42 Cabtain Sleema?i on Big Game Shooting in India. 



their death, and defended the hunting down and destruction of 

 the beautiful but savage carnivora of India as a practice which 

 benefited not only the equally beautiful and gentler wild animals 

 on which these carnivora prey, but also the population of the 

 villages which are near the jungles. Tigers, he said, will tramp 

 some thirty miles of a night in search of prey, and a tiger would 

 kill a cow every three days or so : sometimes indeed they would 

 kill for mere lust of blood, and he had known a tiger to kill 

 sixteen natives in one night. Tigers and panthers in India killed 

 every year about 1,500 human beings and 28,000 cattle. He had 

 known villages to be deserted owing to the depredations of these 

 beasts, and thus their destruction became an obligation upon those 

 who possessed the means and time, and were willing to incur the 

 danger the task involved. Captain Sleeman then related a 

 number of thrilling shikari adventures experienced by himself and 

 others in order to show the risk associated with tiger and panther 

 hunting. He also showed by limelight a number of interesting 

 Indian slides, some of historical Indian scenes, and others of 

 shikari operations, the most attractive of which illustrated the 

 beginning, progress, and culmination of "big shoots" in which he 

 had been engaged. 



The lecture was much enjoyed by all who heard it, and at 

 che close a hearty vote of thanks was accorded to Captain 

 Sleeman, on the motion of Mr. Henry Riddell, seconded by 

 Mr. John Horner. 



