2 SPORT IN ASIA AND AFRICA 



very clever in manipulating steel wire, and could 

 handle a fish, when brought to the bank, dexter- 

 ously enough ; but, except that he was very 

 fond of fish to eat, it was plain that he considered 

 any time devoted to fishing misspent. The 

 pursuit of a tiger or a panther was, in his eyes, 

 the most suitable recreation for a gentleman; 

 and, if my inclinations required any stimulus, 

 he was invariably ready to supply it. 



Later on, when I had had more experience, I 

 found that stalking the buffalo and the bison, 

 or still-hunting in the forests of the Central 

 Provinces, with the possibility of an encounter 

 with some dangerous animal, had superior attrac- 

 tions ; but, for some years after I began big-game 

 shooting, my attention was almost entirely given 

 to the pursuit of tigers and panthers. My luck 

 with these animals was not particularly good, 

 I cannot claim to have shot more than thirteen 

 tigers and four panthers, and I made several 

 blunders in my encounters with the former — 

 more, I think, than I made in my encounters 

 with other animals. Eight of the tigers, however, 

 I killed outright myself, five of them with a single 

 shot for each, and I successfully followed up 

 on foot and retrieved two wounded tigers single- 

 handed; so that my record is not altogether an 

 inglorious one. 



I have heard an officer with good judgment 

 say that, in his opinion, tiger-shooting was a 

 very much overrated sport. It is true that 

 there may be very little excitement about the 

 death of a tiger, and the sport is frequently 

 followed in the hot weather and under uncomfort- 



