CHAPTER V 



Second Portion of Indian Trip Extracts from Journals and Letters 

 to his Mother and to his Cousin, Charles Okeover, from the 

 Neilgherry Hills Successful Sport with Tigers, Bears, Sam- 

 bur, and Ibex The Black Panther and Monster Tusker. 



AGE 21. 



TOWARDS the end of January he left this part of the 

 country, and thus sums up his experiences : 



This book is drawing to a close. The latter part of 

 it is, I am afraid, one series of failures and disap- 

 pointments. Such cannot be helped. To such 

 trials the true sportsman must make up his mind. 

 They are only forerunners and examples of the 

 more serious ups and downs of life. At the time 

 they are hard to bear with a proper amount of 

 cheerfulness ; and when success does come to crown 

 the sportsman's hard-fought efforts, he will value it 

 none the less for all the many times it has slipped 

 away when just within his eager grasp. 

 In this very wholesome frame of mind Brooke left 

 the Shimoga district, and went back to Mysore, and 

 from there started for the Neilgherry Hills, where the 

 bad luck he had previously had entirely disappeared, 

 and in the eight following months he secured a bag of 

 unequalled quality and variety of game. The Neil- 

 gherry Hills lie about 70 miles south of Mysore, 

 and at that time teemed with game of all sorts. The 

 highest hills are about 8000 feet, covered with timber 



