INTRODUCTION. 



the entertainment of the public; for the gratification of the natural and intense in- 

 terest which is felt alike by both sexes and all ages, and equally by the child and 

 the scholar. 



To gratify this taste immense sums have been expended in the establishment of 

 those free exhibitions of animals which are called zoological gardens. Every en- 

 lightened country has them, and they are deemed indispensable to the amusement 

 and instruction of the people. Notable instances are found in the famous "Zoo" 

 of London; in a similar one at Berlin; in one at Paris, France; in that corner of Cen- 

 tral Park, New York, which is rarely without an interested crowd; in Lincoln Park, 

 Chicago; and in the traveling menageries of the United States, some of which have 

 in recent years grown into colossal proportions like that which Mr. Barnum gath- 

 ered before his death, and carried from place to place by means of the unequaled 

 transportation facilities of modern times. 



All these beasts and birds and reptiles are cared for by men who understand 

 them. All the peculiar traits and appetites they possess, all unknown to the animals 

 native to our zone, are understood. When winter comes they are housed in an at- 

 mosphere as warm as that in which they were born. But even the most expensive 

 and skillful care does not save them, they continually die and are continually re- 

 placed, and the supply does not noticeably diminish. 



It follows, then, that they must be continually caught anew. Where do they 

 come from ? How are they taken ? These are the questions that are rarely answered. 

 Wild, fierce, treacherous, exceedingly strong, most of them members of the cat family 

 and practically untamable, the adventures and experiences of those who capture 

 them in their fastnesses must be among the most remarkable that can be told. 



Such adventures are described in the following pages. They are often startling, 

 but they contain within themselves the evidences of substantial truth. The stories 

 of wanderings in strange lands are always interesting. When such wanderings in- 

 clude days of watching and nights of peril; the tracking of the beast to his lair in 

 the jungle, and the placing of human nerve and cunning against animal instinct, 

 activity and enormous strength; then the story is captivating. 



Without question such an one is here told. The most acute naturalist will fail 

 to find an error in statement in regard to any wild animal mentioned. The writer 

 knew them as a man knows his friends. An immense sum of information is em- 

 bodied in the form of hunter's tales, and it finally remains to be added that the 

 characters are real, that the journeys were actually made, and that thousands of per- 

 sons in the United States have seen the very animals whose capture is described. 



