record heads— An old-time sportsman's paradise —
The coming of the railways — The present-day sporting possibihties —
The jungles in the monsoon — Seonee — Wonderful sight of the teak
forest in full bloom — Historical ruins in the jungle — A fine tank— An
old ruined fort — Mahommed Khan, the Chieftain — Legend of the
fort — I sit musing on the battlements — A leopard appears — The
leopard charges — The frightened shikari — Death of the leopard — A
curious beUef — A mainah appears — The evil spirit.

IT was subsequent to the rains during which I bagged
my first tiger that I paid one or two trips to the
Central Provinces and had a very pleasant time in
these glorious jungles. I was acquainted with the
parts adjacent to Chota Nagpur, but the great jungles to
the north were new to me.

Those who have read and loved their Seonee or Camp
Life in the Satpuras and Forsyth's Highlands of Central
India will understand the keen anticipation with which a
lover of the jungle visits this famed region. It is true that
parts of it are very similar in character, and of course in
fauna, to the Chota Nagpur areas, but sport, and all per-
taining to it, was far better understood in the Provinces
than it was in the Chota Nagpur of my day ; and this is
the only period I can speak of. Some brief description of
this glorious shooting country will be of interest. The
northern or hill districts which culminate in the Satpuras
greatly resemble the southern hill districts of Central India
to the north, culminating in the Vindhyas, the two areas
being separated by the great basin of the far-famed Ner-

77

78 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

budda River, which has a perfectly straight east and west
course to its mouth in the Gulf of Cambay. This northern
part of the Central Provinces consists of a wild, picturesque,
chaotic mass of forest-covered hills drained by crystal
brawHng streams, and inhabited by jungle tribes such as
the Bhils and Gonds. Further south the country opens
out into more extensive flats and tablelands with a red
gravel soil and outcrops of laterite. The forest growth is
often more open and park-like in character, with areas of
dense grass, bamboo clumps and scattered trees. Still
further south the forest becomes poorer in character, with
wide areas of stunted and scorched vegetation stretching
across Eastern India from the Godaveri — to be mentioned
in a later chapter — to the Eastern Ghats. The Mahanadi
River already mentioned drains the eastern half of the
Provinces. The Nerbudda River and the valley of the Son
— the latter belonging to the Gangetic system — divide the
north of India from the south. The Nerbudda is one of the
most sacred rivers in India, and it is said is to displace the
Ganges itself in the rehgious estimation of the Hindus.
The Nerbudda is surrounded by more romance and mystic
interest than any other river in India, and its extraordinary
beauty is freely admitted by all. Tourists know the Marble
Rocks near Jubbalpur. But its course from its source at
Amarkantak in the Rewah State down to where it dashes
in rapids and whirlpools through the Vindhya and Satpura
Hills is everywhere beautiful.

What magnificent game jungles existed in the old days
and up to quite recently in the Central Provinces ! Great
stretches of jungle-clad hills and valleys spread for mile
upon mile across the countryside. The villages were small
and scanty in number throughout much of the tract.
Great towns were practically absent, and railways few.
The tonga was still the conveyance for travelling long
distances in the Province ; or in default the palanquin,
bullock cart, or saddle pony. The animals and, in fact,
game of all kinds had this enormous area to themselves,
and the shikari, in the absence of the modern facilities for
getting about, and armed with the old muzzle-loader or
black powder rifle which followed it, could enjoy his fill of
sport whilst making little impression on the numbers of
the animal life which disported itself practically unchecked.
A tiger or more than one was no uncommon bag made close

SHOOTING TRIPS IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 79

to the small Station between dawn and the eleven or twelve
o'clock breakfast ; or one might arrive by night and be
found lying up in your back garden in the morning !
Instances are on record of such occurrences, and most
amusing they usually were in their denouement.

Elephants roamed these jungles ; gaur or bison were
plentiful, as also buffalo. Sambhar, with lordly heads of
well over 40 inches — 43, 44, 45 's — were to be had (a record
single dropped horn of 48 inches was picked up in Khandeish)
for the looking for. Spotted deer heads vied with those of
Northern India and Nepal in size, whilst the smaller animals,
not to mention game birds, swarmed.

Palmy days were those in the Central Provinces when
you might easily meet a tiger or get khubbar of one during
the ordinary morning's routine work in the jungle, or run
upon the fresh tracks of bison, buffalo or sambhar. And
the jungles were not overshot, not at the period of which I
am writing. The powerful cordite rifle had not come into
existence, and, more important, railways did not exist.
The mail ran across from Allahabad to Bombay, passing
through part of these jungles, but as a main line only ; and
the Bengal-Nagpur Railway ended at Nagpur. None of
the new branch lines had been constructed, and conse-
quently the jungles were difficult to get at and shoot. Their
dehghts were therefore practically confined to the local
district officials and an occasional friend or stray traveller ;
and these latter rarities were very occasional and extremely
stray ! And, mind you, the district official of that day
needed those gorgeous jungles sorely, for he had no other
relaxation during his long years of exile. He did not get
home every three years or less as now. He was not so
constantly transferred about the country, and he could not
get away on short leave to the hills in the hot weather and
rains, or down to Calcutta for the delights of Christmas
week. All these amenities to Anglo-Indian life now exist.
The railways have given them to us. But their enjoyment
has not been an unmixed blessing ; for the facihties which
have rendered them possible have also resulted in an influx
of keen sportsmen into every fine jungle in the Provinces
with a consequent rapid and alarming decrease in the game.
I would not be understood to say that these jungles do not
afford magnificent sport at the present day. They do.
But protection has come in. Very rightly so. The Game

8o DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

Sanctuary has come in. Equally rightly so. The old un-
trammelled freedom has gone. Had it not done so the game
would have disappeared for good. To this point we shall
return at a later stage of these notes.

It was early morning in a fine jungle not a hundred miles
from Seonee, the time of the year August, and the monsoon
had been blowing and the rain falling more or less con-
tinuously and heavily for several weeks. The morning in
question, however, broke clear and bright and appearances
pointed to a welcome break in the long-continued spell of
cloud and gloom.

I had left the small bungalow in which I was putting up
before dawn as I wished to get up to the top of a neighbour-
ing hill so as to obtain a good view over the neighbouring
forest if the fates were propitious and the clouds and mist
permitted, and enjoy the wonderful sight of the teak trees
in full bloom. It is a thing to have seen, and a picture to
meditate over, the great teak forests when in their monsoon
panoply of creamy white inflorescence.

On reaching the top of the ghat on this clear morning
the sight was stupendous. Mist and cloud lay in the deep
valleys, it is true, but the upper portions of the hills were
covered with a creamy white canopy under the rising sun.
Leaning on my rifle I stood and gazed on the scene with
rapture and forgot all about the quest upon which I was
bent. The great teak forests in flower ! I had often heard
that they were a marvellous picture at that season. But
my anticipations were more than fuUy realized by the
beauty of the panorama they presented. How long I re-
mained there I was unaware at the time, but at length my
attention was caught by a loud, though somewhat nervous
cough, from the local shikari, who had been kindly sent up
to me by the Forest Officer of the District. My attention
secured he intimated by a glance at the sun that it was
time to be moving if we were to achieve one of the aims of
the expedition. I had been told that in the neighbourhood
there existed the ruins of an old fort, now engulfed in the
great jungle. This part of India is full of these structures,
the strongholds of bold adventurers of old times. Such
places had always roused my curiosity, historical ruins
possessing a fascination all their own. And here in the
great Indian jungle such remains possessed the added
interest that their history was often lost in a mist of legendary

SHOOTING TRIPS IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 8i

tradition and romance handed down in the locality through
generations of fakirs and wild jungle-men.

As I went down through the forest on my quest we passed
a tank full and brimming with water. This place was
famous in these parts in the hot weather. When the small
streams and water holes had dried up under the rays of
the fierce sun, the entire community of the jungle folk from
the surrounding forests resorted to the old tank to drink
from its much-diminished water level. Hundreds of head
of game, including tiger, leopard, bison, sambhar, chital, and
others, visit this spot to quench their thirst at this season, and
although I never had the luck to be in this locality at that
period I saw others of a similar nature. The hot weather
season is the one par excellence during which it is possible
to form an idea of the abundance of a certain species of
animal in a particular locality owing to the absolute neces-
sity of the animals visiting the, at that season, compara-
tively few drinking places in the forest. A very different
aspect the tank now presented with its edges lapping the
green grass and its surface, where not covered by a beauti-
ful water-lily, reflecting the sea of green by which it was
entirely surrounded.

It proved a hot trek to the old fort, or what remained of
it. We came upon it quite suddenly, lost in a tangled mass
of thick jungle which climbed densely up the lower flanks
of a steep hill. The fort appeared to be on a small hillock
or low spur jutting from the hill, and was probably an ideal
stronghold for defence against old-time warfare. A small
gateway was flanked by deep red walls with a broken
tower or two at the angles and portions of loopholed
battlements still standing. Inside a court, now overgrown
with scrub amidst debris of masonry fallen from the
building, a very much ruined stairway climbed up the side
of an inner wall. This was a difficult structure to negotiate
as several stairs had fallen away. Beneath it and on either
side of the main gate were some small cells either cut or
built into the thick walls, their entrances more or less
covered with creepers and growths. As I passed these I
remember thinking that these cells would make excellent
lairs for animals, but at the time I was too intent on getting
up the stairway so as to see as much of the upper parts of
the ruins as was practicable, to throw more than a cursory
glance at them.

82 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

What extraordinary incidents this old place must have
witnessed tenanted by its horde of dark-skinned daring and
treacherous occupants. What forays they must have set
out on from the very gate I now looked upon clad in their
shirts of chain mail, steel morions inlaid with gold or silver,
great steel gauntlets and armed with their quaintly shaped
tulwars and other weapons and beautifully made bucklers.

The business and method of life were very similar to our
own marauding days, but the setting so extraordinarily
different.

The chieftain who was reported to have built the present
fort, one Mahommed Khan, had a history which must have
been quite common at the period. A junior Commander
at one of the Courts of a Feudatory State on the Guzerat
side, he was noted both for his great personal beauty,
enormous strength, and a wonderful command of his
weapons. Becoming enamoured of the only daughter of
the Ruler who disapproved of his suit, he assembled his
own command around him, by whom it is almost needless
to say he was worshipped, and in most daring fashion
carried the lady off. Tradition relates that she was more
than half willing. After days and weeks of hard riding to
escape an energetic pursuit the party halted one night,
having got hopelessly lost, on the banks of the little river
flowing round the foot of the small spur on which the ruins
now stand. Next morning Mahommed Khan was so struck
with the natural features of the position from a defensive
point of view that he decided to remain there and build a
fort. He appears to have erected a very powerful strong-
hold, upon whose ruins I now gazed ; to have rapidly
subdued the surrounding country and to have become a
powerful robber chieftain. History or legend also credits
his fair lady with presenting him with a fine race of sturdy
offspring who in due course extended the parental domain.

What was she like I wondered, that slip of a girl who
fired this man to risk far worse than death for her sake,
had he been overtaken by the enraged Ruler. And was
she content ! She had a man at any rate for her husband,
and that is what the sex mostly likes. Where were her
quarters in this old ruin I wondered — small trace of them
were now to be seen.

As I sat musing and smoking on top of one of the only
entire pieces of battlement my attendant, who had climbed

SHOOTING TRIPS IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 83

up with me, probably because he was scared to death at
the thought of the ghosts and devils said always to haunt
such places, suddenly nudged me on the shoulder. I looked
round and then down in the direction of his gaze. I have
said that on either side of the gateway and below the stair-
way there were a few small cells, probably used as sleeping-
places for the men-at-arms or some such similar purpose.
The entrances were mostly overgrown with cUmbing plants
and low undergrowth. From one of these cells a large
leopard had suddenly emerged and now lay crouching half
in the full sunlight, half in the shadow of a big boulder in
the inner court below us. Her beautiful coat with its ringed
spots glowed richly in the bright rays of the sun, whilst the
portions in shadow looked black as night. I could just see
the tip of her tail moving slowly from side to side as she
lay snarling up at us.

I was so lost in conjuring up memories of the dim past
of this place that for the moment I took it as perfectly

<>^'J^!i^-=^-^-^

natural that a leopard should be down there ; for most
Indian Princes and Chieftains keep chained or loose pets
of this nature and have always done so.

Then realization came and I moved out my hand feeling
cautiously for the rifle which I had laid carefully on the
unbroken piece of the battlement not far off. I did not
remove my eyes from the leopard, and it was some time
before I could feel the rifle — a -500 express. Lifting it
slightly so as to avoid scratching it as far as I was able I
drew it towards me. I had nearly got the weapon on to my
knee when the leopard shifted its position so as to face the
gateway. I could not Swear to any distinct movement on
her part. I only know that whereas she had been at an
angle to it she was now facing it, and her movements to
reach this position must have been almost imperceptible.

As I hurriedly raised the rifle she leapt for the gateway
and went clean through it in the bound, I pulled the trigger

84 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

on the instant and a snarl of rage came back to us. A
second after, or so it seemed, the beast was back again in
the courtyard and at the foot of the stairway. The next
she was jumping up it.

" Sahib, sahib, shoot, the shaitan is on us. It is the devil
of this place and is angered at our coming," came in a
quavering voice from the shikari. I hardly took in the
words at the time, but remember to have seen him, out of
the tail of my eye, fingering the little axe which was his
only weapon. I had only the one rifle with me as it was
the close season for most animals.

The whole occurrence had taken place in a flash, and I
had little more than time to lean over to make sure of not
missing the leopard with my last barrel, for I had had no
time to reload. I wondered vaguely why she took so long
to get up the stairway, for a leopard should have got up
the place in a couple of bounds. And yet luckily she didn't
do that. When she was about two-thirds up I fired and hit
her in the back, dropping her in her tracks. She crouched
there for half a minute I should think holding on by main
force with her front claws. Then gradually her hold relaxed
and she slid down the stairs, bumping over the big gap,
and fell into the courtyard below, where she lay snarling
at us. Her back appeared to be broken, for though I had
hurriedly reloaded fully anticipating a second charge she
did not move, and another shot finished her. She lay quite
still, and after watching her for some time I turned to the
shikari and told him to go down and I would follow. But
to my amazement he would not budge. In reply to my
surprised queries he said that the devil of the place was in
that leopard, that he did not believe it was dead, that if it
was its spirit would pass into the man or animal who first
went near it, and that he was frightened. And he looked it
as he sat there grey in the face and shivering, with his eyes
protruding and fixed in a fascinated stare on the still body
of the leopard. As a matter of fact the man had an ordinary
bout of jungle ague on him, whether brought on by the
episode or due to come out at that moment in the ordinary
course of things I know not. He moved sufficiently to enable
me to get off the battlement on to the head of the stairway
and I went down this gingerly, rifle in hand. As I was
negotiating the break I noticed a mainah (the Indian star-
ling) ahght in the entrance gateway. Bold as brass, as this

SHOOTING TRIPS IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 85

bird ever is, it flew in, to have a look round I suppose, got
close to the dead leopard before it saw it, gave a startled
squawk and flew up in great agitation over the battlement
and was gone. I wondered whether the evil spirit of the
place, set free from the leopard, according to the shikari,
would have to sink so low as to occupy the body of a
mainah. The shikari vouchsafed no reply when I put this
question to him subsequently.

The leopard was quite dead and a fine big beast. On
examination I found that my first shot had struck the
animal in one of the hind feet, and this must have been the
reason for her somewhat slow progression up the stairway,
a most fortunate shot for us. For a close acquaintance
with a wounded leopard when one is sitting on a bit of
battlemented ruin, practically unable to move, would have
been far from humorous. We had come out of it well,
however, all but the shikari, and I considered myself richly
rewarded for the archaeological inquisitiveness which had
led me to make the expedition.

That day was a red-letter one in its way, for in the after-
noon we had rather a ludicrous tiger episode, but that is
another story.

CHAPTER VII

MORE EXPERIENCES IN THE CENTRAL PROVINCES

The hot weather in the Central Provinces — The new shooting rules —
The fire line — Find a pangolin or scaly ant-eater — Habits of — The
big bee — Precautions when shooting from elephants — Monkeys and
the tiger — Try for the tiger — A frightened coolie— Stalk the stags —
A fine head — Forest fires — Barking deer and young — Beating out
bear — A bear appears — The youngsters follow— The villager's
discomfiture — A chummery menagerie — Wound a second bear —
Track him up — Bag the silent bear — A glorious shikar country.

THE broad fire line or trace separating two adjacent
blocks of the great green sal forest was heavily
wet with dew as we moved silently along it in
Indian file one early morning towards the latter
end of April. It was the hot weather in the Central
Provinces ; all who have shot in or visited these jungles at
that season know what this means as regards heat. The
days were scorching and the hot wind blowing over the
grassy glades and savannahs and into and through the
outer parts of the forest took away the greater part of the
amenity and coolness the forest would otherwise possess.
It may be admitted that it is cooler in the forest than
outside in the open country. One can spend the whole
day in the forest whilst the sun is at its hottest in the hot
weather season without the heat becoming absolutely
overpowering ; though most of us would be sorry to have
to do the same in the open country in April or May. Of
course one grumbles and grumbles fiercely about the heat
when out in it at all hours on duty bent. If it be a shikar
trip in question, however, the heat is not noticed or bothered
about to anything like the same extent. And very often
in both cases it is not so much the heat as the flies which
drive one to distraction.

On this particular morning I left camp just as the
pearly light of dawn was giving place to the crimson

86

EXPERIENCES IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 87

and gold which heralds the uprising of the sun in the East.
We silently crossed the open grassy maidan or plain
which stretched between the sal forest and the camp,
disturbing a considerable herd of chital as we did so. The
grass area was near the main forest road, which ran through
these parts, and I did not look to find a good head amongst
the lot in question. On leaving the maidan we got on to
the fire line and pursued our way along it, making for
a grassy savannah about a couple of miles distant. The
programme was to try and secure a good head of barasingha
and a chital as well if possible, and then visit some caves
in a rocky hill and rout out a party of bears which were
known to inhabit them.

Under the shooting rules which had but recently come
into force in these jungles a sportsman was only allowed to
shoot two head of barasingha, sambhar, and chital during
a season. And this number was subject to a maximum
for each forest division. Once this maximum had been shot
the particular species became automatically closed to
shooting for the year, the sportsmen in the forests and
those arriving subsequently being notified accordingly.

I was consequently anxious on this occasion to come
across a good head if possible. And it was not quite so
easy a problem to solve as it had been a decade ago ;
although there were still plenty of good heads to be had.

We had gone but a short way along the fire line when
I heard a low hiss behind me. Turning round I saw the
shikari stooping over a dirty greyish hump on the line.
I went back, but, after a short inspection of the ball-like
hillock, was no wiser. The shikari signified that we should
move a httle backwards and said, " Wait, sahib." We
waited.

The object I now saw had what looked like scales on its
surface and had a rough appearance of a rolled up mahseer.
After a minute or two the hillock began to move, after the
manner in which a hedgehog does at home, when it com-
mences to unroll, and I then realized what it must be.
Slowly it unfurled itself and turned into a longish slim
creature about two feet in length with a tail of a foot and
a half, and with an armature on its back like the scales of a
big scaled fish. It was a pangolin or scaly ant-eater {Manis
Pentadactyla) . I had seen pictures of this curious beast in
books, but never a live one before. The natives call it,

88 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

very appropriately, the " jungle carp " as its scales resemble
those of one of their big tank fish. The animal lives in a
kind of burrow and feeds on termites or white ants, of
which there was no dearth in these parts, and also on one,
at least, of the big black ants. The pangolin is found
throughout the hilly districts of India. I think the next
I saw was found in the lower part of the hills between
Rajpur and Mussoorie up in the north-west, a native securing
it and bringing it into a friend in Dehra.

The one we were now watching remained quite still
for some few minutes after uncurling, and then went off
slowly in a most ungainly fashion with the back arched
and walking on the side of its feet, if it may be so expressed.
I let it go, quite satisfied with having had the opportunity
of seeing an animal new to me.

For another half-mile we continued along the line and
then branched off down a nullah in which some fine cotton
trees {Bomhax malaharicum) of great size were growing.
Hanging to the great branches in the lofty crown were a
number of the semi-elhptical combs of the big bee [Apis
dorsata). These combs measure several feet in length by a
foot or two in depth at their greatest width, and contain a
considerable quantity of wax and a strong, rank honey
much sought after by the natives for sale in the local
bazaars. The bees are vicious httle pests in the hot weather
and care has to be taken not to rouse them to fury by
smoking or lighting a fire in their neighbourhood. To be
attacked by a swarm is no laughing matter, for their stings
are virulent at this season as many of us have discovered.
In the north of India, when shooting from elephants,
shikaris always take out blankets with them. In the event
of a swarm of these bees being disturbed and attacking
the occupants of howdah or pad, the latter rapidly en-
velop themselves in the blankets to escape the venomous
stings, whilst the mahout urges the elephant forward at its
best pace from the dangerous neighbourhood. It is not a
pleasant interlude in the day's sport as those who have
sat swathed in a blanket with the temperature at no
degrees in the shade will be prepared to vouch.

Lower down the nullah I noted a number of the big grey
lungoor monkey {Presbytis entellus) swinging about excitedly
in some trees and jabbering vociferously. The shikari
who was leading, halted and watched them attentively

■ .«»;..„y,^"'-f«*Bfc.

■^:4>*^

RETrKNixr; after the HATtr. there are few ihinc.s an elephant

EXJOVS MOKE THAN FVr\(. ON HIS SII>E IX THE RI\ Ek AND HEIXC. SCRL'BRED
KV His ATTEXDAXT

THE LINE IX STKA(U;T.IXC, OIEN ORT'EK I'ROrEEIUXC. TO THE next TIGER BEAT

EXPERIENCES IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 89

for a minute or more. " There may be a tiger down there,
sahib," he said at length. " We had better chmb out and
try and get into the nullah some way ahead." Sending
one of the two men with us up into a tree with orders to
gently hammer on the trvmk with his stick should the tiger
come up the nullah, so as to turn him back again, we
proceeded to chmb up the steep side and then cautiously

continued along the top out of sight of the monkeys until
a point had been reached about half a mile further on, and
then silently and cautiously climbed down into the rocky
stream-bed once more. Here we took up positions com-
manding the stretch of nullah above us and waited. I had
been helped into the fork of a low tree, and settling in my
uncomfortable perch I waited on events. Half an hour
went by and then we suddenly saw the native we had left

90 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

behind appear on the hill above us. He climbed down
and had a conversation with the shikari. The latter came
up to me. " The man says, sahib, that the tiger came up
the nullah past his tree. He says that he beat the tree
as the sahib told him to do and that the tiger then sprang
up the nullah bed and disappeared. I think," he added,
" that the man lies, and that being fearful he only struck
the tree after the tiger had passed him." It was useless
being angry. " What now? " I asked. "We wiU go on
to the httle maidan, sahib, and look for the barasingha."

In twenty minutes' time we were cautiously approaching
the edge of the grassy plain. As the trees of the forest we
had been coming through thinned out, the shikari slid
noiselessly ahead. I halted, glad of a few minutes' rest.
I could see parts of the little clearing already beginning
to shimmer under the rays of the sun, now well up above
the horizon and already becoming powerful. " Too late,"
I muttered. " The deer will all have returned to the
forest by now." I was wrong, however. The shikari
reappeared and said that there were three stags on the far
edge of the clearing, and if we hastened I might get a shot
at one of them. We at once commenced to encircle the
maidan, keeping just within the forest for some way.
Then a jutting tongue of forest favoured us, and we cut
across the angle in its shelter and traversed it as quickly
as the dry and brittle leaves and twigs would permit. As
we again approached the clearing I went ahead and
cautiously looked out. Yes, there were the stags, about
sixty yards away. One fair-sized head and two smaller
ones. I also saw to my disgust a number of hinds closer
to the forest. Some of these latter were fitfully cropping
the grass. Their appetites were either satisfied or the
lateness of the hour made them uneasy. Others were
anxiously scanning the area and looked hard in our direction
several times. But the stags took no notice and continued
peacefully grazing in a lordly indifference. I soon saw that
I should have to take the shot from where I was, for I could
get no nearer ; it meant waiting, however, as the big stag
was feeding away from me and one of the others half
covered him. It was a most tantalizing position, as each
moment the distance was becoming greater and the stag
might never give me a decent shot before he reached and
disappeared into the forest.

EXPERIENCES IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 91

" Fire, sahib, fire," said the shikari.

These men rarely understand the reason for waiting
once they have brought one up to the quarry.

The minutes passed and I began to despair of a shot,
when suddenly the big stag turned broadside on and stood
silently at gaze. He evidently heard something and was
prepared to bolt. I raised the rifle and, almost without
aiming, fired. The stag sprang into the air and in a few
bounds was in the forest, my second barrel being, I felt
certain, a miss. Almost before the first report sounded in
my ears the does were gone, and the two young stags followed
the older one in a flash.

" I hit him. He's down all right," I said, and hurried
across the clearing. The shikari fell in at my side, but he
did not appear to share my certainty. I passed, without a
glance, the spot where the stag had stood, so sure was I
of the hit, and entered the forest. Here, however, I was
quickly pulled up by spear grass — that curse of the forests
of these and other parts — and looked round for the shikari.
He soon appeared with a few blades of grass died red with
blood.

" He's hit, sahib. We shall get him. He can't go far."

We then commenced to search for blood and almost
immediately a patch was found, and further on clots of it.
Fifty yards, a hundred yards, passed under our feet and
still the blood continued. We were attentively examining
the last patch when suddenly a shape loomed up out of the
spear grass, ran forward a few paces and, even as I sighted
on it, fell over. It was the stag. When we got up to him
he was dead, the fine eyes glazing over. He was a beautiful
beast, the horns wonderfully symmetrical, the best pair I
ever secured, in fact. But as I stood over him and gazed
at the perfect beauty of the animal I regretted having
shot him.

It was late in the afternoon when we reached the rocky
hill in which we hoped to find the bear at home. We had
marched several miles after the death of the stag, and I
had sought then the shelter of an old mango tree growing
near a trickle of a stream in a big ravine, and there had
spent several hours enjoying tifhn and forty winks. At
two, almost the hottest period of the day, we had started

92 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

onwards again. On the way we passed through an area of
burnt forest and very parching work it had been, mouth,
nose and eyes becoming clogged with the fme powdery dust
which rose on all sides at our every stride. These forest fires,
or rather the work of extinguishing them, is about the most
onerous of the jobs the Forest Officer has to tackle in India.
They occur in the hot weather between early March and the
time when the rains break in June and early July. The
forest during this period becomes like a tinder — full of
inflammable spear grass two to three feet high, or in other
parts elephant or tiger grass, fifteen to twenty feet high,
with bamboos and other inflammable matter in abundance.
Owing to the carelessness of travellers lighting fires to cook
their food, smoking in the forest, or to wilful incendiarism by
cattle owners or others, great tracts of forest may be burnt
out at this season, backed as the fire is by the prevalent hot
winds. Great sheets of flame sweep onward consuming
everything, dry leaves, twigs, grass, and darting and curling
up the tree-trunks and bamboos, the latter under the heat
bursting with the crack of a rifle shot. It is a wonderful
sight, but dangerous work trying to put out a big fire, as,
without exercising care, one may get cut off by the flames
creeping round without one being able to perceive it till
too late.

Shortly before reaching the burnt-out patches we were
suddenly startled by the sharp barks of the muntjac or
barking deer coming from a point about twenty yards
away. I crept forward and a rush sounded in the jungle,
and again the sharp barks recommenced, but still quite
close. I continued moving cautiously forward and suddenly
halted. Before me in a small form in the grass lay a tiny,

light yellow-brown object, pure
white beneath. It was a tiny deer.
Its large head — in proportion to
the rest of the body — was borne
on a long slender, thin neck, the
elongate, slight body was covered
with longish, rather coarse, light reddish-yellow hair shghtly
spotted and with a darkish dorsal line ; the belly white and
legs long and very slender. It could have only been recently
born and made no attempt to move. Whilst I was inspect-
ing the little animal again came the short, sharp barks, and
a rusthng in the bushes now slightly to the right, but still

EXPERIENCES IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 93

quite close. It was the agonized mother, for the youngster

before me was a young barking deer. My companion

wanted to carry it off to

cook for his supper, but of

course I would not permit

this. We moved noisily

away to let the mother

know, my companion very

surly at the thought of his

lost supper. The barks

ceased abruptly. The poor mother who had passed through

such fearful anxiety had evidently rejoined her offspring,

and in an ecstasy of wild frenzy was licking it all over to

assure herself that it had come to no harm.

Soon after leaving the burnt-out tract we reached the
rendezvous for the next item in the day's programme — the
bear hunt. The procedure was fairly simple. I had a few
squibs and crackers, and with them and burning grass we
hoped to be able to induce the bears to come out. The rocky
hiU-side was similar to the general nm of such country in
these parts. Scrub-covered, with a small tree or two
scattered about, and giant boulders and rocks strewing the
surface. In these latter were hollows sufficiently large and
deep to afford capital residences for the black or sloth bear.
After inspecting the ground we determined to commence
with the biggest cave which was also the lowest. I squatted
on a rock at one side of the entrance which enabled me to
command the exit, and two of the men then threw in a few
squibs. I could hear them spluttering and banging inside,
but nothing came out. Some bundles of lighted grass were
thrown in with a like result. " Blank," I thought ; but not
so the shikari. Warily he approached the entrance, and
taking a large cracker he lit the end and hurled it into the
dim recesses, at the same instant starting to climb nimbly
up the rocks at the side of the cave. He had scarcely got
up five feet when with a roar a great black mass hurled
itself out of the entrance, pulled up and stood for an instant
blinking in the light, and then turning swiftly made for the
shikari. As the bear turned I fired, and then somewhat
hurriedly pulled the second trigger. Both shots went
home, missing was out of the question with the animal so
close, but the beast only dropped to the second shot. It
broke a leg we subsequently discovered. Scrambling up

94 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

again the bear turned, and spotting me, uttered another
roar of fury, and standing erect came in my direction. I
had a spare rifle, a "303, and as he tried to get on the rock,
fired at the V-shaped mark on the chest and bruin dropped
in his tracks. After making certain that he was dead we all
got off our respective perches and gathered round the black
furry mass, and made an examination of the bullet holes.
Whilst thus engaged we became suddenly aware of curious
squeakings close by, and before we knew what was happen-
ing two black furry balls were upon us and one of the men
lay screaming on the ground. I shall remember that man's
screams and yells for many a long day. My blood ran
cold. " At last my turn's come," I remember thinking,
" and I've had a man killed out shooting." I bent over the
man, lifted him up, and asked him where he was wounded.
I could see no blood. The shikari, as is the manner of the
native, was far more callous. " Speak, brother, where are
you hurt ? Don't you hear the sahib asking you ? " The
screams had now become reduced to groans and whines and
tears. Yes, positively tears in the man's eyes and running
down his cheeks. And yet there was not a scratch on him !
We searched him all over. It was sheer fright and funk,
which began I suppose when the old bear was playing
about after having quitted the cave. The two little furry
balls which had charged us were little baby-bears, who,
frightened at being left alone in the cave, had bolted out.
As luck would have it the would-be wounded man had been
standing directly in the path of one of them, and the latter
in its fright had run between his legs and bowled him over.
Bad as was the fright he had had, when he thought that his
own particular demon or devil had him by the leg at last,
the chaff he had to endure from his companions that night
must have been even worse.

The bear we had killed was a male, but we never got
the mother out, if she was at home. Not that I would have
shot her, but I wanted to send her to join her offspring,
now out on the hill-side alone. Poor little beggars. The
men wanted to catch them, but I would not have it. I was
not going to have them dying by inches in their hands,
and I had had enough of young bears myself in my salad
days. In the chummery I lived in during my first year in
India we had a menagerie consisting of seventeen dogs — a
very mixed pack — two young bears, two hyenas, several

EXPERIENCES IN CENTRAL PROVINCES 95

deer, and goodness only knows how many monkeys. And
they used all to be led after us on strings when we went
out for a round of golf in the afternoons !

The second cave was blank. But the one above produced
two more bears. One was lost, owing to our friend of the
baby-bear episode planting himself, unbeknown to me, in a
place of safety which was directly in the line of fire.

The second bear we had nearly given up. All the crackers
and squibs were exhausted. Burning grass had no effect,
and I had just called out to the shikari that we would give
it up when without a sound a black form appeared at the

mouth of the cave, hung there for an instant and made off
down-hill at its best pace. I had uncocked the rifle and
laid it down preparatory to getting off the rock I was on.
So the bear got a start. My bullet caught him far back and
the second missed altogether, but turned him so that he
took a more diagonal course. Picking up the Lee-Metford
I aimed well forward and rolled him over. But he was up
again and disappeared amongst some rocks. I did not
want to lose him if there was a chance of bringing him to
bag, so we hurriedly set off in pursuit. There was plenty
of blood on the trail and we were soon amongst some large
boulders, where circumspection was necessary, as none of

96 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

us was anxious for a mauling. We left the rocks and got
on to the open hill-side again, and the trail then turned and
went upwards. Ten minutes passed and still no sign of
the bear, but plenty of blood. Again we were approaching
rocks and went warily. The blood went up to a rock half
the size of a small cottage and then took round the base.
We turned the corner and there was our quarry slinking off
up the hill-side, about twenty-five paces away and evidently
hard hit. I aimed for the neck and this time reached the
spot, and bruin came rolhng down the hill on top of us.
We sprang apart and the animal went between us, and was
pulled up by the rocks below. It was quite dead when we
got up to it, and from first to last had not uttered a sound.
I was tempted almost to believe that it was dumb, although
the probable reason for its silence was cowardice.

Leaving the shikari to make arrangements to get coolies
to bring the bears into camp, I set off on my four-mile
tramp, and on the way back through the beautiful sal forest
with the green grassy savannahs occurring at intervals, I
counted roughly over three hundred deer, chital, barasingha,
and sambhar. What a gorgeous shikar country that was
in the old days. It is still, but the numbers are nothing
like they once were. Nor could one expect it nowadays,
I suppose.

CHAPTER VIII

FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL

Chittagong — The District and Hill Tracts — South Lushai Hills — An
interesting fauna — The buffalo and rhinoceros — The mithan —
Elephants and the Keddah Department — Mode of travelUng — ^The
tidal creeks and coast-line of Bay of Bengal — Bird life — The rivers of
the area — Magnificent scenery and dense forest — Animal life of the
forests — Swimming deer — Monkeys crossing a river — Rafting out
forest produce — The game problem — The native and his umbrella —
Shifting cultivation — Trackless forests — Difficult to find game — A
fine animal sanctuary — Game in the Collectorate Forests — A Christ-
mas shoot — A game card — The civet-cat — Dogs used with the beaters
— Pig — A tussle with an old boar — The dogs go in — Death of the
pi-dog.

DURING the closing years of the century I found
myself stationed in Chittagong in Eastern
Bengal. This district has earned an unenviable
notoriety for malaria amongst officials and more
especially amongst Forest Officers, the official connexion
of many of the latter having been suddenly terminated by
a medical certificate and a trip home. The climate suited
me apparently, and during the three years I was there I
had little fever.

The division was a very fine one for the zoologist and
sportsman. For the charge included, firstly, the Chittagong
district with its seaboard and network of tidal canals and
series of low rocky ridges clothed with bamboo jungle, both
localities invariably teeming with a variety of animal life
including birds, much of it totally different from the fauna
one had been studying in Chota Nagpur and the Central
Provinces. Secondly, the Forest Officer held sway over the
forests of the neighbouring Chittagong Hill Tracts District,
an enormous, chaotic mass of wild pathless jungle-clad
hills covering an area of some four thousand square miles.
The hills in this tract run in parallel series of ridges more or
less due north and south down to the seaboard, the rivers

n 97

98 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

and streams being the " roads " of the country and much
of the travelHng being done by water. To the north the
district abutted on the South Lushai Hills of the Assam
Province.

This tract of country is of extraordinary interest. In the
old days, and not so far off either, the smaller one-horned
rhinoceros {Rhinoceros sondaicus) roamed over these jungles.
Alas, he has gone now for ever, the last being killed in the
Chittagong district somewhere about the late 'eighties or
early 'nineties. The bison of these parts, the gayal or mithan,
first cousin to the gaur we have already had tussles with,
still exists in the hill tracts and, of course, further north and
east. But protection will be needed if this fine animal is to
be preserved in its wild state. It is true that, unlike the
gaur, it can be domesticated and will cross with the village
cattle. I have seen it very often in the villages throughout
the district. Buffalo used to exist in a wild state, but are
no longer to be found in the jungles of which I write although
their near relative the domestic animal possesses in these
parts many of the attributes of its wild confrere and is an
animal for the European to beware of. I do not know what
makes these so-called tame buffalo so vicious in Eastern
Bengal. They are often perfect devils so far as the sahib
is concerned. I had a small adventure with one of these
brutes once, being pursued by one, and have not for-
gotten it. It was only luck that enabled me to get clear.
I was returning to my boat moored in one of the tidal creeks,
after having inspected some small revenue station or other.
It was about three o'clock in the afternoon, and I was
trotting along the banked-up road running through the
rice fields. Suddenly I heard a dull, hollow sound of galloping
hoofs behind me. Turning in the saddle I saw about twenty
yards away a large buffalo in full cry. One glance at his
face was enough for me and I realized that the tales about
the " tame " buffalo of these parts were fully justified in
this instance. My pony must have realized the position
sooner than I did, for he had been pulhng hard for several
minutes and I had wondered what on earth he was up to,
as we still had a good many miles to go. He was a sorry tat
at the best, a borrowed animal. I dug spurs into him now
and we scurried up the road at our best pace. Five
minutes passed and I reahzed that the buffalo was gaining
steadily on us. I became seriously alarmed and cast about

SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL 99

for a loophole of escape. I did not want to part company
with the poor little beast I bestrode, even if it were certain
that the buffalo would follow the pony and pass me by.
But there was no certainty on this head. Again I looked
round, fifteen paces or less only separated us, and the brute
was rolling along over the ground in vicious silence, and
evidently meant business. My spine ran cold and already
I felt those long horns pitching me up into the air. Again
I glanced ahead. I strained my eyes for a haven of safety
and suddenly noticed that the road made a sharp right-
angle turn to the left about two hundred yards or so ahead.
I remembered the place as I had come this way that morning.
I also remembered to have heard it said that a buffalo in
pursuing along a road would usually continue his course
if one could get out of the straight line. I acted on the
thought and with some difficulty pulled the pony, now mad
with fright, off the road to the left. He shthered down the
embankment on his quarters owing to the pace we were
going, but luckily did not come down on his nose. Pulling
him together we went across the paddy fields at our best
pace, cutting off the angle and getting on to the road some
way down the bend. I glanced round. There was the old
buffalo charging along the road. But before he got round
the bend I had gained over a hundred yards on him, and
ran him out of sight. But it was quite near enough for me
and rendered me more than ever distrustful of the so-
called " tame " buffalo of Chittagong.

Elephant used to roam the jungles of the Hill Tracts in
considerable numbers. Although protected now by Govern-
ment, their numbers were sadly thinned by the Keddah
Department, a Department which has probably done more
to destroy game and thin out elephants during the last
score of years than dozens of British sportsmen could do in
double the period of time. Sambhar, khakar and other small
deer were plentiful, though I never saw the spotted deer or
the hog deer. Of the carnivora tiger and leopard were
abundant, though the former was extremely difficult to get
at, owing to the extreme denseness of the jungle and the
hilly nature of the country. In fact in many parts of the
district, and more especially in the Chittagong Hill Tracts,
successful sport was difficult to attain owing to these
causes.

The local conditions of travelling and of life generally

100 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

were so entirely different from what one had been accustomed
to on the other side of Bengal. Here the major part of our
camping work was done on the rivers in boats, and at first — I
subsequently had a Government steam launch — native boats
had to be hired for the purpose. One either lived for
days on end in these boats or occasionally was able to
put up in one of the district or forest bungalows for a short
time when such were conveniently situated to the work.
But that was not often.

Life in the boats apart from the work would have been ap-
pallingly monotonous, bearing in mind the awful discomfort
of spending several weeks cramped up in a tiny confined space,
had it not been for the fascinating nature of the country.
If one were in the tidal canals, with their black mud-banks
and occasional broad stretches of soft turf beyond, or out
in the Bay of Bengal, banks and shores were alive with bird
life of all kinds, curlews, plover, and a variety of sandpiper,
redshanks, cormorants, and so forth. Low tide or, better
still, at two-thirds high water was the best time for the birds,
and at such times the shores were a paradise for the ornitholo-
gist. On my last trip in these parts before a transfer took
me to North-West India, I had a brother officer, Mr. B. B.
Osmaston, c.i.e., a well-known and extremely keen authority
on birds with me. He was new to this part of India and
was amazed at the extraordinary variety of bird life, much
of it being, he said, strange to him.

The cormorants and curlews were ever a source of interest
to me. Both extremely wary, the cormorants used to sit up
in low mangrove bushes on the sides of the tidal canals near
their entrance to the sea and either fish or rest in these
positions — but they ever rested with one eye open !

Of the curlews the largest, a handsome bird, was quite
common and possessed all the cunning this bird is famed
for. A smaller greyish one was quite good eating — anyway
to a hunter's appetite when in camp, the only occasions I
remember partaking of it.

On the green stretches between the mud-flats plover
swarmed, and but little care was necessary to make a bag of
these birds once a flight had been marked down. Their
colouring was extremely well attuned to their surroundings
and so they were very difflcult to see before they rose from
the ground. The smaller waders, redshanks, etc., were legion,
and I was never tired of watching the banks or marge of the

: SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL loi

coast-line as I sat in the boat sailing or being pulled down
the coast at twenty yards or so distant. In the paddy fields
in the neighbourhood of the kals or creeks a large grey
heron was fairly common — handsome birds but very wary.
Of duck I saw numbers in the cold weather, and occasionally
was able to get a shot either as a flight passed the boats
within range or when we ran into a lot settled upon the
surface in a creek or in one of the channels between the
mainland and the islands out in the Bay. These were
mallard, widgeon and teal of various kinds. That brilliant-
plumaged bird the brahminy duck [Casarca rutila), surely
one of the very wariest of the bird tribe, even including
wild geese, inhabits these areas. I did not see many of
these ducks in the Chittagong District but had great fun
stalking them off the neighbouring district of Noakhally
which I had occasion to visit once or twice. All who have
read Simson's Sport in Eastern Bengal will remember
this district as a famous pig-sticking centre in old days,
with some of the finest galloping ground, green turf like
velvet, I ever met in India. It had fallen on evil times at
the period I write of and there was no tent club.

Rivers are numerous in this region, all flowing north and
south, such as the Kornafuli of which Chittagong forms the
port, and others flowing parallel to it between it and the
Kaladyne which flows out at Akyab, through the district of
Arakan; this river forming the boundary between Bengal and
Burma. Proceeding up the rivers into the interior the
scenery changes completely. Once out of the low country
dense forests clothe either shore. The banks above tidal level
are fringed with high grass and plantains, giving place to
tangled cane thickets, bamboo clumps with a high overhead
cover of fine timber trees. Occasionally the scenery becomes
very bold and rugged, the broad river running between
steep gorgeous-coloured cliffs, their faces either sheer rock
or covered with a low scrub jungle, from which graceful
bamboos droop over the water. In the morning or at
sunset marvellously soft effects are produced by water and
sky, colouring which one can only see in the tropics.

On the shore at daybreak or just before sunset, as one
drifted along in the boats, one had a chance of seeing some-
thing of the jungle occupants of the great forests. On the
upper reaches where the water is fresh deer would come down
to drink as would also family parties of monkeys, jungle fowl,

102 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

and the black-breasted Kaleej pheasant {Gennceus Hors-
fieldi) would be commonly seen, though by no means
so commonly bagged for the larder. With extreme good
luck one might see a tiger or leopard come down in the
late evening or early morning to drink. It was not an
uncommon sight to come upon animals swimming across the
rivers. I have seen sambhar and barking deer on several
occasions, both animals swimming with ease, the head held
comparatively high out of the water. Monkeys also, swarms
of them, and they are a ludicrous sight. Monkeys, or any-
way the species which inhabits these forests, swim very high
out of the water, head and shoulders well above the surface.
Also they swim with great ease. But the row and fuss they
make when a boat containing men comes along is most
amusing. Whilst still at a distance they are insolent, turn
and jabber and make faces ; as the distance between
lessens they begin to put on the pace a bit, still losing
ground by constantly turning to see how near the boat is
getting and making the most comical grimaces in which
fear now commences to appear. When they at last
apprehend that the boat is actually coming for them and
the danger is serious all semblance of defiance leaves them
and a sauve qui pent takes place. Down goes the head and
they take to a kind of overhead side-stroke, scrambling
through the water at a great rate and deadly silent the
while. On reaching the bank the more timid ones bolt
straight into the jungle without more ado ; pluckier or more
cheeky members halt just on the edge of the jungle, face the
river, give themselves a shake, have a scratch or two and
fling at one a few of their choicest expletives, the words
tumbling out the faster the nearer the boat approaches. As
the keel impinges on the mud-bank, with a last curse they
leap for safety and one hears the band disappear with
indignant scolding and chattering amongst the trees.

Practically the whole of the forest produce in the shape
of logs, dug-out boats, bamboos, canes, etc., is floated down
these rivers in the form of great rafts a hundred feet and more
in length. Two or three men are in charge and they spend
weeks on board living in a small bamboo-walled thatched
hut built on the raft. It is a sight to see these great rafts
coming down-stream, and more especially when the river is
in flood in the monsoon months. The rivers are also the
highways of the local population. They bring their produce

THIi I'OKKSl' LAUNCH (>\
IN

IHK KAKNAPUI.I RIVER, CHITTAGONC;
THE MONSOON SEASON

Photo by Author

ON IHE ri'I'EK WATERS Ol IllK KAKNAI'UI.I RIVER IN THE CHITTACONI ; HIM.
TRACIS. THE HOAIS AUK 1 Hi ■.-< )1 IIS HdM.OWEI) ERl)\t IHE STEMS OF TREF.S.
THE I.AKCER IS ITI.I.K 1 1 WITH EAR I HEN UATER-I'OTS BEING CARRIEO tl T
SIREAM, EOR SALE IN IHE INTERIOR. IIIE IT M E OK YEAR IS THE HOT

WKATHKR SEASON. NOTE THE UMKREI.LAS OK THR PASSENGERS AM>

STEERSMEN ITIK UXPGr, OE HIGNITV IN THESE PARTS

SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL 103

down in dug-outs to the bazaars in the Chittagong District,
returning often with the dug-out piled high with earthen
pots, so much in use by the natives for domestic purposes.
On sunny hot days the ever present umbrella is also much en
evidence on such occasions as the photograph so well depicts.
The main portion of the boats in use is the great bole of
some forest monarch which has been hollowed out usually
by burning. The sides in the bigger boats are built up with
planks, thus affording extra accommodation.

It is far from easy to discuss the game problem in this
part of India, so far as the abundance of animals is in
question. Some animals, rhinoceros and buffalo to wit, have
disappeared from the area. In the great tracts of forest
stretching down east into the North Arakan District
a few rhinoceros may still be left. I saw the pugs of one or
two on the borders of that country on the occasion of a
trip I made that way, but that was the only time I saw any
sign of this animal in that part of the world.

The Chittagong Division is a very densely populated
part of India with 676 head of population per square
mile, and the isolated patches of forest, consisting princi-
pally of bamboos and grass, contained practically no game
animals. They had been exterminated by the neighbouring
villagers by shooting, snaring or trapping, even before the
more modern rifles made their appearance. These small
blocks of forest are, however, valuable from the economic
point of view, since both bamboos and grass are necessities
to the villagers, forming their chief house-building material.
In the great dense forests of the Chittagong Hill Tracts to
the north, animals roamed at will probably as numerous
as they had ever been, with the exception perhaps of the
elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo. In this part inhabitants
were few and the wandering tribes who were still allowed to
practise that most iniquitous method of cultivation called
" jhuming," had probably httle influence upon the decrease
of game animals with the exception of such shy beasts as the
rhino. Jhuming, the oldest form of agriculture known
(in Europe as well as in the East, for it is still practised in
parts of Russia), consists of feUing a piece of primeval
forest, setting fire to the trees felled and burning as much of
them as possible, spreading the resultant ashes over the
cleared area and sowing the seed of a grain crop on top.
The jhumer then squats down on his hams, smokes his

104 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

pipe and waits till the resultant crop ripens, when he again
gets to work and cuts it over. He may repeat the operation
the following year and even a third year. By this time a
dense weed growth will be making its appearance, entaihng
more work than our jhumer has any stomach for, and so
in order not to have to fight against that he moves on to
a fresh piece of forest. The procedure results in a frightful
waste of fine forest, the product of hundreds of years, which
is replaced by a tangle of more or less valueless soft woods
and bamboos. But the numbers of the various families
practising this patriarchal form of existence were few, and
as I have said probably had little influence on the game. On
the other hand it was extremely difficult for the European
sportsman to get at the game in these forests. There were
no roads, it was difficult to collect coolies to carry one's
camp paraphernalia even if one was willing to travel with
the lightest kit. No food of any kind could be bought for
oneself or servants and so all had to be carried with the
party, and lastly the country, an intricate mass of hills
densely clothed with jungle, bamboo, cane, long grass and
high overhead cover with only narrow game paths to move
along, offered almost insuperable difficulties to the sports-
man. We tried our best, those of us who were up in that
part of the world at this period and were keen enough to
face the inevitable discomforts and hard life entailed,
with but meagre results, however. The country forms a fine
animal sanctuary, so long, and only so long, as the native
inhabitants remain as sparse as at present and do not get
hold of the modern sporting rifle. Once they do these jungles
will follow the ones in the Chittagong District to the south.
But that we may hope is a long time ahead.

