"hunting" vEfisus " shooting." 87 



these animals, and it is by this that the relatively dangerous qualities of the 

 various kinds should be compared. 



A medical man in this country tells me that he has himself attended fourteen 

 cases of Europeans mauled by lions. 



The element of danger in the shooting of dangerous game can be increased or 

 minimised to some extent according to taste, but the risk run in shooting elephants 

 it is difficult to reduce, for it is present every time one pulls the trigger and increases 

 according to the numbers of the herd and the absence of any big trees. For the 

 instant the shot is fired the herd stampedes, and, although an experienced hunter may 

 foretell the direction they will be most likely to go in, no man can be quite certain 

 on the point. 



Although in each individual case the risk is but small, the sum total of all these 

 little risks assume fair proportions. 



The shooting, then, of any of the dangerous game — lion, elephant, rhino, 

 leopard, and buffalo — should rank high in the category of sport. 



I have arranged these animals purposely in the order in which I believe that 

 they are most dangerous, taking as the basis of comparison the instances of death 

 and maulings by these animals that have come under my personal notice. 



The reason why so very few cases of buffalo maulings have occurred in recent 

 years is due to the fact that for some time past the animal has been either considered 

 as royal game or has required a special licence for his shooting in most of the British 

 protectorates and colonies. Now that he may be shot on the ordinary licence in 

 East Africa and Uganda, doubtless more cases will occur and soon, perhaps, he will 

 be able to rank higher in the scale. Mr. Selous ranks him much higher on the list of 

 dangerous game. He uses the instances that have come under his obserA-ation as a 

 basis of comparison. His long experience of game extended over a period when 

 buffalo were, perhaps, the most numerous of any game animals. Since then things 

 have, unfortunately, altered considerably, as now the buffalo is nowhere very common, 

 and in most places rare. It is easy to understand how in those days he must have 

 appeared very prominently in the light of a dangerous customer. The sportsman 

 runs less danger from him now because, though his character is probably much the 

 same, he is but seldom encountered. 



Although the leopard is, probably, exceedingly dangerous to tackle face to face, 

 he is so seldom encountered that accidents are few and far between. 



In addition to the sporting element in hunting dangerous game, there is the 

 consideration that none of the animals on the list, with the exception of the rhino, is 

 easy to obtain. The latter, because of his shortness of sight and, in this country, his 



