X

^i»*r« Pig-Sticking

ERRATA

spare."

(( _

MODERN PIG-STICKING

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
MELBOURNE

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO
DALLAS • SAN FRANCISCO

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD.

TORONTO

A

MODERN

PIG-STICKING

BY

MAJOR A. E. WARDROP

ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY

WITH CHAPTERS BY
COLONEL J. VAUGHAN, D.S.O.

COMMANDANT CAVALRY SCHOOL

LIEUT.-COLONEL F. W. CATON JONES, R.A.M.C.
M. M. CRAWFORD, ESQ.

OF SHIKARPORE, BENGAL
AND

CAPTAIN H. E. MEDLICOTT

3RD SKINNER'S HORSE

ILLUSTRATED BY

LIONEL EDWARDS, ESQ.; CAPTAIN J. K. GAT ACRE, IITH LANCERS;
E. F. NORTON, ESQ., R.H.A. ; AND M. SNAPE, ESQ.

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON

1914

COPYRIGHT

TO

MY MOTHER

922

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY . 1

CHAPTER II

HISTORY AND COUNTRY ..... 4

CHAPTER III

NATURAL HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PIG . 21

CHAPTER IV
CHOOSING, BUYING, AND TRAINING A HORSE . . 43

CHAPTER V

RIDING A PIG ....... 59

CHAPTER VI

HUNTING ALONE ......

CHAPTER VII

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB . . . . .96

vii

viii MODERN PIG-STICKING

CHAPTER VIII

PAGE

HOG-HUNTERS' HALL OR THE TENTH HUSSARS IN

PURNEAH. By Colonel J. VAUGHAN, D.S.O. . . 120

CHAPTER IX

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL. By M. M. CRAWFORD, Esq. 134

CHAPTER X

THE NAGPUR HUNT. By Lieut. -Colonel F. W. CATON

JONES, R.A.M.C 158

CHAPTER XI

THE GUZERAT CUP AND AHMADABAD TENT CLUB. By

Captain H. E. MEDLICOTT, 3rd Skinner's Horse . 174

CHAPTER XII

THE KADIR CUP . . . . . .194

CHAPTER XIII

TENT CLUBS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT . . . 206

CHAPTER XIV

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS ..... 222

CHAPTER XV

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES . 239

CONTENTS ix

CHAPTER XVI

PAGE

SPEARS AND GEAR .... . 267

CHAPTER XVII

DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS ..... 276

CHAPTER XVIII

GOOD-BYE . . . . . . .289

APPENDICES

A. WINNERS OF CUPS NOW RUN FOR . . . 291

B. INDIAN PIG-STICKING SONGS 296

ILLUSTRATIONS

FACING PAGE

" We must have gone like this for a hundred yards "

(page 17) . . . . . . . . Frontispiece

Quicksand on the Sarda River (Two Illustrations) . . 14

"We could see nothing but smouldering bristles" . . 18

"Pioneer" 48

"Crispin" 48

" Have killed pig swimming " . . . . . 57

" He charged many times " . . . . . 85

Kurera and the lame Boar . . . . . . . 87

" Morning Star " 87

Baskerville 90

Camp near Terai ......... 90

" As vivid with me now — " ...... 94

"The Kadir" 103

Dawn 116

Hog-Hunters' Hall 124

ColonelJ. Vaughan's " Vedette " . 128

Pig Cut 128

Mr. Cresswell ; Mr. Crawford on " Evermore " . . .137

Black Cotton Soil 137

Lt.-Col. Caton Jones's "Dog Fox" with a shot Tiger — "the

right sort" . . 158

Mr. Branford's Arab, "Rustom" . ... .158

A Guzerat Fence and a jinking Boar . . . . .192

xi

xii MODERN PIG-STICKING

FACING PAGE

Captain Medlicott's " Result " . 192

The line of the Kadir Cup 195

Hunting Grass : Kadir Cup . . . . . .195

The Staff of a Kadir Cup . 197

" The meet at dawn " . . . . 206

The Line .... . .217

The Boar breaks .223

<" Crispin' flew the bull" 235

A Jink ... ... 240

A Charge 240

"The panther made a tremendous bound " . . . . 251

" The Spear " 268

*' The little queue waiting in all amity " .... 270
"It may be " 291

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

IT is twenty-four years since Baden-Powell wrote
his charming book on Pig-sticking, and it is no less
than twenty -seven years since F. B. Simson's
equally classical Sport in Eastern Bengal was
published. These works are as true and as valuable
as ever, but they are hard to get.