I have said that the Chittagong Collectorate areas are
practically without life so far as game goes. But this only
applies to the isolated blocks of jungle. Some of the forests
are in direct communication with the great tracts of jungle
to the north, forest-clad spurs running right down to the
seaboard. These spurs are constantly supplied from the
north and at the time I am writing of contained numerous
sambhar, barking deer, pig, and leopard and more rarely
tiger and, of course, numbers of the smaller carnivora.
On these hills areas of a tall strong grass termed "sunn"
occur in parts. The areas covered with this grass, called
" sunnkholas," are of considerable value and are leased for a

SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL 105

term of years, the grass being cut over annually and sold
for thatching purposes. Sambhar could be found here.

Many pleasant shoots did we have in the district and more
especially in the tracts of forest included on neighbouring
tea estates. Here our kindly hosts had no difficulties about
obtaining the necessary beaters from their own garden
coolies. The beats were systematically organized and often
resulted in good mixed bags being made, the evening game
card perhaps reading somewhat as follows : wild boar,
jungle fowl, sambhar, partridge, barking deer, civet-cat,
hyena, leopard, snipe, plover. Such a return was, I re-
member, made at one of the Christmas shoots.

How jolly these Christmas shoots were, and how different
the conditions and surroundings to other parts of India.
Called in the dark we used to get into shooting kit with an
extra sweater, as it was chilly and damp, oh ! so damp, in
the early morning. Assembling in the dining-room (men
only, the ladies came out later after the sun was up, as there
was no reason for their risking malaria) we made a hearty
chota hazri or breakfast, whichever you liked to call it,
and then off with the first dawn with probably a two- to
three-mile walk to the first beat. Chilly outside with a
sopping wet penetrating mist, this part of the proceedings
was the one we least liked. It usually meant a certain
amount of floundering about on slippery mud roads or
narrow paths. When the sun was above the hill crests
this discomfort soon disappeared and the day with its
varying incidents was pure joy.

One such day I remember as typical of many others. No
ladies were out, I forget why. There was to be some big
dinner or other tamasha in the evening and they had all
stayed at home to get things ready. We had varying
fortune in the morning. A civet-cat {Viverra zihetha) was
put up by the dogs, who as usual went wild over the beast.
The animal is not uncommon in these forests. It has a
greyish coat with black spots and stripes, the throat white
with a broad transverse black band, the tail being ringed
with black. The civet is about three feet long with thirteen
to twenty inches of tail. The drug called civet which has
a peculiar and most unpleasant odour, the cause of the
dogs going wild when they smelt it, comes from the sub-
caudal gland of the animal. The animal is a carnivorous
predatory cat destructive to poultry and game of all kinds.

io6 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

It hides easily and has to be carefully watched for in a beat
or will get away to a certainty. The one in question was
shot just ahead of the dogs by my neighbour in one of the
beats.

As to the dogs mentioned above.

In their beating operations in these parts the men made
use of village pi-dogs whom they train with great skill.
From two to three couple of these, a most nondescript
mongrel crowd to look at, but exceedingly good at their
work, were taken into the forest with the beaters and then
unleashed. They worked independently of each other and in
no way as a pack, unless two happened to get on to the same
slot, but once they had got on to an animal's trail, whether
deer, pig, or more dangerous game, they never left it and
sent it forward if possible to the guns. They also proved
most useful in following up wounded animals.

On the day I speak of we had three beats in the morning,
securing a sambhar, civet-cat, three pigs, and some jungle
fowl. But the afternoon provided the excitement.

As we smoked a cigar after lunch some of the Mug coolies,
a merry keen set of men who loved the outing, being them-
selves jungle-men from the Hill Tracts country, came and
squatted round us and were questioned as to what we
might expect in the afternoon.

" Pig, sahib, lots of pig and there is a very large old boar
with long tushes. A very heavy old devil who is very
fierce." In this part of the district pig were shot, as the
country was quite unrideable and they were very destructive
to the crops. Further west and in the neighbouring district
of Noakhally pig-sticking could be indulged in, probably
the finest sport to be obtained anywhere with as comrade a
good handy fast nag. Another man volunteered the infor-
mation that he thought there were at least five to six
sambhar in the next two beats. One of the shikaris thought
there would be a leopard. But there were few beats in
these parts which were not credited with at least one pard —
but, if present, he was usually cunning enough to get
away, so we did not attach much importance to the state-
ment.

We soon got into our positions. I was on a broad
boundary line beneath a stunted mango tree which afforded
shade from the sun and also hid me to some extent from
anything breaking out. We never made use of machans

SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL 107

in this district, merely taking up the best position from
which we could command the area of our fire.

For a space all was silent. The men were in a heavy
piece of forest and not even the yapping of the dogs, who
rarely ran silent, was audible. I could not see my neighbour
to the left, but on the right the next rifle was easily visible
on the top of a ridge some way above me and about two
hundred yards distant.

As I waited I suddenly heard a loud flapping of wings,
and two large black hornbills flew over the line between
the right gun and myself. I had a rifle in my hand and so
did not fire, but my neighbour did so, without result.

Soon after the noise of the beat came to our ears and
now and then a yap, yap from the submerged dogs,
hot on a scent. I had set my heart on the old boar. I
thought I should like to have the tushes of the hoary old
sinner, even if they were not earned by riding him down.
From the row proceeding in the jungle and the occasional
vociferations from the coolies there was evidently game,
and a good deal of game, afoot. The sudden sharp crack
of a rifle to the left followed by a second produced frantic
enthusiasm amongst the beaters and a stentorian voice
was heard to shout, " Beat, beat, brothers. Beat, you
lazy rascals. The sahibs are killing. There will be meat
for all." The owner of that voice, costume and all, could
have made a fortune on the halls at home.

Suddenly a heavy rush in the slight hollow to my right
and a dark-coloured body plunged across the ride. Up
went my rifle, but it was a doe sambhar. Another rush
behind, I swung round. A sambhar, I think a doe, was
half in the jungle on my side of the ride, another was in
the middle of the ride, whilst a third, a stag with a moderately
good head as it turned out (I had not the time to decide
the point then), had just left the jungle on the far side of
the ride. I raised the rfle and snapped at him. I heard the
bullet hit as I fired the second barrel and he dropped on the
edge of the jungle on our side of the ride and lay there. One
of the two men I had with me, a Mahomedan, rushed up
the ride and " hal-lalled " or cut the throat of the stag, to
let the blood flow, though I am sure the stag was quite
dead before he got up to him.

Meanwhile a terrific commotion was going on in the jungle
in front of me. Voices were raised in anger, jubilation and

lo8 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

fear, whilst at least one youngster was crying with sheer
funk apparently, so far as I could make out. Then a dog's
note made itself heard, followed by a second and a third.
They were evidently baying something. I listened, keen
excitement holding me. What on earth was it ? Suddenly
a chorus of grunts broke the silence. Pig, by the gods.
Now the jungle was swishing and rustling in all directions.
Nearer the noise approached and a large sounder broke on
the ride between myself and the gun to my right. I raised
my rifle, remembered and waited. The big old boar will
be here, I reflected. The gun above me fired two barrels.
Piggies charged to the right and left with enraged grunts,
burrowing into the jungle on our side. Others, just emerging
from the opposite edge, halted and looked about with their
cunning-looking small eyes, doubtful as to what to do.
But little as they Uked the front, they liked the rear still
less. The yapping was now quite close and I waited,
finger on trigger. Closer came the dogs and louder grew
the grunts of more of the sounder, now nearing the line.
Quite suddenly a sow who was three parts out of the forest
opposite and not twenty-five yards from me — I had hidden
myself behind a httle barricade of leafy branches — was
propelled into the middle of the ride uttering a startled
squeaking grunt as she was flung forward. I was on the
point of bursting out laughing, she looked so comic, when
a dim grey bulk took her place for an instant on the edge of

the forest and then lum-
bered out on to the ride.
It was the old boar ! He
was a fine sight. Of
giant bulk, his bristles
grey with age and mouth
adorned with a pair of
giant tushes, by far the
largest I had ever seen.
On the ride he turned,
his bloodshot eyes glaring red fury, whilst he champed
his tushes and grunted. On the instant I understood
the position. It was this old boar whom the dogs had
been baying and, as the thought flashed through my brain,
a dog rushed out of the jungle and commenced dancing
round the old boar. I hesitated no longer, but let drive
at the shoulder, though I confess with some trepidation.

SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL 109

The boar turned to the shot, but the dogs, for another had
joined the first, distracted his attention and I fired again.
He lurched and I thought he was going over, but with a
fierce grunt he staggered into the jungle on our side before
I could get a third shot at him from my smooth-bore, which
I had seized. A very pandemonium now began. A third
dog had turned up and they were now all three engaged in
baiting the old boar. His grunts of rage showed that he had
still plenty of fight in him. I was unwilling that the dogs,
who possessed considerable value in the eyes of their native
owners, who had spent a lot of time in training them, should
come to harm and so determined to follow them up and try
and polish off the boar. My orderly and the other man with
me, both of whom had long knives with them, agreed to
follow and we hurried in the direction of the scuffle. Forty
paces was all we had to go, and then we burst upon a scene
which baffles description. The old boar was standing or
half-squatting with his back against a large tree and five
dogs were jumping round him, yapping for all they were
worth. First one and then another would try and run in
only to retreat as the old fellow's head came round with a
vicious upward cut of the tush. The dogs appeared to be
covered with mud and blood, but it was impossible to say
whether any of them were yet severely hurt. So occupied
were they all that it was a minute or two before they
perceived us. I had tried to get a bullet into the boar, but
the risk of hitting the dogs made it impossible. And I did
not think he looked sufficiently harmless for me to walk
up to him with only a knife in my hand. And sure enough
he was not ! For as soon as he set eyes on us he got up and
with a furious grunt tried to charge. But he was far spent.
As I fired the biggest dog, a thick-set bright red brute with
a terrific jowl on him, was in like a flash and got hold of the
right ear, getting gashed as he did so. The old boar swayed
on his feet and looked as if he would drop over. I fired
again but just not quick enough. A second yellow-coloured
dog, lithe and slim, went in on the left, and in a second
lay disembowled on the ground, the old boar falling over
on his right side after this last effort. I hastily reloaded and
fired another barrel to make sure of finishing the business
and we went up to the dogs. Four of them were now on the
body each with his teeth firmly fixed in some part, nor
could we move them.

no DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

" You won't get them off till their owners come, sahib.
No one else can move them when they take hold like that."

I said nothing but turned to the poor wounded dog. A
glance showed that nothing could be done for him. Poor
plucky brute. I bent over him and poured some water
over his mouth and head as he lay gasping. His brave
eyes turned to me and I thought I read a gleam of gratitude
in them. And then a film spread over them and he was
gone.

He may have been only a pi-dog. But his heart and spirit
were pure gold.

'z ''<_-c- ~^n e:l

CHAPTER IX

WANDERINGS IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS

Chittagong Hill Tracts and Lushai Hills — Accompany the Commissioner
into the Hill Tracts — Luxurious travelling — Take to dug-outs —
Burning forests — A day of smoke and heat — Land for the night —
The Commissariat delayed — Dinnerless to bed — A wet morning —
Continue our journey — A swimming snake and Kaleej pheasants —
Reach the falls — A southern outpost — A wild frontier country— The
Military Police — A fine fishing river — Proceed up-stream— Dense
jungles and interesting fauna — A faunistic survey required — Meet
the Political Officer — Bad weather and few fish — Southern Hill
Tracts forests — Calhng up sambhar — Stalking the mithan — A trip in
the rains — The forest flora — Track the herd — A close encounter.

THE Chittagong Hill Tracts and South Lushai
Hills are a most interesting piece of country to
wander in. Of course, when once up in those
parts one feels rather lost to the outer world and
occasionally the feeling would come, as I remember it came
to me very strongly on an occasion in the fastnesses of
Upper Burma, that one had seen the last of civilization and
was destined to leave one's bones in the wilds. But such
feelings are evanescent. The lure of these wild tracts and
their great fascination is far more dominant and lasting.

I remember one hot weather in April accompanying
the Commissioner of the Division, who held almost auto-
cratic sway over the Hill Tracts, with powers of Ufe and
death and other terrors, up into this region. The first
eighty odd miles of the journey were done in a luxurious flat
pulled up the river by a launch. The day was spent in
dignified ease. An hour or two in the morning was given
to perusing and noting upon stately bundles of red-tape-
encircled files, extracted from japanned tin office-boxes on
the outer covers of which the official titles of their owners
were inscribed in large type. Followed a beautifully cooked
hot breakfast and then, installed in comfortable long chairs,

III

112 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

we smoked, talked and watched the beautiful scenery of
the Hill Tracts as reach after reach of the great river opened
out before us, bearing upon its bosom long rafts, often thirty
yards in length, consisting of great logs, bamboos, canes,
etc., cut in the forests to the north and now on their way to
the southern markets.

The next day we descended somewhat in dignity ; only
small dug-out boats could proceed further up the river
owing to the prevalence of sandbanks and other obstacles.
Behold, therefore, the Ruler of the Country seated solemnly
in the centre of a dug-out canoe-like vessel, with a strip of
bamboo matting fixed over the centre to afford some
protection against the sun, rowed or poled or dragged up-
stream by the boatmen, whilst an orderly squatted in the
stern. This was all in the way of passengers the craft could
accommodate with comfort and safety. We had a fleet
of these dug-outs. I occupied No. 2, and the tiihn-
basket and two native servants No. 3. The rest of our
enormous retinue, for the Commissioner, even on a combined
duty and sport expedition such as the present, always
travels in style, occupied the remainder of the fleet, which,
before we had gone very far, was strung out over at least a
mile of river.

I had been anxious for the Commissioner to come up at
this season to witness the enormous destruction being
committed by the wholesale burning of the forest, done
yearly by the occupants of the scattered villages in the
outer hills and by jhumers elsewhere. The former fired the
forest with the object of getting a crop of young grass as
soon as the first rains fell for the pasturing of their
miserable herds of wretched cattle and goats ; their
buffaloes were good, but the rest of the animals — a
type of the poorest. The jhumers burnt the forest in
order to provide areas on which to raise their crops with
a minimum of trouble and labour. We saw enough of this
burning that day to convince the most sceptical of the
wasteful damage being done. At times the smoke was
blown so densely across the river that we could not see
twenty yards in front of us. At others large sandbanks
necessitated our coming close into the shore above which
the whole hill-side was blazing, where the heat added to the
rays of an already very powerful sun was terrific. About
one o'clock, on rounding a bend, I perceived to my rehef,

IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS 113

>

for I was parched with thirst, that the Commissioner had
landed on the right bank in a bit of open cultivated land
near one of the curious Mug villages and was evidently
going to have tiffin. I joined him there and found him in a
very bad humour. I came in for some of it. It was the
fires he was so mad about. Did not think they had been
sufficiently reported, etc. I had covered reams of paper
with reports, and as he unguardedly said he would read
every line I had written on the subject I felt I could put up
with the present dressing-down as I should get my own
back if he held to his promise. At last the tiffin-boat hove
in sight and having washed out the smoke we recovered our
serenity somewhat and, as it subsequently turned out,
unduly prolonged the welcome rest.

The afternoon passed very much as the morning. The
fires were not so near the river-edge, and so the heat and
smoke were not so aggressive. We did not halt for tea ; the
three dug-outs were lashed together, several men towing
them from the bank, as it had dawned on us that we should
be late in getting to the tiny bungalow we were to spend the
night in. Tea over, the Commissioner decided to leave the
servants' boat behind with orders to hurry on the rest of
the fleet, which was nowhere in sight. Darkness fell and
the proceedings became wearisome. I was not sufficiently
acquainted with this part of the river to remember how far
the bungalow was. It was useless enquiring of the boatmen,
as their invariable answer was " Round the next bend,
sahib." I had no light so could not read, and finally I lay
down in the bottom of the dug-out and dozed fitfully.
I was roused at length by voices and the gleam of a
light. We were approaching a tiny landing-stage. I
crawled from under my cover and looked out. The
Commissioner was standing in the verandah of the
bungalow near a lantern placed on the floor. A second
lantern was on the landing-stage, which was a frail bamboo
lattice- work arrangement supported on bamboo piles. I
hopped out of the boat, glad to stretch my legs, and joined
him. It was a pitch-dark night and nothing could be seen
of our surroundings. The night air on the river was quite
sharp or we felt it so in our thin shikar suits after the heat
of the day.

We adjourned to the bungalow, a lantern was placed on
the table and whiskies and sodas ordered and produced with

114 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

some biscuits. The refreshment was very comforting, but
gloom held the Commissioner for some time. I could not
make out why. But when he shouted out an enquiry as to
whether the boats were arriving I began to understand the
position. He was thinking of the dinner. It was then
nearly eight o'clock. Another hour passed and still no
boats. We had both spent it in silence over a book apiece,
but at the end of this period the hunger pangs became more
insistent. The Commissioner went out into the verandah
and remained the best part of the next hour there. Being
a junior officer and also a guest I felt the position to be a
rather delicate one. At ten o'clock an enquiry was made
as to what provisions we had. It turned out that a solitary
bottle of beer and a couple of biscuits was the total strength
of the commissariat.

Hungry as from my own sensations I do not doubt he was,
I think my companion was more annoyed on account of his
guest than for himself. And, besides, for a Commissioner's
bundobast to go wrong in a country where he held powers of
life and death was an unheard-of event ! At 10.30 he said
we might as well have what there was, and we solemnly
divided the bottle of beer and ate a biscuit apiece and
decided to turn in, i.e. lie down on the bedsteads all standing
for we had no bedding or anything else till the boats arrived,
and it was too cold to take off one's boots.

I buckled up my leather belt to the last hole to still the
hunger pangs and lay down, with my topi for a pillow. For
nearly an hour sleep refused to come near me, and then I
fell into a deep slumber. I dimly heard or dreamt of
noises and of a voice saying " Sahib, Khana tiyar hai "
(Dinner is ready) and I seemed to smell appetizing smells,
but the real facts were that I slept till 6.30. I woke then
to find my servant at my bedside with a tray full of a large
chota hazri. I noted too that I had been covered up
during the night with blankets. As soon as my eyes opened
the gnawing pain came back and without question I
devoured the victuals. I was told that the boats had turned
up about I a.m. with a fine hot five-course dinner ready.
(They said they got stuck on a sandbank in the dark). The
Commissioner, who was awake, had his dinner brought to
his bedside and ordered mine to be taken to me. They
reported to him, however, that they could not wake me and
were told to leave me alone. We ought to have got off at

IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS 115

4.30 that morning, but did not leave till 7.30 and had a
shocking morning of it. The weather had completely
changed. It had pelted with rain during the night and
about eight o'clock a thunderstorm commenced and we had
three hours of heavy rain. It was horribly cold and the
mat roofing of my boat leaked like a sieve. I had to give up
reading and in the end smoking also. I could not even
swear in comfort, so I lay upon my back and stoically bore
being leaked upon. Yesterday baked and roasted and
parched with thirst the contrast this morning was almost
ludicrous in its completeness. My only consolation was that
the Commissioner had seen the hills blazing as I had
promised him he would. Had the rain come twenty-four
hours earlier I should not have had the satisfaction of
having this point definitely settled. About 11.30 it
brightened and I shortly heard a hail and was brought along-
side the Commissioner's boat. He invited me in and we sat
back to back under the bamboo covering, the only way
we could sit without upsetting the craft, and had a strong
whiskey and soda and some biscuits. (We were not always
drinking whiskies and sodas. But whiskey is the best
antidote to malaria in unusual conditions such as we had
been experiencing). Soon after one of the boatmen in
front shouted " Samp, sahib, samp." I crawled out at the
end and sure enough a large grass snake was swimming
across the river just in front of the boat. I had never seen
one swimming before and the pace it went was prodigious.
The Commissioner shot it. This woke us up a bit and I soon
after got a brace of jungle cock, a number of these birds
and the black Kaleej pheasants having come down to the
river's edge to drink. We reached the landing-stage below
the faUs of this river at 2.30 and had breakfast, another
thunderstorm hovering about making this a hurried meal.
A little tramway connects the section of rapids below
the falls and the rapids above them, with the navig-
able waters higher up and, breakfast over, we got on to a
trolley and were run up to the bungalow at the Falls,
reaching the house just as a thunderstorm burst over us.
The Hne runs through thick forest with hills rising above
the river, the scenery being exceedingly picturesque. This
bungalow really forms the southern outpost of the wild
frontier country which stretches for league on league to the
north and east, the few white men who rule this part being

ii6 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

officers in charge of the scattered outposts of the Mihtary
Pohce. A soHtary hfe they lead, but a most interesting one
if the officer happens to be keen on shikar and natural
history, or geography, ethnography, or, in fact, any one of
the 'ologies.

The bungalow was to be our headquarters for the next
ten days and fishing was to be our chief sporting occupation.
This river is a fine one for mahseer, that most sporting of
Indian fish, which is angled for to some extent on much the
same lines as the salmon at home. The mahseer has a
superficial resemblance to the latter fish though of thicker
build and with larger scales and a more carp-like appearance.
This place was a well-known fishing spot to the frontier
officers though not as good as others higher up. Still twenty-
to thirty-pounders had been taken.

We spent the afternoon settling down, the river, of
course, owing to the unexpected rain, being unfishable and
this state of things lasted for the next two days. We tried,
of course, but it was useless. On the second day, the water
still being unpromising, I went twenty miles up-stream to
explore. The forests up here were practically unworked
for timber, only bamboos and canes being cut in them and
rafted down-stream. The pernicious jhuming system was
in force. A beautifully cheap existence these nomadic tribes
lived. Their houses are built of bamboos on bamboo piles
bound together with creepers and canes. Their household
utensils are chiefly made from bamboos and other property
consists of a dug-out and a goat or two. Of garments I was
going to say they had none. This is untrue. Still, they
were so scanty as to be a negligible factor in the year's
expenditure — a shilling or two covering a year's wardrobe.
All but the goat and clothes was obtained from the forest
for nothing. What a lot of money one could save by living
a nomadic existence of this kind for a year or two !

The jungles up here are extraordinarily dense and thick,
and with a total absence of roads over the hills save for
narrow footpaths or animal runs. Shooting is accordingly a
most arduous pastime, the results obtained after extremely
severe work being very small, I often discussed the question
with the Mihtary Pohce officers of these parts and they were
all of opinion that game was plentiful enough but very hard
to get.

The fauna of this great tract is of extraordinary interest,

IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS 117

and there must be amongst the smaller forms of animal life,
and especially insect life, many species as yet unknown to
science. A systematic faunistic survey of the area is badly
needed and would result in a rich reward to those under-
taking it whilst at the same time providing interesting
evidence on the distribution and spread of species and
indicating the connecting links between the western and
eastern hill ranges.

Have you ever in the wild spaces of the earth suddenly
and unexpectedly come across a fellow-countryman ? A
curious sort of feeling, almost of shyness, comes over one.
I went through this experience on my way back to-day.
We had just started down-stream in the afternoon, when on
rounding a bend I saw a large dug-out advancing and in the
centre an unmistakable sahib in a topi. I knew the
political of the fastnesses up in the north was expected up
the river, but had understood that he was to stay a day with
us on his way up and I was looking forward to meeting him.
As the approaching boat drew near my men said it was the
Political Sahib. Our boats instinctively approached each
other and we met, total strangers, as if close friends, so
tight are the bonds of country when one meets in the wilds.
We spent half an hour together and parted. It was some
years before we met again and then the conditions were
very different. The Viceroy's band was playing a most
seductive waltz, a great ballroom was ablaze with gold and
ghtter, with fair ladies and gallant men, and we were all
enjoying the golden hours, discussing the latest news
from home, admiring or otherwise each other's clothes and
talking Indian scandal.

We got very few fish this trip. The weather was against
us and all fishermen know what that means. The river was
never once in real fishing condition, although usually at this
time it is at its best. It was pure bad luck. I think five fish
between us was the total bag, the largest about fifteen
pounds. But the whole trip was most enjoyable, and my
host and myself had always much to discuss in the evening
about the events of the day. Officially also the trip was a
success, for a number of matters which had been pending
and creating friction for several years were settled. That is
one of the best sides of India. So much real solid work can
be got through out in camp, whether on a shooting trip or
otherwise, provided all parties are really keen on camp life.

ii8 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

There can be little doubt that too much sitting at head-
quarters in the office is the greatest deterrent to sound and
more rapid progress in India as it is to obtaining an adequate
knowledge of the people one has to govern or work with.

I have alluded to the mithan, the bison of these parts. My
remarks on the denseness of the forests in the Hill Tracts
would lead to the inference that there was little chance of get-
ting near these or other animals. And such is the case over
a great part of the country. In the more southern portions
of the Hill Tracts area, however, the forests are more open ;
hill-sides, probably jhumed in years gone by and so cleared
of their primeval forest, are covered with bamboo growth
only, principally the bamboo known as the muli bamboo,
the stems of which grow out of the ground singly and
not in clumps. Other tracts are covered with a tall coarse
stout grass called sunngrass. Such clearings are known
as sunnkholas and many of these were leased either by
Government or their owners and cut over yearly. It was
possible by judicious tending, removing coarse weeds, and
burning after cutting, and so on, to greatly improve the
quahty and quantity of the grass on these areas and leases
for a period of years were consequently given out.

Here and in the adjacent tree-covered areas one could
find sambhar, and the shikaris of these parts call the stags
out by imitating the rather shrill note of the hind. This
they do by placing a leaf fiat between the closed palms and
blowing on it edgeways, thus producing the doe's note to
perfection. We used to go out either before daybreak, so as
to get into position by dawn, or be in our place in the late
afternoon. There was one favourite hill of mine a mile or so
away from a planter friend's house. By proceeding east
along a mud road the neighbourhood of a nullah was
reached. This ravine was densely clothed with a magnifi-
cent and luxuriant tropical vegetation and incidentally was
full of fallen trees, monarchs whose day was done and past
and who gave a lot of trouble to the progress of the stalker.
An inspection of tracks here would almost invariably show
that there were sambhar on the slopes of the hills higher up.
The procedure then adopted was usually as follows : A man
would be sent on to scout whilst we slowly wended our way
up the nullah, wading through the water whenever it
became necessary. Sooner or later the man would return
and tell us he had marked down one or more sambhar.

IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS 119

On one such afternoon I remember the report was of two
sambhar up on the hill to our left. We accordingly moved
forward, and as soon as the ground became practicable
climbed up the steep hill-side to our right. As soon as the
dense tree growth had been left behind an examination was
made of the upper parts of the opposite slope and a stag
sambhar was spotted. The shikari then started calling the
stag, who very soon answered to the apparent hind's call
and began to move down the hill-side. As he did so he
occasionally gave forth his deep note. This was suddenly
answered or challenged by a stag's bell from higher up the
valley. The latter, however, soon ceased, probably recog-
nizing a formidable rival in the beast before us. I cannot say
that I was enamoured of this method of killing stags,
although in a dense jungle-covered country it was possibly
the surest way to attain success. But omitting the slaying
of the beast the actual calUng him up and the study of the
method of approach, especially when on a hill-side across a
valley, was most fascinating. The method may be in
existence in other parts, but I never saw it practised else-
where myself.

The southern part of the Hill Tracts District, all hilly,
the ridges, covered with a hghter jungle, in some cases
running right down into the Collectorate and ultimately
reaching the seaboard, were, as I have shown, quite shoot-
able and practicable for stalking. It was in this area just
within the borders of the Hill Tracts country that we
went to search for the mithan, April and May before the
rains had really commenced being the best months, I had
not as much time to give to this sport as I should have liked,
the work of the district being very heavy, but owing to
the positions of some of my revenue stations and disputes
over the sunnkholas, work luckily took me through this part
of the country on several occasions. The year before I
joined the district a party of three or four rifles had made a
ten days' expedition and had good sport. Heat and thirst,
I was told, were the chief drawbacks, and admittedly the
damp heat of Eastern Bengal takes it out of one far more
than the dry though even greater heat of Chota Nagpur and
the Central Provinces. The party in question shaved their
heads before starting and kept them bald, apparently, for
coolness. Although satisfactory from their point of view
the departure was not hailed enthusiastically by the ladies

120 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

of the Station, two of the party being married men, and on
their return they were left severely alone till in the course
of time their polls became presentable again.

Although the jungles were so different in character here,
a deep green being the general colouring, as was the colour
of our shikar suits (khaki being useless), the tracking was
similar in many ways to the methods in favour in Chota
Nagpur. Owing to the greater dampness in these jungles it
was, however, far easier.

I remember one occasion when we ran down a bull and the
incident is typical of the procedure.

It was late in the season, too late really for a variety of
reasons, malaria being one. I had to go out on duty in the
middle of June to meet the Collector over some dispute or
other (these Chittagonians are the most cantankerous and
litigious set of people on the face of the earth and give
unending trouble) and I determined to make use of the
occasion to visit some forests I had not yet been into. It
was two years before I had visited the major part of the
area I held charge of in this division, the country to be
gone over being so large and the facilities for travelling so
inadequate. It has since been divided into two separate
charges or divisions.

I set off, allowing myself a day to have a look for bison.
A hospitable planter friend whose tea garden was situated on
the northern boundary of the district, the most remote of all
the tea gardens in these parts, was to be my host and I had
a very interesting ride to get to his place. Two rivers had
to be crossed in the morning and, safely negotiating these,
I arrived at midday at a little village, changing ponies on
the way. My second mount, sent out for me by my friend,
was a plucky little beast and gave no trouble at the second
crossing, unlike the other cross-grained brute, who got
engulfed in black mud and was only extricated with con-
siderable difficulty. At the village I found the place I
wanted to inspect was a mile away by a village path. I set
off to walk this. The Station was most prettily situated on
the edge of a small river and entirely buried in bamboo
clumps. No European had apparently been here for years.
The inspection completed, I walked back to the village, ate
my sandwiches, and then climbing on to a big horse, also
belonging to my friend, I set off for his bungalow. That was
a hot ride, the road being a new-made earth one. We had

IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS 121

had a fair amount of rain already and the horse floundered
about in the soft earth like a camel on a wet road. I was
jolly glad to get in, and a warm welcome awaited me.
Incidentally I did my friend a very bad turn in connexion
with his new road. My kit was coming along on an elephant
and the idiot of a mahout, with the official menial's disregard
for anything and anyone non-official, took his beast right
up the centre of the new soft road, gouging out two-foot-
deep circular holes with every stride the animal took. Most
enraging can these men be. The elephant plus the mahout
belonged to the Commissioner and not to me, but that did
not make matters easier.

Two-thirty a.m. saw me awakened next morning. A cup
of tea and I dressed and had a solid meal in the dining-room.
My friend was safely in bed and I envied him and devoutly
wished I had never arranged to set out at such an unearthly
hour.

The forests of this part of India are quite unlike the dry,
hot jungles of Chota Nagpur and the Central Provinces.
Here the great heat is present but with it an atmosphere
impregnated with moisture. Consequently one lives in a
greenhouse temperature, and the flora is characteristic of
such a temperature. A great number of species of giant
timber trees fill the valleys and stretch up the lower
slopes of the hills, with an under-story of smaller soft-wood
species, cane brakes and grass, alternate with great expanses
of scrub growth of soft-wood species or whole hill-sides
clothed with bamboos — the two latter the aftermath of the
jhumer. The commonest bamboo is known as the muli
{Melocanna hamhusioides) which does not grow in clumps,
each stem coming singly out of the ground from a ramifi-
cated underground rhizome. As the stems often grow very
thickly together it becomes very difficult to make one's way
through them, and even more difficult to pick up a bison in
such jungle. Tracking, owing to the soft ground, is easy,
and the peril of the dry leaf and snapping twig underfoot is
absent. The great difficulty I experienced was to pick out
an animal in these new surroundings. In Chota Nagpur I
had learnt to pick up a bison in its natural environment
with fair ease. But that experience did not help me very
much here. The sea of green in these jungles was of a totally
different colouring and density with, consequently, as an
artist will reaUze, a complete alteration in the play of hght

122 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

and shade. The difficulty was at its worst on the hill-sides
covered with dense muli bamboo growth.

When we set out on our quest, though the sky was over-
cast and it was pitch dark the rain held off.

The going was fair at first as we only had to follow the
road running through the tea garden and connecting with
one of the few main district roads existing in this part of the
world. After proceeding in silence for about an hour (there
was no cause for silence, but one is not in a talkative mood
at this hour in the morning) we quitted the road and got
on to a village path. We went through several small
villages, being greeted by the village pi-dogs with the usual
vociferous pandemonium ; in one instance the village chow-
kidar was awake and we stayed a moment to have a few
words with him. After quitting this village we entered the
outskirts of the big high tree forest, and the going soon got
so bad that I ordered a halt. It would be hght in another
half-hour, and I particularly wanted to see as much of this
forest tract — one of the greatest interest to a forester and
naturalist — as possible. The shikari with me was of a rather
superior kind. He was a fairly well-educated Mahommedan,
occupying a post as overseer on the tea garden, and had
earned a great reputation as a shikari of parts, and I fancy
as a first-class poacher to judge from the interesting con-
versation we had at intervals. But he was passionately
fond of the jungle and of shooting, and was quite prepared
to stand up to a mithan if a sahib was by his side. He
carried my second rifle with permission to use it if necessary.
Altogether a novel article in shikaris in my experience.

That day stands out vividly in my memory not only on
account of the bison encounter which took place. It was
the vast stretch of great tropical forest in which we became
engulfed which caught and held the imagination. Giant
trees of great girth and height and of many different species
stood up like the pillars of some vast cathedral, their
crowns hidden by a lower story of vegetation, smaller trees,
bamboos of several species, besides the little muli, cane
brakes, and an infinite variety of shrubs. The prevailing
colour was many shades of green. Progression was not
difficult as we kept to animal runs, but the going was very
heavy on the lower levels, and in these areas ten yards was
the range of vision. As we climbed the hills the character
of the forests changed, the trees thinning out, and often

IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS

123

dense areas of pure muli bamboo growing thickly together
alone occupied the hill-side. These areas were the result
of jhuming, the fine timber trees which had previously occu-
pied them having been ruthlessly cut down and burnt.

It was nearing eleven o'clock and some rays of sunlight
were shedding a vivid brilliance over the wonderful scene
when we came upon the first tracks of a herd of mithan.
We came upon them quite suddenly after getting into a
valley. The animals were evidently not far away, and after
a cursory examination we commenced to follow. The
Mahommedan said there were about twenty animals in the

'''l?i<C,^^''f'

herd. We were neither of us in as hard condition as we
would have liked, and the long march had begun to become
fatiguing. But all trace of lassitude now disappeared.
Silently we left the valley and chmbed the hill, the forest
opening out with clumps of bamboos and little clearings
appearing at intervals. We had just come to the edge of
one of the latter when my companion touched my arm. I
glanced at him and then in the direction in which he was
gazing. I saw a clump of bamboos on the far edge with a
dense mass of bamboos and other growth behind. In this
mass a dim black shape loomed up. In the dense green

124 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

shade and the curious play of Hght due to the sunHght
filtering through, it was not easy at first to reahze that I
was looking at a mithan. I shifted my position so as to
get the bamboo clump between myself and the animal, and
then signifying to the shikari that he should wait I cautiously
advanced into the clearing. I got half across, bent double,
when a warning snort broke the silence. I dropped on my
knee and fired almost at once at the part of the indistinct
mass I could see, distant about thirty yards. The shot
was followed by bellows and crashes in all directions and
I fell flat on my chest. The stampede which ensued was
no new sound to my ears, and luckily all the animals were
in front of us and went away ahead. I saw none of them, and
the indistinct shape had disappeared. I crawled back to the
shikari. I found him ensconced in a bamboo clump. Re-
loading the empty barrel of my rifle we circled the clearing
to the right and cautiously approached the spot at which
the animal had stood. The Mahommedan said it was a
big old bull, and had lurched forward to the shot and then
bolted with the rest. We soon found blood and determined
to follow at once. For an hour we followed the blood trail,
every moment expecting to find the bison, who was evidently
hard hit. The going was arduous and the strain on the
nerves severe, and I at length came to the end of my tether,
sat down and took out my lunch. I held up ten fingers
signifying I would halt ten minutes. For another three
hours we followed the tracks. We had then reached the
side of a hill of fairly open growth, and from here looked
across at the face of a lower hill entirely covered with a
dense crop of muli bamboos. Suddenly my companion
halted and gazed intently at the latter. I stood and looked,
and after a short space distinctly saw the gleam of a bison's
horns. We sat down and watched. There could be no
doubt about it. A bison was slowly making its way through
the bamboos. We crawled slowly to a spot where we
should be out of view and then walked rapidly ahead,
dropped into the valley and climbed diagonally up the
opposite slope. It was terrific going endeavouring to force
one's way through the densely growing stems without
alarming the bison ; but fortunately the rain had come on
again and to some extent deadened the sound of our move-
ments. The shikari was moving close on my left. Suddenly
through the green stems I saw rise up the head and horns

IN THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS 125

of a bison directly fronting me. I fired at the forehead,
a useless shot, but it floored the bison. I heard my com-
panion fire. The animal was not twenty-five yards away.
I hurriedly reloaded and had only just jammed the cartridge
home when a stmggling shape rose sideways. I sighted and
fired as did my companion, though I had shouted to him
to reserve his fire. The bison dropped, and a dead silence
supervened. My companion wanted to go forward ; he
was mad with excitement — not the type to take out bison-
shooting as I had discovered. I would not permit this.
We fetched a compass round approaching from the opposite
side, and bombarded the carcase with sodden clods and
masses of refuse as soon as near enough. When satisfied
we went up and found the bull dead, lying on a mass of
smashed bamboos which his great weight had snapped.

CHAPTER X

THE JUNGLES OF THE BENGAL DUARS AND ASSAM

Fauna of Bengal Duars and Assam — Country to east and south — The
rivers — Forest growth — Magnificent fauna sanctuaries — Disappear-
ance of big game in western part — The Tista Division — Methods of
shooting — -Rhinoceros — Types of forest — Game formerly abundant
in Duars — Migration of elephants to hills — Sambhar — Reason for
smaller heads — Sitting up over a salt-lick — Shift my post — The
zareba — Moonlight in the forest — A sambhar appears — Night noises
— An unexpected intruder — A tiger kills the sambhar — An uncertain
shot — An anxious vigil — The morning's discovery.

A SCORE of years ago, and less even than that, the
elephant, bison, rhinoceros, all shy animals and
animals requiring extensive jungles to live in,
roamed through the great jungles of the Bengal
Duars and Assam from the Jalpaiguri Forest Division
eastwards, in numbers that may be characterized as large
without undue exaggeration.

Those who have a first-hand acquaintance with these
jungles at the present day could tell a very different tale.
And yet these great jungles still form, or could be made to
form, an ideal sanctuary for game life, and animal life,
speaking in a zoological sense, of this part of India.

To the west of the area under consideration stretch the
extensive forests of the plains and submontane hills of
Nepal, a country closed to shooting to the European save

126

JUNGLES OF BENGAL DUARS AND ASSAM 127

by invitation of the Ruler or Durbar. To the east the
Naga and Manipur Jungles of Eastern Assam stretch
across the Chindwin River into the extensive, almost
illimitable jungles of Upper Burma and still further east
into Chinese Yunnan. South in the western area the great
jungles are bounded by the cultivated plains, whilst in
their eastern sections they stretch, as we have already seen
in a previous chapter, southwards through the rough table-
land of the Khasia and Garo Hills and the Lushai Hills
into the Chittagong Hill Tracts and Chittagong Collectorate,
and still further east, south of Manipur, through the Chin
Hills into the Arakan Hill Tracts to Akyab on the sea-
coast. On the north this extensive tract of country is
bounded by the great chain of the Eastern Himalaya,
Bhutan and the outlying parts of Tibet, rising more or less
steeply out of the plains, and forming a natural barrier to
the further extension of the fauna of the region in that
direction. The great Brahmaputra, that highway of Assam,
drains north-eastern Assam as its great tributary, the
Megna, does the south, the former eventually joining the
Ganges. The two rivers best known to the sportsman are the
Tista on the west, coming from Sikkim and flowing down the
beautiful Tista Valley, and the Monas on the eastern borders
of Assam, famed for its mahseer fishing. The tract of
country under consideration is for the greater part under
forests, in the form of fine primeval high forest of valu-
able timber trees and other soft-wooded species of all ages
and in great variety, varied by extensive tracts covered
by bamboos, cane brakes, grasses, or scrub jungle.

The whole of this area is not under the management of the
Indian Forest Department. We have seen that Nepal is an
independent State, to give one exception. So is Bhutan to
the east of Nepal. But a vast tract of the area above
roughly enumerated is under the charge of the Department,
either in the form of Reserves, Protected, or Unclassed
Forests. Perhaps nowhere in India is to be found so large
an extent of practically conterminous heavy jungle — jungles
capable of forming a permanent sanctuary to the larger and
shier, as equally to some of the smaller and rarer forms of
zoological life and to forms which are at present unknown
to science. Nowhere throughout the Indian Empire is the
zoological life of greater interest to the scientist, and in no
other part would the institution of great permanent sane-

128 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

tuaries be more feasible or prove of such high /alue both
in the interests of the maintenance of the fauna and of its
study.

The opening of the country has been largely responsible for
the restriction of the animals' haunts in Bengal and Assam.
For instance the Western Duars no longer contain sufficiently
extensive jungles to harbour rhinoceros and buffalo. To the
apathy displayed in the past by the authorities in this region
is attributable the deterioration of the stock almost to the
verge of extinction. The forests are in large blocks, and it
would have been sufficient to enforce the existing rules
under the Forest Act. Neglect on this score has now
reduced the numbers of such animals as rhinoceros, buffalo
and bison to such small figures that deterioration if not
extinction must follow. This point, i.e. the neglect to
enforce existing rules and regulations, applies, or applied
till recently, generally throughout India.

In Assam sanctuaries have been in existence for some
years in Goalpara and elsewhere, and these are closed to all
shooting. In Jalpaiguri and the Buxa Duars no rhinoceros,
buffalo or bison may be shot at all, as the forests are
nominally sanctuaries for these anirnals, but the blocks of
forest are too small to contain animals of such wandering
propensities. Access to the Bhutan Hills during the hot
weather is also now cut off, owing to the settlements of
Nepalis on the outer hills. The animals thus have a much
restricted habitat, and cannot get away into the outer
hills as formerly during the fly season in the hot weather.

Fortunately Burma was disarmed comparatively recently,
and the Government has not granted gun licences in anything
like the same numbers as elsewhere. In many places game
is believed to have increased, but the European sportsman
has been at work there and the fine herds of brow-antlered
deer or Thamin {Cervus Eldi) were almost exterminated
before measures of protection were introduced. Deteriora-
tion must of necessity follow even if the race does not
become exterminated.

During a delightful two years' sojourn in charge of the
Tista Division with headquarters in the beautiful little
hill station of Kalimpong, four thousand feet up in the
Himalaya (British Sikkim), and some twenty-five miles to
the east of Darjiling, I was able to make some acquaintance
with the plains fauna of the Bengal Duars, the western

- H

i o

JUNGLES OF BENGAL DUARS AND ASSAM 129

part of the area I am discussing. Some years later I was
able to extend my observations during a tour through
Goalpara to the east of the Bengal Duars, and still further
east into the Tezpur jungles.

They are magnificent jungles in this western tract, alike
in many characteristics to the great Terai jungles of North-
West India, which we shall consider later, but so unlike in
others. The sal tree, which reaches the eastern boundary
of its range near Tezpur, forms the principal species com-
mercially in these great forests as it does in the Terai, but
how different is their character ! Here in the east the

climate is very hot and very damp, with the consequence
that the vegetation is exceedingly dense, abounding in
creepers, undergrowth, and tall grass, almost impervious,
save to the elephant, '"hinoceros and buffalo, whilst the
luxuriant growth of canes, bamboos, giant creepers, a
variety of brilliant flowering shrubs, and gorgeous-coloured
orchids point to the tropical nature of the area. The grass
both in and outside the forests is dense and high, and
shooting save from the back of an elephant is almost an
impossibility, if results are to be secured. Practically the
only other method is to sit in a machan. In the foothills
to the north the rhinoceros is sometimes pursued on foot,

130 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

the animal being tracked down into some mud-hole where
he is wallowing, keeping off the flies and passing away the
heat of the day ; but such work is extremely arduous in
the terrific and enervating heat. I never had the chance
of trying it myself, which was disappointing, as I should
have liked to compare it with bison tracking in Chota
Nagpur, the Central Provinces and elsewhere.

Further to the north in Assam and to the east a different
type of forest — the so-called " evergreen " forest — is met
with. These areas are still more impenetrable, canes,
creepers, bamboos, and tall grass forming dense thickets
beneath the high tree growth. Shooting in these jungles,
as already indicated in the Chittagong Hill Tracts which
have a similar type of forest, is an extremely difficult,
arduous and usually barren pastime.

It was a glorious two years, those years spent in the
Tista Division. My work kept me down in the plains all
the cold weather. The country here is covered with inimit-
able stretches of tea cultivation interspersed with patches
of heavy jungle of varying size belonging either to the tea
gardens or under the management of the Forest Depart-
ment. Game at this period was abundant, although already
a note of alarm at its decrease was being sounded by the
older planters who were fond of descanting on its abundance
in the " good old days," as they called them. Of course
the clearances of great tracts of primeval forest and jungle
for tea cultivation would have a natural effect on the
distribution of the animals previously existing in the
locality, and the probability is that at the time I am writing
of the animals were nearly as abundant only they had
retired to a greater distance from the areas cleared for
cultural purposes. Anyway, at the period of my first
acquaintance with this area it was a paradise for sport.
Tiger may be said to have been plentiful, leopard numerous,
bison (gaur) not yet exterminated from these western areas,
and elephants yearly visitants in the monsoon months. In
fact some probably remained all the year round, retiring up
into the higher hills to the north during the hot weather
when the big horse-flies proved too much of a curse even
for the thick skins of these pachyderms.

It was ever a source of interest to me to travel up into
the mountains from the plains forests by one of these
elephant paths or runs. Hollowed out or beaten down

JUNGLES OF BENGAL DUARS AND ASSAM 131

throughout the centuries by generations upon generations
of these great beasts, the track was an interesting and
stupendous sight. Usually following a steep gradient up
the hill-side the soil
pressed down into a
solid rock-like con-
sistency, the track
would on occasions
reach a steepish preci-
pice of solid rock. In
the face of this giant
footsteps appeared, to
all seeming hewn out
of the solid rock and
subsequently rubbed
smooth as pumice
stone. Perhaps at the
foot a beautifully clear
silent pool would be
situated, overarched
by clumps of feathery
bamboos with the
crowns of the great
forest trees far above
them. It was difficult
to conceive how the great beasts managed to climb this
precipice by way of the giant footsteps, and yet these latter
have been worn out by generations undertaking the summer
outing to the hills. There was no other road. They went
up and, more incredible and astonishing even they returned,
by the one track.

Sambhar were abundant although the heads of this
animal ran much smaller in this part of the world than one
had been accustomed to in the Central Provinces and Chota
Nagpur, or in the jungles of North-West India. Whether
this fact has ever been authoritatively explained I am not
aware. A number of reasons have been stated from time
to time, but no proof appears to have substantiated them.
Perhaps the damper more tropic heat may have something
to do with the lessened growth of the horn structure of the
CervidcB and the greater weight the animals scale.

I know that it is contended that the thicker growth of
the low jungle has resulted in the stags developing smaller

132 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

horns to enable them to get through the dense tangle with
greater ease. But this, on the other hand, does not explain
the decrease in the size of heads of the red deer in Scotland,
where the deer " forests " are absolutely treeless and
destitute of any scrubby growth which would afford an
impediment to the horns of the stags.

One of the best methods of securing sambhar or of
watching them, a pastime I was much addicted to, was to
sit up in a machan over a salt-hck. The animals used to

resort at night to
^ these areas, a saline

deposit of varying but
usually small extent
on the surface of the
ground, and on moon-
light nights it was
most interesting to
watch such places.
Many hours I passed
in a machan situated
in a little nullah just
off the Tista River
where it debouches
from the hills into the
plains. There was a
famous salt-lick here
which was resorted
to by numberless
animals, and the attendances enabled me to form a fair idea
of the abundance of wild life in that area. Of course I was
not always successful in my vigils. On certain bitterly cold
nights in the winter I remember passing some very miserable
hours, vowing that I would never again give up a night
between the blankets in a warm bed for such a questionable
form of amusement. But the vow always appeared a
foolish one a day or two later, and the fascination exerted
by the jungle folk and their ways invariably drew me back
again and again.

I remember with peculiar vividness one particularly
cold night just before Christmas, both on account of the
petrifying cold and because it was one of the few occasions,
I think the only one, on which I saw a tiger at this particular
place. A party of men from the garrison in Darjiling were

JUNGLES OF BENGAL DUARS AND ASSAM 133

coming down for a week's Christmas shoot with me. Our
first camp was to be in the neighbourhood of the salt-Uck
in question, and a day or two before I determined to spend
the night in the machan and see what animals were in the
vicinity.

I may say that there was a smaller salt-lick situated
upon a little plateau about a mile and a half from the one
I usually watched. On the edge of the smaller one I had
had constructed a tiny zareba of branches and thorns on
the ground. On occasions I watched here and sometimes
if the big salt-lick proved blank I changed my quarters,
but this only on very bright moonlight nights. With the
perverseness of the jungle folk on some nights the small
lick would be visited by all the animals in the vicinity
whilst the larger one, where I sat up aloft, remained deserted.
Nevertheless, I preferred the latter as one could see more
when perched up above the ground, and the risk of fever
was infinitely less.

On the night in question I changed my abode, shifting
from the machan to the zareba at about midnight, up to
which hour I had seen no sign of pad or hoof. The reason
I gave myself was that I really wished to know what
animals were about for the sake of my expected friends.
The true facts were, however, that I was so appallingly
cold that I felt I could not sit up there another minute ;
also a slight mist was coming up from the river and I felt
sure it would thicken later. The chattering of my orderly's
teeth, too, got on my nerves, and when I tried to lift the
rifle I found I could not feel it at all. Get out of that
machan I must, and it meant either bed or the zareba.
I had intended bed, but after getting down and stamping
some circulation into my feet and hands, to the orderly's
speechless disgust, I gave the order for a move to the
zareba.

