170 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA VS 
CHAP. 
is the proper platform to ensure a successful 
shot. 
I have frequently been perched in a mere heron’s 
nest, formed of light wood arranged upon most 
fragile boughs ; this wretched contrivance has swayed 
before the wind to an extent that would have 
rendered accurate aim impossible ; fortunately upon 
such occasions I have never obtained a shot. 
Although driving may read as an unexciting 
sport, it is quite the contrary if the hunter takes 
sufficient interest in the operations to attend to every 
detail personally. When all is in readiness after the 
tiger has killed a buffalo, there is much art required 
in the conduct of the drive. Natives vary in 
different districts; some are clever and intelligent, 
and take an immense interest in the sport, especially 
if they are confident in the generosity of their 
employer. In other districts there may be abundant 
game, but the natives are cowardly, and nothing will 
persuade them to keep an unbroken line, upon 
the perfection of which the success of the drive 
depends. 
As a rule, there is no great danger in the steady 
advance of a line of men, provided they are at close 
intervals of 5 or 8 yards apart, and that they 
keep this line intact. It is a common trick, when 
the beaters are nervous, to open out the line in gaps, 
and the men resolve themselves into parties of ten 
or twenty, advancing in knots, at the same time 
howling and shouting their loudest to keep up the 
appearance of a perfect line. In such cases the tiger 
