CHAPTER XVI 



Wild animals as pets — I start a menagerie — Experiments with tiger and 

 panther cubs — Hunting by scent or sight and hearing ? — A much- 

 vexed question practically decided — Conclusive evidence — " Billy," 

 my tiger cub — Pillow fights with tiger cubs — The dog-boy and his 

 charges — A troublesome pair — Gymkhana for the police — Bicycles 

 supersede horses — Revisit Khandesh — A hunting box — Old friends — 

 Shooting under difficulties — Blank days — A tiger at last reported — 

 The beat — A tiger and tigress put up — Charging the beaters — Situation 

 becomes dangerous — Rescuing the stops — The beat abandoned for 

 the night — Disappointment — Nasik antiquities — Traffic in curios — 

 Made in Birmingham — Transferred to Dhanvar — Shooting oflf ladders 

 — An accident near ending in a tragedy — Fit only for a madhouse — 

 An interesting temple — The god Khundobar — Said to have been a 

 sportsman — Hunting with the hounds — Worshippers assume attitude 

 and character of dogs — Feeding the dog-devotees — On allfours — Biting 

 and barking — A rei)ulsive and degrading exhibition — Backsheesh the 

 main object. 



Although my time while stationed at Nasik was mostly 

 taken up, as I have shown, with dacoities and sedition, I 

 managed to find leism'e for other occupations, including 

 the collecting of live wild animals as pets, and in time had 

 quite a respectable menagerie, amongst these, a chetul, 

 a black-buck, two small gazelle, and also panther and tiger 

 cubs. 



Interested as I have always been in wild animals of 

 every kind, I have closely watched their habits, in their 

 own Jungle, as far as possible, but more particularly when 

 I have had them as pets, and in the case of tigers and 

 leopards, have tried many experiments with the young of 

 both, with a view to settling the much-vexed question as 

 to whether these carnivora hunt by scent or primarily by 

 sight and hearing. 



As it occurred to me that the surest way of deciding 

 this was to try the cubs with fiesh, I used to drag pieces of 

 118 