The water under the bridge never stands still.
There has been a great revival of pig-sticking.
New Tent Clubs have sprung up ; the class of horse
has improved ; preservation, riding, and hunting
are carried out on possibly more scientific lines.

I can tell you of no better men, illustrate to you
no finer sport than you will find in the books I have
mentioned. I only try to write, in the interval,
as I hope, between two pig-sticking campaigns,
of the sport as I have known it in the past fifteen
years.

In any affair in life, if a man talks one's first
thought is always, " Who is he ? What does he
know about his subject ? ': So I will tell you what
is necessary about the other writers in this book
and myself. I love a clear understanding.

Colonel John Vaughan, D.S.O., of the Cavalry
School, lately commanding the 10th Hussars, winner
of the Kadir Cup, as well known after pig as he is

i B

2 MODERN PIG-STICKING

with his polo team ; the big game shikari, Lieut. -
Colonel Caton Jones, Royal Army Medical Corps,
winner of the Nagpur Hunt Cup ; Captain Medlicott,
3rd Skinner's Horse, winner of the Kadir Cup, and
twice winner of the Guzerat Cup ; Mr. Crawford of
Shikarpore, the Bengal Hog Hunter, as well known
on his own account as he is for his hospitality at his
noted meets : these gentlemen require no introduc-
tion from me. My warmest thanks and all such
merit as may be in the book are due to them.

For myself I can only say that I have been in
India twenty-one years, and that all my leave
(sufficient) and all my money (less) have been spent
with spear or rifle. I believe that I have ridden
and killed, in company or alone, between 700 and
800 boar. I have been present on the field when
many more have been accounted for. I am no
good, but I love the sport.

I have had to use " I "' freely. I have not
scrupled to give my views. I detest a man who
has not the courage of his convictions. If I have
written largely of my own hunting, instead of
quoting from books or the experiences of others,
believe me, it has been in no spirit of boasting.

I believe every incident and day is given exactly
as it occurred. The only departure from truth
that I know is that, in the account of the two first
days with the Meerut Tent Club, I have inserted
one or two runs that happened on other days.
The incidents in these two days are all true, but
no day actually occurred to illustrate all my points.

Performers if not named can be identified from
the first letter of their names, except where for
special reasons an obviously impossible initial has
been used.

INTRODUCTORY

3

have included a few shooting incidents to
relieve the monotony. Pig- sticking and big game
shooting have gone hand-in-hand with me always.

I have to express my gratitude to Mr. Lionel
Edwards, Captain Gatacre, llth Lancers, Mr. Snape
and Mr. Norton, R.H.A., for their pictures, which
are as accurate as they are charming.

To the last - named and to Captain Phillips,
D.S.O., R.H.A., this book owes much kindly and
valuable criticism.

CHAPTER II

HISTORY AND COUNTRY

IN writing on "Modern Pig-sticking," an elaborate
account of ancient history is out of place, for the
sport is as old as the hills. In 1800 writers describe
it, in practically its modern form, as an old-
established one, only they threw the spear instead
of " jobbing " it. One of their chief reasons for
doing this was that it gave better sport, and was
not so selfish an amusement as when one man
speared the hog and had him all to himself. And,
whether their view was right or wrong, there is no
doubt they did not hesitate on occasion to attack
wild buffaloes with their method.

Captain Johnson, writing in 1827, gives directions
for throwing the spear. You must practise much
on foot, and learn to throw with accuracy in a
parabola up to thirty yards. Yet men often
missed ; for he records a hunt in which a boar was
only twice wounded when over fifty spears had been
thrown at him.

