WILD MEN AND WILD BEASTS.* As a namesake of the
great African hunter and a friend of the "Old Forest Ranger," Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming has a claim to be heard on this subject. He gives us here the results of a residence in India, much of which was devoted to the pursuit of large game, and though there is a lack of surprising adventure in his book, he was more than once in serious danger, and he has brought home many distinguished trophies. When we read that he and his party killed ten tigers in five days, we can understand that his luck would be generally envied by sportsmen. Yet our memories of that most fascinating record of Indian sport, the "Old Forest Ranger," testify to much greater interest with results which were far smaller. In that book the death of one tiger was an event, and it was preceded by a long period of breathless, delicious excitement. Either the most daring of the party crept up to the mouth of the cave in which the tiger was hidden, or two hunters engaged in the desperate task of spearing a tiger in a net, or the escaping man-eater was crippled by a long shot and was forced to stand at bay. Throughout the book there was a vividness of description which made you take part in each inci- dent. Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon C umtning is much more mat- ter-of-fact in his style of narration, and tiger-hunting in his hands sometimes degenerates into a tame sort of butchery. Being perched up in a tree, and dropping the tiger as it passes along at the foot, is not a very glorious pastime. In other cases elephants and beaters seem to have borne the brunt of the tiger's charge. We hear, too, of some tigers taking ignominiously to flight, which greatly lessens our opinion of their prowess as derived from former study. However, Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming warns us that these are exceptional cases. There is plenty of danger to be met with in all the wild sports which he describes, and his own body bears the marks of teeth and claws received in more than one close encounter. On one occasion his gunbearer, who was perched by his aide on a branch about eight
• Wild Men and Wild Beasts: Scenes in Camp and Jungle. By Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming. Edinburgh: Edmoruiton and Douglas. 1871.
feet from the ground, was pulled down by a tiger. Another time he himself was charged by a she-bear, which got his wrist between her teeth, and crunched it like a cucumber. Such incidents as these must be pondered over by any who are impressed with the apparent ease of Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming's exploits. If, after all, we come to the conclusion that the real life of an Indian sportsman is not equal to the ideal formed from a study of the "Old Forest Ranger," we must also admit that constant caution and presence of mind are necessary, that foolhardiness will not answer in the long-ran, and that lucky escapes are pretty evenly balanced against serious, if not fatal, casual ties.
These warnings are not needed for the experienced Indian sports- man, but Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming appears to address a different audience. Judging from his first chapter, we should say that he wants to open a new field to those who have exhausted Scotch moors and deer-forests. He sketches out a trip which, according to him, would not cost more than an autumn in Scot- land, and which would not interfere with the best part of the Lon- don season. The sportsman is to leave England in October, reach Bombay in three weeks, and spend the rest of the year in plains abounding with antelopes, gazelles, quail, snipe, and bustard. This part of the country would yield occasional hog, as well as panthers, wolves, and hytenas. At the end of January the sportsman is to return to Bombay, and take a fresh departure by another line of railway for jungles which swarm with tigers, bears, bison, pigs, and many kinds of deer. Two or three month of this work would bring the traveller round to the rainy season, and he might then take his leave of India, with a good bag and a plentiful stock of adventures. This i3 Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming's programme, and if any- one is disposed to avail himself of it, he will find fuller details given in the book. It may, of course, be doubted whether a new- comer will be as fortunate as one of Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming's long Indian experience, especially as all sportsmen are very much dependent on native help, and that is not always procured without difficulty. We may be sure that the writer of this book was conversant with the ways of the country, yet on one occasion he nearly fell a victim to a piece of native careless- ness. He was aiming at a bison, and his gun missed fire ; the snap of the cap attracted the attention of the bison, and had it charged there was nothing to stop it. Luckily on receiving a shot from Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming's companion the bison wheeled round and dashed off in another direction, and then an examination of the rifle showed that the servant who cleaned it had left his cloth in the barrel. Another native trick is men- tioned which is rather amusing. We are told of a youthful sportsman crawling up to a herd of antelope on his hands and knees while his attendant, walking bolt upright, gravely follows a few yards behind him. If it is possible to turn away from the more engrossing thoughts of bears and tigers to such a subject as deer, we may find some curious in- formation in this book about the methods of stalking them. It is common for the hunters to make use of a native cart as a screen, the deer being used to the sight of these carts, and letting them come within easy distance. A singular instance of the success of this stratagem is told in connection with the march of a party of infantry in charge of some treasure. The party consisted of about
hundred men armed with muskets, and there were some carts in which the treasure was conveyed. The officer in command of the party, seeing a herd of antelope feeding near the road, ranged all his men on the opposide side of the carts until they were near enough, when they suddenly halted, faced outwards and fired a volley at the astonished deer. Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon Cumming tells us of the skilful way in which deer are snared by native hunters, and also of the protection afforded to animals by some of the native communities. We hear of one sportsman who had just brought his shooting cart in a favourable position, when he saw a man ride up to the herd of deer waving a white cloth and shouting frantically. This was repeated again, and was about to be done a third time, when the sportsman gave chase and soon put an end to such interference. We need hardly say what was the method he adopted, but, at all events, it meets with our author's fullest approval.
