50 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



horns sportsmen seek in the eternal snows of 

 the mountain-tops and value above all other 

 trophies of the chase, if only because so much 

 more time and toil have gone to their winning 1 . 

 It cannot be said that sport in India is as good 

 as it was in the old days. Wild animals are 

 scarcer, and wild tourists are more plentiful. 

 Yet good sport is still to be had for those who 

 will take the trouble to look for it, and sports- 

 manship is better and cleaner in India than 

 anywhere else out of England. The pot-hunt- 

 ing that goes on in Africa, in spite of the 

 vigilance of game - wardens, would be an 

 impossibility in a densely populated, well- 

 governed land like India, where, to give only 

 one reason for the difference, there are no 

 ivory-hunters, native or European. Of Ameri- 

 can sport I say nothing. Americans like my 

 friend Mr. Hornaday, superintendent of the 

 Bronx Animal Park, have said enough and to 

 spare, and the scarcity of wild animals in the 

 United States speaks for itself. Compare the 

 condition of big game in India with that of 

 the United States which, with, roughly, twice 

 the area, have not one third of the population. 

 Yet, save in a few outlying districts and 

 Government Reservations, the land is all but 

 denuded of its wild animals. With India we 

 may bracket the neighbouring countries of 

 Ladak and Tibet, as well as the island of 