And in spite of buffalo hunts our captain has
a shrewd respect for the boar : " a wounded boar
is a very formidable animal, and it may be often
better to let him escape than run the risk of being
crippled."

However, in 1830 Mr. Mills of the I.C.S.

4

CHAP, ii HISTORY AND COUNTRY 5

introduced the " jobbing " spear, and the pig-
sticking that we know became universal.

A " shikari " writes in about 1870 of using
either hand, as convenient, to spear with. He
was a contemporary and a friend of Nightingale's.
I believe that the former's story of shooting a man- , % • .
eating tiger when dressed as a postal runner was V^
really based on a feat of Nightingale's. The latter^'
was furious, and sought for his man with a gun.

Nightingale must have been a great character j-4j
he shot several hundred tiger, and speared over I
seventy bears. His whole regiment, after the p
quarterly muster parade, spent their days in beating"^
for him. I heard much of him from A, my first
General in this country, who, as a youngster, had
been a protege of his. His methods, according
to A, with a jibbing horse were severe in the
extreme.

Dealing as I am entirely with modern pig-sticking
I write no more on the history of the sport, for I
am sure you will find the above brief summary
sufficient. Any encyclopaedia will furnish you with
such further information as you may require on
this point with a greater accuracy than I can
claim to.

Nor do I attempt to give you details of all the
hunting countries from Cape Comorin to Peshawar.
They of course vary enormously : some I know,
many more I do not. The flying Guzerat fences,
the Central Indian Hills, the Bengal churs, and the
wide lands of Behar are dealt with in this book by
abler hands than mine. Nearly all over India,
except in Madras and the Punjab, pig are at your
door if you will but look for them. If I have left
out many Hunts it is not because they are of the

6 MODERN PIG-STICKING

less importance, but because in the wide continent
of India it is impossible to do justice to them all.

However, of five Tent Clubs and considerable
country that I know well I will try for an instant
to describe to you the country that I know and love
the best.

That is the Meerut Kadir on the Ganges. The
word " Kadir " simply means bed of a river.
Almost any Indian river may, and does, have its
Kadir. From a pig-sticking point of view the two
chief Kadirs are those of the Ganges and the Jumna,
and it is on these two rivers that the majority of
the hunting, both of Tent Clubs and of individuals,
in all Northern India and Bengal takes place.

A description of the Ganges Kadir will apply
largely to the Jumna Kadir also. The latter is
smaller and has more jhow and less extensive grass
jungles than the former. The actual going is
similar in both, but in our own parts I am inclined
to put the Jumna Kadir as having a rougher surface
and being more trying to a horse's feet than is the
Ganges Kadir.

I feel the more at liberty to describe our hunting
because I think that owing to its varied and sporting
country, its extent, the galloping nature of many of
its coverts, and the high quality of the horses due
to the Kadir Cup, and the large garrison so close
at hand, I may be pardoned for calling the Meerut
Tent Club the Premier Hunt in India. I am, of
course, quite aware that one or two others surpass
it in either age or the number of pig they kill
annually.

Our Meerut Kadir, where the bulk of our hunting
takes place, is about a hundred miles long. Through-
out this distance, and in fact from its source right

HISTORY AND COUNTRY 7

down to the ocean, the Ganges has in its various
migrations hollowed out a bed which is some twenty
or thirty feet below the level of the surrounding
country, and which, in our lands, varies in width
on an average from three to eight miles across.

The right edge of this bed consists of steep, scrub-
covered hills, while the left edge rises in low dunes
and gently rising sandy downs called bourrh
lands, which, as well as all the Kadir, when left
undisturbed with their natural vegetation are a
certain home of pig.

Standing on the low hills and looking over the
Kadir, one's eye receives the impression of a vast
sea of grass with a faint white streak of sand,
betokening the river, running through it. The green
clearings of fields with the dim smoke rising from
the little villages they support are the only signs
of human life. Studded at intervals are groves
of stately trees, mangoes for the most part, owing
their existence to the piety of some long- dead yet
still-blessed Hindu, and forming the most perfect
of camping -grounds. Here and there a lordly
banyan raises its conspicuous head, and in all
directions the graceful palmyra palm lends a truly
Eastern aspect to the scene. The lines of white-
topped grass show the j heels and swamps, and the
darker shades betray the presence of great strips
of heavy jhow or impenetrable dak jungle.

