FASCICULA 279 



in almost every ease, an appreciable degree of danger 

 in taking on either elephant, rhino, buffalo or lion. 

 Occasionally, of course, a "soft job" may be enjoyed; 

 but such, with these four, cannot be relied upon. So 

 absolutely dominant, moreover, at the crucial moment, 

 is the hunter — or hunting instinct; so concentrated 

 must thought and action be on success alone, that every 

 other idea is eliminated. There is no time to consider 

 those. Therefore when all is over, and the beast lies 

 dead before you, one's mind, occupied with success 

 achieved, is apt to ignore those preceding moments of 

 crucial, vital import that are past, and which, even at the 

 time, received no thought. For all that, those moments 

 may have been critical, dangerous to the last degree. 

 The rifle has triumphed, but the event might well have 

 resulted otherwise — one turn of ill-luck, a second's delay 

 or loss of nerve, an ill-judged movement or false 

 manoeuvre, and the case might have been reversed. 



Some of those who have fully realised this latter 

 alternative may not live to record it. But it is scarcely 

 wise entirely to ignore it ; nor to give too wide a scope 

 to the admirable British trait of depreciating danger by 

 denying its existence. The point of these remarks is to 

 insist that none should undertake the pursuit of the four 

 animals named, without first realising that it may, in all 

 probability, involve a certain degree of risk. 



That degree appears greatest in the ease of elephants, 

 since these are quite apt to assume the offensive without 

 notice, and before being molested at all. So, it is true, 

 may rhino ; but in their case, the lack of intelligence 

 (and equally of vice) coupled with very defective eye- 

 sight, reduces the danger. With buffalo and lion the 

 chief risk only begins after the animal is wounded, 

 though it may then become acute enough. 



The lion again is possessed of high progressive in- 

 telligence, quite capable of adapting itself to changing 

 circumstance. Thus the new system of " riding lions " 

 to a stand, which is briefly referred to above (p. 216), 

 appears to be developing in the lions of those regions 



