102 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. 8, 1898. 
SPORT IN INDIA. 
Perhaps Forest Am) Stream would like to hear some- 
thing of sport as we have it in India. It is no doubt the 
greatest spe^rting country in the world, both because it 
contains a greater variety of game than any other coun- 
try, and because the game is more easily got at than in 
any other country. This is because camping is so well 
understood and the native servants can keep you comfort- 
able wherever you go, and British law and order, giving 
absolute security to person and property, rule throughout 
this great country, so that the traveler, wherever he 
may pitch his camp, is perfectly secure against molesta- 
tion. And let me say here a word about the nature of 
our British rule over India. I have sometimes talked 
with American gentlemen who seemed to suppose that 
there was something harsh or cruel in our grasp of that 
country. Even in such a high class aiid usually well in- 
formed magazine as the Arena I remember to have read 
some nonsense about "India writhing under the iron 
heel of English despotism." The truth is, that British 
Government in India constitutes the greatest blessing that 
has ever been conferred on a large section of the human 
race. 
The population of India, now numbering nearly three 
hundred mi llions, is composed of a great variety of tribes 
and sects — some of them warlike, others very peaceful. 
Before the British took possession there was nothing 
worth calling a government. Various native princes and 
chiefs ruled in the oppressive Oriental style over different 
sections of the country and perpetually fought with each 
other. The warlike tribes raided and plundered the 
weaker races. The roads, such as they were, were infested 
with thugs and bandits, and travelers had to get together 
in companies and go well armed. The very cultivator at 
his plow could hardly consider himself safe unless he had 
a sword handy. Added to all this turmoil and insecurity, 
terrible famines prevailed from time to time over large 
sections of the country, when hundreds of thousands 
would perish ; while cholera and other pestilences were rife 
And now under British rule the whole population en- 
joys absolute peace and security. Justice is everywhere 
administered with impartial hand, and the humblest 
peasant can go to the nearest magistrate and obtain a 
patient hearing and redress if any man has wronged him. 
Good metaled roads and railways cross the country in all 
directions, and by their means not only has a great trade 
been developed, but the horrors of famine have ceased. 
When the crops fail in one section the railways easily 
supply the deficiency by brmging in supplies from other 
parts of the country. The vast irrigation canals which 
we have built also render immense tracts entirely safe 
against any failure of crops and give the cultivator a 
double or treble out-turn over what he ever had formerly. 
And by sanitary improvements, such as proper drainage 
and water supply systems for the great crowded cities, the 
ravages of pestilence have been greatly diminished, and 
we already look to the day when the dreaded cholera 
shaU be finally stamped out. 
The population fully appreciate all these benefits and 
there is no discontent under the British rule; at least the 
only discontented people are the few lawless characters 
here and there who would prefer a state of licentiousness 
and disorder, and perhaps a few descendants of the an- 
cient chiefs and nobles who think they have an inherent 
right to rule and oppress the people. But they have lit- 
tle to grumble at, because whenever we have been com- 
pelled in the interest of peace and justice to dethrone 
some native prince we have always given him and all his 
family an immense pension and allowed them to live in 
luxury in their own way wherever they could do no more 
harm. 
The general content of the vast masses of the people 
with our government was especially seen during the 
great mutiny of 1857— a mutiny which was stirred up by 
some of the discontented princes above said, who con- 
trived by secret agents to arouse a rebellion among the 
native troops, who at that time far outnumbered the 
British soldiers in the country. 
But the population in general raised not a hand to aid 
the mutineers; on the contrary, where isolated parties of 
British with their women and children were wandering 
about, seeking to make their way to some point of safety, 
the farmers and country people always succored them' 
and were heartily glad when we suppressed that mutiny 
and resumed our beneficent rule. 
I know that some people, though aware that the British 
do a vast lot of good wherever they take hold, as in India, 
suppose that in return for our firm and just rule, law, or- 
der and justice, etc., we extract in some way very sub- 
stantial monetary advantages. But it is not the case that 
England derives one cent of revenue from India or any 
other of her possessions. There is no such thing as "ex- 
acting of tribute," and never has been. It is only in the 
extension of trade and business that she benefits, and 
therein both sides benefit equally. The taxation of the 
Indian population is very light; a revenue of about 
£70,000,000 sterling is raised from a population of near 
300,000,000. This comes to about $1 a head per annum, 
and it is all spent in the administration of the country. 
