126 BEASTS AND MEN 
roaming the primeval forests of Africa to ride like a man on 
the back of a horse, or for a tiger prowling through an Indian 
jungle to amuse itself by jumping through a hoop. Moreover, 
not every lion or tiger can learn to perform tricks, however 
much trouble may be taken with his tuition. Some are hope- 
lessly clumsy in their movements, many never learn the duty 
of obedience, and others again are nervous and forget from 
day to day what they are taught. 
As I have already observed, it is a cardinal principle of 
the new school to expel from the troupe any animals which 
do not possess sufficient intelligence, or are too clumsy, to 
become successful performers. To recruit beasts indiscrimin-: 
ately is to court failure. Each beast must be carefully 
selected in. accordance with its aptitude for the work it is 
wanted to perform ; otherwise the success of an entire troupe 
may be marred by the misbehaviour of a single ill-chosen 
animal. It is absolutely essential to discard at once any 
animals which are unadapted to the work. I have previously 
related that on the occasion of my first attempt to introduce 
the humane system of training, out of twenty-one lions only 
four proved to be of any use for my purpose. Nor is the 
selection of the most likely performers always a very easy 
matter. There are animals which behave quite well at first, 
and only show a dislike for the work later, when they are set 
to perform with a large number of comrades; at such times 
they are apt to become very dangerous to the trainer if he 
fails to notice the change which has come over them. 
Let us consider the first stages in the training of a troupe 
of performing animals. We see lions, tigers, panthers, polar 
bears, and dogs, all young and unsophisticated, which have 
been selected because of their beauty, and because they 
appear to possess characters which will fit them to become 
performers. The first thing is to accustom the creatures to 
one another, for it would of course be. very dangerous, and 
probably disastrous, to let the whole medley of animals into 
a common cage without preparing them in any way for meet- 
