Excerpt from Leaves From an Indian Jungle: Gathered During Thirteen Years of a Jungle Life in the Provinces, the Deccan and Berar Prefatory remarks to these Jungle Sketches would be out of place were it not for the fact that some sort of apology, some foreword, seems necessary in bringing forward yet another publication on Indian sport. The subject is a well-worn one, and must be so tired of by most readers, that to meet the weary sigh of - "What? More nullahs - more beaters - more shots clean through the heart?" - that may greet his essay, the writer feels that he must advance a detaining hand, and hasten to plead as follows: - Teak, bamboo, jamun, sal and others - these leaves have been gathered by a wandering shikari on the banks of forest streams, in the moonlit machan, under the banyan's grateful shade, for those who love the jungle; and in their quiet colouring there is no place for a record of expensive 'bags' or tall yarns. All they aim at is to present, in a style true to Nature, the silent charm of their native hills and plains, and the comings and goings of the fauna that inhabit them. They are scattered here in the hope that to some they may prove reminiscent of the attractions of shikar in a manner devoid of the objectionable diary style and those wearisome stereotyped accompaniments that have only an irritant effect - especially on seasoned shikaris of wide experience, who shoot much, but are silent as to their performances. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.