To judge from the account of boar-hunting given us in these pages, the danger of that sport must have been somewhat exagge- rated. In the most exciting chase recorded, nothing worse ap- pears to have happened than a mud-bath and a slight cut over the thumb. Remembering the fate of Challenger in the "Old Forest Ranger," we thinkthat Lieutenant- Colonel Gordon Cumming was unusually fortunate in escaping without a wound after break- ing both his weapons. If the romance of boar-hunting is some-
what lost, there is a comic element imparted in the following story :—
"I remember a joke played off on a man whose deeds in the saddle were not supposed to lose aught of their importance by his own descrip- tion of them. Some youngsters of the cantonment, having purchased a village pig, had been in the habit of sending it out for a mile or two in a cart, and hunting it home with long bamboos. By this coarse of train- ing, the piggy acquired wind and some degree of speed. At length, on a day appointed, he was taken out and secured by the leg in the covert. The usual party, with the addition of the mighty hunter, were assembled at the mess fifth, when a native came up and reported a fine boar marked down. Horses and spears were called for, and, with the guide in advance, all proceeded to the jungle-side. Nimrod announced his inten- tion of refraining from all active part in the proceedings, on tho ground that it would be unfair for an old and experienced hunter like himself to take the spear from a lot of young fellows to whom the sport was new. He was, however, asaured that without his valuable aid the game would probably escape, and that it was therefore hoped he would not practise such extreme self-denial. On the riders taking up their positions, men wore sent to free the obscene beast, which speedily appeared ; and, in expectation of the customary chevy, made off at its best pace. By judicious management, all the field got thrown out with the exception of Nimrod, who was seen riding like a man, and coming up to the pig hand over hand. Making a well-directed rush, with a triumphant shout he speared the beast, and a few more thrusts rolled it over. The other riders now gathered round the redoubtable hunter, who was seen stand- ing by the prostrate gactmtee,' waving his cap and brandishing his blood-stained spear. 'Gentlemen!' he cried, 'it was too bad of me ! but really when I saw the boar break cover, my blood got up, and I was quite unable to restrain myself.' JC this moment, a villager, who had been previously well coached, came running up and demanded payment for his property. It was long before Nimrod again entertained the mess with his hunting exploits."
To return, however, to more serious matters. We have seen that our author had a narrow escape from a bear, and that once he was in imminent danger of being charged by a bison. His companion on that occasion told him that he himself had once been saved by a lucky thought from a similar peril. He had fired on a bull and had wounded it, after which he took refuge behind a tree, while the wounded bull waited about twenty yards off for a favourable opportunity. The man looked in vain for a tree to climb, and the bull was getting ready for another charge, when the man suddenly remembered the blanket he carried on his shoulders, and held it out from behind the tree on the muzzle of his long gun, shaking it defiantly. This ruse answered, the bull charged, caught the blanket on its horns, and dashed off through the jungle, while the man bolted at once in the opposite direc- tion. Amongst other disagreeable acquaintances made by our author, we must give a place to snakes. He tells us that he once found his dogs attacking a cobra, and that before he could beat them off three of them had received their death-wound. Another time he was brought in closer contact with a snake. He was awakened at night by a growl from his little dog, and in the corner of the room just under a lamp he saw a snake on the floor. There was some matting close to, and the snake wriggled underneath it before our author could seize his sword and jump out of bed. Still the body of the snake could be traced under the matting, and with a smart cut the sword penetrated through the matting and into the plaster floor. In trying to pull it out, however, our author knocked the lamp over, and there he stood barefooted and in total darkness, knowing that a snake was in the room, and not knowing whether it was alive or dead. He managed to get back to bed, and called for a light ; when that came the matting was lifted up, and the snake was found cut in two pieces. Lieut- enant-Colonel Gordon Cumming takes all these matters with philosophic calmness, and it is possible that such a characteristic may lead us to underrate his achievements. Certainly, when we look back on the list of the animals he killed, and consider the number of times when he might have been in danger, and must have been in unpleasant circumstances, we see that he makes out his claim to take high rank as a sportsman. We only regret that more of the spirit of the enterprise is not imparted to the narrative.
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