THE PASSING OF THE WILD 331 



killing the game. Any measure, however good 

 its intention, which prompts careless shooting, 

 and the consequent wounding of animals that 

 get away to die, is to be condemned. 



The protection of big game, before it is too 

 late, is a problem of not only sporting, but also 

 scientific interest. Even looking at the matter 

 economically, abundance of big game must 

 always be an asset to the natives, who earn 

 better pay as shikaris than in any of their 

 other occupations, added to which wealthy 

 sportsmen spend large sums of money on pro- 

 visions and fodder. The scientific importance 

 of some of these wild animals is also beyond 

 all question. Who would have dreamt, a 

 hundred years ago, that the study of a group 

 of insects, heretofore regarded only as tor- 

 mentors, would have solved the problems of 

 yellow fever and malaria? Who would have 

 thought it possible, a little later, to trace the 

 carriage of sleeping-sickness to the tsetse-fly ? 

 We can never tell what may be learnt from the 

 wild animals until we have studied them, and 

 they cannot be studied after they have ceased 

 to breathe. Even in the bird world, the dodo, 

 great auk, and moa were exterminated almost 

 before they had been described. To have 

 driven these birds out of existence without 

 even taking the trouble to know all that there 

 was to know about them is a disgrace to 



