CHAPTER IX 



SMALL GAME IN INDIA 



IT takes the casual sportsman travelling in India 

 but a short time to discover that so far as he is 

 concerned big game shooting is a snare and a delu- 

 sion. He may perhaps wend his way to Kashmir 

 at the proper season and track Adamzad to his lair, 

 but the buffalo, rhinoceros, and tiger are another 

 matter. His best chance of sport lies in his being 

 the particular pal of some Government official ; then 

 he may do well. If he be a Viceroy, Lieu tenant- 

 Governor, or other big- wig, he rejoices in high places 

 at the shoots of some Rajah ; but Viceroys, Lieu- 

 tenant- Governors and hoc genus omne scarcely come 

 under the heading of travelling sportsmen. Unless 

 then a traveller or, as others call him, a globe- 

 trotting tourist has friends at court, or knows the 

 ropes, he will get little beyond blackbuck, chinkara, 

 and perhaps a " mugger." He can, however, get a 

 good deal of fun out of small game shooting of this 

 kind, even though the various brigands who lurk 

 about the hotels at Delhi, Agra, and elsewhere thinly 

 disguised under the nom de guerre of " Shikari " 

 make a good thing out of him. 



We arrived in Bombay on 7th November, after a 



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