My three years in India, whilst inoculating me with a zest
for all pertaining to the jungles and jungle life, had hardly
instilled into me that sufficient knowledge which results in
the intuitive exercise of a certain amount of caution or dis-
cretion, call it which you will, whilst out hunting in the
forest. It is that instinctive caution which animates the
jungle-man. He does not move about unknown jungles in
the dark, and on the occasion in question my orderly, a man
from the Nepal Hills and plucky enough in the daytime,

134 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

was perhaps justified in his exhibition of distrust at my
proceedings. However, he came along, all honour to him,
for he knew the risk better than I did. As a matter of fact
the rest of the night's proceedings opened my eyes not a
little. How casually one takes these jungle experiences
whilst they are happening. All in the day's work one passes
from incident to incident and episode to episode, getting
perhaps in and out of a tight place with scarce an after-
thought, for several weeks together. And then a long period
without event supervenes, to be once more followed by a
period of incidents. To look back at or write about, these
exciting portions of jungle life loom so much more largely
in the eye than they do, I will not say at the time of their
occurrence for then they may be exciting enough in all
conscience ; but when the lapse of a few days has brought
some new interest or episode into the foreground of one's
camp life.

I digress with a reason for our change to the zareba on
this particular occasion ran us up against one of the exciting
experiences of jungle life and one which might easily have
turned out otherwise. For on such apparently trivial
happenings hang the decisions in these jungle adventures.
The adventure occurred in this way.

We soon covered the mile and a half from the machan
to the zareba, I proceeding in front, rifle at full cock and the
orderly following behind, teeth still playing their tune,
though it was not perhaps now solely due to cold. For
myself, as soon as I had restored my circulation and the
resultant pricking pains had departed I was perfectly happy.
Our climb quickly took us out of the thin mist through
undergrowth which was sopping wet. The forest in the
bright moonlight was like fairyland, the foliage glinting
and glancing as it caught the rays of moonhght. We went
as fast as the jungle growth permitted, and in a little over
half an hour were inside the zareba. I call it a zareba, but
truth to say it merely consisted of branches stuck into the
ground and intertwined with jungle creepers and bits of
thorny shrubs. It was quite sufficient to hide us, but a half-
grown sambhar or a pig could have run through it with ease.
Once ensconced in our hiding-place I took a pull at a flask
of strong whiskey and water, devoured some biscuits, and
then prepared myself for the rest of the vigil.

The night was a perfectly still one, the leaves hanging

JUNGLES OF BENGAL DUARS AND ASSAM 135

motionless from tree and shrub in the bright moonhght
which fell full upon the small glade in which the salt-Hck
was situated. Our zareba lay in dense shadow as did the
greater part of the surrounding forest, patches of moon-
light appearing only in one or two places beyond the
clearing. The forest was alive with sound ; the crickets
were shrieking as usual, night bush warblers and other
nocturnal birds were voicing their sibilant or harsh notes,
whilst at intervals the hoarse haunting hoot of owls rose on
the night air, sounding hke the cries of lost souls in pur-
gatory. Weirdly uncanny are some of the night cries and
sounds in an Indian forest. For an hour, perhaps longer,
I sat and watched the httle glade hstening to these varying
night sounds with always that persistent under note of the
crickets. Once a khakar suddenly and silently appeared
out of the darkness of the forest and stood ghostly grey in
the clearing. For a brief space he remained as though
carved in stone, intently listening, and then vanished as
quietly as he had come.

I was beginning to wonder whether the vigil was to be a
blank when I suddenly saw two round beads of fire, twin
stars set close together in the darkness of the forest on the
other side of the clearing. I first thought of fire-flies, to
dismiss the idea as quickly as it had flashed across my
mind. An animal, and from their height probably a
sambhar, I surmised. No sound had I heard and for
minutes nothing happened, only at times the stars dis-
appeared as" the wary animal moved its head from side to
side and nosed the air for enemies. For a full minute the
points of hght disappeared altogether, and I was beginning
to fear that the animal had retreated when I suddenly
heard a shght rustle a httle to the right of where they had
appeared, and immediately afterwards a fine stag sambhar
stepped quietly out into the clearing. Stepped out and
came to a halt, head erect, muzzle pushed forward, nostrils
dilated, and ears flicked to the front. He stood there as if
carved in bronze, the moonhght turning to silver his antlers
and upper parts, the rest being in dense shadow.

I had not come out to kill so much as to watch, and I
had not made up my mind as to whether I should fire or
not when fate intervened, and one of the tragedies of the
forest was enacted before my eyes. Almost without a
sound a mighty black shadow, coming from our right rear,

136 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

hurled itself through the air, and with a startled appealing
bellow the lordly stag was borne to earth. A struggle of
wildly kicking hoofs, a few gasps and gurgles and a rifle
shot awoke the quiet depths of the forest.

As the dark shadow hurtled through the air I gasped
with amazement, and was conscious of a sudden frightened
ejaculation from my companion. With the fall of the stag
I came back to the realities, and keeping my fascinated eyes
fixed upon the drama being enacted before them raised the
rifle and so far as it was possible in the medley of conflicting
black and silver shadows on the ground sighted on the black
shape and fired. The sharp report was answered by a
deafening roar, a roar which I afterwards interpreted as one
of fright and rage, and a black and silver form leapt across
the clearing and disappeared into the forest opposite,
almost at the point from which the stag had issued. The
briefest interval of crushing and rustling bushes and then
a deep silence ensued. The stag lay inert, evidently dead.

I drew a deep breath. The shape was a tiger, and I
wondered whether it had been stalking us when the sambhar
had so opportunely appeared on the scene, or whether it
was as unaware of our presence as we were of his.

These were my first speculations, but they were soon
succeeded by the tantalizing hopes and fears as to whether
I had hit him or not. The whole drama was one of seconds
only — could not have been longer. It had all occurred in a
flash — the hurtling shadow, the felling of the sambhar to
the ground, the report of the rifle and retreat of the tiger.
And yet it had left different conditions behind it in the
little clearing. The crickets, it is true, soon restarted their
seance if indeed they had ever interrupted it, but otherwise
a deeper silence pervaded the forest for other night sounds
had ceased. We ourselves were very much on the alert
and not a little uncomfortable, and passed the rest of the
night sitting back to back very broad awake with our
cocked rifles, for I luckily had two weapons with me, ready
for instant use. My mind was in a whirl of anxiety as to
the result of my shot and my inexperience led me to fear
that I might have made more sure of my shot had I waited
till the struggle was over. But I had fired without stopping
to consider details. It was with a feeling of great relief
that at length I perceived the waning moonlight give place
to the first pale note of the dawn. Soon the trees began to

JUNGLES OF BENGAL DUARS AND ASSAM 137

stand out dim and grey from the surrounding twilight, and
with the wonderful abruptness of the East the dawn arrived.
Cautiously and quietly. we left the zareba and walked up to
the dead sambhar. It lay on its side, head and neck out-
stretched and throat torn open and, as we soon discovered,
with a bullet through the heart. So my shot had missed
the tiger or, at any rate, had killed the sambhar, if it was
not already dead at the time I fired, which appearances
seemed to indicate. We made a short survey of the neigh-
bouring grass for blood, but found none, and then I deemed
it to be more prudent to get back to camp and fetch the
elephant. I spent the morning searching for that tiger,
but found no traces of blood. It appeared evident that,
as ill-luck would have it, the bullet aimed at the strugghng
mass on the ground hit the dying or dead victim and missed
the marauder, which is exactly the kind of mischance which
so often happens in sport, and probably accounts for half
its elusive attraction and charm.

The incident proved, however, a most cheerful and
exciting piece of news to give to the guests of the Christmas
party on their arrival, and I feel sure that each man retired
to roost on the first night with the conviction that he would
meet a tiger during his first day's sport in such a delectable
region.

\ 1^-^"

CHAPTER XI

THE JUNGLES OF SOUTHERN INDIA

The jungles of Southern India — Description of country — Gotacamund —
The Goty Hunt — A boar at close quarters — The river system —
Denudation of forests— Cauvery Power Works — Game of the country
— Malabar and Kanara — Dense jungles — Flora and hunting con-
ditions— -A queer shikari and a bull bison — Anacondu, shikari —
Malabar jungles at night — A morning sunrise- — A long trek after a
great herd — Run into the bison — An impatient shikari — Wound a
bull — Follow the trail— Typical jungle scenes — Come up with bull
again — He again makes off — Dense bamboo jungle— The final tussle.

THE fine jungles of Southern India cover a very
considerable area of the great triangular tract of
country situated to the south of the Nerbudda
River. This territory comprises the Native
State of Travancore, famed amongst shikaris for its glorious
sporting possibilities ; the Annamallies and Palni Hills ;
the Wynaad, Coorg, Malabar and Kanara Forests. East-
wards the jungles stretch through Southern Mysore to
Denkanicotta. The heavy forests fringing the Western
Ghats run from Malabar northwards as far as Sangor in the
Central Provinces, and those along the Eastern Ghats are
also prolonged northwards on that side of the country to
Sambalpur in the Central Provinces, and on into Chota
Nagpur to the north-east. The Nizam's Dominions of the
Great Haiderabad State are situated in the North Central
portion of the triangle, and contain jungles which afford
an asylum to most of the varieties of big game — an asylum
in which the game conservancy policy undertaken for some

138

THE JUNGLES OF SOUTHERN INDIA 139

years past should result in maintaining, if not increasing,
the head of game.

What a country this great tract is for the sportsman !
Here the elephant and bison roam in numbers which,
owing to the extent and density of the jungles in many
parts, have remained almost unaffected by the rifle. The
poacher has done infinitely more damage ; and that dreaded
scourge which resembles a form of anthrax, from which
elephant, bison, buffalo and deer appear to be alike subject
to decimation.

The territory here dealt with is broken up into series of
hills, rising even to mountains, culminating towards the
south in the beautiful Ootacamund Hills, a stretch of turf-
covered downs reaching eight thousand feet in elevation,
interspersed here and there with little jungle-filled cup-
shaped depressions termed " sholas," and artificially formed
Eucalyptus plantations.

The Ootacamund Downs provide an excellent hunting-
ground, and Ooty has a first-class Hunt, the conditions of the
chase being more reminiscent of home than is the case with any
of the other Hunts I have been out with in India and Burma.

The animal hunted, as is usual in India, is the jackal,
and fine gallops are enjoyed over the rolling downs, the
only drawbacks being the treacherous bogs and swamps
which are encountered and have to be crossed at the bottom
of the slopes ; and the sholas into which the hunted jack
seeks shelter. The shola may be occupied by anything
from a tiger, leopard, sambhar, boar, down to smaller fry.
The hounds running a jack into a shola naturally follow in
after him. And herein lies the danger. For if any of the
larger game animals should be in the way hounds quit the
old quarry for the new and commence to bay it, often with
exciting results. Many a fine hound is lost in this way —
English hounds imported from home at great expense. So
dense is the evergreen forest and undergrowth of these
sholas that they are almost impenetrable. The huntsmen
and Master carry heavy revolvers for these occasions. But
it often requires pluck of no ordinary kind to use them. I
remember a yarn which was going round Ooty on my
arrival there one season. The week before hounds ran
their jack into a shola and followed in. Within a very
short space bedlam broke loose inside. The hounds had
got on to an old boar. The few riders up did their best to

140 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

see what was going on, but the jungle was too thick. A
piercing shriek or two and the furious grunts of the boar
made it too evident that the hounds were getting the worst
of it. The revolver was produced and a volunteer called
for to use it. " V.C." Alymer formed one of the party and
volunteered to go in. He did so on all fours. He worked
his way up somehow to the centre of the din and put a
couple of bullets into piggy at point-blank range. Two
fine hounds were killed that morning besides others wounded.
I must get back to my description of this southern area.
Great rivers, such as the Godavery in the north, the Kistna,
and the Cauvery intersect the country, filled by many an
important tributary and rushing torrent descending from
the hilly areas. All these rivers flow eastwards to the
coast. The main branch of the Godavery rises near Bombay,
two-thirds of the river flowing through the Haiderabad
State. They all flow through the forest-clad highlands of
the Deccan, finally reaching the flat, alluvial delta of the
coast. In the Wynaad, Coorg, and other parts, consider-
able areas of forest have been cleared from the hill-sides by
the planters for the cultivation of coffee and other crops ;
whilst fire and axe, before the systematic conservation of
the forests came into force, resulted in a serious decrease of
the forest area in parts of the hilly tracts. These clearances
have had some effect on the maintenance of the level of
the water supply in the rivers, and have also resulted in
erosion on the uncovered slopes, leading to devastating
floods. The great floods of 1908 in Haiderabad are directly
attributable to this cause. Many other parts of India have
paid a like penalty for the ignorance displayed in the past in
this matter. The apathy evinced towards the question of
the necessity of maintaining the catchment areas of the rivers
under forest is amazing when it is remembered that India
is primarily an agricultural country, and that irrigation is
so commonly employed for the cultivation of the crops.
Now that the rivers of India are being harnessed for the
production of power, such as the Cauvery in Mysore, to
supply the power for the Kola Gold Fields, one of the
first instances of a river being utihsed in this fashion in the
country, this question of the protection of the mountain
and hill slopes by forest is one the importance of which is
becoming fully recognized. But I well remember on the
occasion of my visit to the Cauvery Power Works, anxiety

THE JUNGLES OF SOUTHERN INDIA 141

being expressed as to the possibility of the level of the
Cauvery falling in the hot season below the point necessary
for the provision of the power required.

The realization of the necessity of maintaining under
forest the hilly tracts of the country, ensures the conser-
vation of a great tract of forest country which will afford
shelter to the jungle denizens, and we may hope that the
day will never arise when the jungles of Southern India
will fail to afford an asylum to the animals which render
them of such high interest to the shikari and naturalist.

I have alluded to the elephant and bison as being, speak-
ing generally, distributed through the denser portions of
these jungles. With them are the tiger and leopard, the
deer, such as the sambhar, spotted deer, barking deer,
antelope, represented by the little Indian gazelle or
chinkara, and so forth.

Until 1870 elephants could be shot anywhere, but since
then the shooting of this animal has been prohibited in all
areas under the Government of India, though permission
is still given in the Native States, such as Travancore.

My knowledge of the sport obtainable in these southern
jungles was derived during three trips paid at varying
intervals to parts of the Mysore, Coimbatore and Anna-
mally jungles, to the South Kanara and Malabar Forests,
and to some of the scrub forests on the eastern coast. The
varying character of the forest visited determined the
nature of the large fauna to be sought for. But bison and
sambhar, as also elephants, though they were taboo, I
saw plenty of. Tiger and leopard were tried for with
indifferent success so far as the former animal was con-
cerned. But this was primarily due to the fact that I
never had the time to sit down and carry out a prearranged
plan of campaign against them — a matter of necessity where
success is to be made reasonably secure. A novel kind of
sport to me, outside th^ Himalaya, was the ibex stalking
in the Coimbatore Hills, but my knowledge of this was
confined to three well-remembered days.

Bears are, of course, common in parts, but with bigger
game to encounter I never wasted much time over them
down here. Groves of the date palm are a common sight
in this part of India. The owners tap the trees by making
incisions in the stem, catching the sweet sap in small
earthen pots. This sap ferments quickly in the sun and

142 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

then becomes a strong intoxicant. Bears are very partial
to this drink, which is known as toddy, and smash the
pots to get at it. They say that it makes them drunk ! I
never saw an intoxicated bear. Uncouth as his actions
always are he would be a comical sight when drunk.

Bison were the animals I chiefly tried for, and in the
dense jungles on the Kanara and Malabar side he provides a
magnificent sport. But one must be in hard condition to
enjoy it and obtain success.

These great jungles are dense and high, giant forest
trees of teak and other species being interspersed with
large clumps of the giant bamboo, its slender side branches
armed with long, sharp spikes, causing extreme discomfort
when one finds one's clothes, and often flesh as well, impaled
on them ; dense cane brakes have to be skirted, areas of
tussocky grass negotiated, whilst the going underfoot, so
far as my experience goes, consists of a heavy mire deeply
impressed with the footprints made by wild elephants (a
foot or two deep these), bison, sambhar, and so forth,
amongst which one flounders, stumbles and sinks as in a
giant morass. Throw in a damp greenhouse temperature
of between 90 degrees and 100 degrees, and you have the
conditions under which the sportsman pursues and enjoys
the cream of big game shooting in Malabar.

And both jungles and sport are magnificent. I remember
a day, a very long day, I had with a shikari named Anacondu,
as vividly as if the events had taken place only yesterday.

Anacondu, quite a fine type of the native shikaris of
that part of the world, had been lent to me owing to the
extraordinary behaviour of the man I first took on. The
latter had, or was supposed to have, some reputation as a
tracker and shikari of parts. In the former capacity I had
no fault to find with him. After tracking an old solitary
bull bison for some six weary hours through pestilentially
thick and hot jungle for the most part, we came to a rise
in the ground and started to cHmb a small hill covered with
a coarse tussocky grass, with scattered, small trees and a
few bamboo clumps. All the evidence went to show that
the bison was close, and we expected to find him lying up
in the shade of one of the trees or bamboo clumps. Half-way
up the hill — we were climbing it bent almost double — my
companion touched me on the arm and went silently
forward round a small clump of bamboos. He soon re

THE JUNGLES OF SOUTHERN INDIA 143

appeared and beckoned me forward. I wormed my way
to him and followed a short distance ventre a terre. He
pointed in front. I could see a tree about twenty-five
yards ahead, with a crown of fair size, but nothing else
from my position. I moved slightly to the right, and there
burst on my vision the sight of a fine old bull standing at
an angle towards me, swdshing the flies off with his tail.
My position was not a good one for the shoulder shot, but
a very short move still further to the right would be suffi-
cient, and I proceeded to execute the movement without
further reference to the shikari. I attained the desired
position and slowly drew up the heavy rifle and sighted on
the bull. As I was about to press the trigger the barrels
of the rifle were struck violently upwards and a man leapt
up at my side and shouted. A startled snort from the bison,
followed by a rattle of stones and thud of heavy hooves,
and the animal disappeared over the top of the rise and
could be heard stampeding down the other side. I turned
round furiously. There stood the shikari, almost white
through his dusky skin and shaking like an aspen leaf. His
was the form that had leapt up beside me, and it was his
arm that had struck up the rifle. I had quite a lot to say
to him in the heat of the moment, and said it pretty forcibly ;
but as I coul^ not speak his language I got no satisfaction
at the time, nor at the subsequent enquiry which my friend
conducted in my presence. I never had another instance
of the kind.

It was sufficiently evident that the man lost his nerve
at the last moment, and we had to leave it at that. But
it was a maddening contretemps. The five-hour tramp
back was a bad one, and I had not the heart to fire at either
of the two very fine sambhar stags we ran into on the way
home — one of them the finest head I ever saw in Madras.

This is a long digression from my day with Anacondu,
but it may be useful as a possible experience for others.

The day in question was typical of others enjoyed in the
Southern Presidency.

We made the usual early start, i.e. middle of the night,
2.30 a.m., which, often as I did it, I never could be got to
face with any enthusiasm.

Within a few hundred yards of the little forest rest-house
we had just quitted, we were floundering in the miry
morass of the high forest and had started on our rough

144 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

tramp. The only other forests I am acquainted with at
all resembling the Malabar ones for morasses are those in
North Russia, and they are worse. One requires hip boots
to tackle these. But there one does not get the elephant-
foot imprints to faU into. Six miles lay before us in order
to reach a place where the shikari's information led him
to expect that he would find fresh traces of a big herd of
bison ; and those six miles ran, apparently, entirely along
a wild elephant track. It was a nightmare of a walk, my
recollection of which is that I spent the best part of three
hours in getting into and slowly pulhng my legs out of
two-foot deep pot-holes filled to the brim with water, left
by a herd of elephants of all sizes that had preceded us but
an hour or two earlier. We passed close to them at some
time during that trek, but they did not wind us ; they
were making too much noise in tearing down branches
from the trees to hear us, and we were quite glad to hurry
away from their vicinity.

Quite suddenly, when I was near the end of my tether
for the time being, Anacondu, a dim, flitting shadow in
front of me aU this time, halted. We had arrived and
were to await the dawn. All too soon it appeared. Trees,
dim shadows till then, took on sharp outhnes with amazing
swiftness, the sky paled and then gleamed ; the crest of a
dark mass in front became outlined in yellow and red, and
fingers of light crept down the hill-side, dissipating the
shadows with that incredible rapidity which is a never-
ending surprise in the East. Anacondu had disappeared,
and awaiting his return I watched the beautiful scene with
a keen relish which, often as I had seen it, never palled.
The shikari reappeared. He had found the tracks of the
herd. Forty or fifty animals he thought it contained.

Having scant time at my disposal to give to sport on this
trip, it had been understood that I was prepared to follow
any tracks which appeared likely to give me a shot at a
decent head, as I could not afford to risk a blank day by
spending time looking for the tracks of a solitary bull. If
fortune took us across any we would follow them if fresh
enough. Otherwise a herd must suffice.

We now took up the tracks of this mighty herd, a far
larger one than I had ever met in Chota Nagpur or the
Central Provinces. Even in Eastern Bengal I had never
come across a herd of this dimension, though the forests

THE JUNGLES OF SOUTHERN INDIA 145

here had something of the character of the Chittagong Hill
Tracts. These jungles are, however, if not denser, infinitely
heavier going and more miry, and the bamboo clumps of
far greater size. In fact, in my experience they more
resemble the evergreen forests of North Assam. But there
you move about on elephants, whilst here we were on foot.

For two hours we followed those tracks, the ground
churned to deep, sticky mud by the hooves of the heavy
animals. I was in stout boots and gaiters. One had to be
in such going and one slipped about at every step. The
spikes and thorns of the bamboos kept catching my clothing,
in impatiently freeing which— no one, not even Job, could
keep patient under such conditions — the hands got torn,
not to mention other and more tender parts of the anatomy.
And through it all Anacondu glided on unconcernedly and
lightly, though one was glad to see that even he, carrying
the heavy rifle, got bogged at times.

We plodded on in this fashion and two hours went by.
The herd was browsing slowly forward, and my experience
with bison showed me that we were closing up and might
run into it at any moment.

We had dropped down a slight incline and entered a
dense mass of bamboos. Proceeding cautiously round a
great dense clump, Anacondu dropped quietly in his tracks.
I sat uncomfortably in mine, in a pool of water. But all
lassitude and disgust had now disappeared. I could see
from the man's face that we had reached the end of the
petty worries. Suddenly I heard a rustle as of a heavy
animal moving about. Listening intently, other sounds
came to my ears, and I realized that we had come up to,
and were very near, the herd. Cautiously raising myself I
peered ahead into the dense sea of green which encompassed
us, but could see nothing. Bison were ahead and bison
were on our right and left flanks. So much was certain.
Pushing the heavy rifle towards me and taking the light one
Anacondu glided forward like a snake and was immediately
engulfed. I waited, cocking the trigger of the double-
barrel cordite -500 express, a beautiful weapon I had
with me.

I was glad of the respite, for I was shaking like a leaf,

owing to the terrific exertions of the past two hours. This

is ever the chief danger of bison tracking. The arduous

nature of the work a long trek in the great heat entails

I.

146 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

engenders such fatigue that one's powers are reduced to a
minimum just at the critical moment when it becomes
imperative that they should be at their maximum. Given
that one can obtain a few minutes' breather before action
is demanded, the tense excitement strings up the muscles
to the steadiness requisite to place a bullet properly and
stand ready for the subsequent developments.

And this is the reason why a heavy rifle is a sine qua non.
One cannot be sure in thick jungle that one will be able to
place the bullet in a vital spot. But the shock of the high-
velocity, heavy rifle bullet, if the sportsman is fairly close
up, will almost certainly result in his eventually getting on
terms again with the wounded bison. This will never be
the case if a man uses a light rifle. The wounded animal
will go right away. In my salad days I learnt this inexorable
rule by much bitter experience and many miles of heart-
breaking tramps after wounded bison on which the light
rifle had made no more impression than would a pea-shooter.

Anacondu soon returned and motioned me forward. I
had the greatest difficulty in worming my way through the
tangle, but we shortly reached a bamboo clump, the jungle
proving slightly thinner on the far side. Peering round I
soon made out portions of the bodies of several bison. The
animals were moving about leisurely, browsing on the
bamboo and other foliage. Gradually a head would come
into sight and disappear again as its owner moved along.
The minutes went by, but as yet I had seen no head worth
firing at and I began to get anxious. The shikari from
behind kept on touching me and signifying I should fire.
These men are all alike. They know we come out only to
bag a big head, but as soon as one gets into a herd in thick
jungle their nerves begin to get jumpy and they want one
to fire at the first animal the eyes light upon.

Our present position was not ideal, I admit, for if the
bison winded us, as from their known and unknown positions
they might do at any moment, we stood a strong chance of
being charged over. I had been in at a charge of this
description once and I did not wish to repeat the experience.^
At length I saw a mighty form loom out of the jungle and
he carried a fine head. I raised the rifle, but he disappeared
to reappear^again in a brief space, now nearly head on. I
fired at the front of the shoulder, not an ideal position to

^ Vide Jiuigle Byways, p. 136,

THE JUNGLES OF SOUTHERN INDIA 147

shoot at, but I could not risk waiting any longer. The bull
dropped, got up again, whipped round and went dead
away, my second shot, fired at his stern, having no apparent
effect whatever. Pandemonium arose immediately, and
the jungle all round was in a turmoil, the noise as the mighty
herd stampeded in all directions being terrific.

We pressed ourselves into the bamboo clump and thus
escaped being knocked over by several of the bison who
rushed bhndly past us. For a few moments the jungle was
lashed as if squadrons of giant cavalry were riding " hell for
leather " through it in a wild charge. Gradually the thunder
of the hooves died down and silence supervened.

We went forward and soon found blood and proceeded
to take up the trail. We followed this for about half a
mile and then got out of the dense tree jungle and com-
menced to climb a steep hill, on the upper slopes of which
the trees opened out considerably. Some twenty of the
herd had gradually come together and joined up with the
wounded bull. About a mile and a half took us to the top
of the hill, and the shikari went forward to prospect. It
was by comparison cool up here and I sat down to survey
the scene in front. The forest was of a lighter character,
interspersed with little glades and dotted with bamboo
clumps. Also for the moment we had got rid of one of the
curses of these and many other jungles of my acquaintance,
the leech. A vile thing is a leech. It works its way through
the gaiters or puttees, shoves its head through the sock or
stocking, and then fiUs its repulsive body with one's bloodj
The spot attacked irritates, and if it is scratched may fester
and produce nasty sores. I think the leech and the tick
are two of the worst pests of this nature I have encountered
in the course of my wanderings. And I am blessed with a
hard skin. To the sensitive-skinned person I tender the
advice to keep away from both these pests. But then he
must not want to shoot big game in the glorious Indian
jungles.

The shikari was away for a longer time than I had antici-
pated. On his return we left the trail and took a short cut
— a cast ahead, as we say in the hunting-field — but the cast
in this instance was one of about a mile. I dislike shikaris
when they do this sort of thing. It may save time, but also
it may lose the trail altogether. And by now I had come
to hke following each stage of the business throughout. In

148 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

this instance as I did not know the country and he did, I
had perforce to submit.

We went through some beautiful open forest with glades
filled with tree ferns and smaller bamboos and clumps of
flowering plants, such as cannse and others. For a time I
enjoyed myself. But the rain which had held off all the
morning, then restarted and we had some very heavy
showers. These threatened to obliterate the trail and the
shikari pushed forward rapidly. We came to the foot of a
rise and had got about a third of the way up when Anacondu
stopped and pointed to our right front. I looked and at
once saw a bison. I could not have said for certain that it
was the one I had fired at, for he was some eighty yards off,
but he offered a good shoulder shot and I sighted on the
shoulder and pulled the trigger. The animal stumbled forward
on to his nose, staggered up and lurched off, my second
barrel catching him too far back. The shot produced
another stampede away to our left where apparently the
rest of the bison had been. I turned in time to see them
disappearing over the crest. My bull had gone over it, too,
and we started off after him. By now I was badly in need
of a rest and lunch. But we went off again, expecting to
find him down on the other side. But the bamboo jungle
was thicker on this side, necessitating a cautious mode of
progress. Finger on trigger I went down that slope, expect-
ing either a charge or to see a dead bison round each bamboo
clump. We got to the foot of the slope, forded a small
rain-filled, rushing stream, and turned along its bank ; the
heads of the bamboos dropping into the turgid water.
Slowly we moved forward, following the tracks, when a
dull bellow sounded to our left rear, a crash through the
bamboos and the bull thundered down on us. I whipped
round, saw a black mass and fired on the instant. The
black mass plunged to the ground and rolled over, its legs
kicking in the air. I had jumped against a bamboo clump
on firing and now rapidly got behind it. I heard a low
half -bellow, half -groan, and peering round put another
bullet into the shoulder of the bison which had half struggled
up. He collapsed and rolled on to his side and lay still. I
removed myself to a safer neighbourhood pro tern. The
shikari appeared, and after fusillading the body with stones
we went up and examined him. My first shot at the
point of the shoulder had hit all right, but the bullet

THE JUNGLES OF SOUTHERN INDIA 149

had evidently not been able to reach the lungs owing to
the enormous thickness of the body at this point. My
second shoulder shot was too low. The frontal one, at
about twenty yards or less as he charged, had merely
floored him. He was too far spent, however, or his last
charge would have in all probability got us. For he had
cunningly doubled on his tracks, a nasty trick of this animal
when wounded, and thus taken us in the rear.

u^

Mil A

CHAPTER XII

SPORT IN THE JUNGLES OF NORTHERN INDIA

The jungles of Northern India — Magnificent cUmate and scenery — Jungles
and rivers — Densely populated plains — Fertile cultivation — Black
buck and nilgai — First acquaintance with jungles — A novel trans-
port— The beautiful Siwaliks — A porcupine appears — Damages trees
— Arrive in camp — Search for chital — Jackal appears — Pea- fowl and
jungle fowl — Dance of the pea-fowl— Other bird Ufe — Chital appear
— A sounder of pig — A surly old boar — Insect life — The chital stags
— Fire at big stag — " Hal-lal " — Ruined trophies.

DO you know the great grass and tree jungles of
the north-west in the cold weather ?
In no other part of India wiU you find a
climate to compare with that of the plains of
Northern India in the winter season. Hackneyed as is the
expression, I think the simile " like champagne " ex-
presses to perfection the effect the glorious exhilarating air
has upon one. And when one adds to this the brilhant
Indian sunshine and scenery it would be difficult to surpass,
it will be understood that Northern India, and especially

150

SPORT IN THE JUNGLES OF N. INDIA 151

the jungles of Northern India, take a high rank. With some
experience of the great jungles of India and Burma in the
east and west and south, parts of all of which I have
roamed through at different times, I can safely say that
it is hard to beat those of the glorious north-west, or
United Provinces, as they are now called, if one is
searching for sport in a first-class climate combined with
magnificent scenery.

Between the Jumna, which forms the western boundary of
the Province here and the Ganges, the fertile plateau of the
Dun exists with the Himalaya to the north and the Siwalik
range fifteen to twenty miles to the south. East of the Ganges
stretch the Terai jungles comprising the famous sporting area
of the Ganges, Kumaon, Garhwal, and so forth, with the well-
known Oudh jungles to the south. The Ganges is the great
river of the Province which is joined by the Jumna at
Allahabad. These two rivers rise quite close to one another
in the Himalaya. The other main tributaries are the
Ghagra, which divides the Province from Nepal on the
east, and the Gundak, which separates it from Bengal to
the south.

Although at the present day animals, and game animals
especially, are by no means so plentiful in the United
Provinces as of yore, yet these jungles form a most fascin-
ating place to spend the cold weather months in and the hot
weather also from the sporting point of view — for at the
latter period tiger shooting and mahseer fishing are at
their best.

In this part of the country the plains and neighbouring
foothills of the great Himalayan chain are covered with
great tracts of the beautiful deep green sal forest inter-
spersed with stretches of tall elephant grass. Through this
wild and lovely country the rivers, on leaving the narrow
gorges in which they pursue their torrential course in the
mountains, spread out in broad stony beds ; the channels,
in which the flow of water is greatly reduced in the cold and
hot weather, often varying from year to year. It is a sight
to see these great rivers when in flood during the monsoon
months. At this season the turbid dirty-coloured waters
fill the whole bed often many hundred yards across and
become for the period quite impassable. At the other
seasons of the year it is difficult to recognize the country
to be one and the same. The broad beds now consist of

152 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

great stretches of shingle with here and there dense patches
of tall elephant grass. Islands, some of considerable
extent and covered with sissu {Dalbergia Sissoo) and
khair (Acacia Catechu) trees and elephant grass, break up
the shingle patches, a favourite haunt of game, tiger,
sambhar, and so on. One may have ridden a hundred yards
or more across the rough fair-weather road, whose only
claim to the title consists in a row of large shingles placed on
either edge to mark the thoroughfare, before one sees a sign
of the river and then a stream of beautiful clear, pellucid
water is reached which may form the main river, twenty
yards or so across, or may be a minor tributary branch. To
the south the great forest, broken in the foreground by
patches of sissu, khair, and tall grass, stretches away in the
flat plain until it reaches the cultivated lands. To the north
the foothills, also covered with an interminable sea of green,
or with bare and scarred rocky faces higher up, block the view
of the more elevated ranges behind them ; except where in
some favoured spot an opening may give a coup d'ceil of a
distant snowy peak, vignetted against a blue sky with green
hills on either side and waving grass and brilliant sissu
copses at its base.

Out in the plains beyond the green forest line lies one of
the most densely populated areas in India. Well-built
pretty villages embosomed in trees or bamboo clumps, or
with a neighbouring banyan tope, are dotted about amidst a
fertile country in which magnificent crops are grown, the
variation in height, appearance, and colour of which forms
a most attractive feature of the countryside. Here the
little black buck roam in numbers which are still very con-
siderable in spite of the incessant toll taken of their
ranks. The nilgai or blue bull, that curious antelope
which in bodily appearance is so like a pony, also lives
out in the fields, lying up in small patches of jungle during
the day.

It is a beautiful country and perhaps to appreciate it to
the full it is necessary to have spent some years in the hot,
damp, pestilential heat of parts of India to the south —
Eastern Bengal for example, and to have had the opportunity
of experiencing for oneself the conditions of life of one's
confreres in those parts.

It was in January that I made my first acquaintance with
the jungles of the north-west. I had come straight up from

SPORT IN THE JUNGLES OF N. INDIA 153

Chittagong and the contrast was as sharply marked as it
was dehghtful. Within two days of my arrival I went out
to camp. Even moving one's paraphernalia and camp
equipage was, I discovered, a very different business up here.
Coolies, both men and women, I had used for transport
purposes, also bullock carts, mules, and pack-ponies, boats
and elephants. But I had never yet made acquaintance
with the idiosyncrasies of the camel as a baggage animal.
And he is infinitely the worst of the lot. With a new set of
servants for the most part and a hastily improvised camp
equipage I was not looking for much comfort until I joined
as a guest the Conservator's camp several marches away ;
and I did not get it. The first march out of headquarters
was one of twelve miles. I was riding, so ordered all the men
and camels to start off in the morning, intending to set out

myself in the afternoon. I remember that ride as if it was
yesterday. The first part was glorious. Well, as I sub-
sequently became acquainted with that road, running
through the heart of the beautiful Siwaliks, those first
impressions of it never faded. But it is not of its beauty
that I propose to write. I had not gone four miles before
I met most of the camels in charge of a couple of camel
men, but no sign of the servants. The camel men who
were from the Punjab either could not or would not
understand my questions, so I went on. I soon after
saw a porcupine which scurried across the road in front
of me. He is fairly plentiful in the Siwahks and damages
trees by gnawing round the bark at the base thus girdhng
the tree and killing it. The khair tree is a special favourite
in these regions. The porcupine is a comic little beggar
to watch as, with all his quills up, he hurries away

154 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

indignant at being disturbed. Another two miles and
I came upon an orderly. He said that two camels were
on ahead carrying the cooking pots and cook's boxes.
This was something. At the eighth mile I came up with
these camels. Leading the head rope of the first was my
new cook and with him his assistant. To my indignant
enquiries the cook said that the camel men had stayed
behind in the bazaar, as had the rest of the servants,
and they would not be out for hours. The sequel to
this march was that I reached my destination at sunset
and sat in a cold bungalow — and it is cold at night up
in these parts in January — for an hour or two, most
of it in the dark. When the camels arrived I had to
assist in unloading them, a job of which I was entirely
ignorant. We had an exciting time of it ; more especi-
ally as both were refractory, obstinate brutes, and one
had the reputation of being a biter and he lived up to his
reputation. Approaching unwarily I had one snap of his
great yellow fangs in my face and that was enough for me.
The brute pitched off one box of crockery (it is always the
crockery that comes to grief) before we got him unloaded,
and his appalling groans and grunts would have led anyone
to infer that we were roasting him alive. Disagreeable-
natured brutes these camels.

It was a few mornings afterwards that I went out to look
for spotted deer. The season was early for them yet as their
horns are mostly in velvet at this time of the year, but one
sometimes has the luck to get one clean. I at the time did
not know the difference in seasons up here as contrasted
with those in other parts of India ; a point moreover which
has certainly not received a proper amount of attention in
the past and which, of course, proves the futihty of making
one set of game laws apphcable to the whole country.

To return to the morning in question, I had been told that
a herd of chital, as the spotted deer is called in these parts,
usually retired to the heavy forests to lie up for the day in a
certain direction and I had arranged with my orderly to go
out and see if we could obtain a good head. I had not
done much spotted deer shooting at that time and I
was keen on getting a good head or two and a record if
possible.

Ere the sun rose next morning we were en route. The
morning air was bitterly cold and I well remember how it

I hi; !:K.\r Ml UL (1:Ni.I.K-CO\"EKEIi >101'K> dr TIIK ^l\V.\I,[r mil

J/, p.. Slel'H':g. Photo

THK AllHOk SIAI.KIN .

,*' ?=? ■; ' 'A

\\i i;ii A i; IN 1 I II, I I

\niM IIK.KN IMU \

111 - 1 > (II I in: ^i\v \i 11^

SPORT IN THE JUNGLES OF N. INDIA 155

pierced through my skin and bones, accustomed to the damp
heat of Eastern Bengal.

As we walked along the road in the direction of the
forest, darkness began to give way to light and trees leapt
out of the obscurity to take on their diurnal appearance.
The sky from a dark blue-black flamed to red and then
changed to pale yellow in the east and the night was
a thing of the past. Once a grey shadow appeared on
the road and silently dis-
appeared into the grass on
the left. It was a jackal.

At length we reached the
spot and took up our
positions about midway in
a broad stony ravine, the
orderly and his assistant ^- ~"^

arranging a small screen of branches and grass to hide our
position.

The first rays of the sun were just appearing over the
hill-crests behind us as we got into our places and a twitter-
ing, singing, and shrieking bird-life had begun to send up its
morning paean of praise. Lower down the nullah three
pea-fowl and a cluster of jungle fowl were scratching for
food in the dry river-bed. Now and then a cock, perched on

the fallen trunk of a forest
monarch, would elevate
himself, flap his wings, and
crow a defiance at a rival
in the neighbourhood, to
be promptly answered by
a counter-challenge which
was taken up in several
other quarters. I was too
used to the vociferous re-
criminations of these birds
to pay much attention to
them, but noted that the hens took httle notice of their
lords or their efforts to show off, being too intent on their
search for the morning meal.

This red jungle fowl is the ancestor of all our varied
breeds of domestic poultry. If the latter are allowed to
revert to the wild state they assume the colouration
of the jungle fowl. An attempt has been made to introduce

156 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

them as game birds into Scotland, but their habit of keeping
to the ground and the difficulty of making them rise resulted
in the effort being given up.

The pea-fowl were closer to my position but their
energies, save for a continuous and keen survey of the
surrounding neighbourhood made every now and then by
one or other of the birds, were entirely confined to the
search for food. What a handsome sight is a fine old
peacock seen in his natural surroundings in the Indian
jungle, and finer still when, his great tail feathers flaunting
to the breeze, he sails down over the tree-tops. He is never
so happy, however, as when dancing his extraordinary love-
dance before the hens.

I had seen this performance once only when on my way
up to the hills at the beginning of the hot weather and the
extraordinary caperings and pirouettings and gyrations of
the male bird filled me with astonishment and laughter.
That such a proud-looking and splendidly plumaged bird as
the peacock should have developed this extraordinary dance
in order to make himself captivating to the hens, who may
be seen watching him most intently all the time, appears
little short of amazing, for the bird, to my eyes, seemed to be
making a ludicrous spectacle of itself and taking away from,
instead of adding to, his charms. However, his fair com-
panions evidently thought otherwise.

This morning, I remember, I was in the humour to notice
the bird-life around me. Golden orioles flitted in the sun.
Fly-catchers glanced from the boughs of neighbouring trees,
swerved prettily in the air, and caught the insects they were
pursuing and returned with them to their perches. The
metallic notes of the coppersmith (one of the barbets) came
from a khair tree and the tap, tap, tap, in the forest on the
far side of the ravine told where a golden-backed wood-
pecker was at work, searching for insect grubs in the inner
bark or wood of a tree.

i But the birds were not to have all the place to themselves.
A soft patter up-stream was a precursor to the sudden
appearance of some spotted deer. They were all does
though, with not even a small stag amongst them. A louder
noise made itself heard further up and again I grasped the
rifle.

This time there was more to see and even envy, for a
sounder of pig appeared and grunted their way across the

THK GOLDKN HACKRI) WOODIMCCKKR AT WORK ON A SAI. TKKK

si;ak('iiin(; I'OU inskct (.kpb.s

SPORT IN THE JUNGLES OF N. INDIA 157

nullah, some stopping to plough up the stones and sand in
a search for a succulent root. There were several fair-sized
boars and I should have liked to have had a shot at the old
boar. But I was not out to fire at pig. The havildah's
longing was far greater than mine, for he was a Gurkha, and
a Gurkha can never see a pig without coveting its death, for
he loves above all things the flesh of the wild boar. This fact
was, of course, well known to me, but I had told the man,
then a new servant, but destined to accompany me in many
a shooting-trip all over India and to prove the staunchest
companion and servant one could desire to have, that I
should not shoot at pig that day. Also I had imagined that
it was too frequented a spot at this time of the year to
render it probable that a sounder would choose that route
for their return from the fields at sunrise to the heavy
forest. An old boar is at all times a dangerous customer to
encounter in the forest as his temper is most uncertain and,
when wounded, he becomes a savage and vindictive foe,
pursuing and charging his enemy with untiring watchfulness
and cunning. The boars are armed with long tusks in the
jaws, the upper and lower front teeth on either side of the
mouth being prolonged into short curved ivory tushes
which may grow

to seven inches -;i^^4/,^^^'^|;<f^}^f^llf>fC(/^'^5,-|^y'--
or more in
length. With
this formidable
weapon a boar
can rip open a
man or horse or
other animal
with as clean a
cut as could be
inflicted with a
sharp heavy
knife. When
you remember
that the wild boar is also a very speedy and extremely power-
ful animal and can keep ahead of a horse for a considerable
time you can perceive that he is not exactly an easy customer
to tackle on foot even by a grown man armed with a rifle, as
many have discovered to their cost. In the forest most
animals, even the tiger, are content to let an old wild boar

158 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

alone and to pass by on the other side when they discover
his presence. Besides, to a man who has had many a
stirring encounter out pig-sticking, which is the only proper
way to kill the boar if rideable country is adjacent, the
slaying of pig with the rifle has too great a similarity to
shooting a fox. I had, and have since, shot wild boar, but
only in unrideable country.

There was an old boar in this party. A surly old ruffian
he was too. He had come out of the jungle into the
nullah last of all and at once commenced grubbing about
in search of roots. Two younger boars on ahead of
him started to fight and were hard at work squeahng
and shoving for all they were worth when the old tusker drew
near, tossing up the ground and sand with his snout as he
advanced. When within a few yards he raised his head and
watched the two youngsters sparring for perhaps half a
minute and then, without any rhyme or reason, charged
in between them with a vicious grunt. The two com-
batants were shot apart, one rolling over and over for
several yards, the other turning a backward somersault.
As they picked themselves up never were two more
crestfallen pigs seen, and they hastened to hide their dis-
comfiture in the neighbouring jungle whilst the surly old
boar, advancing obliquely towards the jungle, continued
to search for food. At length he entered the long grass
and disappeared from view, and silence reigned in the
nullah for a space.

The sun was already some way above the crest of the hill

and I was commencing to
.-«/-.- ..„_^^^^-..,^^r.^ -- ^ fear that I had missed the

deer altogether, or that they
were not coming my way.
One small herd crossed the
nullah below about eighty

\W^IAfl^/f / y^^*^^ °^' ^^^^ ^^ °^iy ^o^"

1> \il7^ 'lit Villi / ^'^^I'^^d does and one small
jyj«.,^ »-^. ,^ Mr^!i!mllfml ^^^S> ^^^ I resisted the
\^1i^^ \n ■'??. '^*^fM,,MMi/ temptation to loose off at
"V: v^ ,,-/>/i:. '^^ thelatter._

As I waited expectantly I
began to take note of the multitude of insect hfe around me.
Glorious butterflies floated past, insects which on other
occasions I would have done my best to catch, glorious

SPORT IN THE JUNGLES OF N. INDIA 159

Papilios, Vanessas, and many others which are to be com-
monly found on the borders of the forest in this part of
India. Beetles droned past, chiefly dung beetles, and rose
chafers and cockchafers, though a brilliant buprestis or two
is to be found in these forests.

Bees and wasps were legion, as were many of the forms of
small bugs and beetles which form so large a proportion
in numbers of the animal world of the Indian forests.

Down in the river-bed, but a short distance from my stand,
I saw a number of irregularly spaced circular holes in the
sand, cone-shaped or terminating in a point at the bottom,
the sides consisting of shelving sand. Well known to me were
these as the abode of the curious insect known as the ant
lion. The mature insect is a harmless winged fly with four
large, colourless, net-veined wings with black splotches on
them. It is from the grub that the insect gets its carnivor-
ous name. This grub is a curious-shaped object, consisting
of a swollen body and small head, the mouth being furnished
with an enormous pair of shear-like jaws. The grub makes
the orifice in the sand and then buries himself at the bottom
leaving only his black jaws protruding from the sand. An
insect, moving along the surface of the sand above, reaches
the edge of the hole before he is aware it is there and
tumbles down the shelving sand* to the bottom where
he is immediately seized
in the large jaws of the .. .....jT , ,■ -.r /,

grab and devoured. I ^:^i'M^l-y^^-'^^ ■
had counted as many as '-^', V' . j-lii -'' '"
ten insects which had gone
to their fate at the bottom
of the holes I was watch-
ing, when I felt a touch
on the arm and, looking
up, started violently. \''. {f'^^'/^lM'i^///

I thought I must be /z'.^j^J-^^ ^^'^ _^

dreaming. There in front ''^-1 -. '' Zj''-^M^^"M'^ii^

of me were three chita/

stags, one of large size, or so it appeared to me. I had
heard no sound and for some seconds I gaped at them
mechanically without reahzing that what I had come out
for stood before me.

The deer were crossing the ravine at a sharp walk, but
were in no way alarmed. Suddenly one stopped and

i6o DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

looked steadfastly in our direction and this brought me
back to the world of reality.

" Quick, sahib, the burra singh wallah (the large-horned
one) on the left," whispered the havildah excitedly, " Quick,
he is going to run."

And in truth it was time. The stag whose suspicions had
been aroused changed its walk for a trot and its smaller
companion followed suit. The big stag halted and also
gazed with his head in our direction. I had a clear bull's-
eye to the shoulder. It was an easy shot, as from my
position behind the leafy screen we had erected I was able
to rest the rifle on a forked branch. Hurriedly sighting
on the shoulder I fired. The stag stumbled and then
bounded in the air and set off at a smart pace for the
jungle into which the other two were disappearing.

" Again, sahib, shoot again. Quick, quick," yelled the
orderly, oblivious of the definite instructions I had given
him as to talking when out shooting.

I jumped up from my kneeling position, raised the rifle,
and let fly at the rapidly moving animal. At the report the
stag gave a great bound in the air and fell on to its side,
half-raised itself up and then rolled over.

" He's dead, havildah. He's dead."

But the Gurkha paid no attention. Speeding across the
interval in furtherance of a promise to make the meat
" clean for the faithful followers of the Prophet " (a
process known as "hal-lal"), he whipped out his kukri
and made it over to his native companion who was a
Mohammedan. The latter went down on his knees and,
ignoring the fact that the stag was as dead as a door
nail, cut the throat open and saw that at least a drop of
blood flowed out.

" He is alive. See, the blood flows," and he repeated his
formula.

" He lives, Bhai. He lives yet," said the Gurkha, to whom
it was a matter of supreme indifference whether the animal
was alive or dead for the meat was good meat to him in
either event. But the Mohammedan may only eat the flesh
of animals who have still lived whilst the throat has been
cut to allow the red blood to flow and consequently many
an animal shot through the head or heart and stone dead
promptly has the throat cut if a Mohammedan is present.
This must be done by a Mohammedan or the meat is not

SPORT IN THE JUNGLES OF N. INDIA i6i

considered clean. This custom is a great nuisance as the
cut is often made so high up on the neck that the trophy is
spoilt for mounting purposes as there is no neck skin left.
This is the reason why one sees so many Indian trophies
ruined ; for even a first-class taxidermist, in the absence
of the neck skin, finds it is impossible to set them up
properly. My order as to the point at which the knife was
to be put in to make the meat clean was very definite and
I consequently secured heads which could be properly
mounted.

