THE TEAK EEGION 213 



might have had more of it than we bargained for on that 

 narrow ledge. 



We had to return next day to the station, and bid 

 adieu to these singular hills. The hot season was fairly 

 on, when no one can long endure the exertion of hunting 

 on foot the sambar and bison in hilly country. My 

 readers will probably think I have described to them but 

 poor sport compared to what they have often read of before. 

 It is so easy to throw in half-a-dozen bull bison in a day's 

 sport by a stroke of a pen, that the temptation to meet 

 the wishes of the reader is difficult to resist. I have, 

 however, stuck to the exact facts of a by no means heavy 

 bag, on purpose to give a more accurate idea of what such 

 shooting really means — ^namely, very hard work and much 

 exposure for an average of certainly not more than one 

 head of game a day, and often much less. One of the 

 hardest workers and best shots I ever knew, who had only 

 time for a few weeks' bison and sambar shooting in the 

 year, and then went at it tooth and nail, told me he was 

 always proud if he could keep his average up to one a day 

 for the time he was out ; and I am certain that very few 

 ever do so much. By taking every chance at cow bison 

 and doe sambar, of course the bag could be largely in- 

 creased ; and I heard of two men who one year murdered 

 in this way twenty-eight bison in a week. This is not sport, 

 of coiKse, nor are the performers sportsmen. The bison 

 is already, it would seem, diminishing in numbers; cer- 

 tainly his range is becoming greatly contracted. He is 

 one of the most harmless animals in the whole world to 

 the industry of man, and, fairly hunted, afEords perhaps 

 the best sport in India; it would be a pity, then, if his 

 numbers should be unduly diminished by unsportsmanlike 

 conduct. 



