Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-12

greater. During my recent visit 70 1nola, time
did not permit of accepting many invitations
for I did not go out solely for the shooting
but in order to study the social, economic and
uoiitical situation. Nevertheless was glad to
assist at some notable shikars; and found
that in India, as In other parts OF the world,
bne way to make close acquaintance with
che native population Is to join IN the
pursuits of the great fraternity of sportsmen.
For when the chase is up, etiquette, formality
and self-consciousness go by the board. all
men are equal, and the real character OF the
people emergeS-
T1oe King of Beasts Is certainly the tiger.
he is more willy than the lion, rather fiercer,
and Just as strong and active. There are two
principal methods Of tiger hunting. One Is
to sit up over kill" at night on an especially
constructed platform: the other Is 70 snooe rom
elephants in the daytime, the tigers being
driven across open space by very deliberately
organized beating.
Many Indian sportsmen regard the former
method as justified only by the necessity OF
Kidding the countryside of dangerous beast
that has been taking toll of the villagers
cattle or in certain cases, OF the villagers
themselves. This school of thought considers
the second method shooting from elephants
IS the better from every point of view. The
shoot from 3 machan at night is more usually
employed to rid the country Of panthers.
THE tiger-shoot in which participated was
from elephants, and the following Is a
bald account of one Of the most interesting
and exciting episodes have ever witnessed:
Wishing to see something of life in the
great Indian self-gverning states, I accepted
IN invitation to visit Alwar in Rajputana,
whose ruler Is one Of the most renowned
sportsmen in india and whose jungles-thick,
wild, and hily-are famous for their sporting
Opportunities AS soon, therefore, as I had
completed the Investigations I had come for,
i've moved into camp at the foot OF the
tiger hills. The camp itself was big enough
DO lodge a small army and, indeed, there
were about two hundred soldiers there to
assist These young men were to act as
beaterS.
Every other man carried his rifle, with ball
ammunition, while his fellow had long
bamboo pole with fitting at the end Of it
Do which a bayonet could be fixed to act
y spear in case Stripes" took it into his
head to charge. If everything went well,
however, it would be the elephants that
would walk up" a wounded or obstinate
&tgef, and the charging would be against the
Eifemen on their backs.
We soon settled down in camp to await the
reports of the shikaris. These are the pro-
fessional hunters. Their duty is to watch
In the early mornings, from vantage points
In the hills for tigers returning from their
marauding expeditions. Tho jungle is divided
into great patches-broad, cleared spaces
About fifty yards wide, those open stretches
mountain ridges. They enable tigers to be
nriven from jungle area to another, so
that there Is close field Of fire as they
cross the open.
While the shikaris were accommodating we
remained quietly in camp, waiting for news.
40 our establishment, one of the shikaris
came into camp the very next morning and
said he had marked down at long distance
kwo tigers, q male and a female, in a patch
0f jungle. Preparations were Immediately
made TO move.
The best time for conducting the drive
would be in the early afternoon and it was
arranged that the whole party should rendez-
k0us and commence operations at about 2
O'Clock The soldiers who were to act as heaters
marched of, shouting with excitement; the
bhikaris started out with their leader: and
fifteen elephants, each with his mahout
kdriver) aStride his neck, we're made ready.
There were the gun elephants, carrying
she shooting observation-disclosures trained to