Meanwhile I was standing over the fallen stag. He is a
beautiful beast, his colouring harmonizing perfectly with his
surroundings. But I never killed one without a feehng of
compunction afterwards. The head in this case Was a
good one, nearly clean ; but not a record. The quest for
that record still remained.

mU^-

M

CHAPTER XIII

A morning's stalk after black buck

stalking black buck- — Glorious scenery — Description and habits of black
buck — ^Methods of stalking — Experiences with buck — The villager
shows the way — A disappointment — A difficult stalk — The lord of
the herd — The alarm — A patient wait — Move forward again— Fire at
the buck — A marvellous performance— The buck drops — A fine head.

I LAY ventre d, terre on the grassy plain barely
hidden by a small patch of the thorny ber plant.
Behind me the havildah was similarly extended some
hundred paces away.
The sun had been above the horizon about an hour, but
the dew lay heavy upon bush and grass, sparkling and
scintillating like pearls in the low slanting rays. To the
north the hills stood up in bold relief, their bases enveloped
here and there in filmy masses of mist. Stretching away
from the foot of the hills lay a dark green belt of forest
land, the famous Terai jungles towards which my camp
had been slowly journeying for some days. In that direction
my hopes of good sport were centred. For with moderate
luck I expected to be able to bag at least one tiger and
perhaps more.

I had left the camp that morning at dawn with the object
of stalking a herd of black buck which contained a buck
with a fine pair of horns, fine that is for this part of India.

The black buck is one of the most beautiful and dainty
of the Indian antelopes, as unlike its great clumsy heavily
built cousin the nilgai or blue bull, which resembles a pony
more than anything else, as it would be possible to conceive.
The old black buck males are black on the back and white
beneath, and possess a pair of beautiful spiral blackish
horns which are hollow and are not shed as are the antlers
of deer.

The antelope live out on the great plains of India and

162

A MORNING'S STALK AFTER BLACK BUCK 163

are never found, save on the outskirts, in the big forests.
They hve in herds of varying size usually consisting of an
old buck and several smaller ones, and a number of does
and youngsters.

They are wonderfully lightly and gracefully made, and
possessed of considerable speed
and of jumping powers which
have to be seen to be credited.
When alarmed the whole herd
will go off at speed across the
country in a series of marvellous
leaps and bounds and rapidly run
out of sight ; for their colouring
harmonizes so well with the
country they live in that it is no
easy matter to make them out
when several hundred yards away.

In fact as I had discovered when
making my first acquaintance with
these dainty animals the shikari
has to learn to pick them up
out of their surroundings, an art
which requires some practice and
patience.

When not much shot at buck are approached compara-
tively easily, and the acquisition of any number of " head "
is not a difficult matter. Things are different, however, in
those parts of India where the little animals are constantly
pursued by sportsmen. The herds then become very wary
and difficult to approach.

Sportsmen often make use of the country bullock cart to
reach a herd in such cases. Living as they do in the culti-
vated lands, the antelope pay no attention to the villager
engaged in his occupation in the fields or to the country
bullock carts slowly making their way along the main road
or village feeder roads, or along the fair weather roads
across the fields in the cold and hot weather months.

Consequently by having a country cart driven across the
fields, which are not separated by hedges as in England,
but merely by a small ridge known as a " bund " or by
small boundary stones, and keeping under cover on the far
edge of the cart a sportsman can often approach a herd well
within range and thus secure an easy shot. I did not much

i64 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

care for this method of steahng iinperceived upon the animals,
infinitely preferring to pit my skill as a stalker over open
ground against the natural wariness of the antelope.

I had been out several times after buck before the
morning dealt with here, but had only achieved success as
yet on one occasion when the head secured had been a very
small one ; for I had not had the patience to wait till I got
near the big buck of the herd. On subsequent occasions I
had missed other heads all stalked fairly in the open :
sometimes I was seen by the graceful little animals who
were ever on the qui vive in these parts — at others I had
made bad misses.

This morning I was determined to take no chances as on
the morrow the camp was leaving for the big jungles and I
would probably not have another opportunity at buck that
year.

As has been said the havildah and self had set out from
the camp with one attendant at dawn, leaving instructions
that we should be back to breakfast not later than eleven
o'clock. I had ridden a pony to a place three miles from the
camp where buck were usually plentiful, and where informa-
tion had been obtained that one of the herds contained a
good head.

On arrival at the rendezvous a villager was found await-
ing us. I dismounted and telling the syce to wait with the
pony in the shade of a clump of trees, I set off, preceded
by the villager and followed by the havildah. The man
who had accompanied us from the camp was ordered to
follow at a distance and to sit down the moment the buck
were seen. We had covered a bare quarter of a mile when
we turned into a sunk mud road with prickly-pear bushes
growing on the banks on either side. A little way along
this the villager climbed on to the right bank and looked
through the bushes.

He made a sign and I clambered quietly up. Looking in
the direction pointed out I saw a herd of some fifteen buck
about three hundred yards away in the open fields. Two
hundred yards beyond them the fields dropped into a wind-
ing narrow ravine, the cultivated lands stretching for some
hundred yards on the far side of the ravine.

At first the stalk appeared quite an easy one, as if I got
into the ravine I could creep up and wait till the antelopes
approached and get a pot shot.

A MORNING'S STALK AFTER BLACK BUCK 165

I whispered this to the villager. The latter, however,
pointed out that the part of the ravine we saw was really
the top of a narrow horseshoe bend, and that it would
mean a long detour to get into the ravine without being
seen by the herd. The buck would probably have got in
before we did, when we should see them no more.

" For several mornings I have watched this herd, sahib,"
said the man, " and they always leave the fields by that
ravine and lie up in the shelter of bushes at some distance
from here. I had hoped they would have been nearer to
us when I looked through. On two mornings recently they
have been within fifty yards of the place we are now in
when I arrived. It is bad fortune to find them so far."

" What should I do then ? " I enquired.

" You will have to stalk them, sahib," said the havildah.
" See, over there we can approach behind the bamboo clump
for some yards in safety, and then you will have to crawl
up to them. He has big horns the black one to the left, he
is the one to kill."

I had acted on the havildah's suggestion, leaving the latter
behind the bamboo clump when I started off into the open.
After my departure the wily Gurkha, however, noticed a
place from which he might intercept the antelope and send
them back to me, should they move off in a direction which
was not anticipated, and so had crawled and wormed his
way in snake-like fashion into his present position.

After very hard work I had negotiated about one hundred
yards and was now wondering how the remaining distance,
roughly about one hundred and fifty yards, was to be
accomplished. Fifty yards was my desired firing distance.
I had loosed off at longer distances without result before, and
determined to get as near as possible before taking the shot.

I had come the greater part of the distance on my
stomach, pulling myself along with my hands stretched out
at full length in front of me and dragging the rifle up after-
wards— a most arduous performance as all know who have
tried it. The grass and stuff crawled over was wringing
wet, and I was already soaked from head to foot with dew
and perspiration. My shoulders began to ache consider-
ably, but I had been through all this before and knew what
to expect.

I now lay watching the buck, my head screened by the
ber bushes.

i66 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

The antelope were still feeding unconsciously, cropping
the short. grass in eager mouthfuls. Now and then one or
other would raise its head abruptly and cast a keen look
around, but they were evidently unaware of the danger so
near to them. The lord of the herd was a fine old black
fellow with a glorious pair of horns set rather widely apart
at the tips.

" I must have him," I muttered. " I must, he's a
beauty." Again I recommenced my painful journey.
Ahead of me there were two other small patches of the
thorny bush, and in another ten minutes I had succeeded
in attaining the nearest of these ; on reaching its shelter I
lay gasping for breath for a minute and then cautiously
raised my head.

A glance was sufficient. All was not well.

Something had alarmed the herd. The majority were
standing stock still, their noses snuffing the air, for wind
there was none. The old buck who was almost the nearest
to me was still feeding, but even he seemed to be uneasy,
and as I looked at them the animal raised his head and
stamped a hoof into the ground in irritation.

I was not ready to fire as the rifle lay on the ground at
my side. I dare not move it, so could do nothing but lie
still.

Suddenly they all turned with one accord and looked
away to the left. Raising my head slightly higher I looked
in that direction and saw a country cart slowly trundling
across the plain. After watching this steadfastly for a few
minutes the antelope were apparently reassured as they
resumed their feeding, but slowly moved off to the right.

At first I was in despair at this move, but learned to
bless it as by degrees they brought the bush which was
slightly to my right in line with me.

I at once saw my opportunity and took it.

Leaving the sheltering bush I crawled as rapidly as
possible towards the one which was now ahead of me and
just got up to it before the first of the does arrived at a
point which would have made the movement an impossible
one.

But by now I was reduced to a palpitating mass and
could do nothing but lie and gasp, eyes blinded by the per-
spiration pouring into them, and my spine like a red-hot
iron bar.

A MORNING'S STALK AFTER BLACK BUCK 167

Gradually my breath came back, and I ventured to raise
the head. My heart leapt to my mouth, and a thrill of
excitement and covetousness ran through me.

There broadside on with head down, cropping the grass,
stood the old buck, a splendid bull's-eye, and, as far as could
be judged, within the stipulated fifty yards.

Quietly I drew up the rifle, pushed it through an opening
in the thin bush, and brought the stock into the shoulder.

The thought of past misses unnerved me for a moment,
but never had I had such a bull's-eye to fire at before.
Drawing a breath, I aimed at the shoulder and pulled the
trigger.

The effect was instantaneous. The whole herd as one
bounded into the air, dropped on to their feet, and for an
instant stood as if turned to stone. Then they swung
round as one and went flying across the fields in a
series of most extraordinary leaps, making tracks for the
ravine.

I was lost in admiration at the sight, and for the moment
did not even think about whether I had missed or not.
The marvellous jumping powers of the light graceful ante-
lopes held me spellbound.

The vanguard reached the edge of the ravine and sprang
down into it, the youngsters taking
the drop as easily as the older hands.
Now the old buck, upon whom my
eyes were fixed, for some of his
leaps had been extraordinarily high,
was within twenty yards of it,
fifteen, ten, and then he suddenly
crumpled up on to the ground and
was seen lying struggling on his
side.

The havildah's voice came to me as the man started
to rush across the fields.

" He's down, sahib, he's down, reload and run and fire
at him again."

The voice brought me back to reality, and jumping up
I started across the fields, opening the breech and jerking in
another cartridge from the magazine as I did so.

I was more than half-way towards the buck, who struggled
still to gain his feet, before I stopped and raised the rifle. I
was shaking badly, but noticed that the buck had half

i68 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

risen on his front legs. I must fire I thought. But it was
unnecessary.

Even as the idea presented itself to my mind, and when
about to press the trigger the buck suddenly collapsed in a
heap.

" He's dead, sahib, he's dead," panted the orderly, " no
need to fire again."

It was true. When I got up to the antelope he was
lying on his side, the black and white of the coat contrast-
ing sharply in the brilliant sunlight, whilst the upper horn
swept upwards in a wide outward sweep.

I was overjoyed. The perfect symmetry of the animal
was something to marvel at.

" We should have lost him, havildah, had it not been for
that cart. They were uneasy about something."

" They are often like that, sahib. They are so often
startled that they are off at the smallest thing. It is a
good head."

CHAPTER XIV

THE HAVILDAH S STORY

The man-eater — The Nepal jungles — The havildah commences his story
— The animals of the Nepal jungles — An expedition in the rains-
Good hunting — Return to village — The man-eater's victim — The
boy's grief and frenzy — Set out to search for the man-eater — Discover
traces of victim — The plan of campaign — Ascend the ravine — Reach
the cave — The man-eater appears — Face to face — The shot — Death
of man-eater — The boy's mad rage.

Y

"OU have often asked me, sahib, to tell you the
story of how I saw my first tiger," said the old
havildah, one depressing afternoon in the
rains. We were all up in the hill station, and
it had been raining on end for weeks. I was lounging in
the verandah watching the man clean the rifles and
guns, the whole battery having been got out to see that the
excessive moisture in the atmosphere was not attacking
the barrels.

" Speak, havildah, and tell me the story. It was in
your own village, and the beast was a monster, was it
not ? "

" Yes, sahib, a very bad man-eater, and I who speak to
you suffered heavily from the shaitan. But I dipped my
hands in his heart's blood afterwards, and tore out the heart
of the evil one, that I did." And the old man's eyes gleamed
vindictively as he spoke. And then his face grew sad as
reminiscences of the past crowded on his memory.

169

I went on meditatively-

170 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

" It was before I enlisted, sahib, before I left my native
village — I have scarcely been near the place since — that
I first met a tiger face to face on foot ; and this was the
fiercest and most devihsh of all the beasts of my own country
of Nepal."

" Well, havildah, let me have the story. It was in the
rains, was it not ? "

-" How fine the jungles must
look now with the tall bright
green grass still growing up-
wards, and the flower-heads
just beginning to swell out.
One could not see to shoot
much now in the grass jungles,
not even from the back of an
elephant ? What a happy
time the animals must have,
with plenty to eat and drink
everywhere, no long journeys
to make to search for succulent
grass and water-pools, as they
have to make in the hot
weather."

" Yet there is danger from other animals, sahib. The
tiger and leopard are just as dangerous, and can ap-
proach without a sound when the wind is blowing through
the grass stems and the rain is pattering and swishing
down. It was during a break in the rains in this month
that the man-eater I am telling you about visited our
village."

" But you have not begun the story yet, havildah," I
said, wishing to keep the old man to the point and get this
yarn out of him if possible.
" Huzur, I will commence."

" It was long years ago now, and I was sixteen years of
age at the time. I was not thinking of 'listing then. My
father owned a good house and several fields and a consider-
able number of cows and goats. He was a big man in the
village. I was his eldest son, and already I took a consider-
able share of the work in the fields. But my chief pleasure
was hunting. Like you, sahib, from my early youth I was
very keen on shooting animals, and was a firm friend of our
village shikari, an old man who had shot every kind of animal

THE HAVILDAH'S STORY

I'jt

living in our parts, and you know, sahib, that the jungles
of Nepal are full of beasts. Tigers are common, so are
"leopards, the rhinoceros roam about the jungles, and
buffaloes exist there and are very fierce. All the deer tribe
are plentiful and mighty sambhar are killed at times. I
never had any difficulty in persuading old Sher Bahadur
(the Great Tiger, as he was called) to take me out, once
I had grown strong enough to be able to keep up with
him. And, sahib, you should see the jungles of Nepal.
Perhaps some day you may be lucky enough to do so.
They are a shikari's paradise. Great stretches of tiger
grass, interspersed with high sal forest, with open
savannah-Uke grassy plains where you may count the

herds of chital in hundreds and sambhar and barasingha
in scores.

One day we set out from the village on a shooting excur-
sion to the lower jungles, to procure meat for the village,
and such skins and horns for sale as our luck gave us. It
was in a break in the rains, and for two days the sun had
been shining brightly and the heat was very great. It
would be hotter lower down, we knew, but what cared we
for the heat when there was shikar to be had. Our village
was situated at about four thousand feet in the hills,
and looked like the villages you see out in the district
round here. It consisted of some twenty-five houses,
and to me it was not only home, but it contained the
thing I most valued on earth, for I had recently been
betrothed to the most beautiful girl in our village or in

172 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

any other for fifty miles round, and we were to be married
very soon.

" The sun shone very brightly for me on that morning,
sahib, and I laughingly replied to a remark made by a
friend, to the effect that we would bring back the skin of a
noted man-eater of those parts if he dared to come across our
tracks.

" To speak true words, I, in common with most in the
village, stood in considerable awe of this beast. Not that any
of we youngsters would have minded so much a fair stand-up
fight with our kukris in hand. But that was not the way of
this skulking brute. Although he had already taken a
number of lives, his victories had all been won on old men,
women, or boys, and he had invariably lain in wait for them,
crouched in some low piece of jungle, and sprung on to them
without warning from behind. At least, this is what the
tracks and marks showed, for no one attacked by this devil
had up to then escaped to tell the tale. Portions of their
bodies, a hand or arm or part of a leg or bits of clothing were
all that had ever been regained of his numerous victims.
A reward had now been placed upon this tiger by the Sirkar
(Government), and several sahibs had been out after him.
In fact, though the reward could not be claimed, as no real
evidence was brought forth, it was thought that the beast
must have been killed or died somehow, as nothing had been
heard of him for six months at the time I speak of. His
pugs were easily traceable, as he limped on his off hind leg,
from an old bullet wound, it was thought inflicted either
by a native shikari or by some sahib during one of the big
tiger beats which took place every hot weather in the great
jungles below.

"So I answered my friend that morning with small
thought that we were all so soon to renew acquaintance
with this dreaded scourge.

" We were away five days. It was scorching hot in the
great grass jungles, so hot and heavy was the moist steamy
air, that we both had a touch of fever before we had bagged
all the animals we required. In this latter we had little
difficulty, as the jungles positively teemed with deer, and
we secured some good chital horns and picked up, I remem-
ber, four very large shed sambhar horns, besides some smaller
ones. They were heavy loads each man had to carry back,
but our hearts were light at the success of the outing, as we

THE HAVILDAH'S STORY 173

breasted the steep slopes on our last march back. To avoid
the great heat of the day, for the break in the rains still
continued, we marched at night, and it was close on dawn
when, weary and jaded, we struck into the path which led
up the last slope to the village.

" The dawn was steahng over the hills as we approached
the village, and we looked to see if there was any sign of
hfe about. We reached a corner, I with my heart beating
high at the thought of a near meeting which I had not had
out of my mind during the
whole of the trip, and there
lay the village a quarter of a
mile or so away.

" But, sahib, it was not
the village as we expected ^ . __..

to see it. All the viUagers \^^' .c0i^_^ Tz; r~" >n

seemed to be awake and out- /^ . 'Ori^''"'' -^^.^ ■>
side of their houses. Some ' ;-' ' ', ^~~- . -w_=- ~ - ■ '^
were running about, others ' J i' v'^ "' - "^^ --
were collected at the village ^^^^ 'v'" V^ \ • ';

meeting-place, and even from

here as we hurried on, voices could be heard, and as we
drew nearer these voices sounded as wails.

" ' What is the matter ? Sher Bahadur, what is it ? '
I cried anxiously.

" ' I know not,' he replied, ' I know not,' and there was a
note of anxiety in his voice.

" A thought struck me, and my blood turned to water
and my legs seemed to fail under me.

" ' The tiger, the man-eater, O, Sher Bahadur. It cannot
be that the man-eater has visited our village ? '

" ' We shall soon hear,' was the grim reply,

" What I feared, sahib, as I hurried along, I know not,
nor why I feared. I seemed to have a presentiment that
I was to suffer that day — that the sight before my eyes was
to affect me most of all, and I could have cried aloud in
my pain.

" We hurried forward, scarcely feeling the weight of our
loads, but now so heavy, in our great anxiety. We were soon
seen, and a sudden hush fell upon all the throng. ' What is
it, speak, oh, Jitman, speak,' said Sher Bahadur, and even
as the words fell on my ears I seemed to see all eyes turned
with looks of pity upon myself. As for me, I was speechless,

174 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

my heart was as water and my legs tottered beneath me.
I felt as if I knew the words that were to be spoken.

" ' The tiger shaitan has been here, and Kali, the beautiful
Kah, has been taken, but half an hour gone. Some of the
men have already followed on his tracks. He has made for
the jungle.'

" I dropped my load and sank on to the ground on top
of it. Kali, my beautiful girl, Kah, taken by the tiger,
I could not and would not believe it ! I was soon brought to
myself by the women, who started wailing again. My
weakness departed from me, and I sprang to my feet. A
black, blind rage filled me, I frothed at the mouth and
shrieked at the men to be told the direction the devil had
taken. I would save her, I said, though the looks of the men
told me there was little hope of that. I would have the black
devil's heart's blood, and that before I was many hours
older, or I too would die.

" Remonstrance was useless. They offered me food, I
vomited at the sight, and grew so fierce that old Sher
Bahadur said he would go with me. Soon two others
volunteered to accompany us, and taking the few remain-
ing matchlocks left in the village and our kukris, we set
out.

" Of that journey I remember nothing. Sahib, I was as
one demented. We took the downward path, and after an
hour arrived at a dense patch of grass jungle, situated in a
small valley, shut in by steep hills, having at its bottom a
small torrent. On the edge we came upon the party of men
who had started before we arrived at the village. I was in no
condition to understand the conversation that followed.
Had I not been held back, and it took several men to hold
me, for rage had given me the strength of many men, I
should have gone straight into the grass, and doubtless have
been killed or frightened away the tiger, for he was filled
with the cunning of all the devils. The tracks had been
followed to a point some two hundred yards lower down,
at which they entered the grass.

" A hurried council was held. The sun had become over-
cast, and there was need of haste, as rain was imminent,
and if it fell, the marks would be all washed out. That
Kali had been brought here was proved by a piece of her
clothing still adhering to a thorny shrub at the place where
the tiger had entered the jungle.

THE HAVILDAH'S STORY 175

" Old Sher Bahadur here showed his worth, and no finer
shikari could you find, sahib, than that old man was. He
said he knew of a cave at the foot of the opposite hill
where it dropped to the watercourse, and that our best
plan would be to move lower down our side of the valley,
get into the stream bed and make our way cautiously
up it.

" This we proceeded to do. We were a party of twenty.
Six men were sent to a point on the stream some five hundred
feet above us and told to take up safe positions there and
watch, should the beast try to escape in that direction.
The rest of us went downwards. As we passed the place
where the tiger had entered the jungle, I took the strip of
Kali's dress from the thorn bush and placed it in my pouch,
and vowed that her slayer should not live to see another sun
rise, or that I would not. I cared not which it might be.
On reaching the water course, a careful examination was
made for tracks of the tiger, but none were visible. Six
men were left here with instructions to climb into trees and
keep a sharp look-out. We eight then commenced to care-
fully wend our way up the torrent bed. I went in front with
old Sher Bahadur, as plucky an old man as you will ever meet,
sahib. May he rest in peace ! The other men, three on each
side, followed behind us. Very slowly we went, I in a fever
of impatience, but wordless and with my senses on the
stretch and eyes blazing like fire. I was mad, sahib, on
that day, quite mad, and would have faced fifty tigers
single-handed."

The old man paused and gazed with unseeing eyes at the
rain, which was steadily pouring down outside the verandah.
I, with my breath coming rather quick, as I pictured the
scene, watched the speaker with fascinated gaze. There
was silence for half a minute.

" It was I who found Kali, sahib, what had been Kali.
It was part of her only. A bright piece of red caught my
eye. I knew it for her dress. It was on a little sandy spot,
beneath a large overhanging rock which formed the outer
portion of the cave.

" At the sight I lost what little sense I still possessed. I had
a heavy old matchlock with me, down the barrel of which
I had crammed two large bullets and a double charge of
powder. As I caught sight of the dress, I felt my blood turn
to ice in my veins. Another look, and my eyes made out a

176 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

portion of a woman's body, poor Kali's body. Without
thought of the consequences to myself or my companions, I
started forward with a shout of frenzy and rage, and sprang
for the cave opening. I jumped, half crouching, on to the
sandy entrance, and as I got there, a dark yellow shape
came from the interior of the cave. With a shiver of joy I
found myself gazing into the dark green, fiery eyes, the snarl-
ing mouth, with its poisonous breath and enormous yellow
fangs, of the tiger. What my face was like I know not.
Surely it must have been as a devil's, for, sahib, the tiger
quailed for a second before my glance. They say I shouted
again. I may have done so, for I read in those devilish,
cruel eyes that my days were numbered, and at the same
moment I fired off my matchlock point-blank at the snarling
jaws. I had not brought the weapon to the shoulder, I
fired it as I carried it, with part of the stock beneath my
right armpit. I remember a snarling roar, a deafening
report, and a dull thud on the head.

" Some time afterwards I came to myself, to find old
Sher Bahadur leaning over me with an anxious look in his
eyes. He told me afterwards that he thought I had gone
mad, and that the tiger's spirit had entered into me, as I had
been raving ever since I fired the shot. And I raved then,
for my eyes fell on the form of the tiger. My bullets had
brained it and the recoil had shot me into the torrent bed
with the tiger on top of me, for he must have sprung as I
fired.

" Jumping to my feet, I fell on my foe and with my kukri
slashed the body to pieces in a wild frenzy. After my
first mad transports I proceeded more methodically, and
ripping the breast up I tore out the heart, as I had vowed
to do.

" Then rage left me and I went to the remains of her whom
I loved so dearly. Collecting them together, I took off my
coat, bound them carefully up in it, and then dropped to the
ground.

" It was weeks before I was about again, sahib. I got the
brain fever very badly and all thought that the tigers'
spirit had got hold of me, that I was bewitched and that I
should die.

" I did not die. Gradually I got well and strong again.
But with my strength a feeling of restlessness entered into
me — I could not stop in the village. So I arranged for my

THE HAVILDAH'S STORY 177

second brother to take my place in the fields and house,

and saying good-bye to the village, I set out from and

enhsted.

" That is how I met my first tiger, sahib, and I have
never forgotten it."

k4-

CHAPTER XV

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN

Back from furlough — The jungles again — The great grass jungle at the
end of the rains — The animal inhabitants — Insect life — On foot in
the grass — A moonlight ramble on an elephant — An early morning
start — A fishing expedition — Forest spiders — Sambhar, hogdeer,
and pig — Chital — A tiger episode in the Dun — Sitting up on a tiger
"run" — Jungle denizens in the evening — Hear a tiger — The tiger
approaches — Anxious moments — Fire at the tiger — The tiger drops
— Gets up and disappears — Return to camp — The Raja Sahib — ■
Appears next morning — Go in search of tiger — Death of tiger — The
Dehra Dun Fishing Club — Glorious days — Disappearance of game in
the Dun — Closure and game protection needed.

THOSE of us who have fallen under the glamour
of the jungles of India will understand the
feeling with which I left the Station one afternoon
in late September for the high-grass jungles and
the glorious rivers of the United Province Terai.

Well over a year and a half had elapsed since I had last
seen them. It was in February of the previous year that
I left the beautiful Dun and the Mussoorie Hills, a transfer
taking me to Calcutta. After nearly a year in the City of
Palaces, I applied for furlough and had a spell of leave at
home. I rejoined at Dehra early in September and a few
days' holiday occurring towards the end of the month saw
me eagerly setting out for the jungles accompanied by a
friend. We had two elephants and I had a modified
cordite -500 Holland and Holland rifle and a new gun, both
of which I was thirsting to try. We arrived soon after
four o'clock at a small bungalow in the heart of the forest
and never shall I forget the thrill with which I sniffed again
the odours of the great jungles.

The rains were over and we could count on fine weather.
Already there was a touch of the glorious winter cold in the
early morning and evening air, and for the midday heat we

178

A CORNKR OK TUF. .>Ai KKI> riTY OK HAKDWAR LOOKING UP

THE GANCKS

SCKNKRY IN THK HKAUIIKII HUN. THE MUSSOORIK HILI..S
IN •IHK HACKCROUND

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN

179

cared nothing. With kick the fishing should be good and
the great grass jungles alive with game ; though it was
doubtful whether we should be able to see anything to
shoot owing to the great height and density of the grass ;
unless we had the good fortune to stumble across a tiger or
leopard.

Have 3^ou ever been out in the great grass jungles, the
tiger-grass jungles, at the close of the rains ? They are a
stupendous sight as seen from the back of
an elephant. A sea of green spreads all
around one with, rising above it, the tall,
graceful, nodding stems of the flower-
heads, each ending in a long, elegant,
white, feathery spike. They bend and dip
as the wind whispers through them in a
most delightful fashion. As far as the eye
can reach stretches the giant grass with
here and there a great tree rearing its lofty
crown far above it. Down below, fifteen feet
below, who can tell of the innumerable life
which finds its home in the grass jungles at the end of the
rains ? As the elephant slowly forges its way through the
dense mass you hear sudden rushes, but can perceive nothing.
Only by the intensity of the sound can you make a shrewd
guess as to the identity of the fugitive. Sambhar, spotted
deer, hogdeer {Cervus porcimis), swamp deer or barasingha
[Cervus duvauceli), it may be any of these. As for pig ! You
will know him right enough by the noise of his indignant
protests at being thus disturbed, and by the disgust of the
elephant at his near presence. But neither tiger nor leopard
are likely to advertise their departure. They will recognize
the presence of an elephant long before he is near them and
will silently get out of his path ; since they know it is both
useless and unwise to provoke him. Of the smaller
mammals — jackals, foxes, civets, wild cats, hyenas, wild
dogs — numbers must be at present roaming the grass jungles,
for it is here that the greater bulk of the animals on which
they prey are collected. As you move along pea-fowl, jungle
fowl, partridge, and quail will rise with startled squawks above
the grass-heads, fly skimmingly over the surface for a short
distance, and go to ground again, lost at once in the dense
sea of green. Of smaller birds numbers wiU be seen clinging
to the tall flower-heads, pecking at the developing seeds or

i8o DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

searching for minute insects. And of insect life you will
find a plethora in the grass jungles. In the brilHant sun-
shine great gaudily decked butterflies float on burnished
scintillating wing, now flirting with the curtsying grass-
heads, now darting suddenly forwards, hovering for some
seconds and then sinking to rest on a shimmering leaf-tip.
Fast-flying skippers will flash past going at the hurrying
pace these insects appear to affect and which, combined
with their high-flying proclivities, makes their capture so
extremely difficult. BrilHant dragon-flies hawk over the
grass, their wings flashing in the sunlight as they swoop on to
their prey. And low down, down in the depths of the grass
masses, who can say what myriads of at present unclassified
insect hfe exist — life which, should it survive to reach the
systematist's table, may cause unconceived changes in his
classificatory systems.

If the grass jungle is wonderful as seen from the back of
an elephant, it is little short of bewildering if one gets down
into it. Order the mahout to stop the elephant and make
him sit down. Slip out of the howdah or off the pad and
stand amidst the jungle itself ; sending the elephant and
mahout a short distance on, not too far if you ever wish to
get out again. Around you now rises a green wall pressing
on to you on every side. Far away above you as the breeze
blows over the tops you see the waving grass-heads, and
above again small patches and rifts of a deep blue sky. On
every side as you endeavour to pierce the screen you see
nothing but a dead green barrier of the thick grass-stems.
You can note that the grass grows in giant bunches, so to
speak, each great clump starting from a centre, its stems
radiating outwards and bending over as they reach the
upper levels. But so close are the clumps together that the
mass forms a continuous screen or wall. Move forward ten
paces, forcing your way between the clumps. The horizon
is the same on every side and you quickly realize that were
you to be left to your own devices in a big grass jungle, or
even in one of moderate size, you would stand a small
chance of getting out alive owing to man's extraordinary
tendency to walk in a circle if he has nothing he can recog-
nize to guide him. Soon a feeling of suffocation takes hold
of you, a dread that you will never get up out of this
appalling grass, and it is with a feeling of relief that one
climbs once again on to the back of the elephant.

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN i8i

What the feeling would be in the night, alone down below
at the foot of the grass clumps, I have never tried. There
are various reasons why one would not try it perhaps. But
from the back of the elephant the grass jungle at night, on a
moonlight night, is a most eerie place to be in. The tall
white heads look ghostly under the moonbeams, a filmy
white mist is usually floating just above the jungle, and
the night birds, owls and their kin, flitting silently by or
with a sudden squawk of terror are uncanny. Great night
beetles drone by with humming sound and moths of a size
which appears gigantic flap up out of the depths, often
considerably disturbing one's serenity by blundering into
the face. A variety of queer cries rise on the still air —
cries of the night jungle folk which sound more like the
unearthly shrieks of mortals in pain, setting one's nerves on
edge, than natural cries and calls. Fine, it must be admitted,
very fine, are the grass jungles at night but not to be com-
pared with their glorious beauty by day.

And so I thought on the night of our arrival in camp that
September. For immediately after dinner I ordered up an
elephant intending to have an hour's stroll through the
grass jungles before bed. My companion, stretched at
length in an arm-chair with a cigar between his lips, thought
I was mad, as did the much-disgusted mahout, who had to
quit the camp fire and the circle of talkative servants to
accompany me. But then neither of them had been away
from the jungles for over a year and a half and could not be
expected to understand or sympathize with my frame
of mind.

We had no adventures that night. I do not think that
the mahout was out for any if he could help it. I left the
route to him, merely telhng him that I wanted to be out
a good hour. For myself the pleasure at finding myself
back again in a real big jungle after so long an absence was
sufficient for the present and, as I sat swaying on the pad,
perched up behind the mahout, I drank in with gusto the
smell of the jungle, malarious though it was, and listened to
the well-known night sounds with keen interest.

And so to bed and a dreamless sleep.

The next morn soon after dawn and before the sun had
climbed above the hills we were engaged on a substantial
chota hazri in the verandah. In front lay the small clearing
which was dignified by the name of the bungalow compound

r82 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

and beyond the jungle — scattered trees interspersed with
masses of the tall tiger grass. This stretched for half a mile
to a white dense I'ne of mist which hung above and pro-
claimed the presL. e of the river. Above the mist the
upper part of the hills, the outer spurs of the Himalaya
distant about six miles or so, stood up dark green and blue,
their tops now gilding under the rays of the rising sun.

Away to the north the higher ranges stood out sharp and
clear, their bases and lower ridges enveloped in a dense
white pall of vapour.

The whole camp was astir and as we discussed our meal
the confused medley of sounds which I knew so weU and
which I had not heard for so long rose on the still air.
Mahouts' boys getting the elephants ready, syces grooming
the ponies, peons getting out the rifles and guns and rods,
whilst the servants fussed about putting the final touches
to the tiffin-baskets, for we were to be away all day. And
each and every sound was music to ears which had listened
long for the well-remembered bustle.

The elephants lounged up to the verandah in their slow,
lazy, silent fashion. Even they seemed alert, however, for
they had done nothing but eat their heads off during the
past three m.onths and they knew as well as the rest of us
that this was the beginning of business once again. They
knelt down and we climped into the howdahs already
packed with our paraphernalia for the day's outing. Slowly
rising to their feet the great beasts left the compound and
we were straightway in the jungle.

Our destination was a good reach of the river some five
miles away, where we hoped to have some sport with the
mahseer, now on their way down-stream from the higher
shallow waters where they had spawned. Once in the
jungle the two elephants separated, we having previously
arranged to meet at the rendezvous. My friend took a
circuitous route as he had a place to inspect. I was out
chiefly for pleasure and my mahout had instructions to
proceed straight through the forest and high grass areas for
the distant reach.

How distinctly the memory of that morning comes back
to me. The dense high jungle which had reached its
culmination of growth at the end of the rains, the intricate
tangle of matted shrubs and creepers forming the under-
growth of the high sal forest, the glorious fresh greenness

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN 183

of the latter after its long cleansing by the monsoon rains,
the giant, sticky, gossamer-like webs of the big forest
spiders stretched across between the tree-trunks and
glittering with sparkling drops of water from the past night
mists, and the slanting beams of the sun throwing into fierce
relief bright patches of tangled growth, tree-trunks and
shining foliage.

Out from the shadows of the forest we came into the full
blinding glare of the open and moved slowly through a wide
grass savannah. A swarm of green parrots fly screeching by
us as we enter the grass and a pea-fowl, an old cock bird who
was finishing his morning meal, gets up at the feet of the
elephant with an indignant squawk, a tremendous flurry of
wings, and wheels back into the forest.

As the elephant slowly forges through the grass the
drops of water fall in miniature sprays, like handfuls of
shining jewels, from the grass-heads and the filmy mist winds
itself up into the fleeciest of shawls which vanish under the
sun's rays even as one watches them. There is a sudden
rush and three dark backs go by and disappear at once,
sambhar by their height, but it is impossible to say for
certain. A partridge goes whirring by to the left and a
jungle cock on the right. They go free. We are looking for
bigger game than this and our fingers are closed round a
rifle, not a gun.

Further on we come to a small opening covered with a short
tussocky grass and half-way across this a hogdeer jumps up
and dashes for cover. I did not fire, I only had the briefest
glimpse of him ; but in any event the horns were still in
velvet. The rush of the hogdeer disturbed two doe sambhar
which were wading belly-deep in the rank vegetation, their
rough coats plastered high up the sides with thick mud. They
got out of the marshy ground and into the high grass with
wonderful celerity considering their heavy build. On re-
entering the grass the elephant showed signs of uneasiness.
Is it a tiger afoot ? The thought flashes through the brain
and high hopes rise only to be almost immediately dispelled.
A series of short rushes in the jungle ahead and a babel of
grunts and squeaks proclaims a sounder of pig. The
elephant went distinctly short in his stride, giving one
something of the feeling produced by a horse who has no
stomach for the jump in front of him and who is making up
his mind to refuse. The stilted stride of the elephant is most

i84 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

unpleasant in a howdah and makes it difficult to shoot from.
Not that there was any chance of a shot on the present
occasion. The sounder must have been a big one for we
appeared to have pigs all round us, and from the deep notes
of the irascible grunts of some of the animals there were
several old boars in the party. The havildah in the back
seat of the howdah was in a state of tense excitement. He
wanted meat and was straining his eyes into the depths in
the hopes of seeing something which he could point out as a
fair mark. I doubt whether even his sharp eyes saw any-
thing in the thick tangle below. The attitude of both
mahout and elephant was one of intense disgust at being so
near the unclean beast. After this interlude we shortly
again got into the forest and proceeded through it for a
couple of miles without incident save that we passed a
small herd of chital. There were three stags in the herd, one
with a fair head, but of course all the horns were in velvet.

V WW

il/Jl l( I liV/iiJWlt' }/-<^^—

The deer were standing in a little glade almost free of under-
growth and as the elephant forged slowly ahead they
watched him curiously, apparently taking the howdah as
part of the animal itself. We advanced slowly almost on to
them, our path keeping sHghtly to the right. When almost
abreast the does started edging away, but quite slowly.
Beautiful animals, with their Hght fawn colouring with the
lines of white spots running down the ground colour. Very
small they looked from my elevation, but eminently
graceful.

We soon afterwards left the forest and advanced over a
broad stony nullah bed interrupted by two or three islands
covered with shisham and khair trees and patches of tall
grass. On one of these islands I recognized the tree in which
I had sat up for a tiger on several occasions in the hot
weather two years back, my second in the Dun, on which
occasion I made a tour round the whole of it, both western
and eastern, and had a most enjoyable seven weeks which

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN 185

were followed by a glorious two months' tour in the
Himalaya.

The episode in question took place in May. As I have
previously mentioned in these notes I was given to sitting
up for game in a machan or otherwise owing to the facilities
this method afforded of watching the jungle inhabitants
going about their several ways under undisturbed conditions.
I had already got rather bored with the monotony at night,
but as long as daylight lasted I enjoyed it. On the trip in
question through the lovely Dun (Siwalik) forests I did a
good lot of sitting up and at the instigation of my shikari I
tried a method for tiger which I had not practised before.
These Dun shikaris knew a great deal about the habits of the
local tigers, then more plentiful than now. They knew
their haunts and the paths by which they went on their
nightly search for game. They could thus place a rifle in a
hkely spot from which he might be able to watch the tiger
on his evening prowl, which to me was worth any amount of
sitting up over " kills." I tried this method several times
and twice saw tiger and once a leopard. Only once, however,
did I get a shot, on the occasion I will now recount. It was
on the island I referred to above. I spent a week in the
neighbourhood on some investigation work I was engaged
upon at the time. There was a forked tree situated at the
northernmost point of the island standing on the edge of the
stony nullah bed. The fork was situated about twenty-five
feet up and was of such a nature that with the addition of a
pillow (covered in a khaki pillow-case) from my camp bed
it made a most comfortable seat with convenient rests for
my feet. It was better than any machan and had the
additional value that it left the place entirely undisturbed.
Building a machan even of the flimsiest means men about
chopping branches and making a noise, the proceedings
being quite sufficient to scare away a tiger in the vicinity.
There was a glorious moon that week and twice I had
adjourned to the tree at four o'clock in the afternoon and
stayed there till about ten o'clock without result. That the
tree was close to a tiger walk was shown by the footmarks
passing and repassing on a small path which ran across the
nullah just missing the spit of the island. On my last night
but one I determined to try again and climbed up into my
tree at about 4.30 p.m. It was far too hot to make it neces-
sary to go any earlier as no tiger would be on the move till

i86 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

much before dusk. The shikari esconced himself higher up
the tree and we waited in silence. Very soon afterwards a
pattering over the stones announced an arrival and two
chital stags came along the run and passed close by us —
one carrying a fine head. One always sees the best heads
when trying for lordlier game ! They disappeared in the
direction of the water and were shortly followed by some
sambhar, all does. These went by in Indian file, meandering
slowly along with heads held low, nosing here and there for
a tuft of grass and wandering off the track for a few yards
in an erratic fashion. Half an hour passed. A faint patter-
ing some way out and three pea-fowl were crossing the
nullah for their evening drink, every now and then halting
and craning their necks about on the look-out for danger.
A most wary bird is this fowl. Then silence for a time. The
eastern sky was now reflecting the gorgeous colouring of the
west, where the sun was setting, and I realized that the
daylight would be shortly struggling with the hght from
the rapidly rising moon. Suddenly I caught a faint sound,
half gurgle, half hum. It ceased. Then I heard it again a
little more definite, but still some way off. I had heard it
before and thought I recognized it. I caught the faintest
whisper behind me. " Tiger, sahib. It's the tiger."
I nodded and waited in suspense. Which way would he
come ? There was, of course, no certainty of his passing
my tree. He did so often as the pugs showed, but he had
other runs to go by as was evidenced by our not having seen
him on the previous occasions. Again the noise, now
nearer and sounding like a fretful half whine, half growl.
He was evidently approaching in our direction. I looked
round. Objects were still quite distinct, but the night was
falHng and there is httle twilight to depend on in these
regions. And the struggle between day and moonlight
always produces, at least to my eyes, a more or less indistinct
compound of the two, if I may so express it. Quite suddenly
the noise sounded loud and distinct. The tiger was on the
edge of the forest standing probably just within the fringe
of grass on the edge of the nullah and surveying the broad
expanse of stones and tufts of grass in front of him. Tigers,
like other jungle denizens, are ever suspicious of the open
and scan such places narrowly before they venture out into
them. Another low growl and then dead silence. I fixed
my eyes on the httle run. Would he come or would instinct

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN

187

warn him of danger. The suspense was painful. I was just
giving up hope when a greyish shape appeared below me
without a sound. It was the

tiger. He loomed enormous
though indistinct in the
struggling light, stepping as
lightly as a tomcat walking
over a lawn, his tail swinging
from side to side. The night
was absolutely still, not a
breath of air was moving
and he evidently had no
idea of our dangerous neigh-
bourhood, for he was looking
straight ahead. In spite of
the light I felt quite con-
fident of the shot, too con-
fident perhaps as it appeared
such an easy one. I had
brought up the rifle very
near the position of firing
before the animal appeared
to avoid attracting his
attention by a movement,
the frequent cause of so
many missed opportunities

r"^ ->.

for the eye of the jungle

inhabitant is extraordinarily quick at catching any un-
toward movement to which he is not accustomed. I
had only to raise the rifle a few inches to sight on
the animal and as soon as I was on I pulled the
trigger. The report was followed by a loud roar and the
tiger, who was dead in front of me, reared up on end and
nearly fell over backwards. He righted himself, however,
and came down on all fours, falling over on his side as he
did so. I refrained from firing again thinking he was
finished. To my astonishment, however, the beast was up
again in a trice, whisked round, and bounded away. I
hurriedly aimed on his grey shape and fired again, the report
being followed by a loud growl. A swish of grass and a
crash of bushes followed as the tiger entered the forest
again on the side from which he had emerged and then
silence. " The sahib should have fired his second barrel
sooner while the tiger was on the ground," came from

i88 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

behind. I was mad with rage and vexation at the contre-
temps and this was the last straw. I had heard a deUghted
" Laga, laga hai " (Hit, he is hit) from the shikari whilst
the tiger was on the ground, and I felt sure that the shikari
had thought the brute was done for as I had. And one does
not want to spoil one's skins with unnecessary bullet-holes.
I quickly silenced the shikari, therefore, and proceeded to
possess my soul in patience. There was nothing to be done
then, anyway. The orders left in camp were that if shots
were heard a party of men, after waiting half an hour, should
then make straight for the nullah bed which was fairly close
to the camp and come straight down it to my position.
They were to bring as many lanterns as they could lay
hands on. About an hour later the procession hove in view,
talking loudly and frightening every living jungle inhabitant
within a mile or two. I returned to camp and wrote an
urgent and pressing appeal to a neighbouring Raja with
whom I had a passing acquaintance and who was a thorough
gentleman and first-rate sportsman, asking him to bring out
or send out to me one of his elephants to beat up the wounded
tiger, if it was not already dead. I had dinner and turned in,
passing a hot and restless night. At first dawn I heard a
mahout's voice cursing his elephant's clumsiness and I knew
that the Raja had turned out trumps. Nor had I had any
doubts as to what he would do. I sprang out of bed and
was donning my jungle kit in haste when a servant appeared
at the door of the tent with a cup of tea and the announce-
ment that the Raja Sahib had himself arrived. I was out
in a twinkling, profuse in my thanks to such a first-rate
sportsman. We hurriedly partook of tea and were off for
the scene of last night's episode. Below the tree was found
a pool of still wet but half -congealed blood. A couple of
patches were found between the tree and the forest in which
the tiger had entered. Then our difficulties commenced.
We first made a wide circle with the object of picking up any
bloodstains should the tiger have travelled far. None were
found, however, and the Raja, who was well acquainted
with the area, nearly as well acquainted as the shikari, and
the latter then held a consultation. It was finally agreed to
commence at the spot at which the tiger had entered and
work on the fine they had mutually agreed as being the
probable direction of flight. Slowly the elephant forged
ahead through the dense matted jungle and for a time

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN 189

nothing occurred. Then the elephant coiled up her trunk
after first tapping the ground with it. At almost the same
instant a roar resounded through the forest and a yellow
mass sprang up out of a patch of grass and sank back into
it again. It was the tiger. I had asked the Raja to take
the first shot should we come upon the animal still alive as
I wanted to repay him to some small extent for his kindness.
The elephant was put into the grass patch and a second
time the game tiger rose up with a roar. But it was his last
effort, and he fell back with a bullet through the brain from
the Raja's rifle. He was a game beast, for he had a fearful
wound from my first shot which missed the heart by a little
only. The second shot had hit him in the pad of the off
hind foot.

Such was the episode which my brain conjured up as we
passed close to the tree on this September morning. " Any
khubbar of tiger about here, mahout ? " I asked. " They
were saying in the camp last night that a monster tiger had
his beat in these parts, last hot weather, sahib. But who
knows ! Several of the sahibs from the Station were out but
they never saw him. It was probably village lies ! " Thus
the mahout, whose opinion of the jungle villagers is ever
small.

Shortly after we reached the rendezvous. I spent the
rest of the day on, or I should say in, the river, as also the
following two days, and my friend and self had quite fair
sport with the mahseer. The Dun rivers, as are others in
the north of India, are under the protection of a Fishing
Club whose headquarters is at Dehra Dun. I was a member
of the Committee of this Club for several years and most
interesting were the questions which came up for decision and
settlement. Owing to the heavy water which comes down
these rivers in the monsoons and in the larger ones, the
Ganges and Jumna, in the spring with the melting of the
snows in the Himalaya, a river may change its channel, for
distances which vary from a few hundred yards to a mile or
two. The new channel is sometimes a matter of yards only
or as much as a mile or two away from the old. Good reaches
and pools may thus be entirely ruined and with them the work
and money expended on building small bunds and revetment
walls out into the stream to improve a good reach or pool.
Considerable judgment, with these vagaries of the river to
be borne in mind and the comparative smallness of the

190 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

funds at the disposal of the Club, has to be exercised in
choosing the sites of the small fishing huts, of which a few
were in existence. Although we were usually under canvas
when on a fishing trip, the huts were a great convenience for
members who wished to run out for a night or two without
going to the trouble of taking out camp paraphernalia ; as
also for non-district members who came from a distance to
spend a ten days' leave on these lovely rivers amidst
scenery that could scarcely be surpassed. Glorious days these
were passed thus on the river. On the occasion in question
the hot September sun burnt all the skin off my arms, knees —
we wore khaki shorts — neck and face, raising great and
exceedingly painful yellow blisters. My year and a half's
absence had made me soft, but the subsequent fortnight's
painful morning and evening anointing with glycerine by
my bearer was fully worth the ideal time we had of it.

We did not see much game, however, in the jungles.
Nothing to what would have been a certainty at the end of
the rains in the old days.

On our way back to camp on the last day I made some
remark to the mahout about the curious absence of the
large quantities of animals which at this season of the year
could certainly have been found here a few years ago.
"Oh, sahib, the Gurkhas were here last month," was the
reply. " Hov/ many ? " " From fifteen to a score," the
mahout answered. That explained matters which subse-
quent investigations in following years were able to confirm.

