x. INTRODUCTION. 



novelist has a great power and a great responsi- 

 bility. Not to the historians, or the compilers of 

 blue books, but to Rudyard Kipling, the poet and 

 novelist, the growing public interest in India is 

 due. He has " heard the East a-calling," and 

 has made his countrymen hear the seductive voice 

 too. I, with all Englishmen who have lived in 

 India, cherish the hope that the vast land, with 

 its teeming peoples, its mystic religions, its 

 wonderful resources, and its rich variety of animal 

 and vegetable life, will in time be better known 

 to the people who are responsible for its govern- 

 ment and welfare. For, without accurate know- 

 ledge, both legislation and philanthropy are often 

 more mischievous than beneficial. I therefore 

 make no apology for setting forth in the briefest 

 manner possible some general information com- 

 piled from authentic sources, respecting British 

 India, in an appendix. 



My main purpose in writing this little book, 

 was to place in a permanent form a description 

 of my wonderful preservation from death in a 

 chance encounter with a Royal Bengal Tiger. My 

 life had been adventurous up to that time. I had 

 shot big game of various kinds. But this episode, 

 so marvellous in itself, so important in its 

 influence upon my after life and character, marks 

 the close of my career as a hunter of big game. 



