TIGERLAND 



mahouts yelling and shouting, would not be likely to take 

 their intrusion in very good part. 



Still, the natural instinct, common to all savage 

 creatures, will probably prompt it, in the first instance, to 

 seek safety in flight, and it may therefore try to escape, but 

 only to find its retreat cut off by the howdahs posted in 

 its line of flight, while the noisy beating line behind it still 

 continues to advance. 



Rendered desperate, therefore, by its perilous position 

 and trusting to its weight and speed to clear the obstruction 

 to its front, it rushes headlong at the nearest howdah with 

 a velocity almost impossible to calculate, making it most 

 difficult for the sportsman to stop it, which he could only 

 hope to do by a bullet through the centre of the forehead 

 or behind the shoulder. 



To hit it in any other part of the body would be worse 

 than useless, as the animal so far only actuated by fear 

 might still, if unmolested, swerve and pass on, but if 

 wounded in addition, would most assuredly attack the 

 elephant and possibly overturn it, or if it bolted, pursue 

 it with a persistency for which they are notorious, in- 

 flicting wounds, perhaps, which may eventually prove 

 fatal. True a " rhino " thus charging has occasionally 

 been dropped by a well-directed bullet, but taking all 

 things into consideration the odds are much against such 

 accurate shooting under the circumstances described. 



Should the sportsman, however, select the other plan 

 referred to, he must first obtain the services of a tracker 

 who is thoroughly acquainted with the habits of this 

 animal, and ascertain through him which of the many 

 tunnel-like tracks, made by the " rhino " through the grass 

 on their way to the feeding ground outside, is the most 

 recent one. Having discovered this, he must then be on 

 the ground a couple of hours before daylight, mounted on 

 his staunchest elephant and armed with the largest-bore 

 rifle he possesses, taking care to approach the place unseen 

 and with as little noise as possible. 



The elephant must then be carefully concealed within 

 the high grass, just off the track so that the sportsman 

 may command some twenty to thirty yards from the 

 entrance and then wait patiently and, above all, noiselessly 

 4 