This land of far horizons bounding the sea of
grass and swamp, where owing to the absence of
dust every blade and distant tree stands out as
cut with steel, is as fresh and as free as the ocean.
It casts a charm, which I cannot describe and
which I have never known to fail, on every man
and woman who beholds it.

8 MODERN PIG-STICKING

It is here you may

See the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended,
And at night the wond'rous glory of the everlasting stars.

Throughout this country the old river saunters,
changing its course from year to year, sweeping
away now this village and now that noble bagh,
but always making new soil for the fresh jhow
sprouts to grow. And if near it on a still night
you shall ever hear the splash of the falling bank
amid the cry of the flighting wild-fowl and the noises
of the dark.

The Ganges changes its course in an extraordinary
way, cutting a channel in the soft sandy soil accord-
ing to its will. I have known it shift its course
nearly a mile in one place in a single year. When-
ever the river abandons an old bed, shoals form,
sand silts up; and, starting with the young jhow
shoots, fresh jungle and solid land are formed where
but a few years previously was deep water.

The river itself is a never-failing source of delight
with its stately stream of water, its great stretches
of sand, and its ever-changing shades of purple
and of white. There are no villages actually on
its banks ; for it is a terrible neighbour, and none
may curb the Ganges in its flood. Save the boat-
men at a ferry you will see no life there, only
sulky muggurs on the shoals, great gaggles of wild
geese, and Brahminy ducks, whose sad, harsh cry
makes the solitude still more desolate.

The natives always sing when they go through
the river or pass any of its streams, " Gunga ji
ki — jai " (Ganges Victorious), in a long-drawn
refrain with a great lilt to it. The river is one
held sacred in the minds of many millions of men.

HISTORY AND COUNTRY 9

reat fairs are held on its banks ; and at Gurmuk-
tesar, where is our chief fair, there are in some years
several hundred thousand people assembled together.
Pilgrims come to it from all parts of India, and when
they disperse, having bathed many times in the
stream, each man goes away carrying his little
wicker - covered bottle filled with sacred Ganges
water. And in his last mortal stages every good
Hindu hopes that his body will be burnt on the
banks of the holy stream.

In the jungle, when a man is giving his oath to
his evidence in some case, it is impressive to see
him, with hand outstretched to the river, repeat
the formula, " Gunga ji ka kussum " (I swear by
the Ganges). That which he holds most sacred
is nearer to him than are our gods to us in many
cases.

The villagers in our upland parts are mostly
Jats, shrewd, well-to-do men, the farmers of India.
They breed horses and ponies to a large extent,
they are fond of riding, and are to be found in con-
siderable numbers in the ranks of our Army. We
have few big landowners or really rich men, but
the large number of brick houses in the villages —
sure sign of affluence when compared with the usual
mud- walled house — attest the prosperity of the
inhabitants even more than does the wonderful
succession of rich crops, sugar-cane, wheat, grain,
barley, and cotton, which follow one another with a
regularity greater than that of the seasons them-
selves. The monsoon or the winter rains may fail,
but there is a constant and never-failing supply of
water from the big canals of the Doab which irrigate
the land between the Ganges and the Jumna, and
draw their supply from those rivers. The more

10 MODERN PIG-STICKING

severe the famine elsewhere the greater is the pros-
perity of these parts.

In our Kadir lands, with which we are now more
intimately concerned, the villagers are also Jats,
but generally of a poorer nature ; with them are
interspersed a certain percentage of the usual
lower classes, and a small sprinkling of poachers,
rogues, and masterless men. Their villages are poor,
their living precarious. For the soil is light sand,
giving but few and indifferent crops at best ; while
there is the ever-present danger that the Ganges
will arise in flood and carry all before it. For this
reason their houses are simply made of mud walls
with a thatch of the Kadir grass ; and in the more
far-sighted villages you will see a large artificial
mound on which the inhabitants may take refuge
in time of sudden flood. As is the case in most
native villages, the streets and surroundings are
without sanitation and filthy, but the courtyards
and interiors of the houses are kept scrupulously
clean. There is generally one pukka masonry
building, the temple, with its grotesque Indian gods,
which these poor people never neglect. There is
always a paid priest in attendance, and the weird
sound of his " conch " or horn calling men to prayers
mingles peacefully with the bells on the cattle as
they go out to graze at dawn or return in the dusk.

