AFRICA AND INDIA COMPARED 



jungle there were plenty of drinking-places, far too 

 many for my purpose. I had platforms rigged up on 

 trees, and spent uncomfortable nights on them waiting 

 for my " sitters " to come along, as keenly as — perhaps 

 even more keenly than — does the sportsman with his rifle. 



It is curious to compare the methods of the 

 sportsman tiger-shooting in India with those of the 

 lion hunter in Africa. The one operates from the 

 comparative safety of a howdah on the back of an 

 elephant, or from a platform at a safe height in a tree ; 

 whereas the other approaches his quarry in the open 

 and on foot. At first sight the nimrod of India might 

 be considered a coward in comparison with his fellow- 

 sportsman, but this is really not the case. The character 

 of the country and the widely-different habits of the 

 animals have to be taken into consideration, and when 

 this is done a little reflection will show that both 

 methods have been evolved from long experience, 

 each being best suited for its own locality. It has 

 to be remembered that the lion in Africa does not as 

 a rule enjoy the amount of cover that the tiger does 

 in the Indian jungle. 



During those nights I spent in the trees I 

 wondered if the home-staying man, who turns in 

 prosaically at the respectable hour of ii.o p.m., and 

 gets up in time to shave and eat an indigestible 

 breakfast before the eight-forty train to London 

 Bridge, ever conceives what a night in a tree means ? 



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