This Gurkha question was not a new one, nor indeed was
the case of the troops generally throughout the country,
where shooting and the fauna was in question. But the
Gurkha is the most typical case as instancing the harm
which can be done, unintentionally done one would hope, by
the grant of rights and pre-emptions which can only result
in the extinction of the thing granted. Shooting rights in
the jungles in the neighbourhood of their cantonments were
originally granted to the Gurkha regiments when they were
first settled in their present cantonments. This was an
inducement to recruiting since the Gurkha is a great hunter.
At the time the rights were granted the jungles swarmed
with game and no one bothered their heads about the
possibility, nay, probability, of this game decreasing to
such an extent that it would come perilously near extermina-
tion in these parts. And yet this is exactly what has hap-

BACK IN THE JUNGLES AGAIN 191

pened in the neighbourhood of all the large cantonments in
India. It is what has happened largely also in the neigh-
bourhood of the Gurkha cantonments occupied by regiments
who do not move their headquarters. These Gurkha
regiments or battalions are situated on the outer spurs
of the Himalayan range from the banks of the Sarda on
the frontier of Nepal to the banks of the Indus. They
number some fifteen thousand men/ all keen shikaris.
Their chief opportunities of private shikar, i.e. as opposed
to the occasions when they are out with their officers when
their part is not the killing part, is during the monsoon
months. During these months the sahib does not go out
into the jungles which are very malarious. Not so the
Gurkhas. This is their opportunity. From June to Septem-
ber it is comparatively easy to obtain leave, and a party of
ten to twenty men proceeded to a jungle and syste-
matically beat it, slaying everything that got up in front
and that could be hit. This sort of thing took place year
after year, in addition to the numbers of animals killed
from machans on the outskirts of the forest
by a sportsman who was out on his own t ^-^ ,- w
and could not tackle the game in any other y^:f ■^■^Jj
way. There can be little doubt that the
Gurkhas decimated the animals in the neigh-
bourhood of their cantonments, and this
neighbourhood may be taken to be a radius
of some thirty miles or more. It was most
difficult to see how it could be stopped. The
men had the permission from Government.
It was one of the guarantees upon which
they were enlisted in Nepal. Some of the
finest shooting-grounds on the five hundred miles of country
between the Sarda and Indus have been entirely ruined by
this so-called shikar, and the sufferers are not only the
Gurkha rank and file themselves, but their officers and the
civil officers of the stations situated along this extensive
line.

In many cases nothing but closure and the creation of
considerable game sanctuaries will enable portions of these
fine forests to become rehabitated to some extent. They
are unlikely ever to form the shooting-grounds they once
were. Nor will the old free shooting of the forest be seen

^ This was written before the Great War. — E. P, S,

192 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

again, in our time at least. Close seasons all sportsmen
would wish to see. Indiscriminate slaughter of animals,
large and small heads and does, is simple blood-thirstiness
and cruelty. But it is a restriction in India to those who
have enjoyed the shoot-as-you-please fashion to be limited
to a total of so many head, to find species barred to all
shooting, and so on.

This state of affairs is attributable to the unchecked,
indiscriminate slaughter of the past ; to the extremely
inefficient game laws and rules in force in the different
Provinces ; to the carelessness with which gun licences
were issued and the deplorable absence of supervision which
was maintained over those who received them ; and last, but
not least, to the unchecked snaring and trapping of animals
by methods which often exhibit a maximum of devilish
cruelty. These matters are dealt with in Part II. BrilHant
exceptions there were especially amongst the magistrates
and forest officers who were themselves real sportsmen ;
but, in most cases, of real supervision there was none, and
the fauna of the country has suffered terribly accordingly.

.^^

JWMlJ

CHAPTER XVI

AN ADVENTURE WITH A LEOPARD

An afternoon tryst in the Siwaliks — Proceed to the savannah — A herd of
chital leaving the forest — Deer plentiful in the United Provinces in
old days — Not so plentiful now — Sit and watch the deer — Sambhar
appear — Youngsters engage in sparring match — A big stag appears
— Night coming on — A dilemma — A new actor appears on the
scene — Leopard stalks a hind — Kills her — The havildah misses a
stag — I lire at leopard and wound it — Leopard bolts into forest —
An anxious journey back to camp — Search for the leopard next
morning.

I CANNOT count the occasions when I have had the
opportunity of watching a leopard on "his own " in
the jungle on both hands. In fact they are limited to
three, and one of them I have already described
elsewhere. One of the others was certainly not the least
interesting of the encounters however, and I propose to
narrate it here.

I was out in the jungles in the south of the Siwaliks early
in April, and the weather, though commencing to get a
trifle hot perhaps in the daytime, was still ideal for my
purposes.

Before leaving the camp one morning early on some
work, I gave the havildah orders to meet me
at four o'clock in the afternoon near a big
banyan tree at the edge of the forest, about
a mile away.

" The cook wants some meat and we'll
see if we can stalk something before sun-
down, so bring the rifle and shot-gun."

" Very good, huzur,"

I was up to time and found the havildah
duly awaiting me, squatted under the banyan t
tree. I took the rifle and we set off down "
a narrow path through the forest, which led
to an open savannah-like grassy tract of considerable
extent and completely encircled by green forest, tongues

o 193

194

DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

of the sal forest jutting out here and there into the beautiful
green plain. These open, grassy areas are common in the
jungles in this district and are burnt annually by the Forest
Department Officials to prevent danger of accidental fires
originating in the high grass, with which they become
densely covered in the rains, and spreading into the adjacent
valuable forest tracts. It is almost needless to state that
they formed ideal areas in which to search for game.

We moved along noiselessly as I was wearing rope-soled
boots which, with practice, permit of a quiet progression.
A Gurkha out hunting is always noiseless. On our way to
the grassy area we kept our eyes and ears wide open for sight
or sound of animals, but saw and heard nothing. We were
walking in Indian file. As we approached the savannah the

trees opened out in front, but the tall grass was still too
thick to see through until we reached the extreme edge. I
then sank down silently, the havildah following suit and
dropping in his tracks. He crawled forward and we looked
out on to the plain-like expanse in front of us.

About fifty yards distant a small herd of chital were
grazing. These animals had evidently issued from a small
piece of forest which jutted out some distance into the
plain on our right hand. Others were closer to the forest,
whilst the rustle of leaves and the cracking of a twig now
and then showed that some individuals of the herd were
still inside.

At the time I write of these animals, together with
sambhar, hogdeer, and swamp deer or barasingha, were

AN ADVENTURE WITH A LEOPARD 195

exceedingly plentiful in the plains and forests of the United
Provinces. Numbers still exist, but to nothing Hke the
same extent as formerly. Nor are the big heads to be
obtained now in the numbers which were comparatively
plentiful in the gorgeous days of old.

Two decades ago, from the tent door or verandah of the
forest bungalows in the early morning great herds could be
seen feeding on the plain in areas where they were not often
disturbed. One encountered them fihng or jumping across
the forest rides as one rode along on the pony or elephant
on the march or inspection duty. In the early morning or
evening one could watch them feeding out on the savannah-
like expanses of grass where cut or burnt ; or entering or
issuing from the neighbouring forests like troops of miniature
cavalry. One could pick out and shoot a decent head with
ease ; men shot several head of a morning or evening, good
and indifferent (more's the pity). There were no rules and
regulations in those days ; rules and regulations which
are now so necessary if the game of the country is to be
protected. A fat young buck or hind was shot without
contravening any rule. In fact, for the Forest Officer it
was a necessity, since he
was often away in the
jungle weeks on end by
himself and dependent to
a great extent on his rifle
for his meat supply. And a
record head is not usually
accompanied by a delicate
and tender flesh !

But those days are gone
for ever and, as we shall see
later, many causes up here
have tended to produce the
present state of affairs.

The sun was sinking as we sat and watched the deer at
present visible. Already the sky was changing colour
and a small cloud near the west took on a crimson
tinge. Away in the forest the pea-fowl were calhng from
the trees, having already commenced to seek their roosting
perches for the night in the darker shadow of the forest.

I was not out for a record this evening — not unless
something exceptional in the way of a head appeared.

196 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

Sufficient meat for the camp was all that I intended to
obtain, and that would be an easy matter — so I thought !
In the meantime I was exceedingly interested in the move-
ments of the animals in front of me.

As we sat there the first deer seen gradually fed further
out into the plain. They were mostly does with one or
two small stags amongst them. Others meanwhile issued
from the tongue of forest, and it was in this direction that
we maintained our watch. Only once did we remove our
eyes, and then turned sharply to the left as a heavy animal
broke out from the forest in that direction, followed by
several others.

They were doe sambhar with two young ones at heel,
and after satisfying ourselves that a stag was not with them,
which was unlikely at that season of the year, we again
turned our gaze to the right.

Two of the youngsters were now engaged in a sparring
match, banging their foreheads together with a smack and
pushing against each other for all they were worth, occasion-
ally rearing up on their hind legs and sparring. I was
watching them amusedly, for they were so thoroughly in
earnest, when I heard a sHght hiss from the havildah, and
glanced quickly at him and then to the right. A bigger
stag than any we had yet seen had left the forest quite
quietly and was cropping the grass in short, quick mouthfuls.
Two good-looking young does were just in front of him.
As I looked a heavy rustle and clatter on the edge of the
forest took place and out stalked a lordly stag. Even a
cursory glance showed him to be of enormous size, and at a
low muttered exclamation from the havildah I glanced at
him. One look was enough. He was as excited as I was,
old hands as we were at the game.

" Koup burra singh walla, sahib" (An enormous head,
sahib "), whispered the havildah.

I nodded. " It is thirty-seven inches and perhaps more,"
I thought. " What is to be done ? "

And truly the stag was well worth the excitement he
created. The white spots glistened Hke satin on his beautiful
fawn-coloured coat, whilst the horns swept magnificently
upwards from the head, the brow antler long and sharp,
the lower part of the main shaft roughened, and the two
upper tines sharp and white.

The position was, indeed, an anxious one. The sun was

AN ADVENTURE WITH A LEOPARD 197

setting behind the tree-tops of the forest to the west. There
was not too much dayhght left. The smaller stag, if he
continued to feed in his present direction, would come
within range, but it would be dark before the big one got
there, and if the latter remained where he was he would be
a difhcult shot once the light began to go.

Since we wanted meat, I told the havildah to place a ball
cartridge in the smooth-bore and to be ready to fire at the
nearest stag when I gave the word. At the same moment
I would let drive at the big stag. It was not an ideal
solution, but nothing better seemed to offer itself, unless
the big stag moved much nearer to us, in order to enable
me to make a certainty of meat and of horns to boot.

We then concentrated our attention on the two stags,
and neither party saw the third actor in this vivid drama of
the forest.

And yet there was one, and this no less than a fine male
leopard, which was just leaving the forest some forty yards
to our right. Quite unaware of the near proximity of his
mortal foe — man — the leopard was intent on securing his
evening meal, and for this purpose had selected a young
doe which had straggled away from the main herd and was
feeding towards, and some sixty yards from, the leopard's
position.

On leaving the forest the leopard lay flat on his stomach
and crawled stealthily along in the direction of the doe,
who had suddenly altered her position and was now facing
towards her companions. Whether instinct had warned
her it is hard to say, but she stood at gaze for some seconds,
the leopard meanwhile crouching motionless, flat in the
short tussocky grass and absolutely indistinguishable from
his surroundings, and then down went her head and she
recommenced feeding.

The leopard still waited, and then once again began that
slow crawl. It was difRcult, indeed, to perceive that he
moved at all, save that tussocks of grass that had been in
front of him were left behind. Gradually the distance
shortened, till but twenty-five yards separated him from
the young, unsuspecting doe. Slowly he gathered himself
together, and then with a few strong, supple, noiseless
bounds he sprang on to the startled animal and struck her
to the ground.

The tragedy was a matter of seconds, and yet its effect

198 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

on that quiet, peaceful, grassy arena was instantaneous. As
the leopard lay tearing at the throat of his victim, startled
squeaks sprung from the throats of the spotted deer, hoarser
sounds from the sambhar, and two startled bellows from
the two spotted stags.

A shot snapped out and the smaller stag bounded forward,
as a bullet whizzed close over his head, and made for the
forest. The big stag was already entering it unimpeded.

I had turned my attention to the more dangerous animal
and the big head went scathless.

At the sound of the smooth-bore the leopard sprang to
his feet snarling, and stood broadside on with his head
turned towards us. A rifle shot rang out and the beast
sprang into the air with a roar and made for the forest line.
A second shot, but the animal held on and the light was
bad. Crash ! the leopard had reached and bounded into
the long grass with a last snarl.

I heard a groan as the leopard disappeared. It was
from the havildah, but whether at his own miss or not I
did not ask.

The sounds of the leopard, undoubtedly badly wounded,
died away ; the deer in a maddened stampede were already
far away, and the grassy plain now darkening rapidly lay
tenantless, save for the dead body of the young doe. Over-
head the brightening stars winked down on this tragedy of
the forest.

We got silently to our feet, hstened intently for a few
minutes, and I then whispered to the orderly to reload the
empty barrel of the smooth-bore. I reloaded my rifle,
and this done, motioned my companion to the front and
signed to him to move cautiously.

We had an anxious j ourney back to the camp. A wounded
leopard about in a dark jungle is no joke, and I think we both
had one of the worst half-hours we had had in our lives.

To this day I have not been able to make up my mind
whether I was right in firing at the leopard. I feared
that the animal, hearing the havildah's gun and maddened
at being interrupted in his meal, might be about to charge,
and in the bad hght thought I had better take the standing
shot. There was, also, that temptation which always
assails the sportsman never to let off one of the larger cats
when he offers a decent chance. I fancy that I should act
in exactly the same way given another chance.

AN ADVENTURE WITH A LEOPARD

ig9

We did not speak much till we got back to camp. On
arrival there, " What do you think, havildah, shall we
get him ? "

" He was badly hit, sahib."

" So I think," I replied. " Have the elephant ready at
dawn."

We found the beast next morning stone dead at the foot
of a tree two hundred yards from the place where he had
sprung into the forest.

-'#^" '. ---^<_%'<.^/ ^''^- '\J^ W/i^-^-- '

E.P.3

CHAPTER XVII

JUNGLE LORE

The lore of the jungle a fascinating study — Jungle warnings — ^The crows
— The advance picket — Crows' food — The tiger and leopard's kill —
Crows, vultures, hyena and jackal — Wild cats — The owner advancing
to his kill — Demeanour of birds and monkeys — Unenviable notoriety
— Attitude of deer — Uses of the machan — " Picking out " animals in
the jungle — Jungle kit — Knowledge of country necessary — Tiger
and leopard — Methods of hunting them — Manner of securing their
prey — Tracking — Physical fitness necessary — Jungle voices — Attitude
of animals towards each other — Homeric fights.

THE lore of the Jungle ! What a fascinating
subject it is ! There are so many aspects of
jungle life to study, and the more deeply one's
researches go the wider the field which opens
out before one, until at length the at first faintly con-
ceived surmise gradually grows into a conviction that the
enquirer into jungle lore will remain at school all his days.
Herein lies the fascination. There is always a new page to
turn and invariably something of high interest to be obtained
by perusing it.

Take for instance one of the first aspects of jungle life
to which the attention of the sportsman is attracted : the
warning which the jungle folk pass on when danger is
approaching. This warning, though intended for the friends
of the utterer, is understood by the whole community even
though amongst themselves they may be respectively the
oppressor and oppressed.

Most of us know, all boys know, the frightened screech
emitted and passed on by the blackbirds, crows, and so on,
when danger in the form of a youngster armed with a
catapult is discerned lurking in a clump of bushes. The
denizens of the Indian jungle behave in exactly the same
way. The approach of tiger or leopard or man himself, is
heralded by certain birds and mammals in a manner quite

JUNGLE LORE 2ol

unmistakable once the eyes and ears are opened to the
meaning. It is simple jungle lore, but none the less its
acquisition is imperative on the part of the shikari if he
wishes to enjoy sport, apart from the mere killing, or
target practice.

I have mentioned the crow. He is probably one of the
most useful of the jungle birds to the sportsman. Once
the crow's actions and the crow's warning notes are under-
stood, the presence of a kill in the neighbourhood, or the
advance of a tiger or leopard to a kill, can be read with
certainty. The crow is the advance picket in the jungle and
worthily he fulfils the duties of the post. Crows feed on
meat (when they can get it), and a dead animal holds
out to them the promise of a fine meal. When the
animal is a villager's dead cow or jungle animal which
has died through some cause other than sudden death
beneath the claws of the larger carnivora, the crow
considers he has as much right to his share as any-
one else and disputes with magpies, vultures and others
to get it. But matters are very different when the
dead animal is a kill made by tiger or leopard. The
crows then know perfectly well to whom the kill belongs,
and that the owner is somewhere in the vicinity. They
either sit dejectedly in the trees near by, or vociferate
noisily to one another ; one or two bolder than the rest will
fly down, have a hurried peck or two at the carcase, and
then in fear fly squawking back to their perches. If one is
sitting in a machan in the neighbourhood, the crows are
perfectly aware of one's position, and will do their best,
by raising the alarm note, to lure the owner of the feast
back to the carcase, in the mistaken belief that a marauder
is feeding on it. For both tiger and leopard know that
there are lesser beasts and also birds of the jungle who
will take their fill from the carcase if they can summon
up pluck enough. They both lie up in the neighbourhood
of their kills to protect them ; the leopard, with his greater
cunning, hiding the carcase if possible.

The vultures collect with the crows and sit about in trees.
One can make certain of the fact that there is a dead animal
in the forest or neighbourhood, and judge with accuracy its
position by observing the vultures. If they are seen quitting
their stations up in the sky, where they wheel in great circles
ever on the look-out, shooting towards a point and gradually

202 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

planing down to earth, the rendezvous is probably a dead
animal. All round the horizon, vulture on vulture will be
noted, drawing in and planing down to the spot. But the
vultures will not venture down to the kill. They are heavy
birds and can only resume flight after landing by taking a
short run accompanied by a vigorous flapping of great
wings before they can launch themselves into the air and
soar upwards. Consequently, unhke the agile crow, the
vulture would, if he had the temerity to come down, risk
a buffet and death at the hands of the carnivorous owner,
should he suddenly appear. The vultures sit round in the
trees and wait. Amongst the mammals the jackal and
hyena are ever on the look-out for a vicarious meal. An
individual of either of these species may shnk out of the
neighbouring thicket, approach the kill in a furtive manner,
and have a hurried pull or two at it — then start away a few
paces, with ears laid back and lips drawn up in a snarhng
grin — the very embodiment of cowardly fear. A shriU
warning from the crows overhead that the owner is approach-
ing, true or untrue (how the crows must enjoy sounding a
false alarm to these skulking brutes !) and the craven
intruder fades away into the forest.

More rarely a wild cat may turn up. He is bolder and
will make something of a meal of it, if given an ordinary
chance, and will continue his stolen feast longer, even after
he reahzes that the owner is approaching ; but this may be
due to the fact that the cat is of the same family as the tiger
and leopard and therefore can more accurately gauge the
exact moment at which it will be imperative to leave his
cousin's neighbourhood.

Whilst sitting in the machan and watching this daily life of
the forest, a most amusing comedy when one is able to follow
the words, one has often been led astray by the crows — had
the leg pulled, in vulgar parlance — and sat ready for the
appearance of the owner before he has been anywhere near.
For when he is on the move and advancing towards his kill
from the spot where he has been lying up during the day,
there is usually no mistake about the matter. He advances
with an overhead escort which shouts out his title and the
fact that, temporarily at least, he owns this bit of jungle.
Birds of all degree shriek excitedly as he passes, or flutter
overhead, keeping pace with his line of march. The crows
are loudest in their homage, for they hope to have the

JUNGLE LORE 203

remains of the feast. If monkeys are in the neighbourhood
they swing along from branch to branch, jabbering and
cursing down at him. In inclement weather the animal
has a better chance of approaching his kill unperceived as
most of the jungle folk are then hidden away under shelter.
This was the case in the incidents of my first tiger already
related. Neither tiger nor leopard ask for, or like the
notoriety forced upon them. They do not perhaps mind it so
much when they are advancing to the kill, though even then
one will see them look up occasionally and show their teeth in
a vicious snarl ; but they dishke it immensely when they
are on an evening prowl, looking out for their next meal.
For, from the moment they are descried, and they take the
greatest pains to remain undiscerned, every animal in the
jungle is put at once on its guard by the performance of
the birds and monkeys. The deer know perfectly well
what it portends and remain on the alert till their enemy
has left the neighbourhood. In fact it is quite common for
a tiger or leopard, once he has been discovered in a jungle,
to be fairly mobbed out of it ; for he knows- that once all
the jungle animals have been informed of his presence he
has a poor chance of getting even a plump young doe to
make his meal off.

Pea-fowl, after they have retired up on to the trees to
roost, also give warning of a tiger on the prowl by suddenly
giving voice to their " Hank ! Pa-66 ! Pa-00 ! ". in the late
evening or at night.

From what has been written above it will become apparent
that the best and surest way for a newcomer into the Indian
jungle to set about picking up jungle lore, is to sit silently
and motionless in a machan placed in a convenient tree,
with a sufficiency of branches to hide him without interrupt-
ing the vision. Both silence and rigidity are imperative ;
the least sound will be heard by, and the least motion per-
ceived by, the hundreds of ears and eyes of the jungle folk,
ever on the alert and prying for danger. The motionless
position becomes extremely irksome, even for an hour, and
one has often to spend several hours in the machan. If
awaiting the appearance of a leopard the rifle must be held
in such a position that it can be brought to the shoulder
with the smallest possible amount of movement, for it is
necessary to aim and fire a fraction of a second after making
the movement. The leopard, who is very prompt in decision,

204 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

will catch the movement at once and be off in a flash. This
is not so necessary with the tiger who is not so prompt in
decision and will wait to have a second look. He does not
make up his mind with the lightning speed, nor has he any-
thing like the cunning, of the leopard. As a general rule
reduce the motion necessary to get the rifle to the shoulder
to the minimum possible. Having picked up in the machan
much of the jungle lore I have been able to assimilate, I
have no hesitation in recommending it as the best educator
available for the object in view.

A very brief introduction to the jungles and their denizens
impresses upon the newcomer one factor — the great difficulty
experienced in " picking up " the animals in their natural
surroundings. Even when on the move it is by no means
easy at first to pick them out from the background against
which they are moving, and when they are halted the diffi-
culty becomes immeasurably greater. This applies generally
to all the jungle animals, from the elephant to a partridge
or quail. Even a large animal like the tiger can move along
in his surroundings in an almost invisible manner. His
outline becomes merged in the general colour of the grass or
scrub jungle but there is nothing definite to pick up, and
when he is motionless he is almost invisible, if not quite,
to the untrained eye. In the same fashion a leopard may be
stared at, at comparatively close quarters, without the
untrained eye being able to pick out its outHne from the
surroundings. It is usually the eyes of the animal which are
first perceived if it is facing the observer. Other animals,
sambhar, chital, and so forth, are easily quickly lost, after
being picked up, owing to the extraordinary protective
colouring which so blends with the colour of the jungle as to
enable them to fade away whilst being watched within a
comparatively short distance. The " jungle eye " is not
born with the man of the higher civilization. Much patience
and perseverance is required to acquire it up to a certain
point. You will never emulate the jungle-man ; and even
the latter may be beaten by the leopard who is a past-
master in the art of hiding behind a tiny grass tussock and
in sneaking out, ventre a terre, between closely advancing
beaters, remaining perdu whilst they walk over him, or in
slipping out between the rifles, the easiest task of all.

Whilst therefore, in a new environment and with an
untrained eye, the newcomer finds some difficulty in picking

sVr 7. P. l/<-7ief. rhiti

DEAD TK.ER IN THE HIi.H GRASS JUNGLE WHERE IT FELL ON 1:E1\(;

SHOT. THE COLOURING AND MARKIN(;S OF THE ANIMAL RENDER IT

ALMOST rNDISTINGriSHARLE AT A SHORT DISTANCE AWAY

JUNGLE LORE 205

out any of the animals in his neighbourhood from their
surroundings, the reverse is the case with the jungle folk.
They will hear, smell, and see him, seconds, even minutes,
before he has any chance of getting on terms with them. In
order to reduce to the smallest dimensions the risk of being
seen, the sportsman must take a leaf out of the jungle's book,
and disguise himself in the protective colouring of the jungle.
For the drier parts of the country, khaki is always worn,
with no white collar or shirt or wristbands which will be
visible many yards off. Also a khaki-coloured topi. In
the moister, evergreen forests, such as Assam, Chittagong,
Madras and Lower Burma, green shikari cloth is worn with
the same coloured topi. Do not wear an uncovered wrist
watch. It is apt to send helio signals to the animal you are
trying to stalk.

Since the Anglo-Indian shikari in the jungles of the plains
of India spends a good deal of the time he devotes to sport
in endeavours to meet tiger and leopard face to face, a few
words on the modes of life of these two animals, and how
to circumvent them, may now be in place.

As a first necessity to successful sport a thorough know-
ledge of the country in which it is to be obtained is a sine
qua non. One must endeavour to know one's locality intim-
ately. If, from a variety of reasons, the necessary time for
this purpose is not at one's disposal, one must find some
trustworthy person who does, and has at the same time the
requisite knowledge of the habits of the animals one is out
after.

Tiger. There are several ways of endeavouring to arrange
a meeting with tiger : With a line of beating elephants, as
described in a subsequent chapter : or beating with coolies,
as done in the Central Provinces, which is similar but more
dangerous. Other methods are by tying up for him and track-
ing on foot. A tiger's beat is of necessity an extensive one. He
has, as we have seen, to endeavour to ensure privacy, in other
words to keep himself hidden from the jungle folk on whom
he preys, and from birds and monkeys, and so forth. Once
his presence is known in a jungle his chances of obtaining
food are small and he will have to repair to another jungle
in which his presence is unsuspected. An animal a week
may be taken as his ordinary meat ration, and he endeavours
to kill it conveniently near dense jungle, into which he can
drag it, and near water. A knowledge of these habits

206 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

necessary to the sportsman if he is tying up " kills," i.e.
buffaloes over which, when killed, he proposes to have a
machan erected and to sit up to catch the animal when it
returns to feed. The tiger starts out on his quest for food
in the late afternoon. In the darker days of the monsoon
period, when the sky is heavily overcast, he A\dll start earlier
in the afternoon, but at other periods he does not commence
his round till within an hour or two of sunset, and knocks off
an hour or two after sunrise, when he lies up for the day in
some quiet retreat where shade and water are obtainable.
He spends the day mostly in sleep. If he has been successful
his kill is somewhere near him, where he can protect it from
the flesh-eating predatory smaller fry of the jungle. For, as
we have seen, they will know all about his presence and the
kill.

In the early morning the sportsman will visit his tied-up
buffalo, or buffaloes if he has several out. The animal is
tethered by a rope to a foreleg and provided with fodder.
The spot must be carefully chosen, a shady tree being selected
and the surroundings left entirely untouched. All of the
jungle animals are extremely suspicious and anything out
of the way will at once make them shun the spot. Tiger
and leopard are more than ordinarily suspicious, and tie-ups
are left untouched for no rhyme or reason so far as the sports-
man can understand. In fact in the case of an old tiger,
who is not ordinarily a cattle feeder, it will often only be due
to its non-success in securing a wild animal that will at
length drive it by the insistent pangs of hunger to slay the
tie-up. As soon as it is seen that the kill has been taken
and dragged away, men are summoned, the wide trail is
followed up and a machan erected some fifteen feet up in
the most convenient tree. In placing the machan it is
essential that the line of fire covers the kill. This is not so
easy as it may appear at first sight. Branches and leaves will
interfere, and yet it may be imperative that they should
be left in order to hide one. And the impossibility of seeing
behind, for one cannot move, always remains an aggravating
factor. If sitting up in a tree without a machan, great
difficulty is usually experienced in aiming at an animal
passing to the right. It may be possible to obviate this
difficulty by choosing a position which will enable you to do
this. The best solution is, of course, to learn to shoot from
the left shoulder. I have not met many who possessed this

JUNGLE LORE 207

useful accomplishment ; and fewer still who would risk
losing a tiger by trying the left-shoulder shot. The higher up
the tree you sit the more difficult will be the shot ; ten feet
gives an easy shot, but the tiger, who can rear up to this
height, will be able to reach you there if he gets to close
quarters through mischance or bungling. Twelve to fifteen
feet is the most usual height for tiger. A great deal has been
written on the subject of the jumping powers and cHmbing
powers of the tiger. He can leap up a certain height, and
more especially should the lower parts of the stem have
knobs and excrescences upon it (a not uncommon thing in
parts of India), enabling the animal to get a purchase for
his feet. By this means, and if the trunk were bent to one
side from the vertical a little, a tiger could probably. ascend
to fifteen feet if charging and furious, and might succeed
in pulhng one down. But a tiger is far too heavy an animal
to be able to climb, and in this respect is unlike the panther.
That a tiger can reach up nine or ten feet is evidenced by
the claw marks one sees in the bark of trees — long scratches
made by the nails when the animal is stretching himself.

One occupies the machan in the afternoon, proceeding
there quietly an hour before there is any chance of the tiger
moving from his retreat. Success will now depend on the
tiger coming back to the kill. If he has the least suspicion
that anything is wrong or unnatural about the surroundings
he will, after reconnoitring, make off. If he arrives it may
be after dark, and should the moon, on whose fitful hght one
is depending for the shot, become overcast, one will hear the
beast at his meal but a shot will not be possible. It is no
use firing at the sound. We have all done that in the days
of our inexperience ; sat in agonized suspense for the rest
of the night perhaps, and found nothing in the morning.
But if one has not disturbed him a second chance will be
offered, for the tiger returns to his kill till he has consumed
all he cares for, and a second night's sitting may give
one the prize. If it is remembered that almost from the
moment the tiger has killed until the time at which he moves
off, replete from the remnants he has no use for, his whole
actions are known to and watched by the bulk of the animal
community in the neighbourhood, and that this knowledge
on their part is loudly proclaimed to all, it will become
obvious that the tiger's whereabouts will not be difficult to
ascertain. The tiger is not a pretty feeder. He bites and

2o8 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

gnaws great chunks of flesh, inchiding hair and skin, from
the carcase and gulps them down, making hideous noises
the while. In this respect he differs from the leopard who
is far more fastidious and dislikes the hair and skin of its
victim, removing it from the portion before feeding on it.
In the case of the tiger who has become a pure cattle-slayer,
either due to the fact that he has got fat and lazy or to
some injury, usually to a foot, which reduces his chances of
securing the alert, faster game animals, it may be unnecessary
to tie up " kills." As soon as a villager reports the loss of
an animal from his herd a search is made for the carcase
and a machan built over it as already described.

Of course it is no use tying up kills in a jungle until by
tracking it has been ascertained that a tiger is in the neigh-
bourhood. An exception to this rule is made when the
sportsman is resident for some time in the neighbourhood
of a portion of an area known to be frequented by a tiger.
The latter will return to the locality sooner or later and
perhaps take the kill. In such cases buffaloes so tied up
will be watched by one of the local villagers told off for the
purpose, or one's own shikari is sent out. The latter is
preferable since the villager is very unreliable in this respect ,

Tigers and leopards who have taken to killing human
beings and feeding upon them, are known as " man-eaters."
Once the animals have taken to this practice they develop
a taste for human flesh and eat nothing else. The making
of a man-eater is probably usually due to the fact that
through injury or worn-out teeth, due to old age, the animal
is no longer able to kiU wild animals, and finds man an even
easier prey than village cattle. A wound in the pad or foot
which results in lameness, owing to a badly placed shot,
may easily result in a tiger taking to man-eating. Man-
eaters of both species are usually thin mangy brutes and
develop a wicked cunning.

Leopard. The leopard or panther is almost an animal of
the village, for he is continually prowling round the village, en-
deavouring to steal a dog, goat , baby or small pony. His ways
are consequently well-known to the villagers. The method
of sitting up for leopard has been already described at length
in previous pages. In all dealings with this animal, if success
is to be made reasonably secure and even then it is far from
assured, the main point to be borne in mind is the extra-
ordinary craftiness of the animal. Sitting up in a machan

Sir J. P. Hewrtt, photo

DEAD LEOPARD IN HI(;H GRASS JUNHU.K IN POSITION AITER REINC, SHOT.

ITS PROTECTIVE COLOURING AND MARKINGS RENDER IT EVEN MORE

DIFFICULT THAN THE TIGER TO PICK UP

JUNGLE LORE 209

over a goat or dog used as a bait, the former the most useful
and more preferable, is the chief method. In beating the
chances are a hundred to one in favour of the leopard sneak-
ing out unperceived. For he is extraordinarily difficult to
pick out from his surroundings and can hide under the
smallest bush or in tussocky grass. Being an adept at
climbing, he frequently sleeps on a branch and is not uncom-
monly shot in trees ; when pressed in a beat he probably fre-
quently climbs up a tree and hides amongst the foliage, allow-
ing the men to pass beneath him. The elevation at which
the machan is prepared is according to taste, bearing in
mind that the leopard climbs with ease, unlike the tiger. The
sportsman occupies the machan and the goat is then brought
and tethered beneath, the animal being unaware that the
sportsman is sitting above him. One commonly makes the
mistake at first of getting into the machan after the goat
has already been tethered out below. The animal, as it then
knows it has company, will sit down and go to sleep or feed
if there is anything to eat ; and the goat is quite impartial
in its tastes in this respect. The goat is there to bleat and it
will do so as soon as it considers it is forlorn and desertedj
If a leopard is in the neighbourhood the bleats will soon
attract it. But this does not mean that it will at once
advance and seize the bait. Far otherwise ! In any event
its suspicions will be aroused and it will cruise around in
the offing for a varying period before it has made up its mind.
But once decided it will act with promptness and advance in
bounds till it almost reaches the animal. If one reserves
one's fire, the leopard seizes the goat, kills it, and drags it
away, placing it for safety in the branches of a tree where it is
safe from vultures who cannot get at it in this position.
Like the tiger, the leopard keeps watch over it to prevent
the smaller fry stealing the meat. The remains of his feast
he will cover up with twigs and leaves in a manner similar
to the way a dog buries bones.

The methods by which tiger and leopard capture their
prey differ. The tiger is a heavy, powerful animal but has
considerable pace for a short distance, even over the roughest
ground and uphill. He is well aware that the fleet deer,
once they have got into their stride, can outrun him in a
very short distance. Hence the need of secrecy and the
careful stalk which precedes the rush on to the animal. On
getting alongside of the deer the tiger either jumps for the

210 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

throat or strikes it down with the powerful forearm, the
nails lacerating the flesh. In the case of larger animals,
such as the buffalo, his procedure is different. To approach
alongside would be to court injury or death from the horns
of the beast. The tiger therefore comes from behind and
springs upon the animal, bringing it to earth by the sheer
force of his pace and weight, his claws scoring down the
withers whilst his fangs are fixed in the neck which he
wrenches backward in order to break it. This mode of attack
is usually successful but it requires a nicety of calculation
and approach, for if the tiger does not land in exactly the
right position on the animal's back, a beast so powerful
as the buffalo will shake off the hold, and there is then either
a battle royal or more commonly the tiger shnks away. For
a tiger must entirely depend on the full play of his several
parts, in fact, on bodily perfection, to secure his daily food
and consequently dreads an injury which may mean slow
starvation ; unless driven to desperation by hunger he
never takes unwarrantable risks.

A panther seizes its victim by the throat, worrying it to
death in this fashion, four deep holes being left by the canine
teeth.

The wounds received by a man when attacked by a tiger,
usually after the latter has been wounded and the animal
gets to close quarters, are very serious. The tiger bites deep,
and in addition the claws score deeply into the flesh. The
teeth and claws of the tiger are poisonous and gangrene
sets in rapidly, resulting in death. Should only a limb be
affected, by removing the attacked portion within a short
space the poison may be prevented from spreading to the
rest of the system. Sticks of caustic should be carried by
sportsmen and the wounds immediately washed and treated
with them.

The leopard, other than the man-eater, if he gets home
after being wounded and mauls a man does not usually bite,
the wounds being chiefly claw marks. These wounds are
not generally fatal and the man recovers. In fact men have
had hand-to-hand encounters with leopards and have even
killed such by throtthng them with their hands, and
recovered from the wounds received. But they rarely have
the same health afterwards. The golden rule should be to
reduce the risk of ever getting mauled by the carnivora
by being always suitably armed.

JUNGLE LORE 211

Tracking. The first golden rule when tracking dangerous
game is to be suitably armed. If not so armed, not only does
one take a foolish risk oneself but imperils the hves of one's
attendants. The sportsman should have two rifles with
him, of which one at least should be of heavy calibre — such
as a -500 or -577 cordite express. The second will probably
be one of the hghter calibres, of which there are now numerous
different makes. The second rule is to remember that
the safety of the men who accompany one is the first con-
sideration. You are out for pleasure. They are out on
duty or to earn their daily bread. In the case of a wounded
tiger or leopard, whether you proceed to track it on foot or
mounted on an elephant, none of your attendants, the
trackers and so forth, should remain exposed in such a
position as to be uncovered by a rifle. If an elephant is
procurable, once the trackers have located the patch of
jungle — it will often be very dense — in which the tiger has
taken up his position all the men who cannot be taken up on
to the elephant should be sent up into trees before the ele-
phant advances. In the Central Provinces and elsewhere,
where, in the absence of elephants, one tracks up the
wounded animals on foot, no precaution and trouble are
too great to reduce to a minimum all risk to the men accom-
panying one, whose only weapons will probably be a little
axe, bow and arrow, or antiquated musket. To have a man
who comes out to assist you, whether for the pure love of
adventure or merely to earn a wage, mutilated or killed, is,
if due to negligence on the part of the sportsman, unpardon-
able. Accidents will occur of course. In sport it is im-
practicable to eliminate them altogether. But they should
come under that category ; the sportsman can then be
commiserated on his bad luck.

I have often been asked " What will a tiger do when he
is wounded ? " My only answer is " I do not know." He
may charge or he may run away ; but usually, not invariably,
he will charge in the direction he is facing. Only if he is a
cur will he turn sharp round. So do not fire at his head if
you meet him face to face on a path. Stand steady and
stare him out but do not fire.

I have already discussed bison tracking. Unless suitably
armed one has little chance of bagging bison. There are
other points, however, connected with this sport. It
necessitates absolute physical fitness. This can only be

212 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

attained by drinking as little as possible whilst actually
tracking in the hot sun, and not more than is absolutely
essential on return to camp. Some stimulant is required in
a climate like India, but reduce the amount taken to the
lowest whilst on shooting expeditions which entail days of
hard tracking. And the same applies to smoking. Although
a smoker, I personally found that of necessity, and without
suffering inconvenience, I gave up smoking all day, confining
myself to a smoke after dinner. Of course smoking when on
a hot trail is impossible. The risk of the animals scenting
it is too great. After considerable experience and trials
I found cold weak tea without milk (the milk always turns
sour in the heat) or sugar is the best thirst quencher. Do
not drink at every stream you reach whilst on a long track.
You become much hotter by so doing as you climb the
opposite hill and the perspiration pouring down your face
blinds you. If you then run into your bison you run a strong
chance of missing him. In addition the constant drinking
reduces your powers of endurance and you become flabby
and useless by the early afternoon. I admit that it is very
hard at first to resist the temptation to drink at every
stream. The water of the hill stream is so invitingly
sparkling. But by dint of exercising restraint it is astound-
ing how soon one finds the temptation diminish until in
the end you do not feel an inchnation to drink.

On the subject of the art of tracking itself ! One could
write a book on it alone. It is too large a matter to be treated
of here. Of one thing one may be positive. The European
brought up in civilization can never hope to vie with or
emulate the jungle-man who has spent his life in the forests,
learning the woodcraft of the forest, and having at his back
a long line of ancestors who lived a similar life. Our own
ancestors, it is true, lived in similar fashion in the forests
of Britain fifteen hundred or so years ago. But the senses
of the jungle-man, which those ancestors of ours likewise
possessed, have become atrophied in us by centuries of
disuse. This is not to say, however, that we cannot, by
giving our whole attention to the matter, absorb some of
the jungle lore of the jungle-man and learn something of
his marvellous tracking powers. Learn to pick out the tracks
of the different jungle denizens ; learn to estimate the
period of time at which these tracks were made — the hours
which have elapsed since the animal left them behind him ;

JUNGLE LORE 213

learn to note on hard rocky ground a small overturned
stone, showing a slightly darker, because moister, surface
than its neighbours ; learn to read the marks left on foliage
and bark by the teeth as the animal browsed, and so estimate
by the oozing sap or its stoppage and the browning of the
cut edges, the length of time which has elapsed since his
passage.

Other signs which afford evidence are the peehng of the
bark of sapUngs by deer ; rubbing the bark to allay the
irritation set up when the velvet is peeling off the horns ;
and the scoring of the bark with their claws by bears, either
in stretching themselves or to cause the sweet sap to flow.

It is a wonderful thing to watch a first-class tracker carry
the trail over all sorts of ground. Up to a certain point
much can be learnt by hard work and persistent attention.
It is one of the finest parts of the lore of the jungles. It
may be commended as an art worth the serious study of all
who wish to enjoy to the full the joys of the life of a shikari
in India's glorious jungles.

I remember hearing it said by an Anglo-Indian, before I
first went to India, that the peculiarity of the Indian jungles
was their extraordinary silence. I do not think that he was
a shikari man, and perhaps he only went into the jungles
during the hotter part of the day. Most of the mammals,
as also the birds, are then taking their siesta ; but even so,
there is still noise enough, for the cicadas, grasshoppers,
crickets and others of the clamorous portion of the insect life
of the jungles, are awake and talking or singing after their
fashion. But, if we omit the hotter portion of the day, in
the morning and evening (and at night) the jungles are full
of sound. In tigerish parts the animal may often be heard,
either voicing his vexation in short angry growls when he
has missed his quarry and has to seek a fresh neighbour-
hood ; or when on his way to his kill, uttering short roars
varying in degree or snarling with rage at the birds
overhead. Temper, i.e. the feelings uppermost at the
moment, may have as much to do with the manner
of approach as anything else — that and temperament.
During the mating season the males are particularly
noisy. But this is common to other animals, and the cat
tribe are often very rough to their own mates. Stags, as is
well known, are at that period full of fight and I have
heard many a time and oft the hoarse challenge of the

214 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

sambhar stag, the sharper one of the chital, and witnessed
fights of no mean order between the claimants to the favours
of some fair hind. Whilst grazing, deer, especially the hinds,
constantly emit sharp yelps or squeals, or high-pitched notes
of various cadences, which doubtless in deer language
signify endearments, repartees or merely tittle-tattle and
scandal-mongering. The one note about which there is
never any doubt is the note of alarm. It is the females in
the deer tribe, and in fact all horned animals of my acquaint-
ance, who do the sentry-go for the herds — usually old,
experienced females. In stalking this fact has to be remem-
bered. It is essential to mark down the sentries and also
any young and foolish members of the weaker sex who may
stray far in front of the herd whose lord and master, ever
in the rearguard, is the object of the stalk. Failure to omit
this necessary precaution will cause the miscarriage of many
a stalk begun with rosy promise.

Deer feed chiefly at night, leaving the forest just before
sunset and returning to it soon after sunrise. Chital require
a lot of water and consequently will be certain to visit the
water nearest to their haunts in the morning and evening, and
they will keep to the plains forest ; but the larger and older
sambhar stags prefer the foothills forming the base of the
mighty Himalayan range or the hilly parts of the great
plains of India. Consequently, if one wishes to secure a good
sambhar, it is to the hills that one must resort to stalk the
animal. It is astonishing what rough rocky ground this
heavy stag will negotiate with ease and speed and the extra-
ordinary, narrow knife edges along a crest which he can
gallop over. When alone in this fashion and depending upon
himself, he becomes most wary, usually taking up a position
for the day on some commanding vantage point from which
he can watch all approaches.

As regards the attitude of the larger animals of the
Indian jungles amongst themselves, the carnivora, tiger and
leopard, never willingly interfere with any of the more danger-
ous species, such as elephant, bison, buffalo, rhinoceros,
bear or boar ; and they probably usually refrain from
attacking the larger stags of the deer tribe. When aware of
the near presence of the former, tiger or leopard will usually
move silently in an opposite direction. This is not to say that
homeric encounters do not take place between the carnivor-
ous eats and the other species if through unforeseen circum-

JUNGLE LORE 215

stances they encounter one another, and when one of the
two is in a particularly irascible mood — more especially if
wounded and maddened by pain. Of course, as we have
seen, the species fight amongst themselves, most commonly
in the mating season. But this is usual with most animals
when two males wish to win the favours of a particular
female. I have heard tigers at night, and seen two male
leopards fighting for this reason, though unfortunately it
was the tail-end of the fight only. But I never had the good
fortune to witness a combat of this description between
elephants, bison or buffaloes.

Of far greater interest would it be to be present at an
encounter between a tiger and an old boar or irascible bear,
or an old bull bison or buffalo. Such combats are veritably
the fights of giants. Native shikaris who have witnessed (more
often heard them only) such encounters have told me that
the noise of the growls, bellows or grunts is prodigious, the
ground all round being ploughed up and bespattered with
blood. The tiger counts on his activity, and endeavours to
get on to the back of his enemy. Bison and buffalo depend
chiefly on their horns, trying to pierce and gore their foe,
to whom they ever present a wary front, circling with every
movement of the tiger trying to take them in rear. The
bear exerts himself to get to close quarters, with the
object of securing a purchase and hugging the life out of the
enemy. The old boar places his faith in his powerful tushes,
and trusts to short rushes with the hghtning side twist of
the head and vicious upward cut of the tush which, if it
gets home, will rip up and disembowel the foe.

Bears and old boars are probably the two animals which
are most prone to take on or start a contest of this kind.

It is probably rare for an old tiger to ever risk such an
encounter, save in exceptional circumstances, since with
the wisdom and discretion of years he is aware that,
even if he comes out victorious, the wounds inevitably
received will probably incapacitate him from being able
to procure his food. Young males in the pride of their
strength and ignorance are the ones who apparently fall
victims to their tempers in this fashion. The end of such a
fight must depend upon a variety of minute circumstances,
but if carried on for any length of time by two determined
opponents the result is usually probably the death of both.

CHAPTER XVIII

JUNGLE LORE — Continued

Local distribution of animals varies with water available — The mon-
soon, cold-weather and hot-weather seasons — Forest fires — Flowers of
mhowa tree attract bear and deer — Wild dogs and game animals —
Crops attract animals — Insect life — Defoliation of teak forests and
effect on game — Defoliation of sal forests — Locust invasions — Areas
of trees killed out — The big bee in the jungles — Attacks of the bee —
Red ant and the sportsman — Red ant's house-building methods —
Advice to sportsmen — Wood and bamboo " shot-hole " beetle borers
in the bungalow and in furniture — The study of insect life in the
jungles — The white ant or termite — ^The white ant heap — Habits —
Ant heaps a shelter to sportsmen — The wounded bull bison.

IN the preceding chapter one aspect of jungle lore has
been considered, the habits, idiosyncrasies and atti-
tudes of some of the animals of the jungle. A study
will show that there are other factors to become
acquainted with, some of which have a direct influence
on the distribution, or even the presence, of game animals
at certain seasons in a locality.

The most striking illustration is the presence or absence
of water. During the monsoon period water is to be found
in abundance everywhere, and consequently the animals
become widely distributed over a locality. During the
ensuing cold weather water is still plentiful in the streams,
but in the hot season which follows these streams dry up
and even the larger ones may contain but a small trickle.
Lakes and tanks also have a greatly diminished water
supply. The drying up of the water supplies in common
use by the jungle folk has inevitably a very considerable
influence on their distribution in a locality. Most of the
animals — not all, the little chinkara or gazelle is an excep-
tion— require to drink daily. The chital, as has been men-
tioned, will drink twice and even thrice a day. A knowledge
of the places where water is to be found in the hot season is

216

JUNGLE LORE 217

therefore essential to the sportsman who wishes to enjoy
sport and study the fauna. And the latter purpose can be
carried out admirably at this season.

Forest fires form another illustration. In the Govern-
ment Reserves the Forest Department, by dint of hard and
assiduous work, have now reduced to small Umits the vast
fires of former times by which whole jungles were burnt
out, being thereupon deserted by animals and birds until
the rains of the monsoon resulted in the area being re-
clothed with herbage and young growth. Outside the
Reserves large areas of jungle are still annually burnt by
the villagers in order to provide, under the influence of the
first rains, a plentiful supply of young grass for their cattle.
And in the great Native States the heavy forest is still
subject to bad fires in the dry season. A knowledge of
jungles which may have suffered from this calamity during
the season, is therefore necessary to save the hot-weather
sportsman going on some wild-goose chase to an area which
the animals have deserted.

These are two instances affecting local distribution due
to causes which are easily ascertainable. But there are
other factors, a knowledge of which the sportsman must
acquire of his own initiative. Some acquaintance with the
flora of the district and the food it affords to the game at
certain seasons is demanded. The mstance I have already
quoted in these pages is a case in point. Both bear and deer
are very partial to the sweet blossoms of the mhowa tree
which flowers in March and April in different parts of India.
The tree is usually found scattered sparsely over a locality
in which it grows ; but here and there in a particular area
more suited to it a number of individuals will be found
flourishing in close proximity to one another. In the season
of flowering the deer and bear from a considerable radius
will be found gathered in the neighbourhood of this plentiful
supply of a favourite food, coming out to feed at night.
And tiger and leopard will foUow the Cervidce. If the
sportsman knows his country and jungle lore he will be
aware of this fact, and by visiting the spot enjoy unique
opportunities of securing good heads or skins, and for
studying the animals. If in ignorance of this trait or un-
acquainted with the locality he may select for a visit the
areas from which the animals have migrated for the time
being and draw a blank.

2i8 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

A similar but more unavoidable contretemps will be
experienced if the sportsman has the bad luck to hit on a
jungle which has been selected for operations by wild dogs.
These animals are the curse of the Indian forests. Once
the fact that a pack has arrived in a jungle becomes known
to its inmates, the deer, they will hurriedly quit the area,
being followed of necessity by the tigers who have no use
for the wild dog. In fact most animals appear to have an
innate dislike for this animal and desert the area once they
are aware that a pack has made its appearance in it. I
suffered on several occasions from this curse myself.
During my first experiences I was unaware of the cause of
the sudden extraordinary absence of animals in a jungle well
known to me. On one of the last occasions in which I met
with this experience — I had left the Station at the end of the
rains to visit a famous jungle a few marches out— I was so
annoyed at my bad luck that I devoted three days to the
dogs, and although I only picked up three dead I think the
tally was larger by several more. I never felt any com-
punction in kilhng this scum of the jungle, for every
animal they secure, to support what appears to be a worth-
less existence, ends its hfe in horrible torture.

In areas in which wild dogs have become very numerous
efforts have been made to poison them. Ordinary poisons
such as strychnine and so forth appear to have little effect
on the wild dog. He vomits up the poisoned flesh and goes
on his way apparently untroubled by the experience.

