Tigerland: Reminiscences of Forty Years' Sport and Adventure

Tigerland: Reminiscences of Forty Years' Sport and Adventure in Bengal (1916)

In this book the author Charles Gouldsbury writes of his late friend's life story as a big game hunter in India beginning in 1870.

Gouldsbury writes about his late friend:

" I recognized that his had been no ordinary existence but one full of strange and interesting experiences, specially in connection with the hunting of big game.
His stories of these adventures interested me greatly, and seemed so strange and out of the way as compared with others that I had read or heard of, that I tried to induce him to write and publish them, but he declined absolutely, havingâ€”as he declaredâ€”a strong objection to seeing his name in print.

In describing a hunting scene in which hunters and natives join forces to end an cattle-killerâ€™s reign of terror Gouldsbury writes:

"Several attempts were made to force a charge, but without success. Finally one of the tuskers, an exceptionally staunch and powerful animal, was pressed slowly forward till nothing but a few leafy branches lay between it and the tiger. Then, with an indifference almost incredible under the circumstances, it seized, and gently pushed aside the branches with its trunk till a patch of black and yellow stripe was exposed to view.

"G , who had been directing this very dangerous operation, quickly seized his opportunity, and seeing that the tiger still refused to charge, fired a charge of No. 6 into the patch, hoping this might effect a change in the tiger's position, and thus allow of a more certain shot.

"The effect was instantaneous, but scarcely in accordance with the wishes or expectations of the sportsman, who had scarcely time to change his shot gun for the rifle, when, with a mighty bound, the tiger sprung fairly on to the elephant's head, and holding on with teeth and claws, remained clinging there! . . . "

In his former books Mr. Gouldsbnry acquired the reputation of telling his stories vividly and well. In the present one that level is well maintained. It is extraordinary and enthralling reading. The book appeals as strongly to those who have never seen a tiger at large, as to the initiated big-game hunter.

The book can be read from beginning to end while as a narrative of pure adventure one can find no other book that can beat it. It is an admirable collection of adventure and hunting stories that enlarges one's knowledge of a most interesting and mysterious country. As a record of Indian sport one could rarely come across its equal and never its superior. The book may be recommended to all who care for stories of big-game shooting told vividly by an expert. The result is altogether excellent. It is full of good stories and the record of adventure. It is a sportsman's book for sportsmen.

Its pages are full of interest from first to last as the author makes us live with him in his travels and rejoice with him in his successes. The jungle and its adventure hold us in their spell. The tiger and panther are not mere representatives of their kind ; they are living individuals. Better and more exciting than most novels is this true story 'Tigerland.' It is well written, the tone is genial and buoyant, and the author has a rare gift of neat expression. One would say with apparent safety that it was well-nigh impossible to write another readable book on big-game shooting. Yet Mr. Gouldsbury has done so, and thoroughly confounded those who thought the subject exhausted. This is without doubt a first-rate book of shooting and other adventures, and deserves a place on the bookshelf for its human as well as sporting interest.
Country USA
Author Charles Elphinstone Gouldsbury
Binding Kindle Edition
Format Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
NumberOfPages 279
PublicationDate 2016-08-27
ReleaseDate 2016-08-27

Country	USA
Author	Charles Elphinstone Gouldsbury
Binding	Kindle Edition
Format	Kindle eBook
IsAdultProduct
NumberOfPages	279
PublicationDate	2016-08-27
ReleaseDate	2016-08-27

Tigerland: Reminiscences of Forty Years' Sport and Adventure in Bengal (1916)

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