We want to get to the shooting and fishing, but I hope 
Forest and Stream will pardon the above little disserta- 
tion. It is a very bad thing for any American to suppose 
that England rules with a tyrant rod over the supposed 
"downtrodden millions" of India or any other land. 
Americans who hold such a mistaken notion are too apt 
to think that they ought, in the cause of "freedom," to 
oppose England ; and such opinions tend to embitter any 
of the little difiiculties that sometimes spring up between 
the two great peoples. England is the mother of free- 
dom. In India she has given freedom to that vast popu- 
lation; and it is safe to say that at this day all over India 
life and property are more secure, justice more certainly 
and speedily overtakes the wrongdoer, and crime is far 
away scarcer than in the great but still far from fully 
organized or well governed United States. 
So Americans who go to India for some of its wild 
sports will also have an opportunity of seeing the practi- 
cal working of a wonderful system of government; and, 
as I have said, any one can camp about anywhere in ab- 
solute security. It is a good thing to know that to start 
with anyway. 
For the benefit of the reader who has not got an atlas 
handy I will mention that the great triangular peninsula 
which constitutes India is some 3,000 miles across at its 
broad end and some 3,500 miles long from its southern 
point away up north to the Himalaya Mountains. This 
great tract of mountain country which incloses India on 
the north is not a single range, but rather a belt of 
mountains, range behind range, the highest peaks being 
in some places a hundred miles back from the foothills. 
Some of the best Indian shooting is among the Hima- 
layas, "hill shooting," we call it, and I may as well be- 
gin by giving some account of this and then we can work 
southward. 
The climate of these lofty mountain ranges being of 
course very different from that of any other part of India, 
the wild animals found therein are also mostly peculiar 
to the mountains. The following list will give some idea 
of the variety of Himalayan game: 
Two kinds of bears, the brown and the black. 
The snow leopard. 
The" cashmere stag, a splendid animal, standing twelve 
or thirteen hands high and bearing horns of twelve or 
more points and running up to 3ft, Gin. long. 
The markhoor is a magnificent wild goat standing 
eleven and a half hands high; very massive horns, 
spirally twisted, reaching 4ft. in length. 
The ibex, another fine wild goat, some 3ft. high and 
with horns 4ft. long. 
There are some two or three other species of wild goats 
and also the chamois, but none have horns exceeding 
about a foot in length. 
The wild sheep resembles the American Rocky Moun- 
tain sheep, and has curved horns reaching to 3ft. in 
length and 1ft. in circumference at the base. 
Among feathered game the pheasants are very promi- 
nent. Seven different species are found, all having the 
most gorgeous plumage. There are also two or three 
species of the partridge tribe. 
In the lower ranges squirrels, monkeys, hares, etc, are 
plentiful, but disappear as one reaches the higher altitudes, 
though the small Himalayan hare is found up to 11,000ft. 
The sportsman who proposes a shooting trip in the Him- 
alayas will make his outfitting point one of the numerous 
hill stations which are distributed all along the line of 
these mountains at heights of 6,000 to 8,000ft,, and the 
right time for starting will be about the beginning of 
April, so that he will have the summer before him and 
can reach considerable altitudes or traverse the higher 
passes without getting into the snow. 
At this time the plains of India are beginning to get 
uncomfortably warm, and all who are able to do so are 
escaping from the heat and ascending to spend the sum- 
mer, more or lees, in these cool and elevated stations. 
The traveler will here find plenty of excellent stores, 
where he can buy whatever he needs for his expedition. 
He will hire a couple of experienced guides (shikaris), 
who in turn will seek out and engage a cook and one or 
two servants and a suflacient number of porters to carry 
the camp. Since human portage is the only means of 
conveyance, and it is diflicult to get and keep a lai-ge 
number of men (let alone the expense), weights have to 
be kept down. The outfit wiU consist of one light tent, 
a light camp bed and about half a dozen leather-covered 
wicker baskets, each forming one man's load when filled 
with cooking utensils, some canned provisions, ammuni- 
tion, spare clothes, etc. Generally speaking, some eight 
to twelve loads of 401bs. each will suffice. 
The valleys throughout the mountain country are in- 
habited, 80 that provisions can be obtained from point 
to point as one penetrates in. One may have two or three 
days' rough marching over steep paths and passes, fol- 
lowed by a descent into a cultivated and inhabited valley. 