When the crops are coming up in the fields, especially in
areas of cultivation more or less surrounded by heavy
forest, or which are bounded on one or two sides with
conterminous heavy forests, the cultivated land stretching
away for miles on the other sides, the herbivorous animals
and the carnivora which prey upon them will be found to
congregate in the forest adjacent to the fields, to which
they resort at night to feed. Away back in its deeper
recesses the forest will be found, in consequence, to be
almost deserted for the time being. In this connexion the
bear must not be forgotten, with his sweet tooth and
partiaUty for the villager's succulent crops. Even the
sambhar, who is chiefly a browsing animal, is much addicted
to leaving the recesses of the thick forest, or the hills, in which
he spends most of his hfe, to descend to the forest adjacent
to the young crops on which he comes out to feed at night.

JUNGLE LORE 219

We now come to the next branch in the study of the lore
of the jungles — Insect Life.

It may not at first sight be apparent that any knowledge
of the insect life of India's jungles is necessary to the sports-
man, or that insects and their habits should find a place in
woodcraft. Yet I hope to be able to show that a certain
knowledge of the modes of life and powers of offence of
some of this section of animal hfe will be found of use and
interest, if not an essential addition in some cases, to the
knowledge of the jungle lover and sportsman.

In my study of the insect life of the forest, to which I
devoted some years of research in India, I was led to form
certain conclusions, with reference to insects and game
animals, which I have nowhere seen recorded.

One has reference to the local distribution of animals in
particular areas at certain seasons. I have alluded to the
fact that water, fire and the incidence of a particular
food in a certain locality may affect this distribution
for a certain period. Insects under certain circumstances
may exert a similar influence. For instance, there are
two small caterpillars of the moths, known to science
as HyblcEa piiera and Paliga damastesalis. These cater-
pillars defohate the teak trees. Great blocks of forest
and whole hill-sides may be seen to be leafless at
certain seasons of the year, the entire foliage having been
stripped from the trees by the hordes of tiny caterpillars.
The effect to the eye, in the case of the Paliga which
skeletonizes the leaf, is as if a fire had swept through the
forest, scorching and turning the leaves brown. And this
defoliation may be repeated more than once in the same
year. Such attacks may be seen in the Central Provinces
teak areas, in the Bombay and Madras Presidencies and in
Burma. My investigations into the operations of these
pests led me to the conclusion that they had the effect
of limiting the number of animals in the forest subject
to the attacks. That, in other words, the animals, deer
especially and the carnivora, deserted the leafless jungles
for those which still retained their leaf canopy. The reason
for the exodus of the herbivorous animals I attribute to the
fact that the leafless forests become fully exposed to the
hot sun and hot winds, thus affording the animals little
food, the undergrowth becoming scorched and withered;
shade or cool shelter during the hot hours of the day in

220 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

which they He up is also absent. I observed very much the
same thing, although over a smaller area — and therefore
my observations were not so conclusive — in the hot weather
of three different years in parts of the Dun and Terai
forests of the United Provinces, where the sal trees were
defohated under the attacks of the caterpillar of a moth,
and a scale insect [Monophlehus). Now if this observation
is correct, and it remains for other sportsmen to cor-
roborate it, it becomes obvious that it is useless making a
shikar trip to a block of teak or sal forest at a period when
the area is completely defoliated. If you are under canvas
there is the added annoyance and discomfort that arises
from the habits of some of these caterpillars. Descending
from the trees by means of millions of silken threads, on
reaching terra firma they invade one's tent, get into one's
food, drinks, clothing and bed, and render life for the nonce
unsupportable ! I and others had the same experience one
year in the Dun with the scale insect above mentioned.
This insect, a large white apparition resembling a giant
wood louse, was literally in millions in the forest, and
appeared in its thousands in and all over everything we
possessed. And he was followed in his peregrinations
by a lady-bird beetle {Vedalia) and its grub which prey
upon the scale insect with avidity. This insect carried out
his shikar parties all over the precincts of the camp to
my great discomfort. In the end 1 had to shift the camp
outside the forest limits to get quit of these pernicious
attentions.

Locust invasions, visitations that luckily only occur at
intervals which at present cannot be forecasted, may result
in areas of forest being completely stripped of leaves, green
bark, etc., all the undergrowth being cleaned off. I have
seen a block of forest treated in this fashion. It is, perhaps,
needless to add that it remained deserted by animals for
some time. I remember trying the locusts at dinner. The
natives spit them on little wooden skewers, a dozen or so
together, and then roast them. They proved very tasteless.

More rarely, in the case of broad-leaved trees, an area of
forest may be killed outright as the result of insect attacks.
In the case of an extensive tract treated in this fashion, the
death of the trees will lead to the migration of a certain
part of the fauna. This is commoner and occurs over wider
areas in the case of coniferous forests.

ON THE JUMNA KINKR, WHKKK

WESir.RX SIWAI.IKS. ,1

1 LEAVES THE IIIMAI.AVA IN
1 AVOURITE MSHlNr, SPOI

''. Ile7uclt,pholv.
I'.I.EPIIANT I'ROCEEniNi; THROtUlII DENSE TKEK
HMTEI) PROVINCES

I OKES'I IN jlll'. I ERA I.

JUNGLE LORE 221

There are other insects which may cause one discomfort
or even worse by their undesired attentions if by accident
they are unwittingly disturbed. One of the best known to
sportsmen in parts of India is the big bee {Apis dorsata).
This bee has a vicious sting, particularly virulent in the
hot weather, at which period its temper appears to be at
its shortest. The bee builds large, semi-cylindrical nests
which may be several feet in length, attached to the under-
side of branches of tall trees, e.g., the cotton tree (Bombax),
in some forests of India, in the Central Provinces for instance.
Or it builds in rocks, as in the case of the famous Marble
Rocks on the Nerbudda River near Jubbulpore, and in the
caves of Ajanta on the Bombay side.

In the hot weather the fact that the nests may be fifty
to sixty feet up on the branch of a lofty tree, is no absolute
safeguard against attack. Smoking a pipe at the foot of a
tree bearing several of the nests on its branches will bring
the bees down upon one as I discovered once to my cost ;
and hghting a fire will of certainty draw them.

A Kol shikari (Bishu) of mine opened my eyes to one way
of escape on the occasion above alluded to when I formed
one of a party upon whom the bees descended. We all
bolted for the open country about one and a quarter miles
ahead, pursued by the infuriated bees. Bishu quietly stepped
off the road behind a tree and let the routed and their
pursuers storm through the forest. He turned up later
without a sting ! The routed had had quite a bad time of
it. Europeans attacked and badly stung by this bee in the
hot weather have died from the effects.

In Northern Indian jungles the nest is more commonly
attached to a low bough in a thorny thicket, and it
is in such cases that the sportsman runs the greatest
risk of rousing the bees. The elephant on which he is
sitting may inadvertently push through such a place, the
mahout not having spotted the nest, and brush or blunder
on to it. The bees at once sally out to the attack. The
only safety for the riders on the elephant is to at once
get under cover themselves, and for this purpose a
blanket or two is always carried in the howdah or on the
pad. The mahout sits on his. The elephant shuffles away
from the neighbourhood as quickly as he can, his human
freight remaining perdu under the blankets till the bees
have given up the pursuit,

222 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

Another insect to beware of is the red ant — a most
pestilential inhabitant of the forests of the country. This
ubiquitous insect bites with a most vicious nip and the acid
injected irritates and invites scratching which may result
in festering sores. The red ant lives in the trees and builds
nests of the leaves. Such nests are a common sight in the
sal forests. The nests are constructed in an ingenious
manner, the edges of the green leaves being gummed
together. The mature ant does not possess any material
with which to perform this work. His gum bottle he finds
in the immature ant which has glands secreting a sticky
substance. Several of the adult ants hold the leaves to-
gether whilst another seizes a youngster between its
mandibles and uses him as the brush of the gum bottle.
It shows either a high form of civilization or a low form of
sweating to thus make the children share in the labour of
house-building !

The fact that these ants live in trees is very soon made
evident to the shikari man, whether on foot, in the machan,
on the elephant, or modestly consuming his simple lunch
on the ground in the shade of a tree. The ants are every-
where and ready to dispute for place and meal, and nip if
one objects. Until one becomes careful and knowledgeable
in their ways they will get down the neck, up the sleeves,
through puttees or stockings, and nip fiercely when in
endeavouring to eject them one incommodes or wounds
them. The elephant occasionally blunders into a nest, the
act resulting in a perfect cataract of ants which may pene-
trate into the recesses of the clothing before one is aware of
their presence. Nothing but a hurried strip in such a case
will get rid of them.

Trouble may be experienced with this ant when sitting
up in machans, should the latter have been placed in a tree
occupied by nests. In such cases the ants often attack the
intruder, and the position may be rendered so untenable that
there is nothing left for it but to beat a hurried retreat. I
have heard of cases when during a tiger beat the occupants of
one or more machans had to vacate their posts and take up
positions at the foot of the trees, being routed by the red
ants. The unknown possibihties down below being prefer-
able to the living torture up above.

I drew up the following cautions with reference to this
insect a few years ago. Here they are :-—

JUNGLE LORE 223

Don't lay out lunch or sit down to it in the close neigh-
bourhood of this ant.

Don't run into his nest when out on an elephant in the
forests on shikar or any other purpose.

Don't have a machan built in a tree infested with the
red ant nests.

Don't, when waiting for a beat, admiring a view, or
merely taking a rest, lean against a tree-trunk without first
carefully scrutinizing it to see whether or no a column or
two of these vicious insects are ascending or descending
from a nest in its branches.

Even this ant has its uses. In Kanara and some other
parts of India and throughout Burma and Siam a paste is
made of him which is eaten as a condiment with curry !

There are some groups of minute wood and bamboo
" shot-hole " borers in India, so-called because timber and
bamboos infested with them have the appearance of having
been fired into with a charge of anything from No. 4 to
No. 9 shot. These beetles belong chiefly to famiUes known
as the BostrychidcF, ScolytidcB and Platypodidcs. In bunga-
lows with wooden roofs, if unprovided with ceiling cloths,
one is annoyed by the operations of these little borers,
owing to the fact that tables, chairs and floors become
covered with the sawdust particles ejected under their
operations. This is a common experience in many of the
forest rest-houses out in the jungles of India.

The BostrychidcB are the chief culprits in the case of
bamboos. I3amboo roofing and bamboo furniture and
chairs and tent poles become so pitted by these insects,
who tunnel out the interior structure, that under the attacks
they one day suddenly collapse. The infestation can be
prevented or stopped by soaking the bamboo in crude
Rangoon oil. As a result of investigation work which I
carried out in the Indian Museum at Calcutta, the bamboo
telephone posts which went up with the Thibet Expedition
(1903-5) were so treated. They remained unattacked
throughout. They were as sound as ever when I inspected
them three years later, after they had been returned to store
in Calcutta. Had they not been so treated they would
have been infested by the beetles before they reached the
foot of the Himalaya on their way up, and have become
useless for the purpose required. Wooden poles would have
been too heavy to carry up ; for the precipitous slopes up to

224 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

the Thibetan plateau, fifteen thousand feet in elevation,
are, as a Tommy put it, " like going up a ladder."

Some allusion must also be made to flies and the mosquito.
The common house fly is extremely abundant in the jungles
in the hot-weather season. He is an unmitigated curse at
this period, but in the absence of a remedy has to be put
up with and endured with as much patience as one is
capable of.

The horse flies in some jungles also become a serious pest
at this season. In fact in some areas the ponies a,re so
badly bitten that one has to send them out of the jungle
into the open country and, in the absence of an elephant,
do one's shikaring or work afoot. Even the elephant gets
severely worried by these insects, and the wild ones ascend
into the hills or climb up several thousands of feet into the
Himalaya to get beyond their zone.

The little " eye-flies " are also a great nuisance out
shooting in some localities. They have a habit of hovering
just in front of and quite close to the eyeball and may thus
spoil one's aim at the critical moment. Ordinary sun-
glasses should be worn to defeat this annoyance. These
glasses should also be put on during the hot weather as a pro-
tection against the bright glaring light in the open country, in
open forest, and when travelling in river steamers or other-
wise on rivers and lakes. It is also advisable to wear them
when fishing in the hot weather. A youngster does not like
to wear glasses — I was obstinate in the matter myself. But
experience of their comfort and value led me to regret that
I did not get over my prejudice and wear them sooner.

The mosquito and its malaria-giving proclivities is too
well known to require comment here. Always sleep under
mosquito curtains when in the jungles, no matter how hot
and uncomfortable they may make you. One soon becomes
accustomed to the curtain, and it saves many a go of
malaria which would otherwise incapacitate one and inter-
fere with, if not put an end altogether to a well-planned
sporting trip. In connexion with jungle malaria, some forms
of it, it is not only from the mosquito that one gets it.
Drinking water and bathing in the streams, no matter how
clear and pellucid they may appear, is a sure way to get a
bad go of jungle malaria. This assertion is made from my
own personal practical experience. Do not drink the water
unfiltered and unboiled, and do not bathe in the streams. A

JUNGLE LORE 225

hot tub on return to camp is the best bath in the Indian
jungle if one wants to keep fit. This experience apphes to
the Central Provinces and Bengal. Before I went to other
parts of India I had learnt neither to drink their water nor
bathe in their streams.

A great deal could be written about the forest lore of the
insect world in India, on which subject we are only at the
commencement of our study. I have written upon it else-
where and it does not fall within the purview of the present
consideration of jungle life. But to those who dip into the
study I can confidently promise a fascinating pursuit. For
mammal and bird form but a fraction of the teeming
hfe of the Indian forests. Hidden beneath the bark and
in the wood of dead and dying trees, feeding on the
leaves and in the fruits and seeds of healthy hving
trees, or hving in the humus of the forest floor, a vast
concourse of insect hfe is to be found, a considerable pro-
portion of which is probably unknown to science, whose
habits and modes of existence are so infinitely varied and
marvellous as to take one into a veritable Wonderland.
And but the fringe of the veil which enshrouds them has as
yet been Hfted. And here you meet again the inexorable
rule of the jungle of the oppressor and the oppressed. For
there are an infinite variety of insects which prey upon their
fellows.

In conclusion I wiU mention one other insect occupant of
the forest which will be commonly known to the shikari man
as it is known to the dweller in the Stations throughout the
plains of India — I allude to the termite or white ant. Its
great pyramidal earthen heaps form one of the commonest
sights of the forest. The termite is not a true ant, though
it has the appearance of one and possesses many of its
habits. They are wonderful erections, these ant heaps,
six or more feet in height and extending in ramifying tunnels
and chambers deep into the soil. The termite does not five
in daylight. Wherever it goes it builds an earth tunnel to
keep out the light. The bark of the great trees may often
be seen coated with these tunnels, carried up by the
ants to reach some great dead bough many feet overhead.
This bough they will hollow out completely, leaving only
just sufficient supports here and there to prevent the super-
structure caving in on top of them, the wood material taken
out being replaced by earth. This action on the part of the

226 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

termites often completely alters the aspect of the forest, all
the trunks of the big trees being coated with the soil of the
locality. For instance, in parts of Chota Nagpur where the
soil is a deep red, the prevailing colour of the bark of the sal
trees was red. One came to associate this colour with the
stem of the tree, and a transfer to another part of India, where
the trees were grey, or higher up in the foothills their own
natural colour, came as something of a shock. The termite
has its uses in the Indian forest, for it rapidly disposes of
the vast amount of refuse branches and dead fallen stems
which without its aid would accumulate on the forest floor
and greatly add to the risk of fires and increase their intensity
when they took place, in addition to making progression
impossible for man or beast.

The bear is very fond of the termites, breaking down the
heaps, inserting his nose and snuffing up and devouring
hundreds of the little insects at a gulp.

And to the sportsman the ant heap has its uses. For it
affords an excellent shelter behind which to take cover when
a badly placed shot at one of the dangerous animals results
in a vicious charge. For the character and density of the
jungle one is in must of necessity determine the target
afforded, and one's luck is so often " out " in this respect.
I have, perhaps, an especial affection for the domain of the
white ant, as one of the erections saved me from a charge
of an infuriated bison on an occasion when fortune went
against me at the first encounter. My subsequent strategy
and tactics, ending in the death of the bull, were based
upon and continued round several of these architectural
structures.

With this end in view I recommend them to the sports-
man.

CHAPTER XIX

A REAL TIGER STORY

Told round the camp fire — The camp in the forest — Feeding the elephants
— A tiger shooting party in May — Tigers very numerous in old days
— Scarcer now and will require protection — Blank days — A day with
tigers — The morning start — -Tigers break out — Crusty sportsmen —
Advice to youngsters — Plan of campaign changed— Placing the
howdah elephants — The beat commences — A tiger's head appears —
Fire at tiger — An excited elephant — A second tiger's head appears —
Grass — A shot at the tiger — Tiger reappears and charges elephant —
Gets on to elephant's head — Exciting moments — Death of the
tiger — Elephant takes charge — A hot time — The Collector's luck.

" "W" T was a blazing hot day in May several years ago,
I that I had the best fun I have yet had with tigers,"
I said a friend one evening, as we sat round the camp

-*- fire in front of the tents. " You have often heard
me mention that day, and I have promised to tell you the
story. So here goes for the yarn."

The Collector of the District, a fine sportsman, lay back
in his deck-chair, took a pull at his cigar, and became
reflective for a space.

Night had fallen, the camp was pitched near a small
forest bungalow in a clearing in the forest. As the firelight
danced and flickered, the trunks of the nearmost trees
stood out straight and columnar, and the grass heads
gleamed white on their greenish-yellow stalks against the
dark depths of the forest behind, whilst overhead the
heavens were lit with a brilliant scintillating mass of stars.
Now and then a dull rumble, as of thunder, came from the
quarter in which the elephants were picketed. The great
animals were contentedly chewing their evening forage ;
a great mass of green boughs of the pipul tree, having
been brought in earlier in the day by one of their
number for the night's meal ; for the elephant sleeps and
eats alternately throughout the night. At sundown his

227

228 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

mahout gives him his chief meal, a round number of pounds
of grain. This has to be fed to him, for if left to himself he
will scatter it about and lose half, for the animal is a waste-
ful and improvident feeder. To prevent this, the mahout
binds up a wisp of straw into a mass hke a bird's nest,
about a foot across, fills this with the grain and places it

in the elephant's mouth, the
latter advancing a step or two
and bringing down its head to
receive it from the mahout,
who is squatting on the ground
the whole time and does not
trouble to move. As soon as
the mass is placed inside his
mouth, the elephant backs a
step or two and slowly chews
it, straw and grain together.
This nightly operation is
usually carried out in front of
the tents, so that a watch
may be kept on the mahouts ;
otherwise the men consider they are within their rights in
feeding the whole of their family and relations out of the
grain provided for the elephants, and the latter suffer a
shortage in their daily meal. And the elephant is perfectly
aware of the shortage and pilfering, and is in his way grateful
for the sahib's care. For the elephant is one of the most
intelligent of beasts, and rarely forgets a kind act done to
him.

At the opposite side of the camp to that where the
elephants are situated, is the horses' encampment. Here
are to be found the horses' attendants, a man and a boy
to each animal, with two or three small single-fly tents,
the horses picketed out with heel ropes to prevent them
stampeding when a leopard prowls round the camp, or
wandering or engaging in playful kicking matches, a
game at which some ponies are past-masters. Earher in
the evening I had myself personally inspected this camp,
to see that my favourites had been properly fed and
groomed : for a perfect understanding should exist between
the master and his four-footed friends.

Hard by is the small camp, in which the havildah and the
shikari reign supreme over a swarm of lesser camp attend-

A REAL TIGER STORY 229

ants. The two great men sleep in tents, but the sateUites
have to be content with the camp fire for their shelter and
warmth. To one side, and in the rear of the main tents, are
a couple of police tents, for the poUce guard which always
accompanies the Collector on tour. But a short distance
from these, and exactly behind the mess tent, the cook
and house servants have their headquarters. It is here
that the appetising dishes the Indian cook can turn out in
the face of difficulties, which none of his European con-
freres would dream of facing, are prepared. With several
holes in the ground, flanked by large stones and filled with
burning sticks, and a charcoal brazier or two, the Indian
chef will prepare cuhnary marvels which would not disgrace
a first-class London hotel.

A hum of conversation arises on the night air from these
different encampments, at all of which, with the exception
of the cook's, the evening meal of the men is in course of
preparation, chaff is being exchanged, and the incidents
of the past day — and there are always incidents, amusing
and otherwise, in camp life — are discussed.

As I sat and took in the famihar scene, so well known,
but one which never lost its fascination, my friend con-
tinued :

" You know the Jungles ; you were there last year

for a day or two, if I remember rightly. Well, it was in that
neighbourhood that I had the best and most exciting time
of my hfe. It was in May, one of those real scorching days,
that the incidents I am going to relate occurred. We were
a party of four rifles, and had already had fair sport. For
tigers were far more numerous then than they are now,
and there will be precious few left for generations to come,
unless some form of protection is extended to them, or to
those of the species who are game-killers pure and simple.
No one wants to protect a man-eater, of course ; he is a
pest to be stamped out as early as possible. Nor should
the cattle-Ufter, the animal who confines his attention to
the cattle of the villagers and makes them his chief food
supply, receive any countenance from sportsmen. But
the pure game-killer, i.e. wild animal killer, falls within a
different category, or so you yourself and I and others who
have studied the question think, and he might well receive
such protection as would be afforded him by closing some
of the blocks of heavy jungle for a few seasons at a time.

230 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

But I know you agree with my views on this game protec-
tion question, so I'll get on with my story.

" As I have said, we had had fair luck and had bagged
some dozen tigers and four or five leopards by the day I am
speaking of. We had, however, had several blank days
just previously, and though the khubbar was good, we were
not over sanguine as the party left camp about nine o'clock
in the morning. We had a ride of five miles in front of us,
and accomplished this on a couple of pad elephants, the
howdah elephants having, of course, been sent on ahead.

Part of the ride was up the hard bed of the River,

and we were pretty well roasted by the time we reached the
rendezvous.

" The plan of campaign for the day included four beats,
two in the morning and two in the afternoon. You know
the big block of sal forest, with open patches of tall grass

that runs alongside the Forest Road. It is intersected

by a rather deep ravine, filled for the most part with tiger
grass, and a few scattered copses of the sissu and khair
trees. The idea was to beat the two blocks of jungle in two
separate beats, each towards the ravine, the first beat to
come out in the upper part of the ravine, the second in
the lower and towards the road. Jitman knew the country
perfectly, as, in fact, did another man and myself, and we
had the stops, consisting of elephants and also some men
posted in trees, placed at the points where a tiger would be
likely to try and quietly leave the beat.

" During the first drive the four howdah elephants were
placed in the ravine, and none of us had a very nice stand.
The grass was too high and thick. The winter had been a
wet one, and rain had fallen in the hot weather, with the
consequence that the grass had not died down or opened out
to anything like the usual extent. Also we feared we had
scarcely enough beating elephants to make success certain,
for the area to be driven was a large and difficult one. As
it turned out, we were right. Certainly one tiger was afoot
in the first beat, but he got past us in the long grass. The
same thing occurred in the next, and we were pretty savage,
all of us, by the time we reached the lunch rendezvous.
Two of the men turned rather crusty, in fact, lost their
tempers, and began to swear at the shikaris and mahouts."

There is one piece of advice I would offer to a youngster
commencing his career in India, or anywhere else for that

THK LINE OF ELEl'HANTS CROSSINi; A KIVEK KX ROC"//-: To IHE
TIGER TUNi.I.ES IN THE UNITED PROVINCES TEKAl

IIOWIKVH ELEPHANTS I.lNEl' IP EOR INSPKCIION P,K|d|;E 1 1 1 E SIART FOR A
day's TK;ER Sllool INC.

A REAL TIGER STORY 231

matter. Never lose your temper if you can help it, especially
when out with a party. There are bound to be contretemps.
Mistakes will be made, and you may be the sufferer. But,
save in flagrant cases of disobedience, never swear at
your men. Bear in mind the fact that they know infinitely
more about the jungle lore of the forest than you do. Very
often they will carry out your orders about the direction a
beat should be taken, or as to beating a certain jungle,
when they know beforehand that the result will be failure,
or that there is nothing in the jungle to come out. This
being so, you cut a rather sorry figure in their eyes, and also
lose their respect, if you swear and browbeat men who
could have foretold the result before the beat started ;
besides displaying your great ignorance of the habits of
the animals you are out to shoot, and of perhaps the
commonest rudiments of jungle lore as known to the local
men. The Collector's story illustrates this point to per-
fection.

" Lunch," he continued, " was a poor affair that day,
made uncomfortable solely by the ignorance of two of the
party. And you don't want displays of petty temper when
the thermometer is standing in the neighbourhood of no
degrees in the shade and the hot wind is blowing with a
furnace heat.

" The first beat after lunch was about a couple of
miles from those of the morning. The plan of campaign
necessitated the four rifles on the howdah elephants
taking up positions so as to command a small ravine
and narrow path right at the foot of the outermost of
the foothills, for which a tiger, on being disturbed, would
assuredly make. A strip of sal forest, and a considerable
patch of grass, with two small areas of sissu copse, through
which ran the small stream of water which formed the whole
' river ' at this season — the greater part of the great river-
bed being a waste of shingle and grass — formed the country
to be beaten. As the beat had been arranged, the ravine
and path could just be covered by four rifles. When this
disposition was explained, however, the two men who had
fallen foul of the shikaris before lunch, asked to be allowed
to go in the fine of beating elephants, as ' they might then
see something of a tiger, if one was afoot,' which was their
method of expressing that they did not think much of the
way the beat had been arranged. To avoid disagreements,

232 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

this was assented to, and my friend and myself proceeded to
decide how we should station ourselves, in order to command
as much as possible of the ravine. Having settled this,
we tossed for positions, and to me fell the nearest one, the
other man commanding a part of the ravine and the path.
My position was an ideal one, provided a tiger broke my
way. A narrow offshoot nullah ran down between steep
sal-covered hills, which dropped abruptly into the ravine
on either side. The offshoot nullah formed the chief, and,
in fact, only easy passage into the hills from the ravine. I
had only to command it, and this I did. Instead, however,
of placing my elephant in the ravine itself, I elected to take
up a position a few yards up the offshoot nullah. By this
means I not only blocked it, but commanded a wider range
of the ravine itself, and had a larger outlook over the tangle
of tall grass which here separated the ravine from the wide
river-bed.

" So far as I could see, the matter resolved itself into this :
If a tiger was in the big sal forest, one or other of the rifles
with the beaters might get a chance at and bag him. They
were both good shots. If he was lying up for the day in
the sissu copses near the water, as was more likely, we stood
the best chance of seeing him, as he would probably leave
before the beating elephants got up to him.

" The beat began, and indistinct sounds and noises came
to us very faintly, too faint to be able to distinguish any-
thing. I was on a fine staunch tusker, not unlike our friend
Jung Bahadur over there. He was an old campaigner at
his business, and had certainly been in at the death of over
one hundred tigers. A magnificent beast he was, with his
forehead painted in fantastic white designs, and his great
tusks cut down to half their length and tipped with massive,
engraved silver knobs. He had been lent to me by a Raja
friend of mine, and a rare good sportsman himself. Many a
jolly day had we spent together ; for as you know there
are no finer gentlemen nor greater sportsmen than some of
the old Indian families of Northern India can show,

" Well, the great elephant stood like a rock. He and his
mahout below me were two living statues, and only by
their eyes could you have known that they were alive. My
orderly, just as keen, was sitting in the seat behind me,
also motionless.

" What thrilling minutes those are spent in the howdah

A REAL TIGER STORY

233

during a beat for tiger. The terrific heat is unnoticed.
For to the real sportsman there is so much to study during
the wait whilst the beating elephants are still distant. I
was very interested, I remember, in the movements of some
tiny tree creepers in the grass below me. Tiny little birds,
as you know, their movements are extremely fascinating to
watch. As they chmb up the stems of the great grasses,
prying their beaks into the sheaths, one wonders whether a
tithe of the insects they make their daily meal off are known
to science. The little beggars were searching systematically
the various parts of the stems and flowers and seeds of the
tall elephant grass — the tiger grass, as I like to call it —
for to my mind there is no fairer sight than to see a tiger
coming open-mouthed and roaring at you through it.

" Meditating on these things, my attention was suddenly
attracted by a slight rustle in the grass on the other side of
the ravine ; or I thought it was a rustle different from that
of the wind in the grass, from which we were somewhat
protected here. I concentrated my attention on the spot,
and held my breath, my whole body stiff and motionless.
Suddenly, without a sound,
a tiger looked out of the
edge of the grass, just
where it dipped somewhat
into the ravine. Only his
head appeared, the head
of a fine, nearly full grown
male tiger, framed in the
long grass. He must have
been on higher ground, or
up on a stone, for he was
far higher than I had ex-
pected to see an animal
appear ; in fact, for a
moment the thought
crossed my mind that he
was climbing up the grass
stems. This notion was,
of course, only momen-
tary, and was replaced at once by my surmise of higher
ground. As I recovered from my surprise, the head
disappeared and silence reigned. None of us had
budged an inch. The elephant very quietly coiled up his

234 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

trunk as soon as the tiger disappeared, or may have rolled
it up before, as he was probably aware that a tiger was
afoot Jong before it actually appeared. I had time to feel
annoyed at being taken by surprise in such a manner,
though anyway I should have had no more than a snap
shot at the brute. We kept a close watch on the grass,
but not a sound or movement betrayed the direction or
position of the tiger. Suddenly a rifle snapped out on the
right. I muttered something below my breath, in vexation,
and at the same moment we heard the grass swishing
violently. Something was approaching in our direction.
Instinctively I brought my rifle to the shoulder, and at
the same moment a tiger appeared bounding towards us.
He did not see us at first, and made straight for the off-
shoot nullah, which we blocked. As he headed towards it,
on the instant he caught sight of the elephant, bared his
fangs in a snarl and then charged with a roar. I fired. He
came on unharmed with a second savage roar, and leapt
for the elephant's head, and dropped backwards with a
heavy bullet through the brain. So close was he, that as
he fell the tusker lifted one of his forelegs, and the tiger,
falling against the knee, shot off it and rolled over and over
into the ravine, where he lay still. Silence reigned and I
reloaded. The encounter had roused us all, and from the
quiet movements of the mahout I understood that the
tusker was in a royal rage and wished to go in and have
another turn with the tiger. He pacified him by degrees
and we waited. The beating elephants were now out in
the big river-bed, advancing through the patches of long
grass and sissu copses. The shots had driven the mahouts
and elephant boys crazy with excitement, and we could
hear the voices raised in curses, objurgations and endear-
ments to their respective elephants ; the most frightened,
both man and elephant, making most noise, the latter
trumpeting shrilly in alarm or indignation or pain, as they
felt the goad battered down on their heads, giving off a
dull, drum-like sound, or as its sharp point pierced through
the skin behind the ear. The infernal pandemonium which
always arises near the end of a beat, especially if it is known
that one or more tigers are afoot, sets the blood dancing
through one's veins, and makes it hard to keep the muscles
tensely braced and the nerves quiet. I could see one of the
howdah elephants on the wing coming through the tall

A REAL TIGER STORY

235

grass, the man in the howdah bending over now and then
and looking downward into the long grass, his rifle half up
to his shoulder ready for a snap shot. I began to think that
it was all over, as I felt confident that no tiger could have
remained out there so long, with that din on top of it.

" Again the grass on the far side of the nullah swayed
slightly, and from almost the exact spot at which the
tiger had looked out shortly before, another and very large
tiger's head appeared. I could not have put my feelings of
absolute astonishment into words, had I tried. But it is
ever the unexpected that happens in sport. For an instant
the big tiger stood at gaze and then came out of the grass
and disappeared. There was a drop there, and I now under-
stood the configuration of the ground. He had sprung
down this and was in the long grass of the ravine. Whether
he had seen the elephant or not I could not say. We were
in shadow, so I think not. We traced his stealthy approach
by the waving grass heads. Suddenly I saw a patch of him,
and fired on the
instant. A roar
answered my shot,
and I saw a bound-
ing streak of yellow,
at which I fired
again, and it seem-
ed to disappear.
Before I had time
to make up my
mind as to what
had happened, how-
ever, a second roar sounded on my ears,
the empty rifl e and seized hold of my second in the rack. As
my hand felt and grasped it, an undulating yellow streak came
out of the grass and flung itself at the tusker's head with a
blood-curdUng roar. The elephant never moved, but raised
up his head to endeavour to get the tigress, for she it was, on
to his tusks. The movement unsteadied me, and I gripped
the railing of the howdah with one hand to get my feet
again, whilst I hfted up the rifle with the other hand. The
tigress was now on the base of the elephant's trunk,
endeavouring to make good a purchase, and the tusker was
shaking himself in the endeavour to get rid of her. Only
those who have been on an elephant in a howdah when the

I hurriedly dropped

236 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

beast is engaged in this performance can have the faintest
notion of what it is like. At the first shake I was as nearly
as anything shot out of the howdah like a parched pea.
Desperately I clung to the rail and tried to get the muzzle
of the rifle on to it. At last I got my feet wedged into either
side of the howdah, and pressing my knees against the front,
I gripped the rifle with both hands and cocked it. As
I did so, I was again nearly flung out by a terrible shake,
and at the same instant the tigress was sent flying into the
ravine. I recovered myself, and was foolish enough to take
a snap shot at her. As it happened, I hit her far back, and
this only maddened her still further. Again she came for
us, and this time the elephant gave a step or two, preventing
me firing until the tigress was about to spring a second
time for his head. This time, however, my bullet found its
billet behind the neck, severing the spinal cord, and she
dropped hke a stone, as fine a fighting tigress as I had ever
encountered.

" By this time I was bathed in perspiration, could hardly
see out of my eyes for it, and was feeling pretty sore from
the struggles I had made to retain my footing. But the
tusker had now to be reckoned with. He was fairly roused,
and to use a vulgar expression, was seeing red. Scarcely
had the tigress dropped in a heap on the ground, when he
rushed towards her, kicked her some yards with his fore
feet, luckily not in the direction of my first tiger, then knelt
on her and flattened her out of all recognition. Standing
up, he got her between his feet and played pitch-and-toss
with her between them, sending her backwards and for-
wards until she was a jelly. Then he varied his performance
by dancing on her, until b}^ degrees his ardour cooled, and
the mahout's persuasions finally reduced him to something
like sanity, although he remained a very vain, victorious,
and exceedingly touchy elephant for a couple of days. The
mahout had at first tried to keep him in hand and save
the skin, but had then given up, recognizing that it would
be as well to let him have his way and feel that he had
come out the conqueror over the tigress ; for otherwise
he might have been spoilt as a tiger elephant. As a matter
of fact, he remained as good as ever, if anything more con-
temptuous of tigers than before.

" By the time the tusker had been brought to a fairly
reasonable frame of mind, I was reduced to a state of total

A REAL TIGER STORY

237

exhaustion. To be played battledore and shuttlecock with
in a hard-sided howdaJi, with the thermometer over 100
degrees in the shade, and that immediately after being
charged twice by two different tigers, was an experience it
is not given to many to go through. With difficulty I
retrieved the rifles and put one of them to safety. Why
that rifle had not gone off when it had been tossed about at
full cock in the howdah is one of the mysteries I shall never
be able to solve.

" As soon as I was capable of understanding anything,
and that was not until I had had a long and exceedingly
nasty hot drink — for it was before the days of the thermos
bottle — I heard from my friend, who had come up, that
two tigers had been found dead in addition to the mass of
pulp which was all that the tusker had left of the tigress.
An examination of the second tiger I had fired at, and
which I had thought at the time had dropped in the grass
to my second shot, showed it to be the fine big male, and
this solved the riddle. As he dropped, the tigress, who
must have been just behind him in the grass on the far side
of the ravine, maddened at his death and at finding her
retreat barred, came out bald-headed at us, and very
nearly had her revenge for the loss of husband and son.
They all came out at the same place, and were evidently
using a well-known and familiar line of retreat to the
hills.

" But for aU that, it was the most wonderful piece of
luck man has ever had, to have them all three at once and
to get them all charging.

" The congratulations I received were hearty and sincere,
as you may guess, and the skins of those two tigers, with the
tail of the tigress, are amongst my most treasured sporting
trophies."

PART II

GAME PROTECTION AND THE
PROVISION OF SANCTUARIES FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF THE INDIAN FAUNA

CHAPTER XX

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS

The Indian poacher without firearms — Decrease of animals owing to his
methods — Elephant pitfalls — Bison, deer and other animals caught
by pitfalls— Sambhar nooses — Light and ring method of trapping
chital — Black buck nooses and fish-hook method — Netting pig— Use
of poisoned bows and arrows — Light and bell method for hare — Net-
ting hare — Trap-door cage for porcupine — Bow and arrow method for
tiger — Trap-door cage and goat for leopard — Gun trap for leopard —
Cage for jackal — Call method for jackal — " Flying-fox" netting — The
snaring of birds — Liming for insectivorous birds — The peacock tail
screen for pea-fowl — Nooses for pea-fowl — And hook and line — Call
, birds and nooses for partridge — The line of nooses — Netting —
Methods of netting for quail — The basket trap for quail — Noosing
pigeon — Nooses for duck — Bird-liming — Snaring the kingfisher —
Egret killing.

BEFORE treating of the question of Game Sanctu-
aries and the Protection of the Fauna generally
I propose to give a brief description here of a few
of the methods employed by the Indian poacher
without firearms to capture some of the mammals and birds
to which protection is supposed to have been given in the
past by the Game Act and Rules.

A great deal of discussion has taken place in India during
the past couple of decades on the subject of the decrease of
game animals in the country and their future preservation
by the formation of Sanctuaries. The decrease has usually
been attributed to the inadequacy of the Game Act and
Rules made under it ; to the increase in the use, effective-
ness and cheapness of firearms, and the ease with which the
community, including the villager, can secure them, owing
to the slackness with which permits for the possession and
use of firearms are issued to all and sundry on the easily
preferred pretext that they are required for the protection of
crops from the depredations of animals ; to the former laxity
in supervision over the sale of powder and shot ; and, finally,
R 241

242 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

to the decrease in the areas of jungle capable of affording
asylum to some of the larger animals owing to the extension
of agricultural lands, the development of the mineral wealth
of the country, the building of railways and roads, and to the
conservancy operations of the Forest Department through
which the jungles are constantly disturbed.

All of these are, it may be admitted, factors leading to a
decrease in the fauna and especially in the game fauna of the
country and will be treated of in a subsequent chapter. But
as important a factor, perhaps a more important one in its
effects on the great decrease which is imperilling some of
the species in the country, is to be found in the operations
of the Indian poacher. The poacher has remained outside
the notice of the Government and has had a free hand to
perpetrate his nefarious practices. I propose to deal
briefly with some of the methods by which this inhuman
class of slayers carry out their operations. They will speak
for themselves. Considerable ingenuity is displayed in many
of the methods employed by the poaching fraternity. But
any admiration one may feel for the cleverness is over-
whelmed by horror as one realizes that both animals and
birds are often done to death by methods the brutal callous-
ness of which has to be witnessed in order to be credited.

A few of the common practices in force are enumerated
below. Some of them I have myself seen and investigated
personally. For others I am indebted to Messrs. Douglas
Dewar and P. Wyndham, both of the Indian Civil Service ;
and to Messrs. P. H. Clutterbuck, CLE., and W. F. Perree,
CLE., of the Forest Service, all well-known authorities who
have studied this game- and animal-protection question.

Some Indian Poaching Methods of Trapping and Securing
Animals and Birds

I. ANIMALS

Elephants

Pitfalls. — A barbarous method of catching elephants used
to be commonly in force, and still is in parts of the country.
Pitfalls are dug on the elephant tracks in aU sorts of
ground and carefully concealed. In spite of this animal's

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 243

great sagacity and caution it falls into them readily. The
pits are dug —

(i) In a confined area such as a narrow pass over a range
of hills, the pit being dug at a season when the elephants are
absent from the area.

(2) Under certain trees which elephants are known to
visit to eat the leaves or fruit.

(3) In groups in areas frequented by elephants.

The arrangement of these pits is very skilful. An open
one is often left exposed whilst one or two others, dug
close by, are carefully covered up with a light branchwood
lattice-work which is overlaid with earth, twigs and leaves,
so as to closely resemble the rest of the forest floor in the
neighbourhood. In avoiding the open pit the elephant falls
into one of the concealed ones. Or, again, a group of pits
are dug at varying intervals in a comparatively small area.
When an elephant falls into one of these some of the rest
of the herd, in scattering panic-stricken, fall into neigh-
bouring ones.

Or, again, the pit may be dug at the end of a large faUen
tree. The elephant in going round the tree falls into the pit.

In Mysore the pits dug by the natives are ten and a half
feet long by seven and a half feet broad and fifteen feet deep.
This space by no means gives too much room to the elephant
falhng in, especially if it is a large one. The reason for
keeping the pits small is to obviate the risk of the tuskers
being able to use their tusks to dig themselves out by
scraping down the sides of the pits. If left undisturbed for
a couple of days after falhng into a pit, male tuskers are
said to be usually able to perform this operation and so
escape. To prevent the animal sustaining injury in the fall
either through broken limbs or internal injury due to the great
drop to the bottom of the pit or to minimise this danger
so far as possible, a strong bar is fixed across the mouth of the
pit, about the centre, upon which the neck of the elephant
usually strikes. The bar generally breaks under the great
weight or at least bends, but its presence causes the animal
to fall more or less horizontaUy on its feet. The shock of the
fall could also be reduced by means of a thick cushion of
branches placed at the bottom, but the natives digging the
pit rarely bother to take this precaution owing to the extra
labour involved.

Both in Mysore and in Madras in former times a large

244 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

number of elephant pits used to be kept up, in which
many of the animals were caught annualh^ A very high
percentage of the elephants so trapped died as a result of
this barbarous method of securing them. In fact it may be
said that as a general rule only the smaller animals on whom
the shock of the fall was not so severe survived. Another
cause of the high mortality was due to the inefficient super-
vision maintained over the pits by the jungle-men who were
responsible for watching them and carrying information to
the elephant-men. Owing to this carelessness many of the
elephants so trapped died of starvation.

Both the Commissariat and Forest Departments in
former days used the pit method to trap elephants, with the
indifferent success which might be expected from such a
practice when the great weight of the animal it was sought
to trap is taken into consideration. The method has been
given up, but in Mysore and Travancore Native States it
was in force till lately, if it is not still in use.

In Mysore, for the sake of catching a few elephants
annually to be utilized for State purposes, scores of animals
are, or were, killed by this most cruel and barbarous plan.

Bison

Pitfalls.— Many other animals besides elephants fall into
the pits which are primarily dug to secure the larger animal.
Bison, boars, sambhar and other deer, are often the victims
of the pitfall system. These animals, when found in the
pits, are killed and eaten by the jungle-men. In fact it is
the hope of obtaining the flesh of these animals incarcerated
by bad fortune in the pits which forms the strongest induce-
ment to the jungle-men to maintain an efficient watch over
their charge. I have heard it said on good authority that in
the past considerable numbers of bison were annually killed
through falhng into elephant pits and that these latter
alone have led to a decrease in the numbers of this fine
animal. In the interests of the preservation of this species,
if we omit the question of cruelty, the pitfall system should
be rigidly put down throughout India.

Cattle grazing in the forests also fall into the pits, sus-
taining broken limbs or backs.

Sambhar
pitfalls, — Pitfalls are also specially dug in some parts of

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 245

the country, particularly in the south, to catch sambhar and
other deer. The spots chosen for the pits are often on the
edge of the cultivated tracts in the neighbourhood of the
forest boundary. The pits are usually about four feet deep,
narrower at the bottom than the top, with a stout sharp-
pointed stake driven firmly into the soil at the bottom, its
sharp end projecting upwards.

Sambhar come out at night to feed on the crops in the
fields, retiring to the forests at dawn by one of their
accustomed " runs." The animals fall into the prepared
pits, becoming impaled on the stake where they remain in
agony until the arrival of the inhuman beings who have
prepared the trap.

The Noose. — In the United Provinces large grass nooses
are placed in holes in fences in order to catch sambhar as
they go in and out when making their nightly foray on the
crops. Mr. P. Wyndham records this method and I have
seen it practised in other parts of the country.

The above methods, it will become apparent, have no
regard for the sex or age of the animal taken, nor for
the season at which it is slaughtered. The Indian poacher
counts these points as nothing in spite of the rules in
force.

Spotted Deer or Chital

Pitfalls. — The pitfall system as described under sambhar
is also used to catch the graceful spotted deer.

The Light and Rings. — The curiosity of the deer tribe is
proverbial and advantage of this trait is taken by the
native to kill the chital. This beautiful little deer is found
in the more open parts of forest lands, as also in the dense
jungles in many parts of India. The following methods are
in force for trapping it.

Two men go out at night armed with the following
apparatus : a hghted bull's-eye lantern and a bamboo some
eighteen inches in length on to which two iron rods, bent
to form arcs, are fixed. Six or seven iron rings are slipped
on to each rod before it is fixed to the bamboo.

The men go out at night into an area frequented by chital,
and, taking up their position, display the lighted bull's-eye
and swing the bamboo gently, causing the rings to run up
and down the rods. A curious grating noise is thus produced .

246 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

The curiosity of the deer is excited by the Hght and the
unusual sounds and they come up to investigate the
strange phenomenon, when they are promptly clubbed to
death or shot without reference to age or sex.

Black Buck

The Noose Snare. — The black buck is a dainty little
antelope inhabiting the plains of India, and frequenting the
cultivated country. The natives have various methods of
trapping this beautiful little beast.

A common method is to tether on the ground a system
of nooses. A large number of pegs, to each of which a
noose made of gut is attached, are fixed to a line which may
be two hundred yards in length. The line of nooses is
pegged out some hundred yards from where a herd of buck
are feeding. The men then make a detour so as to get the
animals between themselves and the nooses. The buck are
then driven on to the nooses in which some of them get their
feet entangled. The snarers then run up and knock the
strugghng animals on the head.

The Fish-hook. — A common device employed in the
Pilibhit district and elsewhere is infinitely more diabolical
and displays a fiendish cruelty. The apparatus is simple
and consists of a strong fish-hook baited with the bael fruit.
The hook is attached by a small piece of strong string, about
eighteen inches in length, to the middle of a small piece of
wood similar to that used by boys in England for playing
tip-cat. A number of these baited hooks are prepared and
scattered about in areas in which black buck are known
to feed.

The little antelope is very partial to the bael fruit and
takes the bait greedily. The strong hook gets firmly caught
in the side of the mouth. To get rid of it the wretched
animal makes frantic efforts, pawing at the place with his
forefeet. This action sooner or later results in the string
attached to the hook shpping into and up the cleft of the
hoof, the piece of wood eventually stopping its further
progress. The impact of the wood against the hoof drives
the hook deeper into the flesh, at the same time causing the
tortured animal to fall to the ground where it lies struggling
convulsively until the fiends who are practising this devilish
form of hunting run up and club it to death.

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 247
Pig

Pitfalls. — Pig, the wild boar and his female companions,
commit serious depredations in the villagers' crops and our
sympathies are with the latter in their efforts to stop the
damage. But no countenance should be given to methods
which result in torture or a lingering death.

The pitfall system, as practised for sambhar and spotted
deer, is also used to trap pig.

Nets. — Pigs are also snared by being driven into a system
of nets erected on the line of route they will take on returning
to the forest after their foray into the fields. The nets are
stout ones with a mesh of four inches by four inches. The nets
erected, the men go round and stampede the pigs who bolt
blindly for the forest and get enmeshed, when they are
speared, knifed or shot. The flesh is eaten or sold in the
bazaar.

This trapping of animals into nets with the object of
obtaining the flesh, hides and horns, is very commonly
practised in India, especially at seasons when the animals
are collected together in numbers in a tract of jungle, e.g.,
during the hot season, near the only available water or in
the monsoon when large tracts of country are inundated*
Great drives are undertaken in which animals of both sexes
and all ages are slaughtered in large numbers.

In Assam at certain seasons such drives are carried out,
and great skill is exhibited in driving the animals into the
nets placed on the outskirts of some thick patches of jungle.
The animals stampede and get entangled in the nets in a
frightened, struggling mass, and are then knocked on the
head in a barbarous fashion.

Bows a?id Poisoned Arrows. — In some parts of India, more
especially amongst the jungle tribes, trapping is not much
resorted to but poisoned arrows are used for killing deer and
pig, and even larger animals such as bison. The poison used
is either decocted from some poisonous plant or shrub or
rotten meat.

Hare

The native exhibits both ingenuity and his knowledge of
the habits and idiosyncrasies of the animals he pursues in
his methods of kilhng hares.

The Light and Bell. — The hare in Pilibhit is trapped in a

248 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

manner somewhat similar to the method employed for
chital, advantage being taken of its bump of curiosity.

The apparatus employed consists of a buU's-eye lantern,
a rug, a bell, and a stout club (lathi).

Two men go out at night. On arriving at a suitable
locality they take up a position in Indian file, bend down
and throw the rug over them so as to simulate a horse
moving slowly along. The first man has the lighted bull's-
eye and the bell, the second the club. The light and the bell
excite the curiosity of the hare who approaches to investi-
gate and is promptly clubbed to death by the rear man.

A modification of the above is to carry the Hght and bell,
or a jinghng apparatus, on what is known in India as a
banghi — a long stout stick carried across the shoulder. The
light hangs from one end and the bell or other jingling
apparatus is suspended from the other. The man carrying
the banghi walks ahead and the second, armed with a thick
stick or club and a clap net, behind. The hare, attracted
by the Hght and jangling, approaches and sits up to investi-
gate. The second man claps the landing net over him, or
clubs him, whichever is easiest of accomplishment.

Nets. — Clap nets are also erected at the corners of fields
to catch hares, the net being placed on the run.

Porcupine
Trap-door Cage. — The trap-door cage in common use
against panthers is also used to secure porcupines. It is
described under panther below.

