LYING TO PLEASE 



almost wireless-like tel^raphy by which news in India 

 is so rapidly and mysteriously conveyed, for when on our 

 return that night we went in to dinner we found that every 

 member of the mess was in full possession of the facts. 

 The chaff that we were consequently subjected to may 

 therefore be imagined, though amongst there scoffers there 

 was probably not one who would have detected the fraud 

 any sooner than we did, for the counterfeited pugs, as I 

 have said, had been exceedingly well done. 



For some time after this incident we devoted our leisure 

 moments to the hunting of smaller and less important 

 game, and any news of tiger or leopard kills brought in, 

 unless absolutely verified or within a reasonable distance 

 from the station, were left severely alone. 



This incident, however, was only another verification 

 of that ancient Latin proverb Experieniia docet, which 

 is nowhere better exemplified than when applied to Indian 

 big-game shooting ; firstly, for the reason that the Aryan 

 brother is not invariably truthful as to the information 

 he brings in, not that his reports are always deliberately 

 false, on the contrary there is generally some foundation 

 for his story, but being always desirous of pleasing his 

 sahib, he often goes out of his way to repeat not what has 

 actually occurred, but what he thinks the latter would like 

 to hear. Thus, if a leopard happens to have killed a dog 

 in his village he will walk several miles into the station 

 and report that a tiger has killed a bullock, simply because 

 he knows that the sahib would sooner have news of a tiger 

 than a leopard ! 



Or again, if the inhabitants of a village have any 

 reason, however slight, for suspecting the presence of either 

 of these dangerous animals in any adjacent jungle, they 

 will generally dispatch one of their number, usually the 

 village chokidar or watchman, to the nearest camp or 

 station with a circumstantial report to the effect either 

 that the animal has actually been seen or that it has taken 

 up iis abode in :i crrl.iin juncrlc wliicli he- is rc.iilv fo tH>int 



Oill. 



lt>r making a |)ia(t icaily false report iikc tiiiN, howtvcr, 

 there is usually an underlying reason, over and above the 

 mere desire to please the sahib, for as it is assumed that the 



18 



