OUR LITERARY CORNER.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16203, 4 May 1918, Page 7

OUR LITERARY CORNER.

TALES OF A SHIKARI. V. SOME VARIED EXPERIENCES. ill who have experienced big game .Wing will know of many curious things which it is impossible to repeat .ittaut severely .t»W» tb. eredihilitv of the inexperienced. For this r '' on when recounting one's adventures 'in the fields of "shikar," it is Lressarv to omit many true stories for fear of creating a Munchausen reputa- !• n \nother of the peculiarities or aH forms of sport is the manner .n •hich fickle Dame Fortune distributes Lr iiifts- at ono time nothmg t^ at L can do will be right, at another everything appears to fall right into one's lap. This is particularly =o with regard to big game shooting. On several occasions I have spent many days in hopeless quest for game, while mv companions have had tho greatest end fortune, and, on other occasions tho revcrso has applied, and, no matter where I was placed or what I did, the game always appeared to fall to Hiy lot. , On ono of these latter occasions my good fortune becamo quite embarrassin", and, as tempers are never faultlew when shooting in a temperature of well over a hundred degrees, I even had cause to regret the kind fate that led the majority of game to me. We consisted of a party of five, and for the first four days of the shoot I had met with tho most astounding luck only equalled by the bad luck of my companions. As two of them wero my superior officers, and I was then a subaltern, I considered it highly necessary to turn my back on Danie Fortune and to endeavour to appease the silent wrath of my unfortunate companions. Although they were the host of sportsiqen, my luck had been so phenomenal that their pique was entirely justifiable, especially in aew of the fact that the native shikaris Vith whom I had shot many times, teemed determined that I should get everything. Consequently, on the fifth day of tho shoot I took charge of tho beating elephants, numbering seventeen, and made a mental resolution to stay my hand, no, matter how tempting tho chance. Our first beat, was through a dried-up river-bed some eight miles from camp. This was 'sported to contain tiger, and my four companions went on to take their position ahead while I arranged my line to cover the whole width of the beat. When all was ready I signalled to my command and we commenced to move slowljr forward. - Tho grass which we were moving was not as'high 'as usual, being in'places only somo four teot, and two of the forward guns were tstablished in position about two hundred yards ahead, the other two pre-: ceding the line on the flanks at about fifty yards.

/"■ ... STILL FORTUNATE. Fortune was d°tormmed not to-dc- • Bert'me,'for within thirty yards of commencing the beat, up sprang an enormous tiger, which, after calmly staring at us .until within twelve paces, commenced to slowly movo forward directly m. front of my elephant. My rifle had instinctively come up into my shoulder, but, befofe I could firo tho resolution I had made, and the'knowledge of the effect that tho beast's death would have on tho temper of my companions, combined to stifle the natural instinct to fire. This tiger displayed neither fear nor angorj it had possibly , been caught asleep and was in a semi-torpid condition. At any rate, it allowed itself to ,bo driven like a sheep for fully eighty Sards, during which -fime it could have eon shot a do?on times. It then increased. its pace, and I saw it moving through the higher, grass leading "<owilds the left-hand gun of tho forward ..party. He fired, but missel it completely, and the tiger first charged towards my line, and then changed its jnind and went for the right-handgun, sWhich fortunately happened to be my iomenrhat peevish commanding officer. .'As,it dashed at his elephant ho made, 'i inSgnifinent Hhot and dropped ; the: '.tiger in its track; Thinking that, the, time had aiyived to stop the, tiger at: •all, costs, 1 had' fired as:"it changed, .direction, making, a wretched shot, and a superficial wound which serv,«d to increase its pace only.- I need), scarcely sny that I neither drew my : 'colonel's attention to this nor sought *to claim first blood! This 'was was '», 'magnificent tiger, in excellent coat and' and the day was yet young.

