240 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
industries whose estimates of profit would be based 
on a continuation of the physical conditions that 
their promoters were acquainted with. It has 
taken a generation and more to open our eyes to 
the necessity of protecting the catchment areas of 
our watercourses, and we find ourselves now in 
the predicament that we are bound to further the 
interests of the industries we have encouraged, 
while at the same time we demur to interference 
with the rights of those native States that possess 
the key to the position. A way out of the difficulty 
will surely be found as time goes on ; it would more 
speedily be discovered were British capital attracted 
to industrial enterprises in India: for then the 
water-power that now runs to waste would become 
a most valuable asset, and no doubt the native 
Princes would find it worth their while to permit 
the regulation of its supply where this is most easy 
to accomplish—namely, at its source. 
There are rhinoceros and bison in the Bengal 
Tarai, but at the time of our visit these had become 
so scarce that shooting was prohibited. The 
Méahérdj4 of Kuch Behar, whose palatial residence 
and estate adjoins the Government reserves, was an 
ardent and hospitable sportsman, and the head of 
game had become insufficient to afford diversion 
both to himself and to his guests; the planting 
community had also, in self-defence, thinned down 
these animals considerably, and, as it is the un- 
expected that happens most frequently in the 
forest, it was hardly surprising that we should 
meet these beasts when quite unprepared for an 
encounter. We had the pleasure of watching for 
