1 88 Leaves from an Indian Jungle. 



of the jungles as rather his, by virtue of the life he has 

 given to the service of the country, can, on meeting with a 

 crafty underhand opposition, only chew his bitter mortifi- 

 cation and vow to desert the pursuit of the ' royal beast ' 

 for that of game, which is only the prize of him who works 

 hard for it a vow which is quickly forgotten as the 

 fascination of tiger shikar returns in all its inevitable force ! 



And so it goes on ; from the by no means overdrawn 

 picture of the favoured guest downwards. The tiger bears 

 his price on his head ; and on the payment of that price, 

 be it in coin or in kind, he usually goes to the highest 

 bidder all of which detracts from the value of his pursuit 

 as compared with those forms of hunting into which pecu- 

 niary considerations do not enter to such a degrading 

 extent, and throws a considerable amount of doubt over 

 the claim to good sportsmanship laid by the man who has 

 * slain his hundred tigers.' 



To continue our theme. 



As a rule the Indian mind seems to attain its greatest 

 brilliance when engaged in the congenial occupation of 

 khat-pat the petty intriguing and childish cunning that 

 derives its power from its very weakness and apparent 

 insignificance. Here indeed is something that the Oriental 

 thoroughly understands, for the sake of which he readily 

 deserts his usual condition of apathy, and on which he 

 enters with a perverted zest that in a better cause would 

 command our admiration, applying thereto all the 

 wile of a brain the workings, the inconsequence, the 

 vagaries of which are often incomprehensible to Western 

 ideas. 



In addition, the Indian, even of lowly degree, is no 

 mean student of human nature, and is keenly alive to the 

 benefits that may accrue to him by the judicious concili- 