These people own large herds of wretched cattle,
which they keep for what they produce when alive,
and for the value of their skins when dead. In
addition, they make ropes and cow-dung fuel, and
tend their scanty crops. Sugar-cane, though of
poor quality, grows fairly freely in the Kadir, and
every village has its sugar-cane press with its
characteristic smell, certain presage of the cold

HISTORY AND COUNTRY 11

weather and of sport. Here, if belated, you will
find gifts of goor (the sugar) and rus (the liquid
cane juice) ; and in any house you will have the
offer of milk and rough meal " chupatties," the
staple food of the countryside ; for want of hospi-
tality is no failing of these people.

They are a kindly, lovable folk although their
lives are so limited by circumstances. Their out-
look is inevitably confined to the bare necessities
of life, food, and clothing. The struggle for
existence itself is ever before them.

In these peaceful lands the world moves very
quietly ; the storms of life leave them untouched
and undisturbed. The great Mutiny at their door
hardly affected them. To them, as to the enormous
mass of our Indian population, legislative councils,
nay, even the Indian Congress itself, do not exist.

As their old Indian proverb says, it is only the
" durya, wa badul, wa badshah " that matter (the
river, the rain-clouds, and the king). All else is as

The waving of grasses,

The song of the river
That sings as it passes

For ever and ever.

The only rule they ask for is a personal king.
Yet until the last Durbar our King too was outside
their comprehension.

When King Edward died, I stopped some twenty
people in all on one of our country roads, and said
to each, " Brother, have you heard that the Great
King is dead ? ': The whole idea meant nothing
to any one of them.

As this is not a book on the Indian people, I must
write no more about them. It would be easy to
say much, for they are a fascinating study. If I

12 MODERN PIG-STICKING

may be allowed a word of advice to a youngster
fresh in the country, I would beg of him never to
forget that, simple, ignorant, and limited though
they may seem, yet they are not mere automatons,
hewers of wood and carriers of water, existing only
to carry out our behests. Like us, they are very
human with their loves and their hatreds, their
sympathies, their sorrows, and their joys.

Our hunting in this country and in India generally
is from November or December up to June. In
June the rains break, and hunting then is impossible
owing to the wet, fever, and mosquitoes. Later,
the grass springs up, and the whole country becomes
too blind ; nothing can be done till the grass has
been thinned by cutting, burning, or grazing ; and it
is seldom fit to hunt before December.

Our forefathers never hunted in the hot weather.
They closed their season in March at the latest,
losing thereby what we now think is the best
hunting season in the year.

As I have said, the sea of yellow grass and green
jhow, girth high and often much higher, is the
feature of it all. The grass generally grows in
clumps and tufts, frequently close together, mak-
ing grand living-places for pig. It is seldom a
level line of grass like a hayfield. In parts we get
"tooth-brush" grass, wiry stuff two or three feet
high, cut off square for thatching, and often rooted
underneath by pig, which makes bad travelling.
The country under foot is generally honest, sandy
soil, good falling. There are many open nullahs
of every size, and some blind ones.

The jhow is a form of tamarisk. It may be any
height, from two inches to twenty feet. When of
any size it has great boughs like trees, and is difficult

HISTORY AND COUNTRY 13

to ride through. The rider hangs in the boughs
and the pig goes past the stem. When only seven
or eight feet high, or when growing in clumps, it
makes very sporting hunting. It is the delight
of the simple villager to cut it, leaving stakes a foot
long, as hard and as sharp as a spear.

Winding through the country in all directions
are streams and j heels. The streams are called
bourrh gungas (old beds of the river). Generally
deep and full of long slimy reeds, they take a bold
horseman to cross them. The j heels are swamps
with quicksands, water, and long rushes, the haunt
of pig and duck. Some are miles long.

