vi HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



but little regarded. Nevertheless I found them interest- 

 ing to observe, and I trust that they may be interesting 

 to read about ; and although my observations are quite 

 unscientific, they may perhaps add a little to the store 

 of popular information, and by exciting an interest 

 in the humble creatures with which they deal they 

 may tend to develop kindly feelings towards them. 



The animals that I have spoken of towards the end 

 of my narrative are of a grander kind, such as the 

 tiger, the bear, the deer, and the rhinoceros, the shooting 

 of which forms the subject of most sporting works. 

 Such works are popular from the adventures they record, 

 but I think my narrative will show how much interest, 

 even excitement, may be derived from observing these 

 animals without injuring or destroying them. 



I have added to my account of the domesticated 

 elephants, as they now are, a description of the far 

 grander position they held in the days of the emperors ; 

 then in trappings of silk and cloth of gold they added 

 to the splendour of the court, and formed one of the 

 most formidable and important accompaniments of the 

 armies. 



In regard to the elephants and some other of the 

 larger wild animals, I have noted the fact of their 

 disappearance, within comparatively recent times, from 

 many extensive regions where they were formerly 

 abundant, a disappearance for which in many cases 

 there is apparently no sufficient cause. 



