76 INDIAN BIG GAME 



sambhur to book. How pleased I was ! There 

 was a favourite grass hill patched with jungle 

 here and there, where this grand deer likes to 

 lie up during the heat of the day. The hill was 

 only some three to four miles off, and on that 

 evening I was coming along the side about half- 

 way down, when my tracker espied some natives 

 passing the opposite side of a bit of jungle, thereby 

 giving their wind to anything that might have 

 lain up. Sure enough three sambhur bolted out, 

 running up the hill and turning towards us, so 

 we crouched down in the grass ; by good luck 

 they passed right above, but within shot of us, 

 so, picking out the only stag, I pulled off and saw 

 him jump forward only to disappear into a hollow, 

 where we found him stone dead ; a well-placed 

 bullet behind the left shoulder had terminated 

 his career. It was not a good head, but its being 

 the first of the kind goes a long way with the 

 beginner. The size of the animal, its long coarse 

 hair with neck-ruff standing out — a feature which 

 looks so well on a good mounted head — were all 

 points of interest. The feet make splendid jelly, 

 but the meat is decidedly coarse. The skins 

 tan into very decent leather for shooting-boots, 

 but are so soft that in wet weather the leather 

 gets soppy. 



My first experience of tiger-shooting was 

 certainly the funniest. I am not sure of the date, 

 but know it occurred in this year (1891), so I will 

 relate what took place as a finish to this chapter. 

 The bridle-track to the Naad, which was made 

 more especially for the carriage of grain from the 

 low country for the purpose of feeding the 



