3 o 4 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



pioneers. They found the lions hunting in 

 bands and killing immense numbers of ante- 

 lopes, and whole tribes of natives were even 

 compelled to live in trees so as to be safe from 

 them. The extent to which they preyed on 

 antelopes was such that every sportsman who 

 bagged half a dozen lions must have been the 

 means of saving the lives of hundreds of 

 antelopes. 



Dangerous beasts, like warlike tribes, cannot 

 be exterminated in a day, and even reduction 

 of their numbers is full of difficulty. The 

 most familiar case of legislating for the suppres- 

 sion of noxious beasts and reptiles is that of 

 the Indian Government, which pays out 

 immense sums every year for the destruction 

 of wild beasts and venomous snakes, a warfare 

 of civilised man against his natural enemies 

 which Sir Alfred Lyall regards as the per- 

 petuation of a blood feud. There is sudden 

 death in the path of the native who goes bare- 

 foot, and every year twenty thousand victims 

 are slain by the cobra and krait, while tigers 

 and leopards account for two or three thousand 

 more. This mortality continues, even though 

 Government pays out two hundred thousand 

 rupees a year in rewards. It is inconceivable 

 that the maintenance of Game Reserves should 

 seriously encourage the survival of lions, for 

 there can never be any question of prohibiting 



