Forsyth was advocating for normal big game loads always loaded when hunting for: (quoted paragraph)
"where no one knows when he rams home his ball, whether it will be fired at a gazelle or a tiger. The natives of India have a proverb to the effect that, "when you go out to shoot a hare, be prepared to meet a tiger;" and nothing is more true. In the dense forest tracts which I am constantly traversing, even when shooting small game with a shotgun, I never load more than one barrel with shot, and always have a rifle at my elbow (gun carrier); for my spaniels have roused a panther when I expected to see them flush a partridge. I have found myself face to face with wild elephants when looking for jungle-fowl; and I have almost trodden on the tail of a tiger, when stalking a spotted buck":
Well I was close.