' £ON A RUNAWAY ELEPHANT. ' i Shortly after this we separated, and 'my olephant, which -was very excit*able, was steadily threading through a' iomhwhat difficult piece of jungle. I {was seated on the pad behind the •mahout, and, having got tired of having ,my legs on either side of the alfi/phant's neck, I. was riding in a side--saddle position with both legs dangling '.over the right-hand side of the eleshoulder. It was fortunate that this was so "Without a moment's warning a large stag bolted aw&y from the left, and, swinging round, I fired. The unexpected noise made by the stag, and the report of the rifle, proved too much for the elephant, whose nerves were still somewhat unstrung after the events of the day. As tire stag, fell my mount gave 1 , a terrific Rqiieal' and started off at the top of 1 i&j speed mad with fright. The situation, although amusing, was not with-, out a large clement of danger. Tha jungle we were in was extremely thick, witn numerous hanging tendrils, vary- I ing' in thickness up to three inches in diameter, and swinging from tree to tree, and the ground, in addition, to ( being- littered with dead and fallen ' trea trunks; was intersected with numerous watercourses, some of contiderable depth. Although one does not connect the elephant with speed,-it isvwonderful what' it can achieve in : that direction when frightened. On V smashing through scrnb, breaking down small trees, scraping Past' big ones, the mahout and I lying as flat as possible, expecting to be ■ sitoot toff by overhanging boughs or tofwfls every, moment. At such a . time-it is best to take the risk on the elephant rather than to jump off, for , * cases have boon known where the elephant,'maddened with fright, has tiirn- < edl on tho dismounted man and killed him, for tho elephant is very definite h? decides to kill. - v Finally, after proceeding for over three hundred yards, and crossing two ' i. 66 ? nu Hahs, or gullies, in the most '■I break-neck manner imaginable, the fe c ?P^ ianfc dashed into a large tree, "|j!f:■ -.which, fortunately caught the left-hand

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side of the pad, almost unshipping tho whole arrangement. . Had my leg still lwen on tho left side it would have certainly have been badly smashed. This blow completely sobered the elephant, and, after effecting temporary j repairs, we roturned over our well- : de-fined route and padded the stag. This was the second occasion I had been | run away with by an elephant, and I know of nothing more unpleasant. Tho fueling of utter helplessness as this ; lingo bulk of inaddenod stupidity charges blindly through a. virgin jungle must lie felt to bo appreciated. A PAINFUL EPISODE. On the following day we again received information of the whereabouts of tigor, and marched to the spot. Arrived tliero we found a long and narrow stretch of high pampas grass, hounded by thick jungle, with a small winding stream running down its centro. Three guns, of .which I was one, were detailed to remain on the far side of this stream, whilo the other two drove the line towards us. "We drew lots for position, and the result placed me in tho centre of the three. My mahout, who was a very excellent shikari, whom I had known _ for some years, selected for our position a smaii open space on the river bank, woll overhung by the high grass, and affording n limited view of tho bank on the far sido of the stream, ovor which the glass formed n kind of tunnel. Having established his position here he explainod, with the curious intuition of tho native shikari, that I stood a verv excellent chance of see-

ing the tiger. After waiting for some tinio in an atmosphere suggestive of a Turkish bath we heard the sound of the beat commencing, for of course the grass was too high to allow of our seeing the line. After a time we could plainly distinguish the swish of the elephants as they swept through the grass, and knew they were within fifty yards of our position. Just as I prepared for immediate action, for it was obvious that mv opportunity would bo a fleeting one, 1 saw to my intense disgust the elephant which had been posted on my right approaching my spot, and its sahib, whose experience of tiger shooting was nil, making signs for me to move along to the left. Being somewhat sceptical of my mahout's choice and wishing to fall in with the wishes of a superior officer, I accordingly ordered my mahout to move as directed. He; however, was so positive that the tiger would attempt this l particular passage that he remon- i St rated with some vigour and only obeyed when he saw I was determined on the matter. I paid very heavily fori the mistake! To move to the left necessitated the elephant being turned in order to negotiate a small bank directly behind us, and an elephant in process of turning is like a boat in a choppv sea. When half round, and while holding on at a somewhat precarious angle, I suddenly heard a. terrific roar directly behind me, and turning, saw the tiger leap across the stream exactly in front of where we had been watching, and disappear into the grass on our side. Although I essayed a shot the whole thing was so intensely difficult thit ; the tiger got clear away, although' at j one time not further thnn four feet from my elephant's tail. Poor X. was profuse in his apologies, but- I never ielt like committing murdeir more than I did at that moment, and it produced an estrangement with my mahout which took some considerable time to live down. I mention this episode to show the knowledge of the native shikari and also that, for every success attained, there were a great many failures, some unpreventible, but others owing to stupidity.

