132 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



our occupation gone for the day. We see nothing of the tiger's 

 nibble or the process by which the bait is seized and carried off. 

 The interest lies solely in the visit to the bullocks in the early 

 hours, and this very soon palls when day after day the bait is 

 found untouched and lively. The shikaries very naturally object 

 to disturbing the tiger jungle by going after other game, and 

 during the hot weather stalking deer, &c., is out of the question, 

 the ground being thickly covered with dry leaves, rendering 

 silent walking totally impossible. Nothing remains but to stay 

 in camp and spend the hours in sleep and reading, until, in the 

 afternoon perhaps, you shoot a duck or two on the bank, or 

 some snipe in the paddy-field, should either be near ; or you 

 accompany the shikaries and watch them bait their hooks, 

 a proceeding generally objected to as unnecessarily disturbing 

 the ground. I grant that when posted on a tree or rock, if the 

 former be not too shaky, or the latter too hot, it is a magnifi- 

 cent sight to see a tiger break cover and a glorious satisfaction 

 to see him roll over to one's shot, but the method of arriving at 

 this desirable end is too mechanical, and nearly devoid of all 

 that which constitutes real sport. When after many days' 

 weary waiting, perhaps running into weeks even, at last a kill 

 is reported, you are marched off to the jungle and climb up into 

 a tree where you are perfectly safe from the reach of a tiger. 

 The animal, sleepy and lazy after its heavy meal, is then beaten 

 towards you and, if lucky, you kill it. Here is none of the 

 excitement of tracking and that of following a wild beast into 

 its own jungles, of pitting your endurance and knowledge of 

 woodcraft against the sagacity and cunning of the animal on its 

 own ground, with the certain element of danger when it comes 

 to the final scene. This which makes real sport so fascinating 

 is totally absent. The only danger which we encountered was 

 to my mind not so much from the wounded tiger which we 

 had to follow on foot to kill, but from the shikaries, who, 

 with the muzzles of the spare rifles at full cock in most un- 

 comfortable proximity to one's spine, would follow immediately 

 behind us, not to mention the chance of tumbling out of the 

 tree. 



However, as bad luck cannot last for ever, so before long we 

 got a bite and our bait was carried off. Even the shikari's 

 generally immobile features wore a smile and everybody was 



