BIG-GAME SHOOTING.*
A SERIOUS reader perhaps feels a semi-apologetic mental attitude when acknowledging to himself the undoubted pleasure derived from the perusal of books on jangle life, but tber, is no lack of justification for the fascination they possess. If fate has ordered his surroundings amid the pursuits of commercial, professional, or leisured life at home, the contrast—and it is contrast in great measure which consti- tutes pleasure—afforded by the hours spent in imagination in the depths of the jungle, following the tiger to his lair or tracking the wounded lion, is in itself a legitimate and ample pleasure. If, on the other hand, the reader chance to be himself a devotee of sport, and has (like the present writer) hunted the tiger in the self-same Terai jungles, whose characteristics Sir E. Braddon so vividly and so truthfully
d escribes, and passed through some of Captain Melliss's experiences in lion-shooting in Africa, the pleasures of awakened recollections, of silent criticism founded on a personal experience, and of hearty admiration for intrepid d eeds modestly related is assuredly no less vivid a pleasure, though differing in kind from that of the reader whose aim is contrast to his present surroundings. But in such a book as Thirty Years of Shilcar there is so much which is outside the region of tiger-stories, that no reader, however serious and little inclined to mere hunters' tales, need blush to be absorbed in its pages. Glimpses of the Indian hunting of thrilling interest alternate with admirable descriptions of Indian life and Indian ways. The story of the District Magistrate's work in the Santhal country, and the steps which led to its settlement, are "footnotes to history ; " while the shrewd comments on the nature and characteristics of the elephant and other animals are the more valuable that the truth has so rarely been written, and the popular con- ception is so largely misinformed.
The two volumes before us offer a marked contrast in the field of sport. The one is primarily a record of tiger-hunting extraordinary and of Indian pig-sticking. The other is of lion-shooting no less extraordinary and of hunting the African wart-bog. Sir E Braddon " pooh-poohs the much vaunted lion," and places the tiger on the throne as the king of beasts. But we are inclined to side with Captain Melliss, and to regard the great feline which roams fearlessly over the open veldt, which scorns concealment, and needs no tine of elephants and beaters to drive him to face his enemy, as the nobler beast. A tiger will sometimes charge and fight with superb courage when " cornered," and when no exit remains to him. Very rarely he will fight d outrance, more often he will not fight at all even when surrounded, and when no devious " blind nullah " or ditch offers a chance of slinking away. Even lions will occasionally shirk the encounter, but Captain Melliss's ex- periences show this to be the exception. The habits of the two animals are indeed wholly different, but there is little to choose between the two in regard to the danger of shooting either on foot. Sir Edward Braddon advances the bold opinion that shooting from a howdah is more dangerous than shooting on foot, and having ourselves tried both, the admission must be made that the position of greatest danger which the present writer's memory recalls occurred when shooting with elephants. Nevertheless, we hold it to be beyond argument that unless the bunter be a man of iron nerve, great presence of mind, and, above all, an unerring shot, the risk of " walking up a tiger" is infinitely greater than any other mode of attack, and indeed must eventually end fatally to him who adopts these tactics, Captain Melliss dared these risks, not being apparently an absolutely certain shot, and his indomitable pluck and steady nerve bore him safely through ; but many others (one quite recently) have been less fortunate. Reading his account with unqualified admiration of his pluck, we sincerely hope he will not undertake a second trip on similar methods, for the lives of such stout-hearted fellows are too valuable to be sacrificed without cause.
• (1.) Thirty Years of Shikar. By Sir E. Rraddon. London : W. Blackwood and Sons.--(5.) Lion-Hunting in Somali-land. By C.ptsin 0. J. Kelliss. Le.ndon Chapman and lialL
Lion-hunting, however, demands a certain risk, for neither elephants nor " beaters " are available in his case. Moreover, his known characteristics afford a fair guarantee for his probable mode of action. The hunter knows how near he may approach before the gauge of battle is thrown down, for foe meets foe in the open field. But with the tiger—provided his head is towards the hunter—the mere fact of being seen is itself a possible gauge of battle, for he depends on concealment and relies on his invisibility. But the comparative danger of this mode of attack or of that depends almost entirely upon the nature of the country in which the sport is carried on. This keynote is perhaps sometimes lost sight of by those who have not the advantage of actual experience. It obtains even more strongly in the case of elephant, buffalo, and rhino hunting. When the elephant is encountered in the open country, above all, when horses can be used, there is com- paratively little danger in the sport, and the same remark applies to the lion and the buffalo. But if the sportsman tracks the elephant or buffalo on foot in the swamp and tangled water-weeds, where the 6 ft. bamboo-grass towers over- head or the matted pasture-grass reaches to his middle and holds him as though with ropes and fetters, then he will gauge the possibilities of danger which such sport affords. Through such obstacles the great game move as though they were not, and, moreover, it is indisputable that amid such surroundings they evince a far more resolute and aggressive front, as who should say, "This is our domain, in which we reign supreme, and admit no intruder !" In such a case there is chance of Parthian warfare, and the hunter's second barrel alone stands between him and death.
According to Captain Melliss the African wart-hog offers good sport to the pig-sticker, though neither in pluck, endur- ance, nor strength can he compare with India's " mighty boar." His habit, too, of going to earth like a fox is inconsonant with one's conception of the habits of his kind. The tusks, however, of the wart-hog—at least the uppers—are of enormous size and thickness, shaped more like those of the Albanian boar, and altogether outdo the Asiatic variety. Captain Melliss gives the average measurement of those he killed at from 9 in. to 9} in. round the curve, and about 4in. round the thickest part. He unfortunately, however, does not say how much of this was exposed outside the jaw. The lower tusk exposes only a third, and the tusk of the elephant (an upper) like- wise shows but a third, though we are under the impres- sion that a larger proportion is exposed in the wart-hog's upper tusk. It may be remarked that the largest tusk (lower) we have ever seen of the Indian wild boar—a trophy which fell to the present writer—was 8:1 in. round the curve. The upper tusk of such a pig would be only some 2 in. or 3 in. The height of the wart-hog is 30 in. to 31 in., a measurement which contrasts on about equal terms with his congener of India. Space forbids us to discuss the interesting questions raised by Sir Edward Braddon regarding the migrations of snipe, the imbecility, malice, cowardice, and treachery which (not without some truth) he imputes to the elephants, and a score of other topics which challenge the sportsman's verdict. The book is written in fluent and admirable English, and not with- out considerable humour. Its illustrations, paper, printing, and style are very good indeed.
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