2 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
presented the bright side of the shield, and there 
has been no leisure to study the reverse, save 
perhaps in the case of a few who recognize that 
relaxation is the smallest part of life in the East, 
and that there are many to whom the performance 
of social duties comes as an added burden to re- 
sponsibilities already almost intolerable. 
Amongst the pages of the book of India which 
are seldom turned are those that tell of its 
forest wealth and of the manner of its disposal. 
To the majority of visitors the forests are of no 
importance, except that they serve to enhance the 
beauties of the passing landscape, and are perhaps 
reported to contain some interesting animals; and 
even should there be opportunities of so-called 
‘camping out,” the charms of the free life and the 
chances of sport afford the sole emotions which 
remain in the memory. In these circumstances 
even a slight acquaintance with the Indian forests 
may add to the delights of a rapid tour, by indi- 
cating a new field for knowledgeable observation ; 
so that, as the traveller is hurried by mail-trains 
through the vast jungles of the Peninsula, he will be 
better able to comprehend the mysteries they hide, 
and what manner of man and beast inhabit them ; 
he will have opened up a new field of surmise and 
interest ; he will better understand what Hindustan 
was like in the days when the temples, palaces and 
forts that hitherto have received all his attention 
were in building ; he may even enter in imagination 
into the struggle of primeval man against the over- 
whelming forces of Nature. 
The remains of the great forests of India still 
