338 RIFLE AND ROMANCE 



tiger to kill and advertise his whereabouts have been tied 

 up at any distance, the news of a kill will be correspond- 

 ingly late, and a midday affair unavoidable unless it is 

 decided to wait for the comparative cool afternoon and 

 evening. Time is also often unavoidably lost in the col- 

 lection of sufficient beaters, which also throws the operations 

 forward as regards time of day. During the heat of the 

 Indian day a tiger is less inclined to move than when it is 

 cool, and it may be that more persuasion is entailed thereby, 

 although this appears to be a moot point. And again, 

 the beaters, who are usually unarmed, cannot be blamed if 

 they imagine that the production of a horrible din will 

 safeguard them from the attack of the dreaded creature 

 into whose lair they are venturing. 



Yet another reason for the prevalence of the beat seems 

 to lie in custom, the all-powerful dustoor of the changeless 

 East, and this howling racketing mob, which the sportsman 

 so well knows, is probably basing its methods on centuries 

 of shikar as carried out by native potentates, before the 

 European exploitation of Hindustan. It is not difficult to 

 understand a double reason to underlie the forceful howling 

 of the poor beater ; not only had he to fear the claws and 

 jaws of a feline foe, but it was highly probable that without 

 vocal advertisement of his human identity he might be- 

 come the unhappy recipient of javelin, arrow, or musket- 

 ball. Nor are his fears on this last-mentioned score al- 

 together visionary, even in our enlightened day ! 



These and other excellent reasons may underlie the 

 employment of the "noisy" beat, but it is a pity to 

 imagine that this "sealed pattern" method is the only 

 means possible, or even the best. 



It will have been noticed by most shikaris that nearly 

 every wild animal has a natural aversion to being " driven," 

 and possesses a wonderful instinct which leads it to attempt 

 to " break back " through the beaters as soon as it has 

 become evident to its senses that an attempt is being made 