Either j heels or bourrh gungas are really the
pig's points, and add to the charm and difficulty
of a run.

When an animal gets into them it is almost
impossible to get him out, unless it is a dry year.

My friend Z, a well-known big game hunter, told
me that recently he was after a tiger with a married
man — the latter, I misdoubt me, a rabbit. They
wounded a tiger, who got into a jheel too boggy
for their elephants to go into. Z proposed to
go in on foot, for it was a good tiger. The other
stoutly refused, alleging matrimony ; so he remained
on his elephant while Z went in on foot. " But,
my dear fellow," said I, " how the devil could you
expect to see him ? " " Oh," said Z, " that was
quite simple. I went on till I could not see, then I
bent down a layer of grass with my rifle till I could
see, and so got on." He found the tiger dead.

We occasionally meet quicksands in our country,
but I have never seen any one killed in them. I
found a cow caught in one once in the jungle. She
was only a few feet away from the edge, and only

14 MODERN PIG-STICKING

her head and one leg remained above the surface.
The edge of the quicksand was lined with vultures
—an error in their judgment. A protesting village
spent half a day in getting her out. She then died.

Crossing over streams on an elephant, you can
often see the whole bed heaving for yards around.
But the elephants seem to know what they are
about, and seldom get caught.

I must turn aside for a minute to tell you of
another experience of mine with quicksands.
Shooting with Mr. Cotton of the I.C.S., Nepaul way,
we were camped over the Sarda River, and had to
cross it daily to get to our ground. One morning
we must have taken a different course, for one of
our howdah elephants was in evident trouble
coming out of the water. By the time we had got
to dry -looking sand he was badly bogged, or
" fussunded," as the phrase is.

We at once cut the girths and got the howdah
off, but the beast still sank. His struggles were
tremendous and he trumpeted incessantly. We
cut all the grass and trees we could find, and,
standing out of reach, threw them for him to tread
on. This was no use. We then got a big ferry
boat and tore planks out of that, and put them in
reach of his trunk. He used to seize the beams
and throw them away. It was obvious that the
old story of the elephant tearing off his rider to
tread him under foot as a stepping-stone to higher
things was a myth.

We went right up to him, and, by diving and
scooping, got a rope round one leg. We hitched
this on to a couple of elephants, and pulled like the
devil. All the elephants yelled, we shouted; the
uproar was terrific. The rope broke, and the pulling

QUICKSAND ON THE SARDA RIVER.

To face page 14.

HISTORY AND COUNTRY 15

elephants nearly fell on their heads. We tried
again with our whole power of three elephants, but
were powerless to shift him.

Things looked bad. The poor beast sank till
all but a bit of his back and his head were under
the sand. He could not struggle, he could only
wave his trunk and trumpet feebly. It was certain
a short time would see him sucked down, or die of
exhaustion.

A mahout suggested to Cotton, " Sahib, there
is a bend of the stream close above ; cut a channel
and let the water into the fussund." We did so.
It sounds a bigger job than it was, for we were
working in sand, and there were many hands and
willing. In an hour it was done.

The effect was magical. The water poured in,
and, I suppose, loosened the binding action of the
quicksand. One last pull with every man, elephant,
and rope, and out the sufferer came ; he had been
in the quicksand six hours. I have never seen a
beast so done. He went in a fit, fat animal ; you
could count every bone in his body when he came
out. He was badly cut by ropes. We gave him
a bottle of brandy neat at once, and, with careful
nursing, he eventually recovered.

To revert to our Meerut Kadir : in the more
cultivated country there are various other obstacles,
such as melon-beds, bumbas, and fences.

The melon-beds are a series of pits covering acres
of ground, three feet square and three feet deep,
with a partition of ground six inches thick between
each. They are refilled with soft soil, and a melon
grows in the centre of each. If you ride into them
you fall — there is no option.