A HUNTING HYENA. Two days later I had rather an interesting experience when waiting far a panther over a goat tied up on the centre of a jungle track. I sras ensconced in a small tree some ten yards off the road, which afforded me a good view of the goat and its immediate vicinity, but a poor one of the surroundings. After waiting about a7l hour I suddenly saw the goat stiffen and gaze very fixedly up the path to my left. Peering through the leaves - X saw a large hyena standing in the centre of the path about a hundred yards from tho goat, and gazing intently upon it. Not wishing to fire, for fear of losing the panther, J watched him for some time. After remaining like this for fully ten minutes the hyena apparently dismissed the goat from its mind and walked slowly away into the long grass on the far side of the track. Here the • hyena was entirely concealed from the goat, hut Kot from my position. Directly he was out of sight of the goat his v/holo demeanour changed, and his blase air of complete detachment changed to that of an excitable hunter. Breaking into a gallop, he made a wide detour, with the evident intention of attacking the goat from tho rear, not .realising that it was tied to a peg on tho; road. As. it-is a point of honour to save the goat on such occasions, and realising that the hyena meant business, J was compelled'to tire before it had achieved its purpose, tlad I not done so the goat would have had tho surprise of' its life, for, even when tho njona was almost upon it, the goat stiii looked fixedly in the direction where the hyena, had disappeared. Although a small episode, it gave me a valuable insight into the ways and tricks of the natural hunter. I am quite clear that many of the carnivora rely very largely upon a form of mesmerism for. thei.* success as hunters, and feel certain that nature has given these carnivorous animals such strangely-marked faces to help to this end. To look into the face of a tiger is curiously fascinating. A BAD ACCIDENT.

"While on this shoot a forest officer met with a most unfortunate accident close, by. -He had sat up for a tiger over the carcase of a buffalo it haa killed. The tiger, as not infrequent'y Happens, arrived just as it became too dark to fire with accuracy, and thf sahib hit it badly, hut not mortally. Thinking it in the last stages of dissolution, my friend signalled for his elephaDt and returned to camp. The following morning he went off alone in order to bring the carcase into camp. He entered the high grass in which tne tiger lay, seated on a pad elephant and with rifle ready for action. "Without the slightest warning the tiger sprang upon the olephant, and, seizing "L.". by the foot, tore nim off the elephant and to the ground. Here it began to tear his ankle and leg in a most shocking manner. Fortunately iiis rifle hud fallen with him, and L. managed to reach out and secure it, finally-placing the mimic against the tiger's* head and blowing out its brains. As in many similar cases L. told me afterwords that he felt wonderfully cool, and did not feel the slightest pain, although his leg was most shockingly mangled. This I believe to be al dispensation of Nature to compensate animals that have to form the food of the This sad accident will convey some idea of the "vitality and strength of the tiger, for this one had been very severely wounded, had lost immense quantities, of blood, and had been wounded for over seven hours before the accident. Poor L.'s wounds were dressed as well as circumstances permitted, pure carbolic being poured into tho wounds in an endeavour to neutralise the effccts of tho poisons always | found in the bite or scratch of carniI vora. He was then placed-on an elenhant for the forty-mile trek to tho

ine, and finally covered the 200 miles vhich separated him from the nearest lospital within twenty-four hoars. Unfortunately, the time being the hot nreather, gangrene had alreadv comtienced on arrival, and his life as inly saved by ai immediate amputa:ion of the whole of his leg. .Ho subsequently recovered, and was immensely plucky over the whole affair. Tn ,s , ac r .•ident will serve to show tho risk that hns to be faced in Indian big-game shooting, and the rapidity wit.i winch even small wounds mortify in ~^- T ~ rific heat. This is really the greatest risk the shikari has to fa'e. The carnivora are always to bo found where game is plentiful. This is naturally remoto from civilisation.. and the hot weather is the best for shooting. Consequently tho shikari is often many miles distant from the railway, and perhaps many days from a hospital or doctor.. Theso reminiscences have given the writer much pleasure in their recollections. No finer sport exists in the world than the chass of the Indian carnivora, and it is hoped that . Now Zealanders will turn their attentions to its possibilities in tho future. Contrary, to the general opinion, the Indian carnivora is on the increase, owing to the immenso natural preserves, almost. inaccessible to man, into which civilisation has driven the game. Consequently the chances oj shooting are great, and the risk ana climate, the only drawbacks, are small in proportion to the possible gain.