

BIG GAME NEAR CALCUTTA. 279 



The time at my disposal did not admit of a longer stay, 

 or I am sure more good sport might have been enjoyed, 

 especially further up the creek than I [had penetrated, for it 

 appeared that we had hit off by mere accident a favourite 

 haunt of the jft. Sondaicus and of the tiger. Deer are plen- 

 tiful in many parts of the " Soonderbuns," probably nowhere 

 more so than in places in Sagor island, where I have seen 

 them as thick as rabbits on a warren ; but on the other hand, 

 the ground to be got over is so unpleasant that a tithe of the 

 numbers in a good stalking country would afford infinitely 

 better sport, since sport does not consist in the mere killing 

 of game, but in the enjoyment of open air and wild scenery, 

 joined to the exercise of skill and endurance of toil followed 

 by merited success in moderation. 



When some estimable lady or gentleman dies full of 

 years, we are told, as if it were something to make our eyes 

 start out of our heads with amazement, that she or he (I 

 think it is generally the former), remembered hearing of tigers 

 having been killed within a few miles (distance rarely exactly 

 defined) of Government House. No doubt they have been 

 so shot, but without pretence to being estimable or venerable, 

 or desirous of alarming the distinguished company which 

 takes the air daily on the Strand, or in the Eden Gardens, I 

 can say that I have not only heard of, but have seen a tiger 

 a wild one not many miles from Belvedere ; and further- 

 more, have put up and wounded a rhinoceros no further off, 

 and that I believe will surprise some people even more. 



The latter encounter came about in this way. In the 

 course of a hunting-meet with the old Tent Club, it trans- 

 pired in conversation with some villagers that some of them 

 had heard of, while others had seen, a huge beast like an 

 elephant without tusks or a trunk, and which they were 

 told was a rhinoceros (a creature with which they were 

 unacquainted except by report), as being in a jungle not 

 far off our hunting-ground. Accordingly, on the close of 

 the day's hunting, the members of the Club returning to 

 Calcutta, one of us remained behind to verify the report, 



