

198 



GOOD SPORT OiW A LIMITED INCOME. 





sidered here as lon;^ as the " new chum " was pleasant 

 in speech and well informed. Game, particularly 

 tigers and elcphar^^s, are said to be very abundant, but 

 the coverts are so thick, and the clearings so small, that 

 it is but seldom a shot is obtained at them. Java is 

 not what it was, the ferce naturcc have now been 

 driven back in the island, and the cost of such an 

 army of beaters as would be required to ensure 

 success, together v 'th their transportation to the 

 scene of operation^, would require the very wide 

 opening of the strings of a well-freighted purse to 

 liquidate expenses. Moreover, the Dutch land- 

 owners do not all love Englishmen, Now to South 

 Africa. To get to the haunts of large game there, 

 and to provide yourself with the necessary outfit for 

 carrying on the campaign, would call for an ex- 

 penditure of twelve hundred pounds, a portion of 

 which might be recovered on leaving the country. 

 The last year or two, ivory has become very scarce — 

 so much so, that collecting this valuable commodity 

 cannot now be reckoned upon as a means of recouping 

 the traveller for his outlay. 



In Bengal, especially towards Nepaul, a lot of 

 sport could be enjoyed, and that of a very high class, 

 by a preliminary expenditure of five or six hundred 

 pounds. After having made this investment you can 

 take to jungle life annually for a few months, but 

 nothing is to be shot there that is worthy of a 

 gentlemen's attention to try to turn into coin, and so 

 take the strains off a weak-backed exchequer. From 

 year to year you would go on leading the same 

 hugger-mugger lile, till the sight of shikaries, beaters, 

 rifles, etc., became as distasteful to you as the pariah 

 dog that constantly invades ^ ^r compound, or the 

 aged mendicant that is ever to be seen outside your 

 gates. Nor will this be the end ; in a few years a 

 deterioration of mind and body will creep over you — 

 the result of the climate and your idle, aimless 