The bumbas are simply small canals ; some

16 MODERN PIG-STICKING

can be jumped, others cannot. They are generally
raised to distribute the water, and have therefore
to be negotiated from a stand. The smaller ones
are never more than three feet deep, and though
easy enough to hop into are harder to get out of,
with steep banks and water to take off from.

The fences are generally round the fields, and
are made of tough plaited grass, often eight and ten
feet high. There are generally two binders across
them, making the bottom part solid for a height
averaging from three ,to five feet. These fences
give when pushed, but they are very strong and
elastic, and want as much jumping as any fence
I know.

I have tried hard to get jumps of the country,
such as the two last named, introduced for horse
shows. But the vested Olympia interests have been
too strong for me. After all, perhaps they are
right ; for who knows when we may not meet a
five -bar gate or an in-and-out railway crossing
when pig-sticking ?

The blind nullahs are nasty traps when met.
We flag them whenever we can in the really
dangerous places, where no horse could possibly
negotiate them.

I have mentioned the bourrh lands on all the
left bank of the Ganges. Rolling, hard, sandy
downs some twenty feet high, with large stretches
of grass hunting mingled with fields and grassy
hedgerows. An easy country, but with some blind
wells. We have some of our best days here.

Early this season in this country I was riding
Pioneer, my old grey, who is only 14.3, but has
the heart of a lion. I bought him fourteen years
ago from the Central India Horse. In fourteen

HISTORY AND COUNTRY 17

seasons he has only given me one fall. This was
three years ago. We were hot foot on a pig, and
jumped into a clump of grass which turned out to
be a blind well partly filled up. We were both
somewhat perturbed, but I got right quickly enough,
and found old Pioneer on the top of me still un-
conscious. I was fit bar some ribs and tongue, but
Pioneer was well shaken, and it was some months
before he was himself again.

Well, we were hunting in these bourrh lands and
a boar was reported ahead of the line, so Pioneer
and I went forward and stood watching on a little
mound. Presently we saw a great heavy boar stalk
quietly out and stand in a little open glade with
grass all round. His slow, lordly walk reminded
me of a tiger. There was no need to touch the little
horse ; we crept up on tiptoe, and then, with a
bound, we were on him before he knew what was
happening. I ought to have used the spear over-
hand, but instead I made a mess of it, and speared
him underhand too far forward. The boar was
into us at once. I would not let go the spear, nor
could I keep him off my girths, so I had to flee.
The boar swung round behind me and tried to work
up the spear as I leant back and round keeping
him off Pioneer's hocks. We must have gone like
this for a hundred yards. The boar got so close
in that I feared he would rip the old horse badly,
so I had to drop the spear and ride for it. It was
then my turn to pursue without a spear. Others
came up, and this fine hog was killed fighting
desperately. He measured 38 J inches.

Last winter several of us were again hunting,
these bourrh lands. We got to camp after a long
trek by road and rail at about 4 P.M. The winter

18 MODERN PIG-STICKING

days are short, but there was just time for us to beat
a bagh close by, which was reported to hold pig.

A couple of boar broke, neither of them my
hunt. One was killed, the other lost. In the
failing light I presently saw this pig trotting quietly
away a long way off. I got up to him and speared
him. He was a cunning fellow and ran along the
hedgerows. This is a favourite manoeuvre of a
pig, and hard for a single man to deal with. If you
ride the same side as the boar, he nips over to the
other side, and you lose time ; if you ride the
opposite side you may lose your pig ; and if you
ride on top of the hedgerow you probably fall down
a porcupine hole. Forbidding - looking cavities
these holes are ; I have often seen them cause
grief.

Anyhow, after spearing the pig I lost him in a
thick patch of hedge. Day and Yorke, R.H.A.,
came up, and after some delay we got him out, only
to lose him soon after in another patch. It was
now pitch-dark. We set fire to the bush and
thought the pig must have slipped out, for I have
never seen an animal stand fire so long. At last
he came out with a " woof." All the long bristles
on his back and his tail were burning. We could
see nothing but the smouldering bristles, and it
was by these we rode and killed him. He did not
go far, and he put up a poor fight.

In the hills on the right bank which I have
mentioned there is no hunting ; only a certain
number of panther afford sport there.