The sportsman will usually pitch his camp in a valley or 
at no very great height up the mountain, and thence 
ascend to the higher slopes in search of the game. 
When he strikes a good place and decides to stop there 
for some time, he takes the opportunity to send back two 
or three men to his outfitting point for fresh supplies of 
provisions, and to get his mails. These active, hardy hill 
men will cover forty miles a day when sent on an errand, 
and thus the traveler, though far in the interior of the 
mountains, can always keep in touch with his starting 
point. He also takes these occasions to send back for 
safekeeping any horns and skins that he has bagged and 
which become a great encumbrance if he tries to carry 
them around. 
The rifle for hill shooting should be not smaller than 
.45 caliber, many prefer ,50, and the trajectory should be 
flat. British sportsmen in India have hitherto almost ex- 
clusively used the double-barreled express rifle, a weapon 
of immense power, accuracy and flatness of trajectory, 
and possessing very decisive striking power with its ex- 
panding bullet of .45 or .50 caliber. They have so far 
considered the Winchester and other American rifles as 
being deficient in power and flatness, the charge of pow- 
der being much smaller than in our express rifles. But 
the Winchester express .45 or .50— the latter for choice 
with 450gr. bullet- ought to answer very Well for Hima- 
layan shooting. 
Let us now descend from the Himalayas, We find our- 
selves in a belt of forest country extending along the foot 
of the outermost range to a width of some twenty or forty 
miles. In these sub-Himalayan forests are to be found 
nearly all the species of large game which India produces, 
with some few exceptions, which are only found further 
south. Here we have the wild elephant (which, however, 
the Government does not permit to be shot), two species 
of rhinoceros, the wild hog, the wild buffalo, the black 
bear (different from and smaller than the Himalayan 
bear), the celebrated Indian tiger and the leopard. 
Among the deer tribe we have the fine sambur stag, 
standing thirteen to fourteen hands at the shoulder, and 
with horns of three points each running up to S^ft. in 
length. 
The swamp deer stands eleven to eleven and a half 
hands high, and has antlers of twelve or more points 3ft. 
long. The spotted deer stands some 3 ft. high and has 
very fine three-tined horns up to 3ft. long. This beautiful 
deer runs in large herds among the parkiike forests along 
river sides below the Himalayas. Then in smaller sizes 
there are the hog deer, the four-horned antelope and the 
barking deer. 
The wild peacock is very common and prominent in 
these forests, especially in the summer, when his train 
has reached its full length. Here also is the jungle fowl, 
the original of our domestic poultry, exactly resembling a 
neat little bantam cock. The black partridge is found in 
suitable spots among the forest, also hares. 
The large rivers which descend from the Himalayas 
contain the celebrated mahseer, which affords sport fully 
equal to salmon fishing; while the smaller streams con- 
tain trout. 
These sub-Himalayan forests are very damp and mala- 
rious during a great part of the year, but they become 
dry and healthy in April and May and those are the 
naonths in which to camp there. The long grass has then 
died down or been burnt over and one can get about with 
ease; at this time these forests are a veritable sportsman's 
paradise. 
Tiger shooting cannot here be attempted unless you can 
secure the use of some elephants, which is difficult. The 
tiger makes his lair among the high reeds and grass in 
some dense swamp, where he cannot be got at except on 
elephant back. The same applies to the rhinoceros and 
wild buffalo. But there is plenty of other sport without 
these. In fact, many of the best sportsmen do not care 
about shooting from elephants; there is much in it that is 
tedious and annoying and there is more satisfaction in 
doing what one can on foot. With your tent pitched on 
the banks of some great river where it issues from the 
hills you have the finest of fishing at your tent door, 
while around you the forest is full of the various kinds of 
deer, etc., above mentioned. It is hot in the middle of 
the day, too hot to be abroad with any comfort, and be- 
sides the deer at that time have laid tip in thick coVett. 
The great drawback to tiger hunting off elephants is that 
it must be done in the heat of the day, and to be jolted 
about under an Indian May sun all day among vast 
swamps of grass and reeds with only a very problematical 
chance of seeing a tiger is not good enough. 
