INTRODUCTORY 7 



shooting was in East Africa, and the two 

 expeditions which I made to that country are 

 described at some length. In Africa my fortune 

 was good, and I succeeded in shooting there 

 some very fine antelope-heads. 



Africa was the country to which my youthful 

 fancy turned, and Africa still possesses a wonderful 

 fascination for me. I had made all arrangements 

 to spend a whole year in the country, and to 

 shoot both in North-West Rhodesia and in 

 Uganda, when the Chinese requested me to assist 

 them to reorganise their salt revenue administra- 

 tion. I gave up my projected expedition with 

 much regret, and doubt if I should have agreed 

 to give it up if my brother had not brought 

 strong pressure to bear upon me. 



While I succeeded in bagging most of the game 

 which is to be shot in the plains of India, I had 

 no luck with the red dog. On more than one 

 occasion I had a difficult shot at one, but was 

 invariably unsuccessful. I have seen a good- 

 sized boar with tusks which had been killed by 

 these dogs, and from the tracks it did not appear 

 that more than three or four dogs had taken 

 part in the attack. On one occasion, while I 

 was fishing in the Patli Dun, some hillmen 

 informed my servants that they had seen a small 

 tigress at bay against a rock, surrounded by dogs. 



On one occasion I was actually stalked by two 

 dogs which mistook me for some animal. I was 

 still-hunting in the evening with two natives 

 along the edge of a clearing in the Balaghat 

 district, and two young sambur came gambolling 

 out from the jungle not far from us. We squatted 



