TIGER SHOOTING IN S. INDIA 



panying the sportsman to his post. Natives with 

 their bare feet walk very noiselessly, and the 

 ladders are never posted very near to where it 

 is probable that the tiger is lying. 



After this digression I will now return to the 

 shooting party. 



I will suppose that they have a ladder each 

 ready in camp to take with them as soon as news 

 of a kill is brought in, and also one or two spare 

 ones in case of accidents. 



The local native shikarrie, if he be worthy of the 

 name, will, upon finding that a bait has been killed, 

 by seeing the direction in which the tiger has 

 moved off from the kill, and in consultation with 

 the villagers, often be able to form a fair idea as 

 to where the beast is probably lying up, and the 

 direction which he will, when alarmed, prefer to 

 take. Much depends upon the latter, for if an 

 attempt be made to drive him in a direction in 

 which he is unwilling to go, he will, almost to 

 a certainty, either break back through the beaters, 

 or outflank them altogether, and so escape at one 

 of the sides. 



To prevent the latter, if men sufficient can be 

 raised (frequently they cannot), lateral lines of stops 

 may be posted up trees, but they are not unlikely 

 to do more harm than good, since it falls to the 

 lot of very few sportsmen to live long enough 

 in any one place to be able to train men sufficiently 

 to render them reliable assistants in tiger shooting. 

 Still in many cases it is absolutely necessary to 

 employ stops and to run this risk. 



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