FROM THE ANIMALS' POINT OF VIEW 277 
The natives, mainly by the aid of traps set with a 
bow and arrow, killed off the tigers so fast that the 
skins were sold by auction at from eight annas to one 
rupee apiece. In this case, the tigers were the first 
aggressors by carrying off' cattle. But it seems 
evident that there exists no a priori reason, founded 
in natural antipathy, why man and animals, if we 
could reconstruct a “ state of nature ” in which we 
could put civilized, not savage man, should not dwell 
together in profound peace, or at least in such peace 
as obtains between accidental neighbours. The only 
ground for quarrel that seems inevitable is the ever- 
lasting one between the shepherd and the wolf ; and 
that, after all, is a question, not of prejudice, but of 
property. 
