BULLET AND SHOT 



animals, for they prey ordinarily upon other ferez 

 natures, and it follows from this that were they to 

 become plentiful in any one locality, the game 

 would be killed off and the tigers forced to migrate. 

 The ultimate result would undoubtedly be that the 

 tiger would become extinct. Nature, however, 

 maintains so even a balance that this danger has 

 been completely guarded against ; and, although 

 the eventual extinction of the tiger is probable, 

 there are so many vast solitudes but rarely in- 

 habited by man in the immense continent of India 

 that, although he is an uncommon beast, his 

 extermination is still very far off. 



But for the havoc wrought by man amongst 

 the wild animals upon which the tiger preys, there 

 would no doubt be food for more of the latter ; 

 but the fact being that the country bristles with 

 guns in the hands of natives who shoot only for 

 the pot, and who spare neither females nor young, 

 and as moreover there are so many meat-eating 

 castes that shooting venison for sale is a profitable 

 business, deer, etc., will soon be exterminated in 

 forested areas near villages ; and the tiger, his 

 food supply being cut off, will be forced to seek 

 haunts more remote from the borders of civilisation, 

 where game may still exist. 



Unfortunately, a reward, which is in Mysore as 

 high as fifty rupees, is paid for the destruction of 

 each tiger. Now when we reflect that a forest 

 guard in Mysore draws pay at the rate of only 

 six rupees per mensem in most localities, we can 

 well imagine how profitable a business it must be 



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