AN EXPLOEATION IN THE FAR EAST. 441 



be bought in Bombay at a cost of about 20/. A good Arab, 

 fit to hunt under eleven stone, will cost 80/. or 100/. Ar- 

 rangements should be made to get the loan of or purchase a 

 staunch shooting-elephant and howdah ; for, though much 

 good sport can be got without one, a far heavier bag will be 

 realized with the help of an elephant. They are difficult to 

 obtain, however, at any time ; and a really good one will not 

 be bought for less than 200 /. to 300/. Decent shikdris can 

 generally be obtained on the spot, though they will not of 

 course come up to men who have been brought up by the 

 sportsman himself to the work, The current expenses, after 

 the outfit has been bought, will come to about 30/. per men- 

 sem for each sportsman. Of course a man accustomed to 

 rough it could get on, and obtain the best of sport at a much 

 less expense than this, which is laid down for a party wishing 

 to enjoy all the comforts of the Indian style of travelling in 

 camp. Such an adventurous sportsman need only get for 

 himself a small pal tent and a few necessary implements of 

 travel, and hire a camel to carry them, buy a rough pony for 

 5/. or 10/., hire a couple of servants, and plunge with his rifle 

 into the wilderness. If capable of speaking the Hindi lan- 

 guage, and conciliatory towards the wild men, he would soon 

 have about him a knot of real jungle hunters who would take 

 him up to every sort of game ; while his monthly expenses 

 would not exceed 10/. or 15/. Saddlery, hunting implements 

 of all sorts (excepting boar spears which are made better in 

 India), ammunition, and clothes, should be brought from 

 England. 



In the matter of guns and rifles, improvements are still so 

 rapidly progressing that the dicta of one year are very likely to 

 be upset before the next. Since I published the last edition of 

 my little work on sporting rifles in 1867, a perfect revolution 