Tiger
Bow and Arrow. — In Chota Nagpur and the Central
Provinces, and perhaps elsewhere, the jungle-men occasion-
ally kill tiger with a large powerful bow. The arrow has an
iron tip which is dipped in a deadly poison. The bow is
fixed horizontally, at the height of a tiger's shoulder when he
is walking, at a few yards to the side of a path the animal
is known to use. The arrow is placed in the bow, the latter
drawn to its full compass, and the whole fixed in an ingenious
manner, so that a slight jar will set free the arrow. This jar
is given by the tiger unwarily touching a fine fine which
is stretched across the path, being attached to the springing
apparatus on the bow on the one side and to the base of a
tree-stem on the other. The tiger springs the trap and the

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 249

arrow is shot into its side, with the result that its death is
certain provided the poison is virulent enough. The bows
used are of tremendous strength and size, and success is
achieved on occasions, but the trap is by no means a
certainty. The tiger sometimes becomes suspicious and
quits the path before reaching the stretched line, or may
even have the luck to walk over it without springing the
arrow. The plan is more especially employed to endeavour
to get rid of a man-eater or a cattle-Ufter who has taken a
higher percentage of the cattle than even the lazy jungle
folk can suffer with equanimity. Ordinarily these men are
far too lazy to take the trouble to set traps to kill tiger.
This form of snare is very dangerous. Of course all the
villagers in the vicinity are aware that it has been set but
this does not apply to the casual passer-by. The villagers
may forget to warn him or may not know of his presence,
a stranger being a rarity perhaps in such remote parts.
I beheve this form of trap has, in fact, been prohibited,
though it was in use when I first went to Chota Nagpur.

Leopard or Panther
The Trap-door Cage. — The panther is amongst the
wariest and cutest of the jungle animals — so wary and so
cute that the possibihty of its being practicable to catch him
in a cage would appear to be remote to those acquainted
with one side of his character only. But the native of India
alongside of whom he hves, and of whose stock in goats and
dogs he is inordinately fond, is also possessed of very
considerable ingenuity and the feud between the two is now
several thousand years old. The leopard's great partiality
for the goat is well known to the villager and affords the
latter the chance of getting even with the animal. He
builds a stout cage with a trap-door provided with stout
iron bars and worked by a spring. The cage is set up in a
suitable locality in the neighbourhood and a goat tied
inside. The trap is in the nature of a sacrifice of old, for the
goat is the propitiatory offering to be sacrificed. The
apparatus being set the men retire and the goat left alone
commences to bleat. The sound attracts the leopard but
does not always result in his capture. This latter depends
on how hungry he may be and whether hunger or greed will
ultimately overcome his excessive bump of cautiousness and
cuteness. If the former gets uppermost he enters the cage

250 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

and seizes the goat. The action releases the trap-door,
which clangs down and the animal is a prisoner. His ulti-
mate fate will then depend upon whether he is more
valuable dead or ahve. If he can be sold to a neighbouring
Raja, many of whom keep menageries, his life will be
spared ; otherwise his death follows on capture. I have
seen leopards caught in this manner. It is common. The
expression on the trapped animal's face is usually more of
baffled rage mingled with shamefacedness that he should
have been outdone in cunning by man, than of fear.

A simpler contrivance is a stone or log, so placed that a
goat can be tethered under it. The least attempt to pull at
the goat results in the stone crashing down and kiUing the
leopard. This method is very commonly practised. Mr.
Wyndham tells me that a man in Kumaon recently brought
him in three leopards he had killed by this means.

The Loaded Gun Trap. — Sir S. Eardley Wilmot mentions
this trap as in use in the United Provinces. The leopard's kill
is placed in a zareba of thorns. Across the opening a gun
loaded with buckshot is placed in position and sighted. To
the trigger a long silken thread is fixed and stretched across
the front of the zareba at the height of the animal's chest,
the other end being tied to a tree or other convenient
purchase. As the leopard comes up to the kill the pressure
of his chest against the thread fires the gun and the charge
is sent into the animal's side. If the leopard has achieved the
reputation of being almost superhumanly cunning, instead
of the thread a weight may be arranged to fall at the least
touch on to a tight cord attached to the trigger.

Jackals

The Trap-door Cage. — Jackals are trapped by the trap-
door cage method already described under the leopard.

The Call Method. — In the United Provinces a practice in
vogue amongst the Kan jars and others for killing jackals is
by calling them up. A native takes up his position outside
a cane field armed with a branch of a tree, a call, and a
couple of dogs whom he hides. He then starts calling to the
jack, waving the branch in front of his mouth. This latter
action breaks the sound of the call and renders it more
natural. As soon as the jack comes close enough the dogs
are set loose at him.

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 251

The " Flying-fox " or Fruit-eating Bat

Mr. Douglas Dewar has given me the following note on
the method of trapping that loathsome mammal, the fruit-
eating bat, which Europeans in India commonly call the
" Flying-fox."

" Certain natives of India consider that Flying-foxes are
good to eat ; while the fat is said to be a remedy for
rheumatism and impotency. As everyone knows, these
creatures feed at night on whatever fruit happens to be ripe.
Selecting a tree which from observation the men know will
be visited after sunset by a colony of flying-foxes, they
proceed to rig up a net in front of it, in the direction from
which they know the bats will come. In order to put up the
net it is necessary that there should be two trees taller than
and on either side of the fruit tree the bats will visit ; over
one of the higher branches of each of these trees a long rope is
thrown. Care is taken that neither rope becomes entangled
in any twigs. It is essential that both may be readily pulled
backwards and forwards. A net is then attached to one of
the ropes and the two latter are tied together so that there
is now but one length of rope that runs over both trees with
a net in the middle. If a man goes to each of the loose ends
of what is now one rope, and pulls them, the net is raised
and hangs in front of the fruit tree. The net is thus raised
just before the bats are timed to appear and is held in
position until the first of these arrives. It is caught in the
net. The men holding the sides of the rope let them run
through their fingers so that the net with the entangled
flying-fox falls to the ground. A third man secures the bat
and as soon as it is removed the net is again pulled up in
readiness for the next victim."

A very similar method was practised by the men who had
to protect the crop of lichis and mangoes in the large
compound of the house I occupied at Dehra. The bats used
to arrive in flocks when the fruit of these trees was ripening,
and were a great nuisance.

II. BIRDS

A large number of birds are destroyed annually by the
natives without discrimination of species, season or close
time, or the fact that the destruction of the parents in the

252 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

breeding season results in the young ones perishing in the
nest. The damage resulting is of varying importance. The
common practice of bird-liming by the " chirya walla "
might almost be looked upon as an occupation or trade.
Hundreds of thousands of useful insectivorous birds of the
highest economic importance to the agriculturist must be
destroyed yearly by this class of bird poacher. Other birds
are snared for their plumage or for sale for food purposes.
The methods commonly employed are those of the
poacher pure and simple. In England such methods are
met by prosecution and punishment. It is high time that
many of the practices in force against bird life in India
should be dealt with in the same way. The following are
but a few of the methods in force.

Pea-fowl

The Peacock-tail Screen. — The man who thought of this
was an ingenious dog. It depends, as in so many other
instances in India, upon the natural pugnacity and fighting
proclivities of the cocks and a knowledge of how to turn
this trait to advantage. A screen or shield is made of the
head and tail feathers of the peacock. With this screen and
a stout heavy stick the man repairs to a spot in the neigh-
bourhood in which he knows pea-fowl abound. As he
approaches the locality he holds the shield in front of him
with one hand, grasping the stick in the other. The man
dances the screen, which completely hides him, up and
down, thus making it look like a live cock bird full of fight
and ready to take on all comers. The challenge is soon
taken up by a wild bird who advances in battle order to
fight and when within distance is knocked over by the man.

The Line of Nooses. — To a long line, which may be as
much as two hundred yards in length, wooden pegs are
attached at intervals. To each peg is tied a noose of twisted
horsehair — the sinews of black buck are also used for the
nooses — sixteen inches in diameter. The snarer proceeds
with a pony to a spot which he knows to be frequented by
pea-fowl. As soon as he sees a cluster of the birds feeding
he crouches down behind his pony which continues to walk
forward, and pays out his line of nooses, which is carried
on the wrist. Each peg is stuck into the ground, the stiff
noose projecting vertically upwards. When all the line has
been paid out it stretches more or less tautly in a straight

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 253

line along the ground, the nooses at the end of their pegs
projecting vertically from the ground surface. The man
then continues on with the pony until sufficiently far away
from the fowl to be able to make a detour, when he reappears
on the far side and drives the birds on to the nooses. With
luck he makes a good haul in this fashion.

Hook and Line. — Another method employed is to " fish "
for the birds with a hook, baited with fruit, fixed to a long
length of line.

Partridge

Call Bird and Nooses. — A tame partridge is placed in a
wicker cage to which three or four double horsehair nooses
are attached. The cage is set down in a locaHty known
to be frequented by the birds and a network of similar
nooses is pegged out all round the cage. The man
then hides himself close by. The partridge is a pugna-
cious bird, always ready for a scrap. The bird in the cage
commences calling and soon attracts a bird who considers
the ground belongs to him. He commences attacking the
caged bird unless previously snared, and soon gets caught
in a noose. Others come up to join in the fray and the
snarer is often rewarded by a good catch. As previously
mentioned, and the point bears insisting upon, no respect is
paid to season or sex by the men who ply this business.

The Line of Nooses. — This has already been described
under pea-fowl. Crows are also trapped in this way.

Netting. — Clap nets are also set up at the corners and
edges of fields with the object of taking partridges.

Quail

Netting. — Quail are probably more poached by netting
than almost any other bird in India. Call birds are com-
monly used, the part of the field in the neighbourhood being
netted. Another method is to draw a rope, held at each
end by a man, through the standing crop (dal), the birds
running before it being netted at the other end.

In a kodo field the net is drawn over the crop till the end
of the field has been nearly reached. The net is then stopped
suddenly and held down and the birds beneath it caught.

In the Central Provinces, according to Mr. Clutterbuck,
the following method is employed, and I think in parts of
Bengal also.

The Cul-de-sac Net. — The term best describes this

254 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

ingenious method of snaring quail. Two lengths of net,
each about thirty feet in length and four and a half inches
in height, are pegged out on the ground at an angle of about
130 degrees, a small opening being left between the two
interior edges of the nets. A covered net about six feet in
length is then pegged out, the opening ends joined on to the
interior edges of the long nets, the rest of the net being
stretched backwards from the latter so as to form an
elongate conical channel, joined at the top and upper end,
forming a cul-de-sac. The man commences operations by
imitating the quail call and as soon as he gets a number of
answers and hears the birds coming up, he pegs out his
nets and then makes a detour so as to get the quail between
himself and the nets. He then walks forward slowly in a
zigzag manner towards the nets and when near enough
drives the quail on to the nets. On reaching the two long
nets the birds run along, seeking an opening instead of
hopping over. Those that turn inwards, and they prefer-
ably run along the outward slope, eventually reach the
opening into the cul-de-sac, into which they run and are thus
trapped.

The Basket Trap. — The basket trap is another method
made use of. An elongate basket with a hole at the top
through which the hand can be inserted is used. The man
ascertains, by careful observation and search, the bushes
under which quail roost on the ground at night. This is
determined by their droppings. He proceeds in the evening
towards the spot marked down and as soon as the quail are
asleep, a little after sunset, he approaches and drops the
basket over the bush. He then inserts his hand and with
luck will have the lot.

Pigeon
Noose. — A common method is to catch the pigeon round
the leg whilst sitting on a tree, by means of a fine horsehair
noose affixed to the end of a long thin rod like a fishing-rod.

Duck
Noose. — Strong bamboo uprights are pushed firmly into
the bottom of a jhil (lake). These bamboos project some
six feet above the water. They are connected together by a
strong line tied to them about four or five feet above the
surface of the water. From this horizontal line a row of
nooses is suspended, about two feet apart, the noose being

THE INDIAN POACHER AND HIS WAYS 255

about ten by seven inches. When the duck are flighting in
the evening or early morning those passing just above the
water in the direction of the snare are, unless they spot it
in time and rise over it, caught by the neck and hang in this
position until the snarer comes to fetch them. The method
is successful, since it is not easy to see the line in the gloaming
until the birds are up to it and almost impossible to perceive
the much finer nooses.

Another method is to peg down a line, or lines, of horsehair
nooses on the edge of a jhil and place a little rice in each
snare, the snares being of course on the ground. The lines
of nooses are all attached to a strong main line. This method
does not appear to be quite as successful in its results as the
former since it is common to find many more coots in the
snares than duck.

Kingfisher

Liming. — I have already mentioned the bird-man
(chirya walla) whose occupation is catching birds by liming.
He is a common sight. He uses a long pole which can be
extended to a considerable length by jointed pieces. It
would be of very considerable interest, as it is of importance,
to know the number of useful birds which this professional
bird-catcher secures in the year.

He catches the large kingfisher by staking out a captured
bird near the water and placing sticks of bird-lime close by.
The free bird comes down to fight the staked one and is bird-
limed and taken.

Egret

Net. — Some species of egret are of value for their
plumage. A merciless war has been waged upon them and
there is every danger that the species will become extinct.
Since the plumage is borne in the breeding season the
indiscriminate destruction of the birds by netting, shooting
and so forth results in the young nestlings who have lost
their parents inevitably dying. No species, however
abundant and prolific, can stand this sort of merciless
warfare waged on it without disappearing. If the plumage
sellers are really concerned in maintaining the supply of
articles of this nature for their commercial operations,
it is time they asked the various Governments in the
countries from which they draw them, to institute such
methods of collection as shall ensure the proper preservation
of the species.

CHAPTER XXI

GAME SANCTUARIES AND GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA

Necessity for the protection of the game and fauna generally — Abundance
of game in former times — Causes of decrease of game — Opening up
of the country— The sportsman — The native shikari — The unarmed
poacher — Attitude of Supreme and Local Governments in former
times to game preservation — Present attitude — Government of India
the owner of the game — Attitude of villager in matter — The Game
Sanctuary — Description of types of Game Sanctuaries — Game
protection in the Central Provinces — Policing of Sanctuary — The
New Indian Game Act — Some reflections on the Act — The outside
sportsman in the district.

IN this chapter I propose to treat of the question of
Game Sanctuaries and Game Protection ; whilst in
the succeeding ones the matter will be regarded from
the economic point of view and the wider aspect of the
protection of the fauna of the country generally. All
sportsmen who have studied the question at all closely
will readily agree that it is not possible for a country, for
any of the countries of the world, to continue indefinitely
to provide either sport or commercial products unless some
measure of protection is extended to the animals which
yield them. Our own islands form an apt illustration.
Had not a vigorous protection been afforded to the
animals combined with the formation of extensive sanc-
tuaries— the New Forest and Forest of Dean were Royal
Sanctuaries in olden times — some of our formerly existing
wild animals would have been exterminated at a far earlier
date than was the case ; and nowadays all sport necessitates
the closest protection, combined with artificial rearing, to
maintain the required head per area. And the bulk of the
animal life so reared and protected, deer, birds and fish, is
sold for human consumption after it has been shot or
captured.

35<5

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 257

It might have been thought that a country so extensive
as India would not have required that protection should be
extended to its fauna for many a long year to come. Yet
a perusal of the incidents and deductions contained in the
previous pages will, I think, prove that this is by no means
the case.

I propose, therefore, to lay down the rifle and consider
the beautiful jungles of India from the point of view of the
steps which appear necessary to ensure the maintenance of
the game and fauna generally, in the threefold interests of
its health-giving capacity and enjoyment to the hard-
worked Anglo-Indian, in the interests of its revenue-produc-
ing possibilities, and in those of zoological science.

During the past decade or so it has become increasingly
evident to the keen sportsman in India, to the man who is
not alone animated by the mere desire to kill, that the game
of the country is in many parts in serious danger of dis-
appearing owing amongst other causes to the extraordinary
developments in modern sporting rifles, to the greater facili-
ties in communications and to the increasing numbers of
those out to kill. With many others — it would be invidious
to mention names since there must be many with whom I
am unacquainted — I have given this question careful study
for some years. As a result of observations carried out
personally, and enquiries made in many parts of India, I
have been gradually led to the conclusion that it is not only
the game animals that are in jeopardy, but the fauna as a
whole and especially that very interesting portion of it
which has its home in the jungles and great forests. Under
the orderly and systematic conservation of the forests by
the Forest Department it has become evident that a pro-
portion of the shier members of the fauna, those who
require large areas of untouched primeval forest to dwell in,
must without adequate protection inevitably disappear.
Now this is an important matter, and admittedly opens
out a very large question ; but it is one, I think, which is
not beyond the scope and power of the Government of
India to grapple with aided by the advice of its scientific
experts, combined with the help which the true sportsmen
in the country will be only too ready to offer. And it has
its economic side, a not unimportant one. This aspect of
the question, which it is probable will require similar
consideration and treatment in America, Africa and

258 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

elsewhere, will be considered later. We will at present
confine ourselves to the protection of game animals.

The most natural way to afford an asylum to animals
which are in danger of extinction from overshooting, is by
the closure of tracts of country of varying size to all shooting
in order to allow them unrestricted rest to breed and increase
in numbers. In this manner the recognized Game Sanctuary
came into being and such exist in India, America, Africa
and elsewhere.

In India we are only in the initial stages of this form of
protection, and much yet remains to be done. By the
placing on the statutes of the " Wild Birds and Animals
Protection Act of 1912," to be dealt with shortly, the
Government of India practically placed the whole respon-
sibility for the protection of the game in the country in the
hands of the Local Governments.

On October 24th, 1911, 1 read a paper before the Zoological
Society of London^ entitled "Game Sanctuaries and Game
Protection in India." Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, C.B.E.,
F.R.S., Secretary of the Society, took this paper as the
basis of portions of his Presidential Address before the
Zoological Section of the British Association at Dundee
in the following year. I shall refer to this Address later.

My paper dealt with the subject under various sections,
portions of which I propose to briefly deal with here. The
New Act of the Government of India received the assent
of the Governor-General in Council in September, 1912.
My paper only dealt with the draft Act which has little
affinity with the measure actually passed into law.

If it is desired to obtain some idea of the abundance of
game animals in India in the past, one has only to read some
of the sporting chronicles of old-time shikaris. What a
glorious shikar country it was in the days of yore, and what
a royal time our fathers and grandfathers had of it !

To mention but a few of these classic volumes : Forsyth's
Highlands of Central India, Sterndale's Seonee or Camp Life
in the Satpuras, Sanderson's Thirteen Years' Sport among the
Wild Beasts of India, Simson's Sport in Eastern Bengal,
Kinloch's Large Game Shooting in Thibet, the Himalaya, and

^ Published in Proceedings Zool. Soc. Lond., p. 23. March, 1912.

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 259

Central India, Colonel Fife Cookson's Tiger Shooting in the
Dun and Alwar, Baker's Wild Beasts and their Ways, Pollok's
Sport in British Burma, Pollok and Thorn's Wild Sports oj
Burma and Assam, Pollok's Sporting Days in Southern India,
etc., and, a more recent and admirable volume, Eardley
Wilmot's Forest Life and Sport in India. One and all of these
stirring reminiscences convey in language which there is no
mistaking that up to a score or so of years ago India was a
paradise par excellence for the sportsman. What then,
when we contrast present conditions, do these fascinating
volumes teach us — inevitably tell us ? That the game
of India is on the decrease, on a very rapid decrease, and
that the good old days of yore are gone never to return.

That the modern rifle has to some extent been responsible
for the present state of affairs is beyond cavil — its accuracy
and also the cheapness with which the more roughly made
forms can be purchased. The native shikari has now to some
extent replaced the old blunderbuss of his father's days by a
breech-loader, and when possessed of such kills an infinitely
larger head of game in the year as a consequence. The
weapon itself costs 45 rupees only, but it is doubtless the
price of cartridges which mercifully prevents the breech-
loader from coming into as general use amongst this class of
men as would otherwise be the case.

But the startling decrease which the head of game
existing in India has undergone during the last two or three
decades cannot be attributed only to the improved accuracy
of the weapons with which the modern-day sportsman is
armed. The opening out of the country and the consequent
restriction of the animals is also largely responsible. It is
now some years since the buffalo disappeared from the United
Provinces forests — about the nineties of last century or there-
abouts. Bengal and Assam, e.g. , the Western Duars, no longer
contain sufficiently extensive jungles to harbour rhinoceros
and buffalo. The great increase in the number of sportsmen
who visit the jungles annually on sport intent, an increase
brought about chiefly by the greatly improved communi-
cations owing to railway and road development, has also
been a great factor in the case, and motor-cars will intensify it.
The two other important factors are the native armed shikari
and that curse of the country the unarmed poacher. It is
probable that there are — because the trade is now a more
paying one — an infinitely greater number of competent

26o DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

native shikaris in existence ; I write " competent " in the
sense merely to express their power to kill game. The vast
majority of these men are poachers pure and simple, as
were their fathers and fathers' fathers before them. For-
merly, however, owing to their antiquated low-power
weapons, the damage they were capable of doing was of a
negligible quantity : nowadays it is far otherwise, and
the methods to be put in force to deal with them form one
of the most difficult problems those responsible for the
upkeep of the game in the forests, and country generally,
have to solve.

The plea ever placed in the forefront by such men is that
the guns are required to protect the villagers' crops, and this
plausible excuse has been accepted in the past by Local
Government after Local Government ; and we can quite
see the difficulties that have confronted the latter, and still
do so, in a settlement of the question. It cannot, however,
be said to have been ever satisfactorily or fairly faced, and
this inaction on the part of the central authority has check-
mated the efforts of many a Collector and Forest Officer in
his attempts to keep down the number of (poaching) guns
in a district. A sympathetic Government was always
too eager to listen to the tales of destruction of crops, and
the District Officer, without local knowledge, preferred to
err on the side of liberality, and so readily granted licences
to applicants.

We all know the way these licensed gun-holders go to work.
A machan (platform) is built on a known deer-run on the
edge of the forest and just without its boundary, if not
inside, with the connivance of the Forest Guard. The
shikari occupies his post in the late afternoon— he is no
respecter of a close season or of sex or age — and by sunrise
next day several bucks and hinds may be lying round the
machan ; the skins, horns, should there be any of the
latter, and the flesh are taken off to the bazaar, where a
ready sale is found for them throughout the country. The
meat is sold locally, the skins and horns being bought by
middlemen for export. It was a common thing to see on the
platform at wayside stations near forest areas piles of
skins and horns booked, and openly booked, in defiance of
all rules and regulations, to some large centre.

I would not be understood to say that it is the native
shikari alone who acts in this way. It is an open secret

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 261

that the native soldier of shikar-loving propensities, as also
his British brother, will act in an exactly similar manner
when occasion offers. Once, however, this matter is properly
faced, the latter class of offenders can easily be coped with.
For the non-military native offender a licence to protect
his crops should be given only after careful personal enquiry
on the ground by the District Officer. Also the sale of
venison in the open market should be made a criminal
offence.

The whole crux of the position is, of course, the necessity
for regulating the number of animals killed, so as to prevent
deterioration or extermination of the game. The European
has generally been considered to be more destructive than
the native of the larger animals, gaur, rhinoceros, buffalo.
But even this is doubtful, when the poaching proclivities of
the native are taken into account. In any event rules and
the proper control and management of shooting-grounds
can control the European. The native is, however, not so
easily dealt with. In order, therefore, to arrest the slaughter
which takes place ostensibly to protect crops, some special
measures are necessary. Wherever it can be proved that
game is no longer destructive, the licences should be can-
celled and the weapons called in. In other cases where
destruction is still being done the guns must be retained.
Since, however, these weapons are given merely for the
protection of the crops, they should be restricted to that
purpose and be rendered unfit for any other. This can be
easily done by cutting down the gun-barrel to eighteen
inches or two feet.

There remains the unarmed poacher. To date this man
and his methods appear to have escaped all notice. And
yet the part he has played in the past and is playing at
present is bringing about a serious decrease in the game
— and other animals — which is at least as great if not greate r
than the rest of the above-mentioned causes put together.
The Government to date has never considered this side of
the question. And yet this is the conviction held, I believe,
by many well-known authorities, such as, e.g., Mr. Douglas
Dewar, I.C.S., P.Wyndham, I.C.S., P. H. Clutterbuck, I.F.S.,
and W. F. Perree, I.F.S. I have detailed in the previous
chapter some of the poachers' methods, the diabolic barbarity
and inhuman cruelty of which is beyond credence. There can
be little doubt that with this record before one, and but a

262 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

tithe of the practices in force throughout the country have
been mentioned, the poacher must be put down if game
animals are to be afforded adequate protection.

It may be admitted, so far as the sportsman is concerned,
that the steps taken to protect game have considerably
improved the position. Local Governments throughout
the country have revised their Game Rules, and in some
cases have ordered the formation of Game Sanctuaries in
addition to limiting the number of head of game to be shot
in a district or block of forest to a definite number per year.
Further, in certain provinces sportsmen are only allowed
to kill individually a certain head of each different species
of animal, thus eliminating the worst feature of the old-
time sportsmen — the butcher, whose boast was not the
size of the trophies he obtained so much as the number of
animals he had killed. For the departures thus made
throughout the country I think a due meed of credit should
be accorded to the Nilgiri Game Association. Inaugurated
about 1885, this Association has now for years not only
protected the game of the Plateau which the sportsmen and
the Todas between them were surely exterminating, but has
enabled an increase to be maintained and recorded. The
annual reports of the Association point to a satisfactory
increase in the head of ibex or saddlebacks {Hemitragus
hylocrius) and the sambhar {Cervus unicolor). For some
years past the number of such to be shot by each sportsman
has been regulated under the authority of the Association,
directly supported by Government. The departure thus
initiated in the distant Southern Plateau was followed in
the far North when the game of Kashmir was threatened
with extinction owing to the annually recurring large
influx of sportsmen who visited the Fair Vale. Game
Protection in Kashmir now forms a separate Department
of the State, and one which has fully achieved under its
able head the objects anticipated from its inauguration.
The late enlightened ruler of Chamba State also took up
the question, and prohibited all shooting except on passes
issued on his own authority.

Whilst such laudable commencements were thus made to
preserve the game of areas which, owing to their peculiarly
favourable climatic conditions for the European sportsman,
were threatened with extinction, the Local Governments
in India for long remained apathetic in the matter. Game

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 263

Rules were in existence for the Forest Reserves of the
country, but they related chiefly to a close season, the
latter- in some cases only applicable to the females, and
the same was the case for the open country, where the
rules usually related to birds only. These regulations were,
however, openly broken, and the penalties in existence were
practically rarely put into force, except by some exception-
ally energetic officer ; and even then an appeal was often
upheld and the orders passed reversed.

At length, however, the apathy that hung over this
question gave place to some show of interest, which was
followed by activity on the part of the Government of India,
galvanized into activity by the outcry, increasing in intensity
each year, that the game of the country was doomed and
that but a few years separated it from extinction. Local
Administrations were addressed on the subject of the Rules
and Regulations in force in their Presidencies and Provinces
under the Forest and other Acts, and as to the steps
necessary to be taken to prevent the extinction of the
several heads of game, excluding carnivora. This led to
many separate enquiries being undertaken throughout the
country, to a prolific correspondence in the Press, of which
desultory rumblings are still heard, and to many improve-
ments being initiated in the Shooting and Game Rules
throughout India. I am aware that I am laying myself
open to serious attack in thus stating the case, but it is
maintained that any and every rule that is made with the
idea of protecting the game of a country is a step in the
right direction, and therefore advantageous both to the
sportsman and the game itself, however hard it may seem
to fall on a particular body of individuals or on a particular
individual.

What was required was to fix the close seasons definitely,
and the Government of India have now, as we shall see,
promulgated an Act to give power to fix a close season for
different kinds of animals.

It must be remembered that the old-time rulers in India
were the de facto owners of all the forests and waste lands
of the country, including all the animal inhabitants thereof.
The Government of India are the present owners, and have,
therefore, every right to safeguard this valuable property.
They have done so in the case of the forests. But they
have been slow to realize the value of the animals and the

264 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

fact that a very reasonable profit can be made out of this
valuable asset.

The native of India has never made any claim to the
ownership of game animals (mammals) or birds, since he
has never possessed it. He only asks that his crops should
be protected against their depredations, and legislation
which will do this will never be resented.

That steps have been taken in the right direction is all
to the credit of the Administration, but a study of the
present position renders it obvious that many of the diffi-
culties have not as yet been faced by the authorities. I
propose to allude to these in the succeeding sections. It
will first, however, be necessary to consider what the
Game Sanctuary really is and what its formation aims at.

The Game Sanctuary^

The idea of the Game Sanctuary was a natural outcome of
the indiscriminate slaughter to which wild animals have at
all times and in all countries been subjected by man. So
long as it was man imperfectly armed against the animal
with its natural sagacity or fierceness to protect it,
conditions were equal, or in favour of the animal, and
there was no reason for intervention. From the day,
however, of the introduction of the breech-loader and the
repeater and a whole host of perfectly built weapons of
every kind, enabling man to kill with comparative ease and
certainty, the odds were against the animal and the question
of affording some degree of protection to the game of a
country became of paramount importance ; and, curiously
enough, the question became most vital in the more un-
civilized, uninhabited, and wilder portions of the globe.
Such shooting grounds were open to one and all, just as for
centuries the shooting in India had been open, with the
result that the modern rifle soon threatened the extinction
of all game. That modern conditions have rendered this
quite feasible the two well-known and oft-quoted instances
afforded by the practically extinct American bison and the
extinct quagga of South Africa sufficiently illustrate.

In India we have come within measurable distance of

^ For a list of the Game Sanctuaries of the country, both in British
India and the Native States at that time, see my paper on "Game Sanc-
tuaries, etc.," Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., pp. 33-46 (191 2).

jVMi'f

.jEar-JES^VTh.

Ilir. IINCHEON DURING A TIC.EK SHO(rr I.N THK HOT WEATHER
IN THE TIRAI JUNGLES

•J. I . Ilrtvrrl. pholt

STARTING Ol 1 1 OR IHl, ITK.-.I HKAIAl lER I.UNCHKdN.

A CHARACTF.RIVIIC SCENE OK THE MEHI.EV Ol HOWDAII

AN1> BEAITNG EIIW'HANTS

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 265

exterminating the rhinoceros {Rhinoceros unicornis), which,
together with the elephant and the gaur or Indian bison
{Bos gaurus), would without protection probably soon
disappear from the jungles which have known them for
so long.

With a view to affording a certain protection to animals
of this kind and of giving a rest to species which have been
heavily thinned in a district by indiscriminate shooting in
the past or by anthrax, drought, etc., the idea of the Game
Sanctuary was introduced into India (and in other parts
of the world) and has been accepted in many parts of the
country. The Sanctuary consists of a block of country,
either of forest or grassland, etc., depending upon the
nature of the animal to which Sanctuary is required to be
given ; the area has rough boundaries such as roads, fire
Hues, nullahs, etc., assigned to it, and no shooting of any
kind is allowed in it if it is a Sanctuary pure and simple ;
or the shooting of carnivora may be permitted, or of these
and of everything else save certain specified animals.

Sanctuaries may be formed in two ways :

I. The area is automatically closed and reopened for certain
definite periods of years.

II. The area is closed until the head of game has become
satisfactory, and the shooting on the area is then regulated, no
further closing taking place, save in exceptional circumstances.

I. The Sanctuary is automatically closed and reopened for a
definite period of years. The Sanctuary is notified for a
period of years : this period would naturally be variable,
but it is of importance, I think, that it should not be placed
at too great a length, or the animals in the Sanctuary, so
long immune from danger, would on the reopening of the
area be so unused to the sportsman that they would be
shot down in a very short space of time. Probably the
period during which a block of forest is closed to all shooting
should never exceed, a^ the most, three years. Sir John
Hewett, when Lieut. -Governor of the United Provinces,
held the opinion that a period of five years for a Sanctuary
was too long. He thought that the ground of the Sanctuary
should be changed every two or three years, probably the
former, and that the animals would soon learn where the
Sanctuary was. He also agreed that before opening a
Sanctuary to sportsmen the area should be beaten through
so as to distribute and disperse the game, and not have them

266 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

collected together Noah's-ark-fashion on a large scale for
the first permit-holder who enters to shoot down with ease.

Whilst, however, this system of opening and closing areas
to shooting is best adapted to some localities and to certain
classes of game, it is quite inadequate for the satisfactory
protection of others. In many parts of India I would favour
the second suggestion as being by far the most satisfactory
in the long run and in some cases essential.

II. The area is closed until the head of game has become
satisfactory , and the shooting on the area is then definitely
regulated, no further periods of closure being enforced save in
exceptional circumstances.

The length of time a Sanctuary should be in existence is of
very considerable importance, and to a certain extent is
intimately dependent upon a knowledge of the habits of
the animals for which the Sanctuary is formed. The period
of closure to be effective must depend :

(i) On the condition of the head of game of the area
when the Sanctuary is first formed.

(2) 0« the nature of the animal, e.g., the rhinoceros, with a
period of gestation of two years and a period of fifteen
years before it reaches maturity, would require practically
permanent closure of its haunts to produce any appreciable
result, as has, in effect, been carried out in Goalpara in
Assam.

The procedure followed should usually be determined by
the condition of the head of game on an area. There would
be no question of fixing a definite period for the Sanctuary
in the first instance. When the requisite effect on the
game had resulted from its formation, careful and efficient
rules and management should be sufficient to keep up the
head of game, and it would not be necessary to continue
the rigid exclusion of sportsmen. It would be sufficient to
limit the number of each species to be shot each year, as is
done in many parts of the Central Provinces. When the
limit had been reached the shooting of the species in that
locality would cease for the year.

Once a sufficient head of game has been established in a
locality, it is questionable whether regulated shooting each
year would not have a better effect than the alternative
proposal of closure for a term followed by a period of
unrestricted shooting. It would certainly minimize the
chance of the animals becoming too tame.

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 267

It may be of interest to give as an instance the procedure
in the Central Provinces.

As a whole, the Central Provinces may be considered to be
one of the most advanced regions so far as game protection
is concerned. The shooting regulations provide that areas
or blocks of forests may be closed to shooting absolutely
for purposes of forest management or as sanctuaries for the
protection of game, other than carnivora, for the destruction
of which special permits may be issued. The list of closed
forests or blocks is prepared each year in October by the
Conservators and is pubHshed in the Central Provinces
Gazette, and copies are hung up in the offices of the
Deputy Commissioner and Forest Oilicer.

It will thus be obvious that the Game Sanctuaries in the
Central Provinces are formed automatically by the closing
alternately of different forests or blocks of forest yearly.
As a matter of fact, however, most of the present Sanctuaries,
though in many instances reduced in size, have been Game
Sanctuaries since 1902, though a few others have been
added later. It would be better if these areas were closed for
periods of not more or less than three years. Of course, in
the case of areas reserved for purposes of forest management
it is possible that they are closed for a considerable period
of years, but nothing is said on this score in the rules nor
as to the length of time blocks are closed for purely sanctuary
purposes.

In addition to the automatic closure and opening of
blocks there are other most valuable restrictions for the
preservation of game, and I beheve that I am correct in
stating that this procedure is now applied to most of the
blocks, instead of automatically closing and opening them.
In any particular block or series of blocks only a certain
head of any particular species may be shot. As soon as
this number has been reached, that species is closed to
shooting for the year. This rule might well be introduced
elsewhere in the country. The permit of each sportsman is
endorsed with the number of head he may shoot, e.g., one
bison, one sambhar, two chital, four other deer, and carnivora
ad. lib., provided the maximum nwnber of head of the species al-
lowable to be shot in the year has not been already reached. This
latter information is suppHed to the sportsman either by
the divisional officer or by the Range officers in the areas for
which his permit is made out. Were not this latter pro-

268 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

vision in force, one sportsman might shoot the whole
number of, say, barasingha {Cervus duvauceli) permissible
for the year and thus close this particular animal to suc-
ceeding rifles for the rest of the season — a somewhat unfair
and onerous restriction.

The size of a Sanctuary must, of course, entirely depend
on local conditions and on the nature of the animals to be
protected. Such animals as the rhinoceros or gaur, which
are of an extremely shy disposition and are given to roaming
considerable distances, would require an area of considerable
dimensions, whereas chital {Cervus axis) and hogdeer
{Cervus porcimis) would require a comparatively small one.

Pheasants, again, would not require large areas, and the
same applies to the hill sheep and goats — a nullah or certain
nullahs being proscribed as closed to shooting, as, in fact, is
done in Kashmir.

Game Sanctuaries may then be of several kinds :

1. Entirely closed to all shooting.

2. Closed to beating only.

3. Closed to the shooting of certain species of game.

4. Closed to shooting of all game, save noxious ones,

carnivora, pig, etc.

The question of enforcing the Sanctuary law against
shooting is one of some difficulty. In Reserved Forests it
is comparatively easy, since all shooting without special
passes in such areas is forbidden and the granting of these
would be stopped for Sanctuaries. Outside, however, the
matter is by no means so simple, and the people of the
country, particularly the shooting element, will require a
careful education if they are to understand and respect
the Sanctuary, should it be formed in Government Waste
Land. It will be necessary to fully explain the uses of
Sanctuaries, and the reason for closing the areas as soon
as attempts have been made to form them.

At present anyone may enter on land, which is not reserved
forest, and shoot. To alter this would at once curtail what
is a prescriptive right, and this is the main obstacle to the
introduction of a Game Law. Rich and poor alike enjoy
this privilege, and although the occupier may in time come
to learn that shooting rents can add to his income, or reserve
his waste land for his own shooting and close it to the general
public, as is done in some cases in the Dun below the
Mussoorie Hills, it will be difficult to introduce restrictions

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 269

on areas in which shooting is practically a right in all but
name.

It is, we fear, hardly to be expected that the question of
the formation of Sanctuaries and their closing will be
received without opposition throughout the country, even
amongst the Europeans, but I am of opinion that the
matter is one of such great importance that the outcry of
the few interested people opposed from personal motives
to their formation on Government Land, both Reserve Forest
and Waste Land, should not be allowed to blind the public
generally to their immense value. It is conceivable that the
Zemindar and large landed private proprietors would in
course of time follow an example so set when its value had
made itself apparent to them.

The policing of the Sanctuary is a matter requiring some
consideration. It may prove comparatively easy to check
illicit shooting both on the part of the European and native,
although even this is not a facile matter in the case of
Sanctuaries of large size in remote localities. The question
of dealing with the poacher pure and simple who goes to
work without firearms is even a more difficult problem,
whose importance, as we have seen, has as yet been scarcely
realized by either the Supreme or Local Governments.

The Indian Wild Birds and Animals Protection
Act of 1912

This Act was passed on i8th September, 1912. It is
entitled — " An Act to make better provision for the protec-
tion and preservation of certain Wild Birds and Animals."

Its clauses are as follows : —

Short title and extent. — i. (i) This Act may be called the
Wild Birds and Animals Protection Act, 1912 ; and

(2) It extends to the whole of British India, including British
Baluchistan, the Sonthal Parganas, and the Pargana of Spiti.

Application oj Act. — 2. (i) This Act applies, in the first
instance, to the birds and animals specified in the Schedule,
when in their wild state.

(2) The Local Government may, by notification in the local
official Gazette, apply the provisions of this Act to any kind of
wild bird or animal, other than those specified in the Schedule,
which, in its opinion, it is desirable to protect or preserve.

270 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

3. Close time. — The Local Government may, by notification
in the local Gazette, declare the whole year or any part thereof
to be a close time throughout the whole or any part of its terri-
tories for any kind of wild bird or animal to which this Act
applies, or for female or immature wild birds or animals of
such kind ; and, subject to the provisions hereinafter contained,
during such close time, and within the areas specified in such
notification, it shall be unlawful —

(a) To capture any such bird or animal, or to kill any such
bird or animal which has not been captured before the commence-
ment of such close time ;

{b) To sell or buy, or offer to sell or buy or to possess, any such
bird or animal which has not been captured or killed before the
commencement of such close time, or the flesh thereof ;

(c) If any plumage has been taken from any such bird cap-
tured or killed during such close time, to sell or buy, or to offer
to sell or buy, or to possess, such plumage.

Penalties. — 4. (i) Whoever does, or attempts to do, any
act in contravention of Section 3, shall be punishable with fine
which may extend to fifty rupees.

(2) Whoever, having already been convicted of an offence
under this Section, is again convicted thereunder shall, on every
subsequent conviction, be punishable with imprisonment for a
term which may extend to one month, or with fine, which may
extend to one hundred rupees, or with both.

Confiscation. — 5, (i) When any person is convicted of an
offence punishable under this Act, the convicting Magistrate
may direct that any bird or animal in respect of which such
offence has been committed, or the flesh or any other part of
such bird or animal, shall be confiscated.

(2) Such confiscation may be in addition to the other punish-
ment provided by Section 4 for such offence.

Cognizance of offences. — 6. No Court inferior to that of a
Presidency Magistrate or a Magistrate of the second class shall
try any offence against this Act.

Power to grant exemption. — 7. Where the Local Government
is of opinion that, in the interests of scientific research, such a
course is desirable, it may grant to any person a licence, subject
to such restrictions and conditions as it may impose, entitling
the holder thereof to do any act which is by Section 3 declared
to be unlawful.

Savings. — 8. Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to apply
to the capture or killing of a wild animal by any person in defence
of himself or any other person, or to the capture or killing of
any wild bird or animal in bona fide defence of property.

Repeal oj Act of 1887. — 9. The Wild Birds Protection Act,
1887, is hereby repealed.

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 271

The Schedule
(i) Bustards, ducks, floricans, jungle fowl, partridges,

pea-fowl, pheasants, pigeons, quail, sand-grouse,

painted snipe, spur-fowl, woodcock, herons, egrets,

rollers and kingfishers,
(ii) Antelopes, asses, bison, buffaloes, deer, gazelles, goats,

hares, oxen, rhinoceroses and sheep.

Some Reflections on the Act

It will be of interest to consider in some slight detail
several of the provisions of this Act. The Provincial Rules
in force when it was passed comprised the Arms Act, Forest
Act and Fisheries Act. The new Act extends to all India
with the exception of Burma, and, of course, the Native
States. Some of these latter are, however, already doing
excellent work in Game Protection and others will doubtless
follow any firm lead set them by the Imperial Government.

In many respects the present Act is a great improvement
on the draft one. Instead of being confined to " game "
animals and then endeavouring to define " game," " large "
animal, and " specified kind " of animal it contents itself
with the title "Wild Birds and Animals i\ct." The title,
zoologically, is unfortunate, since the word " animal " com-
prises the whole of the fauna. If only birds and beasts are
understood the title should have been " birds and mammals."
I use the word " animal" to include the fauna as a whole.
Section 2 (i) of the Act makes it applicable to certain classes
of animals and birds specified in the Schedule, but with the
saving clause, 2 (2) that the Local Government may by
notification in the local Gazette apply the provisions of the
Act to any kind of Wild Bird or Animal, other than those
specified in the Schedule which, in its opinion, it is desirable
to preserve. Thus in this respect the onus is put upon the
shoulders of the Local Government. This is also the case
with reference to the " close seasons." The responsibility of
declaring a close season either for a part or the whole of the
year for any species — " Kind of wild bird or animal," as the
Act puts it — to which the Act applies is laid on the Local
Authority.

The Schedule is the weak part of section 2 (i). It would
have been far better either to have drawn it out in a more
detailed form or to have omitted it altogether, the Local

272 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

Government being empowered in clause 2 (2) to enumerate
a list of birds and animals which might be exempted from the
protection of the Act from time to time, when their numbers
had become excessive or for other specified reason^ The
periods of such exemption to be hmited to a certain maxi-
mum, an extension of which period would require the
sanction of the Government of India.

But even better than this would, I think, have been the
preparation of a list of the fauna by groups and its inclusion
in the Act. This, of course, can be done by Local Govern-
ments and it is a step which, I believe, is being undertaken
in some Provinces. On this question I made the following
remarks in my paper read in 191 1 : —

" If the drafters of the Act were to apply to any Zoologist
in the country who has a practical working and sporting
knowledge of the game life of India they could be furnished
with detailed lists of animals both large and small ; and by
' animals ' I here mean ' mammals ' classified, say, into
some such groups as, e.g. —

"(a) Carnivora. Each species in the country to be quoted.

" [h) Herhivora. Each species in the country to be quoted.
" The various deer, antelope, goats and sheep are all
perfectly well known, and the preparation of lists detail-
ing each animal by name is an absolutely easy matter.

" (c) Rodentia. Including the hares, porcupines, etc., the
total extinction of which from a sporting point of view is far
from desirable.

" {d) A General Group which may be made to include the
rest of the Mammalia. This would allow protection to be
extended, should it be deemed necessary from the point of
view of the preservation of the species in the case of rare
species now perhaps being exterminated for the value of
their fur or for other reasons, to animals not at present
included in the sportsman's category of Game.

" Turning to the Birds. There is no distinction made
between migratory birds and non-migratory birds, and no
mention made at all of Insectivorous Birds, and yet the
distinction is one of enormous value in a great agricultural
country like India, where the benefit the cultivators must
derive annually from insectivorous birds is quite incalculable.

" I suggest that the Birds be sharply defined into groups
and the names of all the game birds and of all the chief
insectivorous birds be definitely given in the Act. This like-

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 273

wise is a matter of the greatest simplicity, since there would
be no difficulty in drawing up such hsts."

Similarly in section 3 it would have been preferable had
the Act definitely laid down with the authority of the
Supreme Government behind it that the breeding seasons for
all animals and birds should be a close time and have made
Local Governments responsible that the breeding seasons
for each species were definitely ascertained in their several
jurisdictions and notified in their Gazettes. Not only
would this have been more satisfactory in the interests of
the preservation of all game animals, but it would have been
a valuable aid to an extension of our knowledge of the life
histories of many of the rarer animals and birds, since in
order to render possible the working of the Act it would have
been necessary to undertake such investigations throughout
the country. Also it would have afforded certain protection
to animals and birds other than " game " ones which run
the chance of being neglected under present conditions.

The extension of this close or breeding season to a longer
period for specified reasons could have then been safely
left in the hands of the Local Authority. From the zoo-
logical and scientific point of view the Act of 1912 fails in
not having officially and authoritatively recognized the
breeding season in the interests of the fauna as a whole as a
close time, power being given to the Local Government to
proscribe within a certain defined area and for a certain
definite period any species which was becoming noxious to
the community.

Further, it would have been better had the Act (sec. 3)
distinctly prohibited the killing of immature animals and
birds, empowering Local Governments to notify exceptions
in the case of dangerous carnivora, etc., when and only
when considered necessary. If the Act is really intended,
as we have no doubt that it is, to ensure the preservation of
the fauna as a whole throughout the country certain
definite prohibitory clauses laid down in the Act with the
Authority of the Governor-General in Council behind them
would surely be more likely to achieve the object arrived at
than by placing the onus of enacting such clauses on the
respective Local Administrations.

In sub-sections 3 {b) and (c) which concern themselves
with the sale of animals and birds or parts of them killed
in the close season, we should have liked to see skins and

274 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

horns especially enumerated. This would have checked
their sale in the close seasons ; for the local officers would be
acquainted with these seasons for the fauna of their own
Province and Districts, and would be responsible for seeing
the Act obeyed.

It is true that Local Governments have now framed Rules
under sections 2 and 3, but this does not necessarily en-
sure such continuity of action as would have been secured
had the Government of India taken the responsibility upon
themselves.

There remains the poacher who without possessing
firearms certainly outrivals in his power for cold-blooded
slaughter the whole of the armed community. Neither the
Government of India nor the Local Governments have yet
attempted to deal with him. Clauses 2 and 3 do not really
touch him. As the chapter on poaching shows to some
slight extent his operations can only be described as devilish
in their inhuman ingenuity. To the average officer, whether
magistrate or forest, they are unknown. Even if a District
official has some cursory knowledge that the native is a skilled
poacher he in most instances has no specific acquaintance with
the methods, the common methods, in force in his district
and he will never have seen them put in force practically. The
Government of India and the various Local Governments
are, we may feel sure, unaware of their existence, or surely
some effort would have been made to put an end to practices
which involve appalling torture to the wretched animals
thus done to death.

It may be suggested that what is required is the prepara-
tion of a schedule for each Province, detailing the various
poaching contrivances in force in the Province, drawn up
district by district. The schedule should be hung up in the
offices of the Magistrates and Forest Officers and their sub-
ordinates, and a thorough acquaintance with it be exacted
from all officers. Further, an annual return should be called
for detailing the number of offences under each of the
various poaching methods in force prosecuted in each
district and the sentences imposed in each case.

The preparation of such schedules should present no
difficulties. Some of the European officers of the Local
Governments and many of the native officials would be
able to give such information. By whatever means they
are drawn up there can be little doubt of their urgent need.

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 275

In this connexion the 1912 Act would appear to require
amendment, and severe penalties be enacted on the per-
petrators of the cold-blooded and diabolical butchery of
inoffensive animals which annually takes place throughout
the country all the year round. For these men are no
respecters of seasons nor of age or sex. Male and female,
old and young, all are treated with the same terrible callous-
ness. A man working a lame horse is taken up by the police
in England and fined by a magistrate. And rightly so.
And yet far greater barbarities are perpetrated daily in
India without notice.

It is very necessary to stop the slaughter at present
carried out by the native shikari, soldier and poacher
during the close seasons, the proceeds of which slaughter in
flesh, skins and horns finds a ready sale in the bazaars.
Stop this traffic and you bring to an end one of the great
incentives to kill.

Sub-sections 4 (i) and (2) deal with penalties. In a
country like India it has always seemed to me that there
should be two scales of fines. Fifty or a hundred rupees
should be a sufficient deterrent to the poaching native
shikari. But would it stop the more wealthy European
shikari who, for instance, wanted to be able to say that he
had shot a bison and sooner than go back empty-handed
would risk the penalty and shoot a female ? I had an
instance of this kind of thing in Chota Nagpur myself.
A wealthy so-called sportsman came up with a permit to
shoot and seated in a machan had the animals in the forest
driven past him and shot a cow bison and a three-week-old
calf ! The penalty did not stop him and he hoped by
bluffing to be allowed to keep his spoils even if he had to pay
the, to him, small fine.

