Forest and Stream 
$3 a s?x e Moil a $i a 50 Copy ' NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1913 
Entered as Second Class Matter at the Post Office New iork, N. Y. 
VOL. LXXXI. -No. 22 . 
22 Thames St., New York. 
Sport in Southern India 
By J. INMAN-EMERY 
A LARGE number of Americans visit India 
every year. They go there with the 
intention of seeing the country; and see 
it they certainly do, if one may judge by 
the amount of ground they cover and the man¬ 
ner in which they hustle around! How much 
of what they see is assimilated and stored away 
in their “brain-boxes” to be drawn upon in the 
shape of pleasant memories in the afterward it 
would be difficult to say. The greater number 
devote the cold season—December, January and 
February—to their tour, but some there are who 
take things more quietly, allowing more time 
and extending their visit into some portion of 
the hotter weather. 
Why do not more people land in India a 
iittle earlier, go straight to Kashmir for 
October, when it is at its best and some of the 
finest duck-shooting in the world is at its best, 
and then come south to “do” India? And surely 
among those who can manage an extended visit 
there must be a large number of sportsmen glad 
to take the opportunity of picking up a trophy 
or two in a country new to them? To such as 
these Mysore presents splendid opportunities. 
The State of Mysore, in Southern India, of 
which Mysore City is the capital, is a sports¬ 
man’s paradise of first rank. As elephant coun¬ 
try it is famous, as is the neighboring State of 
Travancore, but elephant is, very rightly, for¬ 
bidden game, unless a rogue happens to get on 
the rampage, when official permission to shoot 
him is readily obtainable. The ivory, however, 
must be handed over to the State, but one may 
keep the feet as trophies. Tiger, bison and 
sambhur require plenty of time, as one must 
get into camp a considerable distance away 
from centers. Panther, black-buck (Indian ante¬ 
lope), crocodile and pig are readily got-at close 
to Mysore City, and one should be able to bag 
a pleasing trophy or two within the week. 
Whether one is pressed for time or not 
one cannot do better than take train straight to 
Mysore City and there place oneself in the 
hands of Van Ingen’s, a firm which are first- 
class taxidermists, and the proprietors of 
which are both old hands at shikar of 
all kinds. They will make complete arrange¬ 
ments at a comparatively small cost. It is 
necessary to take with one only one’s guns and 
the “bearer,” or personal servant, who is an 
indispensable part of one’s outfit in India. My¬ 
sore City boasts of a couple of hotels which, 
although not exactly up-to-date, are comfort- 
ableJienough for a few days. Unless one can 
spare the time to go into camp, the best plan 
is to get out to the shooting grounds by motor 
car, and a machine can generally be hired. 
The bulk of tourists land at Bombay and 
“do” Northern India, taking en route to Cal¬ 
cutta such places of interest as Agra, Delhi, 
Cawnpore, Lucknow, Benares, etc. This is the 
“beaten track." If Ceylon is an objective be¬ 
fore leaving the Land of Sin, a good plan, if 
Mysore is to be visited, is to take steamer from 
Calcutta to Madras, or from Rangoon to 
Madras, if Burma has been included in the 
itinerary. Mysore City is little more than a 
night’s journey by train from Madras, and if the 
ladies of the party (if any) wish to cut out the 
shoot, they are recommended to spend a few 
days in Ootacamund, about twenty hours from 
Madras, a most delightful hill-station, in the 
cool climate of which all such inconveniences 
as hot weather can easily be forgotten. 
A letter to the firm mentioned above a 
week in advance will insure everything 
being in readiness on arrival. With luck, a 
panther will already have been marked 
down, and you will naturally go out after him at 
once, or he may move to another location. 
During the day the shikarris (hunters) will 
choose a suitable clump of bushes close to where 
the panther is lying-up and close to a clearing 
in the jungle scrub. Some quantity of cut 
foliage may have to be added so that as one 
sits in the zvooly so formed one is screened 
from view. On arriving on the ground one 
takes up one’s position in the wooly and a 
dog or goat is tied up to a stake driven into 
the ground. The shikarris then retire to 
a discreet distance and one sits tight in abso¬ 
lute silence, while the “tie-up” is left to make 
all the noise of which it is capable. If “spots” 
intends to come for his meal one should get 
a shot at him within the half-hour. When he 
comes he will come quickly, and one must shoot 
him quickly and aim straight, or the chances 
are a rough-and-tumble at close quarters with 
a very dangerous beast. 
It is generally conceded that the Indian 
panther is a more dangerous animal than the 
tiger. Like the bison, the moment he gets a 
sight of you he will charge. He will stalk you, 
too, given half a chance. So on getting on the 
ground, whatever others may do, keep your 
weapon handy while taking a preliminary walk 
around examining “pug-marks” and other signs 
of his lordship’s proximity. A tiger’s first im¬ 
pulse, on the other hand, unless seriously dis¬ 
turbed or wounded, of course, is to slink off. 
The photo shows a very fine Indian panther 
of mine, with my bearer, Nainah, to the right, 
and the head shikarris, Nanjah and Kulah, 
THE AUTHOR, GUN BEARERS AND THE TROPHY 
