278 A Sportswoman in India 



All our drinks were either hot or tepid. The 

 only food the country supplied was eggs, chickens, 

 and an occasional sheep, of all of which we grew 

 exceedingly weary. For the rest, we lived entirely on 

 our tinned provisions. 



There is one great objection to this sort of shooting : 

 namely, that there is so very little to do on the off 

 days when there is no kill and no beat. During 

 the first six weeks we three shot twelve head that 

 is, seven tigers, one panther, two bears, one sambur, 

 and one pig. Six weeks seems a long time to give 

 to shooting four head not an animal a week ! 



As we only had beats on two occasions on which 

 we did not find anything at all, and as only twice 

 did we see something in a beat but not kill anything, it 

 is to be gathered that there were a very large number 

 of days on which we had no beats. Of course, a 

 certain number of days were employed in marching ; 

 but as we always marched in the cool, early morning, 

 and never reached our camp later than ten o'clock, 

 there remained even of that day a long succession 

 of fruitless hours to be lived through. 



Now, if we could have strolled out into the jungle 

 every evening from four to seven o'clock with a 

 rifle, and have come across deer of various sorts, here 

 and there having a shot at a fine stag, one would 

 never have been at a loss for something to do. As 

 it was, we might walk for miles and never see a 

 living animal. It is only in the last forty or fifty 

 years that the jungles of Central India have been 