Section 5 empowers the magistrate to confiscate all illicit
spoils captured and should be fearlessly and unwaveringly
put in force.

Section 7 empowers a Local Government to permit in the
interests of scientific research a departure from the rules
in force both in and out of the close season for any specified
animal or bird or classes of such. A short decade ago this
would have been hailed, and rightly hailed, as an example
of broad-minded statesmanship. Now, however, the per-
mission will require to be jealously watched ; for the last
few years have witnessed startling developments as a result

276 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

of the grant of such permissions. In fact so dehcate has this
question become that we would rather that the Supreme
Government had kept this power in their own hands. Latter-
day so-called scientific expeditions for the purpose of adding
specimens to great Museums, to provide cinematograph films
for alleged educational purposes, and so forth, have en-
tirely altered the aspect of this question. For in some
instances these so-called scientific missions have simply
become glorified slaughter and butcher expeditions financed
by a wealthy man in the name of science. The old-time
butcher has not disappeared. He still exists, and with
modern rifles his power for slaughter as we have seen is
infinitely more terrible. But he is held in check by modern
restrictions. He is unable to kill indiscriminately as he
wants to. If he is wealthy he endeavours to get over the
difficulty by fitting out a scientific (sic) expedition and so
evades the law. Events move so fast nowadays that what
would have been a perfectly safe clause a score of years ago,
in fact a clause marking a distinct progress by the Supreme
Government in its recognition of the claims of science, has
now become a danger to the very aims and objects of the
Act. Such a permit should never be allowed to take
effect in any Game Sanctuary and the permission to
kill in the name of Science should be retained by the
Supreme Government. Glorified slaughter is not scientific
research nor is it so considered by the great Museums in
whose name it is sometimes carried out. If such expeditions
are necessary it should always be possible to lay down
definitely the number of head of each species which may be
shot or trapped, specifying age, sex, etc. Every museum
will agree to such a restriction, and the wealthy butcher,
whose chief aim is to have a free hand in the forests, to
remain unhampered by restrictions and to kill everything
that gets up, would be kept in check.

Further, in the case of cinema films, the cold-blooded
cruelty to trapped animals one sees depicted in these films —
baiting the poor beasts to make them show their " points,"
trussing them up in most diabolical ways, etc., — should be
absolutely prohibited and met by severe punishment.

Section 8 deals with the old question of granting licences
to protect crops. The making of rules in this respect must,
of course, be left to Local Governments. This is obvious.
The question is now, I understand, being treated with a

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 277

more enlightened knowledge than has been displayed in
.the past. In the interests of the hard- working ryot, a
man of few joys, all that can possibly be done for his
protection should be carried out. But the village shikari
who lives by his gun should be discouraged. And the
poacher should be put down with a firm hand.

The 1912 Act makes no mention of the granting of rewards
for the slaughter of noxious animals or birds. This is a
departure in the right direction. The matter can be safely
left in the hands of the Local Governments and such grants
should be made with discrimination and discretion. In my
paper already alluded to I made the following remarks on
this subject : —

" I am of opinion that Game rewards in general should be
abolished and that no provision on the subject should be
included in the Game Act.

" It would be quite within the power of the Local Govern-
ment to issue rewards for the destruction of a particular
species which is on the increase and becoming a danger
either to public Hfe or property or to the sporting interests
of a particular area of country.

"Also, save in exceptional cases, e.g., rogue elephants and
man-eaters, I would abolish the giving of a reward for every
tiger, leopard, wild dog or wolf slain.

" Where any of these animals were becoming a pest or
scourge to the community or endangering the head of game
of other species in any locahty, the Local Government
should notify or empower its officers to notify a reward or
scale of rewards to remain in force until the danger is past
and the balance of power between man and animal or animal
and animal is once more normal. The rewards on the
proscribed animals should then be taken off.

" Every shooting season nowadays sees an army of eager
sportsmen competing for blocks and shooting-permits, and
surely the giving of the old-time reward for a tiger is quite
unnecessary. I would leave the grant of rewards or offer of
rewards to the discretion of the District Officer or Forest
Officer. They would when necessary proclaim such and such
an animal to be a man-eater or cattle-hfter of notoriety and
would fix a reward upon the animal, procuring, if considered
necessary, the sanction of the Commissioner or Conservator
to their doing so. Why Government should nowadays pay a
reward of from Rupees 20 to R. 50 for a tiger which may

278 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

be a pure game-eater and rarely if ever touches a cow (and
there are numbers of such) is beyond comprehension.
Sportsmen wiU not slack off if the rewards are withdrawn.
Many a District official would be only too delighted if they
would ! Once a man-eater or a noted cattle-lifter is pro-
claimed, then make it worth the sportsmen's while to collect
to tackle him by giving straight off a large reward com-
mencing at R. 200 and going rapidly up to R. 500. It would
be a far more satisfactory way of working the reward system
both from the point of view of the cultivator, the man who
lives on the soil, and that of the sportsman ; and, I think,
would probably be less costly to Government.

" Or rewards might be offered only for tigers in a district
or parts of a district where a noted man-eater or cattle-lifter
has made his home. For every tiger killed in this area a
suitable reward might be given, say, R. 50, with the larger
reward to be paid to the sportsman who bagged the par-
ticular man-eater or cattle-lifter proscribed. This would
probably be the best method, since it would tempt sports-
men to have a try for the man-eater, knowing that they
would receive a certain reward for each tiger killed, even if
they should not be lucky enough to kill the proscribed
beast."

Lastly, the New Act omits all special mention of separate
rules with respect to the pursuit, killing or capture of game
by non-commissioned officers or soldiers of the Army. Only
the Supreme Government possesses the necessary authority
and power to grapple with such a question. No Local
Administration has power to override military regulations
or permits granted to the Military by the Supreme Govern-
ment, nor can such non-commissioned officers and men be
brought within the jurisdiction of the civil courts as long as
they are in the enjoyment of special privileges, such, e.g., as
those enjoyed by the Gurkha Regiments. True the Act
section 4 (i) applies the penalties to everyone, but in the
absence of any direct clause this cannot obviously be made
to apply to military individuals safeguarded by special
privileges. How are such privileges to be reconciled with
the 1912 Act ? On this subject I made the following remarks
in my paper and they appear to be still applicable : —

" Allowing that it is necessary to make separate rules
for the Army (' this was the case in the draft Act ; the Act
as passed omitted all mention of such rules ') I think that

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 279

the Act should specifically lay down that permits may not
be given for parties of more than, say, four to six men from a
cantonment to go out together to shoot in any area. At
present it is well known that at times parties of from fifteen
to twent}^ or more men go out into a block of forest and
drive the game systematically into a cul-de-sac and then
slaughter the animals in numbers. The Gurkha is par-
ticularly addicted to this form of ' sport ' during the rainy
season, when in the parts of the country where they are
cantoned it is generally impossible for the European to go
near the Terai forest owing to its great unhealthiness.
Parties of mihtary men should be small and the number of
head they may shoot should be distinctly laid down on the
permit, and penalties be enforced if this number is exceeded.

" I think the Game Act might embody some such definite
ruHng for the whole country."

In past years but scant attention has been paid to the
severe attacks of a disease having kindred affinities to
anthrax which appears at intervals and takes a heavy toll of
the head of game (such as bison (gaur), buffalo, sambhar,
etc.) on the area it affects.

Further, in years of severe drought the mortality amongst
the wild animals of the country affected is often very heavy,
and in the past this factor has received no consideration
from the authorities in the interests of the wild game.

It may be suggested that in the wake of such calamities a
very careful and detailed inspection of the area or areas
affected should be undertaken, with the object of ascertain-
ing which species have suffered and to what extent. Until
such survey has been carried out, no shooting-permits should
be issued for the area or areas. After the survey the species
which have suffered severely should be notified, as also the
area affected, and this area should be entirely closed to the
shooting of those particular species for such period as will
ensure their multiphcation to the number of head it is
required to maintain on the area. In closing such area the
notification should distinctly state the reason for the closure.
No true sportsman would be found to cavil at such a
procedure.

And now to turn for a moment, in conclusion, to the
question of the sportsman — the outside sportsman, not the

28o DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

District official — and the rules under which he can enjoy
sport in a District.

The rules under which the District official enjoj/s sport in
his District are, it would appear, quite fair in most if not all
Provinces.

I think, however, that the outside sportsman has often
a justifiable complaint, though more often than not he goes
the wrong way to work in making it, and so puts himself
out of court.

The whole matter really turns, and must always turn, on
the number of individuals of a particular species it is per-
missible to shoot in a given area. This number can only be
fixed by the District Officers on the spot. There can be no
cavil against this, as they are, or ought to be, the best judges
on the question.

In fact, as matters in game protection at present stand,
and in the absence of a separate Game Protection establish-
ment, there can be no appeal from their decision.

Probably the best and most elastic method for the
outside sportsman is to give him a block or blocks, depending
on what is available on receipt of his application, and to
enter on his permit the number of individuals of any one
species he may shoot and the number of different species.
This number would, of course, vary according to the length
of time for which the permit was issued, but would never
exceed a fixed maximum for each species. So far so good.

But it will doubtless soon be found necessary to definitely
limit the number of head of a species to be shot in any one
area in a year, as is done, in fact, in the Central Provinces.
It is in this limitation that complaints arise and causes for
friction come in.

For instance, supposing twelve sambhar may be shot in
any particular block. A military man, whose leave season
will not open before the 15th April, appHes for and is allotted
a block. He arrives to find the maximum annual number
of the animal it is permitted to kill already reached and is
debarred from shooting that particular species. It is quite
conceivable that he might find more than one species in the
same condition. In fact, the total number of head of a
particular species might be easily shot off by the civilian
element in the first couple of months of the open season, the
animal becoming then de facto closed to shooting for the rest
of the open season.

GAME PROTECTION IN INDIA 281

This is where the shoe pinches the heel of the military
man very hard, as also, of course, that of his civil brother
when shooting on areas outside of his own jurisdiction. To
remedy a state of affairs which is undoubtedly a real grievance,
it may be suggested that the number of individuals to be
shot in a particular block or area in any one year should be
allotted in a fixed proportion throughout each month of the
open or shooting season for that animal, say, two or three or
four per month, according to the total number notified as
shootable during the season, any balance remaining from
any one or more months being, of course, carried forward
and distributed throughout the remaining months of that
shooting season.

This would give the hot-weather sportsmen, both military
and civil, who in pursuit of their favourite pastime are ready
to put up with many and decided discomforts, an equal
chance with their civil brother who is not so tied during the
cold weather. The suggestion is made simply with the idea
of giving a fair chance to all.

But I would suggest a further step. I would allot a
certain proportion of the head of a particular species to be
shot in an area to the local District officials, the balance
going to the outside sportsman. The District officials could
be left to make their own arrangements as to when their
proportion of head was to be shot, but I think that in the
case of the outside sportsman the number to be shot should
be allotted throughout the shooting months, so as to give an
equal chance to all the block-holders.

No reflection is intended on the District officials by any of
these suggestions. They are made only in the interests of
that particular quality all Enghshmen pride themselves in
possessing — Fair Play.

CHAPTER XXII

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE FAUNA

The Government of India have proprietary rights to fauna — Economic
value of fauna — Preservation of this value — The professional bird-
snarer and poacher — Animals of commercial value in danger of exter-
mination— Supervision required — Economic products of fauna to be
treated on similar lines to minor products of forests — Forest Officer
as gamekeeper — Licences required for all killers of animals — Royalty
to be paid on products secured — Advisory Officers— Bird-farming —
Inland fishery industry.

IT has been previously mentioned that the Govern-
ment of India, as the successors to the former rulers
of the country, became the owners of the fauna of
the forests and waste lands. This fauna has a very
considerable economic value, the realization of which has
so far not been apparent. Practically the only pecuniary
return as yet achieved has been from the sale of shooting
licences to sportsmen. And yet the value of the flesh, horns
and skins of the mammals annually killed throughout the
country must be very considerable. That there is a ready
market has been mentioned and is well known to many. The
economic value of these products in all probabiHty runs into
many lacs of rupees annually. No steps appear to have
been yet taken to tap this source of revenue. And it cannot
be tapped until the matter is approached from the proper
view-point. The mere passing of an Act, and the notifica-
tion of Regulations under the Act by Local Governments,
will not be sufficient to deal adequately with the question.
The effective preservation of the mammals, birds and
fish of a country as large as India is a matter requiring
constant and unremitting attention if they are to be safe-
guarded. That this matter has not been envisaged from the
correct point of view to date is perhaps not surprising. To
the old-time sportsman it did not occur. Why should it ?

282

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE FAUNA 283

The game animals and animals of economic value were in
such abundance in the country that the chances of a species
becoming exterminated must have appeared remote. The
position, as has been shown, is now very different. But I
think it can only be truly appreciated by the class of
sportsman whose love of the jungles and of natural history
has led him to spend much of his time in a study of the
animal life and to draw deductions as the result of a number
of years passed in this way. There are men in India at the
present day who have made this study, and I have little
doubt that they would support the view that solely from
the economic standpoint the Government have a real
interest in the preservation of the fauna.

The sportsman pays for his licence to kill game and the
laws of the Province are made to see that he only kills that
for which he has paid and does no harm to the area whilst
engaged on his quest. But what do the professional shikari,
the professional bird-snarer, and the poacher pay ? These
classes exist by the thousand throughout the country and
their depredations go unchecked. Have the ways of these
men been considered by the Government or are they unknown
to them ? The Act does not show. One can only conclude
that they are unknown and, therefore, the economic value
of the animals annually killed by them is not realized. It
is not merely the actual annual pecuniary value of the
animals secured by these men which is in question. As
they are no respecters of season, age or sex, their actions
are resulting in depreciating to an enormous extent the
potential economic value of the fauna, since the destruction
of females of all ages brings about a constant decrease in
the numbers annually reared of each species, i.e., in a
depreciation in the economic value of the stock year by
year owing to the decrease in the number of the head left
to breed.

It is known for a fact that mammals yielding skins of a
high commercial value and birds producing plumes are in
danger of extinction throughout the world, owing to the
cupidity of the commercial firms dealing in such produce.
The valuable egret plumes of India are a case in point, the
musk deer of the Himalaya, and so forth. The trader is no
respecter of sex or season if he has a valuable market.

Where possible, there is no reason why the trade of a
country in this respect should not be maintained. But a

284 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

trade whose existence depends on the slaughter of animals
should be a regulated one. It requires to be under super-
vision in order that a proper meed of protection may be
accorded to the animal. Such supervision in India can only
be effectually given by the Supreme Government.

It is difficult to understand why the economic value of
the fauna of the country as a whole has not been realized.
Most people are aware that the flora contains many species
of high economic value, whether as timber, food and medi-
cinal products, or other commercial articles, such as dyes,
tannins, grasses, and so forth. Many of these come from
the forests. The Forest Officer, for instance, is well aware
that timber by no means constitutes the only commercial
article which the forest produces. In fact he may be in
charge of areas which produce no timber of commercial size
at all. His trees may only grow to a size which yields fuel,
such as in some of the Punjab plains forests. But in most
cases the fuel is by no means the only saleable article the
forests contain. There will be usually what the forester
collectively designates " Minor products." The Indian
forests contain a very large number of these minor products,
varying with the variations in the flora and climate. Lac,
for instance, is the product of an insect which is now
carefully cultivated in blocks of forest in the Central
Provinces and elsewhere and yields a handsome revenue
in the parts of the country where it thrives. Bamboos
are a minor product which the future may see largely
used for the production of paper pulp ; for it has been
commercially proved that they can be used in the produc-
tion of classes of this commodity, the demand for which
is ever increasing. Other products are grasses, also used in
the manufacture of paper and for thatching purposes ; canes,
dyes, tannins, resin, gums, wax, and so forth, are all minor
products, the collection of which in the forest is well under-
stood and the sale of which forms a very handsome pro-
portion of the annual sum realized from the Indian forests.
These are derivable, all but lac and wax, from the flora of
the country. Why has not equal attention been paid to the
products which are obtainable from the fauna ? Horns,
hides, furs, plumes and feathers, and flesh and the fish of the
rivers and streams. There is a good source of revenue here.

The horns shed annually by the deer {Cervidce) in the
forests throughout the country must represent many

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE FAUNA 285

thousand tons in weight. It is, however, unusual to find
more than a stray horn here and there in jungles where deer
are numerous. They are systematically searched for and col-
lected by the neighbouring villagers and sold in the bazaars.
Government realizes but little revenue under this head.
And yet it is a minor product of the forest and waste lands.

The Forest Officer has had the duties of gamekeeper
added to his other arduous ones in the forest. He issues the
permits for shooting ; allocates the blocks between the
various permit-holders, possibly finding when this distribu-
tion has been made that there will be but a small area
left in which he may fire a rifle himself. The revenue from
the permits goes to Government. But it is a small return
for the value of the large number of mammals, birds and
fish killed and sold annually on their property. It has been
recognized that the products of the flora belong to the
Government and they are collected and sold in the interests
of the revenue. The same pohcy should be extended to cover
the products of the fauna.

It may be suggested that this could be done by setting up
a staff who should have the charge of advising on the best
means of collecting the revenue derivable from the fauna as
a whole. That, in fact, the fauna should be treated as one
of the economic products of the country and that mammals,
birds and fishes should only be killed on licence. The case
of the sportsman has already been dealt with. His object is
to secure pleasure combined with such trophies of the chase
as good fortune and his own skill will win by well-understood
sporting methods. But the far larger body of individuals
interested in the destruction of the fauna of the country are
professionals. They kill to sell and their operations should
be controlled by the issue of a licence permitting them to
kill a certain number of head of the animal named in the
permit and by the payment of a royalty on the animals so
killed, before they are taken out of the area in which they
are secured.

In fact they should be treated on similar lines to those
employed in the collection of minor produce from the
forests. In the case of the forests the licences would be
issued and the royalties collected by the Forest Staff
in a manner similar to other forest produce. It would
be essential, for the orderly management of these forests
under the existing working plans in force, plans which

286 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

have received the sanction of the Local Governments,
that all licences covering operations within the Government
forest area should be issued, the licences controlled, and
the revenue collected by the Forest Officer. In the case of
the areas lying outside the forests in each District the
hcences would be issued and controlled by the Collector
The introduction of the universal licence would, moreover,
place the Collector in an easier position with reference to
the vexed question of the gun licences for the protection of
crops. If animals were shot in the crops the village shikari
or villager would have to pay the royalty on the horns,
skins and flesh of the animals shot, and the sex and age of
these animals would be recorded. An effective check would
therefore be set up, for strict investigation could be carried
out in cases where the records showed an undue number of
animals shot on this pretext in any locality or the neigh-
bourhood of any village — a check which heretofore has been
non-existent. An efficient scheme might well be worked
out by the Advisory Officer in the District for the protection
of crops which would eliminate once and for all the poach-
ing shikari and villager.

If some simple procedure as the one here sketched were
brought into force it would be unnecessary to set up a
separate department to deal with the protection of the fauna
and to obtain from it the revenue which it should certainly
yield. The strengthening of the staffs in some cases might
be necessary and officers who are known to have made a
close practical study of the fauna of their Province (they
would be sportsmen and naturalists and in their own
Province would be well known) could be chosen and
attached to the various Districts and forest divisions for the
purpose of advising and bringing into force the new regime.
Where a number of adjoining Districts or forest divisions in
a Province have a similar fauna and methods of shooting
and poaching, one officer would suffice to deal with the
whole area, the revenue derivable being paid into the
district or forest division concerned.

In every case it should be within the power of the Collector
or Forest Officer to refuse, or to recommend to a higher
authority the refusal, of all licences to kill any mammal,
bird or fish whose numbers from whatever cause had so
seriously diminished as to lead to the fear that the species
might deteriorate or become extinct within the area

THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE FAUNA 287

Other work of importance which the Advisory Officers
might undertake would be the introduction of species into
the district which investigation showed might prove profit-
able. I am fully in sympathy with Mr. Douglas Dewar's
opinion on the feasibility and economic vahie of such a
departure. Also his suggestion that egret rookeries should
be leased under proper supervision ; that pea-fowl and
monal pheasant areas might be leased in a similar fashion
and worked on commercial lines. The introduction of bird-
farming on a large scale, in fact, should be quite feasible in
the case of those birds which have a commercially valuable
plumage, or table value as, e.g., the quail.

As a further direct deterrent to the present activities of
the Indian poacher and in the interests of the future, an ex-
port duty should be maintained on horns and skins of wild
animals, and a smaller duty on all skins and heads of animals
cured in India and subsequently taken out of the country.

Fish in the inland waters should be treated on similar
lines to mammals and birds. Poaching should be firmly
put down. The use of the dynamite charge has resulted in
far larger numbers of fish being killed than was possible in
former times, with much less trouble to the poacher. All
professional fishermen should be made to take out licences
permitting them to ply their vocation and should pay a
royalty on the catch.

It is believed that the proper realization of the economic
value of the fauna of India and its exploitation under proper
regulations would result in a considerable revenue being
derived.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE PRESERVATION OF THE INDIAN LAND FAUNA AS A WHOLE.
THE PERMANENT SANCTUARY

The Sanctuary for the preservation of the fauna generally — The permanent
Sanctuary — Permanent Sanctuaries will differ in constitution —
Dr. Chalmers Mitchell on the question of the Permanent Sanctuary
— The question of the permanent protection of the fauna by Sanctu-
aries throughout the world — The formation of such in primeval forest
lands — Shier members of fauna will only live in such — Numerous
species as yet unclassified — The National Parks of the New World
and Australasia — The necessity for the formation of permanent
Sanctuaries in areas of primeval forest in India.

IN a preceding chapter we have discussed the Game
Sanctuary from the point of view of the preservation
of animals of sporting interest, i.e., of those usually-
termed Game Animals. I now propose to deal briefly
with the Sanctuary regarded from the aspect of the preserva-
tion of the fauna of a particular area or country as a whole.
A Sanctuary formed for such a purpose requires to have a
permanent character. In other words, the area should be
permanently closed to shooting and to all and every inter-
ruption to the ordinary habits of life of the species to.be
preserved.

It will be obvious at once that Sanctuaries of this nature and
their management will differ widely in different parts of the
world. In some cases the only prescriptions would probably
relate to shooting, poaching, egg collection, and so forth.
It would be unnecessary to close the areas entirely to man.
In others, however, it is certain that some of the larger and
shier animals and birds, and, I believe, certain classes of
insects and so forth, can only be preserved from inevitable
extinction if Permanent Sanctuaries of considerable exterlt
are maintained, solely with the object of safeguarding the
species for which they are created. In Sanctuaries of this
class it will not be merely sufficient to forbid shooting. It

288

PRESERVATION OF INDIAN LAND FAUNA 289

will be necessary to close them to man altogether, to leave
them, in other words, in their primeval condition, to forbid
the building of roads or railways through their fastnesses,
to prevent the Forest Department from converting the areas
into well-ordered blocks of forest managed for commercial
purposes ; in fact to prevent in them all and every act of
man. In every case throughout the world such Sanctuaries
will require to be under supervision, but such supervision
should be entirely confined to a police supervision to prevent
poaching, collecting, and any entrance by man into the area.

In a previous chapter I alluded to the Presidential
Address dehvered by Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell, F.R.S.,
Secretary of the Zoological Society, in London, before the
British Association at Dundee in 1912.

Dr. Chalmers Mitchell was the first, I believe, to enun-
ciate this theory of a Sanctuary for the preservation, not
merely of animals whose protection from extinction was
considered necessary either from their sporting or economic
value, but of the fauna as a whole.

He quite correctly pointed out that my paper, read before
the Zoological Society in November, 1911, only dealt with
the former aspects of the question.

After discussing the position of Europe in respect of the
diminution or extinction of animals which were abundant
in the past the author comes to India.

" India contains," he says, " the richest, the most varied,
and, from many points of view, the most interesting part of
the Asiatic fauna. Notwithstanding the teeming human
population it has supported from time immemorial, the
extent of its area, its dense forests and jungles, its magnifi-
cent series of river valleys, mountains, and hills have
preserved until recent times a fauna rich in individuals and
species."

After pointing out that the books of sportsmen show
how abundant game animals were forty years ago, he
continues :

" The one-horned rhinoceros has been nearly exterminated
in Northern India and Assam. The magnificent gaur, one
of the most splendid of living creatures, has been almost
killed off throughout the Hmits of its range — Southern India
and the Malay Peninsula. Bears and wolves, wild dogs and
leopards are persecuted remorselessly. Deer and antelope
have been reduced to numbers that alarm even the most

290 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

thoughtless sportsmen, and wild sheep and goats are being
driven to the utmost limits of their range."

After alluding to the diminution of animals in other
countries, and especially game animals and those killed for
economic reasons, the author continues :

" And to us who are Zoologists, the vast destruction of
invertebrate life, the sweeping out, as forests are cleared and
the soil tilled, of innumerable species that are not even
named or described is a real calamity. I do not wish to
appeal to sentiment. Man is worth many sparrows ; he is
worth all the animal population of the globe, and if there
were not room for both, the animals must go. I will pass no
judgment on those who find the keenest pleasure of life in
gratifying the primeval instinct of sport. I will admit that
there is no better destiny for the lovely plumes of a rare bird
than to enhance the beauty of a beautiful woman. . . . But
I do not admit the right of the present generation to care-
less indifference or to wanton destruction. Each generation
is the guardian of the existing resources of the world ; it has
come into a great inheritance, but only as a trustee. We are
learning to preserve the relics of early civilizations, and the
rude remains of man's primitive arts and crafts. Every
civilized nation spends great sums on painting and sculpture,
on libraries and museums. Living animals are of older
lineage, more perfect craftsmanship, and greater beauty than
any of the creations of man. And although we value the
work of our forefathers, we do not doubt but that the
generations yet unborn will produce their own artists and
writers, who may equal or surpass the artists and writers
of the past. But there is no resurrection or recovery of an
extinct species, and it is not merely that here and there one
species out of many is threatened, but that whole genera,
families, and orders are in danger."

The late Lord Salisbury was one of the first British
statesmen to take up the question of the preservation of
wild animals. Lord Salisbury had been a former President
of the British Association. In 1889 he arranged for a
convention of the Great Powers interested in Africa to con-
sider the question of the protection to be afforded to what
some unscientific members of the Civil Service designated
as the " Wild Animals, Birds and Fish " (a nomenclature
which has been continued in subsequent Game Acts) of
Africa. This convention did some good pioneer work, but

PRESERVATION OF INDIAN LAND FAUNA 291

its deliberations were confined to the preservation of
animals of sporting and economic value only. And this
rather narrow outlook has governed the operations of the
Great Powers and local administrators in the wilder and
tropical portions of the globe to the present day. The
preservation of game has always been the main factor
underlying the action taken. The economic value of the
fauna has only received a cursory attention ; and the
question of the preservation of the fauna as a whole has
scarcely received any countenance. It may be admitted,
however, that the pioneer work done has been of the
highest value.

In alluding to the work in this connection which has been
done by the Government in India Dr. Chalmers Mitchell
added : " The fact remains that India, a country which
still contains a considerable remnant of one of the richest
faunas of the world, and which aJso is probably more
efficiently under the control of a highly educated body of
permanent officials, central and local, than any other
country in the world, has no provision for the protection of
its fauna simply as animals."

In 1909 Lord Crewe, then Secretary of State for the
Colonies, received a deputation arranged by the Society
for the Preservation of the Wild Fauna of the Empire. One
of the questions discussed was that of changes in the
locality of reserves. Such changes were, I think, made
or became necessary owing to the opening-up of the country
by railways, extension of agriculture, and so forth.

It was pointed out, by Dr. Mitchell I think, that a change
of one piece of land for another, even if both were of equal
area, might be satisfactory in affording the protection
desired for certain animals, either of sporting or economic
value, but from a zoological point of view, in the interests
of the preservation of the fauna as a whole of the locality,
might prove the reverse of satisfactory. This is a view I
have long held. Primeval forests and lands which have
never been interfered with by man may contain, undoubtedly
do contain, many small forms of animal life which can only
live under such conditions. Alter these conditions and they
will be exterminated once and for all. This is necessarily a
point upon which the trained zoologist alone can speak with
any certainty ; but if that zoologist has had the good
fortune to spend a number of years studying the tropical

292 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

and semi-tropical forests and lands on the ground his
opinion is at least worthy of careful consideration.

There still remains, then, the problem of carrying the
preservation of animals the one stage further to include the
whole fauna — in a word, the formation of Fauna Sanctuaries.
Their creation so as to include some of the most interesting
of the fauna is still possible in India, e.g., in that fascinating
tract stretching from Assam down into Burma.

I am so entirely in sympathy with Dr. Mitchell's opinions
on this question that I will quote his concluding remarks
before the Association.

" There are in all the great continents large tracts almost
empty of resident population, which still contain vegetation
almost undisturbed by the ravages of man and which still
harbour a multitude of small animals, and could afford
space for the larger and better-known animals. These
tracts have not yet been brought under cultivation, and
are rarely traversed except by the sportsman, the explorer,
and the prospector. On these there should be estabhshed,
in all the characteristic faunistic areas, reservations which
should not be merely temporary recuperating grounds for
harassed game, but absolute Sanctuaries. Under no con-
dition should they be opened to the sportsman. No gun
should be fired, no animal slaughtered or captured save by
the direct authority of the wardens of the Sanctuaries, for
the removal of noxious individuals, the controlling of
species that were increasing beyond reason, the extirpation
of diseased or unhealthy animals. The obvious examples
are not the game reserves of the Old World, but the National
Parks of the New World and of Australasia. In the United
States, for instance, there are now the Yellowstone National
Park with over two million acres, the Yosemite in CaHfornia
with nearly a million acres, the Grand Caiion Game Preserve,
with two milhon acres, the Mount Olympus National
Monument in Washington with over half a miUion acres, as
well as a number of smaller reserves for special purposes, and
a chain of coastal areas all round the shores for the preserva-
tion of birds. In Canada, in Alberta, there are the Rocky
Mountains Park, the Yoho Park, Glacier Park, and Jasper
Park, together extending to over nine milhon acres, whilst
in British Columbia there are smaller Sanctuaries. These,
so far as laws can make them, are inalienable and inviolable
Sanctuaries for wild animals, We ought to have similar

PRESERVATION OF INDIAN LAND FAUNA 293

Sanctuaries in every country of the world, national parks
secured for all time against all the changes and chances of the
nations by international agreement. In the older and more
settled countries the areas selected unfortunately must be
determined by various considerations, of which faunistic
value cannot be the most important. But certainly in Africa
and in large parts of Asia, it would still be possible that they
should be selected in the first place for their faunistic value.
The scheme for them should be drawn up by an inter-
national commission of experts in the geographical distribu-
tion of animals, and the winter and summer haunts of
migratory birds should be taken into consideration. It is
for zoologists to lead the way, by laying down what is
required to preserve for all time the most representative
and most complete series of surviving species without any
reference to the extrinsic value of the animals. And it then
will be the duty of the nations, jointly and severally, to
arrange that the requirements laid down by the experts
shall be complied with."

To the thoughtful man this lucid exposition of the case
places the whole problem in a nutshell.

I think the concluding extract from Dr. Chalmers
Mitchell's paper is one of the highest importance both in its
wider sense and in the more confined one as regards India,

Sanctuaries such as above sketched are the only pos-
sible method of saving from extinction the rhinoceros,
bison or gaur, and buffalo, to take three of the best-known
of the big game animals requiring protection in India. But
these Sanctuaries require to be left in their state of primeval
forest. They cannot be treated as commercial forests
managed from a revenue-making point of view by the
Forest Department. The most scientific arrangements for
opening and closing the blocks of forest as they come up in
rotation for felHng and other operations will not avail to
make such areas true Sanctuaries. I have an idea that some
of the areas in America and Canada alluded to above by
Dr. Chalmers Mitchell are Sanctuaries which it is proposed
to treat as revenue-giving forests. If this is the case they
will not remain Sanctuaries for a certain proportion of
the fauna they at present contain.

There can be little doubt that as it is with some of the
shier mammals so must it be with a proportion of other
forms of animal life living in the forests.

294 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST

They can be preserved from extinction in an area of
primeval forest left untouched by man and maintained in
its original condition. Amongst insects it is, I think,
probable that some of the forest members of the longicorn,
buprestid, brenthid and bark-boring beetles [Scolytidce),
to mention but four families, many species of which are
still probably unknown to science, will disappear with the
cleaning up of the forests and their systematic management
by the Forest Department.

My point is that I am in complete agreement with Dr.
Mitchell in his contention that the Sanctuary, the large,
permanent Sanctuary, should not be regarded merely as a
harbour for animals of game or economic interest, but that
it should be formed in the interests of the fauna as a whole.
I would, however, add to this the rider that in the case of
the large Sanctuaries required to preserve from extinction
animals either of a naturally roving disposition or of very
shy habits the prohibition to entry should not be confined
to the sportsman alone or to man generally outside the
officials connected with the area. But further, that it should
be recognized that in order to realize the objects aimed at it
should be rigidly laid down that no working of any kind can
take place within the Permanent Sanctuary. That in other
words a Permanent Sanctuary does not fall within the
boundaries of any area worked by Government officials, either
for profit or other reasons, on behalf of the Government.
Officials would be appointed to supervise the Sanctuary, but
their duties would be confined to policing the area in order
that the objects for which it was created might be realized
to the full.

INDEX

Acacia Catechu, 1^2

Act of 191 2, Indian Wild Birds and
Animals Protection, 269

Act of 1912, Reflections on, 271

Antelope, Four-horned, 16, 53

Ant-lion, the, i 59

Ant, the red, 222, 223

Ants, white, ^7, 225

Apis dorsata, 88, 221

Arakan District, 103

Assam and Bengal Duars, descrip-
tion of tract, 126

Bamboo, the muli, 121

— thorns, 145
Barasingha, 87, 90

Barking deer, 16, 53, 56, 102, 105,
141

and young, 92

Bassia lati folia, 37

Bear, 4, 16, 53

Bear — an episode and near shave,

47

— beating for, 32, 33, 38

— beating — out of caves, 44

— fatal shots for, 45

— homes of, 33, 91

— Indian black, 16, 33, ^7, 141

— the mute, 96

— young, 94

Bears and toddy, 142
Bee, the big, 88, 221
Bees, to protect from, 21 1
Bengal Duars and Assam, descrip-
tion of country, 126
Berars, the, 68
Bhabar grass, 6
Bhutan Hills, 128
Bird life in Bay of Bengal, 100
Bishu, shikari, 5
Bison, charged by a, 13, 60, 226

— episode, a, 57

— habits of, 54

— herds of, 52

— plare to shoot, 148

— the American, 4

— the Indian, 4, 79, 130, 139, 141,
142, 244

Bison-tracking on foot, 5, 53, 211

— " treed " by a, 63
Black buck, 152, 162

— snares for, 246

— stalking, 163

— wonderful jumping powers of,
163, 167

Blue bull, 16, 152

Boar, wild, 16, 53, 105, 106-110

156, 183, 247
Bombax malabaricum, 88
Bos gaunts, 4
Brahminy duck, 10 1
Buffalo, 79, 98, 129

— pursued by a tame, 98
Bull, death of the, 14
Burma disarmed, 128

Camp, the shooting, 217

Canis aureus, 16

Casarca rutila, 10 1

Cat, wild, 179, 203

Catchment areas and their protec-
tion, 140

Cattle-lifter, the, 19

Central Provinces, description of
country, y;

opening out of, 79

the hot weather in, 86

Cervulus muntjac, 16

Cervus axis, 16

— duvauceli, 1 79

— Eldi, 128

— • porcinus, 1 79

— unicolor, 16
Chinkara, 141

Chital, 16, 87, 154, 159, 184, 194,

244
Chittagong and climate, 97
■ — • shoots, 105
Chittagong District, description of j

97

game of, 98, 103, 104, 127

mode of travelling, 100

Chittagong Hill Tracts, 97

forest of, 119, 121

game of, 99, 103, 1 1 1, 1 16, 127

Cholera and short rations, 55

295

296

INDEX

Chota Nagpur, 3

forest scenery of, 8

game of, 4, 16

the jungles of and sport in,

3-67
Civet-cat, 105, 179
Commissioner's commissariat goes

astray, 114
Communications, construction of

and effect on game, 78, 128
Coppersmith, the, 156
Cormorants, 100
Cotton tree, 88
Crows, 35, 38, 70, 201
Cuon nitilans, 16
Curlew, 100

Dalbergia Sissoo, 152
Date-palm groves, 141
Deer, habits of, 213
Dog, wild, 16, 24, 53, 179, 218

and distribution of game, 2 1 8

effect of on wild game, 24

Duck, snaring of, 254
Dun forests, the, 185

Egret, protection of, 255
Elephant, 4, 79,99, 129, 130, 139,141

— feeding of, 227

— pitfalls, 242
Elephants, a herd of, 144

— shooting of, 141
Encounters between big game

animals, 214
Eucalyptus plantations, 139
Eugenia scrub, 27

Fauna, an interesting, 116

— economic value of, 282

— permanent sanctuary for, 288

— study of the game, 5 1

Fauna of Bengal Duars and Assam,

127
South Lushai Hills and Hill

Tracts, 116
Faunistic survey, a, 1 17
Felis pardus, 16
Felis tigris, 16
Fires, forest, 92

— jhumers and forest, 112
Fishing Club, the Dehra Dun,

189
Fishing trip, an unsuccessful, 1 1 7
Flies, eye, 204

— horse-, 130, 224
Fly-catchers, 156

" Flying-fox," netting of, 251
Forests of Chittagong Hill Tracts,
119, 121

Forests, the voices of the Indian,

213
Forts, old — Central Provinces, 80,

81
Foxes, 179
Furlough, back to the jungle from,

178

Game, abundance of in Chota
Nagpur, 52

— Act and Rules, inadequacy of
in past, 241

— distribution of, 53

— distribution of at different sea-
sons, 216

— in the Central Provinces, 81

— in the Central Provinces in
olden days, 78

— in the United Provinces, 195

— preservation and shooting rules,
87, 259, 271

— protection and provision of
sanctuaries, 239, 256

— reasons for absence from forests,
216

— sanctuary, the, 264

— scarcity of in the Dun, 190
Gaur, the, 4, 11, 79, 98
Gayal, 98

Gazelle, Indian, 141
Gennceus Horsfieldi, 102

Haiderabad floods of 1908, 140

" Hal-lal," 161

Hare, trapping of, 247

Havildah's story, the, 170

Himalayan foothills, 1 5 1

Hogdeer, 179, 183

Hounds and old boar in a shola, 1 39

Hyena, 16, 23, 53, 105, 179, 202

Hyesna striata, 16

Ibex of Madras, 141

Insect depredations and effect on

game distribution, 219
Insect life in the grass jungles, 180

— life in the j ungles, 2 1 9

Jackal, 16, 23, 155, 179, 202, 250

Jhuming, 103, 112

Jungle-carp, 88

Jungle-fowl, 105, 115, 155, 179, 183

Jungle lore, 200-226

Jungles of Assam, 129

— of Chota Nagpur, 3

— of Eastern Bengal, 97

— of Kanara, 141, 142

— of Malabar, 141, 142

— of Mysore, 141

INDEX

297

Jungles of Nepal, 127, 171

— of Northern India, 150

— of Southern India, 138

— of the Bengal Duars and Assam,
126

— of the Berars, 68

— of the Central Provinces, tj

— of the Chittagong Hill Tracts,
1 1 1

— romance of, x, 80

— the great grass, of N. India, 150

— the great grass, in the rains, 1 79-
181

Kaleej pheasant, 102, 115

Kanara jungles, 142

Kornafuli river scenery, 10 1, in

Keddah Department, the, 99

Khair, 152, 153, 156

Khakar, 16, 56, 99

" Kills," Tiger, 21, 70, 201

and leopard, 201, 206

Koel bird, 27

Kols and their villages, the, 4,
5. 6

Leech, the, 147

Leopard, 4, 16, 23, 53, 99, 105, 130,
141, 179, 193, 197, 201, 209, 249

— adventure with, 197

— habits of, 209

— in the ruined fort, a, 83

— method of capturing prey, 210

— trapping of, 249

— wounds made by, on man, 21 1
Leopards, method of hunting, 21,

32
Lungoor monkey, 88
Lushai Hills, South, 98, in, 116,

127

Machan, sitting up in, 21, 38, 132,

133, 185, 201, 203
Mahommed Khan, robber chieftain,

82
Mahseer-fishing, 127, 151, 189
Mainah and the evil spirit, the, 85
Malabar jungles, 141, 142, 144
Man-eaters, 208
Man-eater, the search for the, 16,

171
Manis pentadactyla, 87
Melocanna bambusioides, 121
Mhowa tree, the, Tiy, 217
Mithan, 98, 118, 119

— an encounter with, 123

— tracking the, in Chittagong, 119,
121

" Mixed " shooting parties, 30

Monas River, 127
Monkeys and tigers, 203

— swimming, 102
Mosquitoes and malaria, 224
Mug villages, 1 13

Mysore jungles, 141

Naga and Manipur jungles, 127

Nepal, jungles of, 127

Nilgai, 16, 37, 152

Northern India, description of, 151

Ootacamund Downs, 139

— hunt, 139
Oriole, golden, 156

Pangolin, 87
Panther, 16
Partridge, 105, 179, 183, 253

— snaring, 253

Pea-fowl, 27, 156, 179, 195, 203

— snaring of, 252

" Picking up " animals in the

jungle, 204
Pi-dogs, 106, 108-110
Pig, 16, 53, 156, 183, 247
Pig-sticking centres, loi
Pitfalls for game, 242
Plover, 100, 105
Poacher, the Indian, 241-255
Porcupine, 153, 248
Portax pictus, 16, t,7
Presbytis entellus, 88

Quail, 179. 253

— netting of, 253

Raja comes to my help and we bag

the tiger, the, 188
Rhinoceros, 98, 129, 259
Rhinoceros sondaicus, 98, 259
Rifles for bison, 57
River scenery in Northern India,

151

Sabai grass, 5
Salt-licks, 132
Sambhar, 4, 16, 53, 79, 99, 102,

105, 131, 135, 141, 143, 179, 183,

244

— abundance of, 52

— calling up stags in Chittagong
Hills, 118

— reason for variation in size of
heads, 131

— shooting, in the rains, 25

— tracking down, 24
Sanctuaries for game, 191
in Assam, 128

298

INDEX

Sanctuaries, game, 264
— the permanent, 265
Sanctuary for preservation of fauna

as a whole, 288
Scaly ant-eater, 87
Seonee, 80
Shikaris, native — types of, 5, 84,

88, 122, 142
Shola, the, 139
Sikkim, British, 128
Sissu, 152

Siwaliks, the, 153, 185
Snake swimming, 1 1 5
Snipe, 16, 105
Southern India, description of

country, 138-140

game of, 139, 141

Spotted deer, 4, 16, 52, 79, 99, 141,

154, 179, 184, 194, 244
Sunn-grass, 104, 118
Sunnkholas, 104, 118
S^is indicus, 16
Swimming animals, powers of, 102

Teak forests in flower, 80

Terai jungles of Northern India,

129, 151
Tetraceros quadricornis, 16
Thamin, 128
Tick, the, 147
" Tie-ups " for tiger, 206
Tiger, 4, 16, 53, 99, 130, 141, 179,

201, 205, 248

Tiger, action when wounded, 2 1 1

— and monkeys, 89

— an exciting episode, 133

— beating for, with a line of ele-

phants, 230

— habits of, etc., 205

— meet one face to face, 22

— method of capturing prey, 209

— my first, 68

— sitting up for, 18, 20, 23, 70, 89,
185

— stories, 170, 227
— - walk, the, 21, 185

— wounds made by, on man, 21 1
Tigers, protection of, 229

— the three, 237
Tista Valley, 127, 128
Trackers, marvellous powers of, 5
Tracking, 2 1 1

— bison-, on foot, 5, 53, 142, 211
Transport of camp, methods of, 153

Ursus lahiatus, 16

Villages, deserted, 6
Viverra zibetha, 105
Vultures, habits of, 35, 70, 201

Water-holes, 53
Woodpecker, 1 56

Zareba, the sambhar and the tiger,
the, 133-137

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touch, and the scenery and occupants of these far foreign strands are
painted in descriptive language, which is always vivid and at times
beautiful. " — Evening Statidard.

" Happily and frankly instructive — ^just gossip, compounded of obser-
vation, humour, and the joy of the experience. Such a book is good to
read."— Westminster Gazette.

"There is a freshness of its own in Mrs. Forbes' writing, due to her
zest for life, and to the vivid manner in which she sets down the
impressions that come crowding upon her." — Times.

Tales Retailed of Celebrities

By Sir Warren Hastings D'Oyly
Demy 8vo. ']$. 6d. net

Sir W. H. D'Oyly, who has spent a great many years in
the Indian Civil Service, retails in this volume a series of
amusing- stories of men and thing's. Always bright and
witty, he makes what he has seen and heard live again for
us, and the book forms an admirable anecdotic history of
life in India during the latter part of last century.

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. i.

THE MERRY BANKER
IN THE FAR EAST

(AND SOUTH AMERICA)
By WALTER H. YOUNG

(TARAPACA)

irith 36 Illustrations. Second Edition. 5s. net.

Mr. Walter H. Young was formerly of the Chartered Bank
of India, Australia and China, and is the late General
Manager in Chile of the Bank of Tarapacd (now the Anglo-
South American Bank).

In "A Merry Banker in the Far East (and South
America) " Mr. Young tells his personal experiences in these
distant lands — experiences relating for the most part to the
lighter side of banking, and described in a very entertaining
manner. His narrative is enlivened by many diverting
stories, and is copiously illustrated from excellent photo-
graphs, the whole forming a most delightful volume.
Mr. Young first touches upon the city life of a bank clerk,
then life in Manila and Iloilo, later giving his reminiscences
as an accountant in Hong Kong, and his recollections of
incidents when he travelled extensively all over Chile,
Patagonia and Bolivia as General Manager of his Bank.

" Mr. Young is at all times racy and frank, lively and piquant. He is
a bon vivant of a type which we pray may never become extinct."

Daily Telegraph.

"One of the liveliest books of recent days. Full of adventure and
lively anecdote." — Daily Graphic.

" Mr. Young- writes in a breezy manner which veils considerable
literary ability. He was indeed a merry banker." — Truth.

" The author tells a story worthy of Balzac." — Globe.

" The great charm of the narrator is that he can tell good stories."

World.

" A volume one would rejoice to find on the smoking-room table."

Land and Water.

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. i.

TOPEE AND TURBAN, OR HERE AND
THERE IN INDIA. By H. A. Newell,
Lt.-CoL, LA, With Illustrations from Photo-
graphs by the Author. Demy 8vo. i6s. net.

COMPANIONS FEATHERED, FURRED
AND SCALED. By C. H. Donald. With
numerous Illustrations. Crown 8vo. los. 6d. net.

BENGAL FAIRY TALES. By F. B. Bradley
BiRT. With six Illustrations in colour by Aban-
indranath Tagore. Crown 4to. 15s. net.

These fairy tales of Bengal have been collected by the author in the
villages and bazaars of that fascinating country. They have been told
to him by the natives themselves, and the author has successfully
reproduced in many ways the simplicity and directness of the style
of the original. The stories are suitable, and will be appreciated by
children, but their full beauty and significance will appeal even more
to grown-ups. They show us an insight into the Bengali character,
while they delight us with their aesthetic charm, which is greatly en-
hanced by the beautiful drawings in colour by Abanindranath Tagore.

BYGONE DAYS IN INDIA. By Douglas
Dewar, Author of "Bombay Ducks," "Indian
Birds," etc. Demy 8vo. 15s. net.

POEMS IN CAPTIVITY. By John Still,
Author of "A Prisoner in Turkey." Crown 8vo.
7s. 6d. net.

John Still was captured by the Turks in Gallipoli in 191 5, and
remained in captivity for over three years, during which he found it
essential to have some absorbing mental occupation, necessary to
preserve his sanity. He discovered in himself then for the first time,
the power of writing verse. For many years before the war he lived
in Ceylon, and the latter part of the book is taken up with poems on
its peoples and lost cities, the first part containing the poems inspired
by captivity.

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. i

BOOKS ABOUT MALAYA

By Sir Frank Swettenham, K.C.M.G.

BRITISH MALAYA. An Account of the Origin
and Progress of British Influence in Malaya.
Numerous Illustrations reproduced from Photo-
graphs. Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. 12s.6d.net,

■ "The book is richly ilkistrated with photographs of great beauty.
It takes its place as the standard work of reference on the ruder tribes
of the peninsula." — Daily News.

THE REAL MALAY. Pen Pictures. Second
Edition. Crown 8vo. 6s. net.

" Sir Frank Swettenham understands perhaps better than any other
roving Englishman ' The Real Malay.'" — Standard.

MALAY SKETCHES. With title-page and cover
designed by Patten Wilson. Fourth Edition.
Crown 8vo. 6s. net,

" Nothing approaching Sir Frank Swettenham's intimate knowledge
and illuminative analysis has yet seen light about that fascinating
country which he so well describes." — Daily Chronicle,

UNADDRESSED LETTERS. With Portrait
of the Author. Seventh Edition. Crown 8vo.
6s. net.

" ' Unaddressed Letters' is the revelation of a personality at once
sympathetic and distinguished, imaginative, sensitive, emotional."

Daily Chronicle.

ALSO AND PERHAPS. Second Edition, Illus-
trated. Crown 8vo. 6s. net.

" When one has reached the end of the book, one undoubtedly has a
strong sense of having been in the company of a man of extraordinarily
wide experience and of a devouring curiosity allied with sympathy."

Spectator.

JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD, VIGO ST., W. i