The sportsman who confines to himself to stalking and 
fishing has a better time of it. His procedure is as fol- 
lows: Getting up at daybreak, he takes a light early break- 
fast and sallies forth. Comes in at 10 or 11 o'clock when 
it begins to get hot, takes a highly enjoyable bath and 
complete change of underclothes, and then, with a mag- 
nificent appetite, attacks a substantial breakfast; then 
he rests and keeps cool during the heat of the day (the 
tent being carefully located for shade), and at 4 P, M. 
again goes out for an afternoon stroll with rifle or rod, 
takes a light dinner at dusk, and early to bed. 
Often have I in the morning landed two or three fine 
mahseer or taken a nice basket of trout, and in my after- 
noon's stroll bagged a beautiful spotted stag, or the rarer 
and more stately sambur stag, or mayhap one of the 
smaller deer or a wild boar, 
A camp such as this, under good circumstances, forms 
an episode never fo be forgotten in a sportsman's experi- 
ences. Major G. M, Bellasis, 
Bengal Staff Corps (retired). 
[to be concluded.] 
MAGIC AND BULLETSi 
"The Grab at the Bullets" trick performed by Mr. Het- 
mann re-echoes the motto of the wise rabbi, Ben Akiba, 
"nothing new under the sun." This parallel happened 
some years ago, 1893, in the following fashion: 
,In that year the desire to hunt, but not to kill, the inex- 
tinguishable love of that enjoyable mode of living, landed 
me again among the mountains and the lakes of the wil- 
derness of Maine. The camp I placed on a point on Lob- 
ster Lake, from which I had a magnificent view of that 
picturesque sheet of water which served Mt. Spencer, like 
Narcissus, as a mirror. On clear days even Mt. Ktaaden 
looks over Mt, Spencer's shoulders to see his own image 
reflected. There I waited for the opening oif the hunting 
season, also for the Indian, a renowned moose caller, 
whom I had engaged through the kindness of my friend 
Mr. At wood, the game warden, in whose service he was 
until the last of September. Mr. Atwood also camped on 
that lake during the latter part of September, and proved 
to be a congenial companion. Meeting him cruising on 
the lake, he showed me a little brook which he had found 
accidentally while looking for a spring. The alder bushes 
had grown so close at the entrance that we had to pull 
our canoes along by the overhanging branches. A few 
rods up from the mouth of this brook he showed me 
fresh signs of a big moose bull. This place the bull had 
chosen for his feeding ground, as Mr. Atwood was satis- 
fied by daily investigation. With sparkling eyes he told 
me, "I will bag this moose on the first night in October." 
Unfortunately he was called away on duty before that 
time. "But duty before pleasure," he said, and cheer- 
fully handed that moose, so to speak, over to me. He 
also promised to send the Indian back in time. The last 
of September came and with it the Indian, who, after a 
good dinner, made himself at home and proceeded to 
make a birch bark horn for the next evening's moose 
call. 
As nothing broke the quietness on the lake during the 
afternoon and evening, I felt sure my game would give us 
a good show the next night, and with this hope we retired. 
But next morning, long before sunrise, I heard two rifle 
reports coming from the direction where my moose's feed- 
ing ground lay. I stepped out of the tent and noticed the 
Indian poking his head out of his, saying: "Well, they 
got him." 
"Who are they?" I asked in surprise. 
"Two Indians who came yesterday to go up to the head 
of the lake to their camp. 
"How do you know of that?" 
"I met them on the carry at Luce's, on my way to you." 
This gave me a great deal to think about, though I did 
not care to let him know what I thought. I made up my 
mind to get even with him; but how I did not know at 
the time. The opportunity offered itself sooner than I 
expected. 
Shortly the two Indians paddled up the lake with part 
of the moose in their canoe. While watching them the 
Indian never said a word about it; neither did I. This 
was conclusive as to my suspicions. Turning to me, he 
said: "This will be a nice evening for calling. By the 
way, won't you let me take your gun along? I did not 
bring my rifle with me. A moose is rather a dangerous 
animal, and it would be better if both were armed." 
I always made it a point when I engaged a guide to tell 
him that I would do the shooting if any shooting was to 
be done, and so save him lugging the rifle across the car- 
ries instead of something else. To his question I answered 
that buckshot would not penetrate the skin of the moose. 
"Certainly not, but you can make a bullet that will fit 
your gun?" 
After a moment's thought I consented to make a bullet, 
but before proceeding I interrogated him if he knew how 