One day last hot weather, Mr. Norton, R.H.A.,
and I had quite an amusing day there. He and I
were in the office at about 11 o'clock groaning over
our office work, which in all justice I must admit

HISTORY AND COUNTRY 19

is very light nowadays. Suddenly the doorway
was blocked up by a wild-looking figure, a man from
my shikari who was after a panther twenty-five
miles away in these hills. Kurera had marked the
panther down at dawn, and the man had run in
nine miles and driven the rest in a dak garri to bring
us the news.

I was doing some accounts at the time. Hastily
consigning them and the pay-sergeant to the devil,
Norton and I were in the swimming-bath within
five minutes, and after a hurried lunch were in the
motor within half an hour, full speed ahead for our
friend.

We motored sixteen miles to a tehsil, the head-
quarters of a tehsildar, where we found a couple
of village ponies waiting for us. We cantered out
the nine miles with our feet almost touching the
ground, and reached the Kadir edge, where we found
old Kurera and his gang waiting. A walk of half a
mile took us to the patch where the panther was
lying up in the hills, in a little valley filled with
grass and scrub.

Norton and I took post on foot between the
cover and the Kadir, and the beat came towards us.
The first beat was a blank, but Kurera was so certain
the panther had not gone out that he beat it again.
I was on a low hillock, and this time caught a glimpse
of the panther as he passed forward. I shouted to
Norton, but the warning was not needed, for the
panther collared one of the beaters and the uproar
showed what was happening. I ran down towards
the beat, and as I did so the panther galloped out
of the cover towards Norton. He was galloping
hard, but gave me a fair shot in the open at about
fifty yards. The bullet caught him where the neck

20 MODERN PIG-STICKING OHAP.H

joins the spine as he went away from me and rolled
him over dead in a complete somersault. He was
a big male 7 feet 5 inches. I have always been
sorry I fired this shot, for Norton would have had
a pretty charge at closer quarters.

We found the man somewhat scratched and
bitten in the loins. We dressed him at once and
carried him into the dispensary, which was also at
the tehsil. They insisted on carrying the man
trussed up like a fowl. He looked very uncomfort-
able and we remonstrated, but his carriers refused
to listen to our suggestions.

The man was a good fellow and got well in a few
days. I gave him ten rupees to carry on with, and,
according to his statement, he had to pay most of
this to the assistant surgeon to allow him to go
out of hospital.

We put the panther in the body of the car and
arrived back in Meerut in time for dinner, after a
very pleasant day.

CHAPTER III

NATURAL HISTORY AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PIG

IN trying to tell you what I know of pig and their
ways, I must confess to a great ignorance on many
points concerning them. Their natural and more
obvious characteristics are easily observed ; but I
find it hard to draw any certain deductions as to
some of their ways and methods of life.

I will not give any scientific description of a pig :
any book on natural history will tell you that. Nor
for the same reason will I dwell at any length on
their ages and breeding. I will give you, on these
points, condensed extracts from Baden - Powell,
who, good and accurate though he is in all his book,
is particularly so in dealing with the life-history of
the pig.

Natural History.

There are two varieties of pig, " Tatyra " and " Muckna."
The former is the smaller. He is black or red in colour,
fast and fierce, with big tushes. The latter is bigger,
coarser, generally black or yellow in colour and a slow
mover.

At three years the boar is just fit to ride. At eight years
old he is in his prime. He lives from fifteen to twenty years.

A sow produces two litters a year. Each litter may
consist of from two to nine squeakers. Period of gestation
is four months. Several sows generally live in company
and form the harem of one boar.

21

22 MODERN PIG-STICKING

The above are not General Baden-Powell's
actual words. He also speaks of two other varieties,
but they are not common.

The sows have their litters once in the cold and
once in the hot weather ; at both seasons they
suffer much from human and animal poachers.
These poachers we discuss elsewhere ; but at the
risk of repetition I urge on you the necessity for
their extermination. Panthers, jackals, and hyaena
all live on pig, and must be ruthlessly destroyed.

In the cold seasons the grass coverts and the
fields are so thick that game is much scattered, and
pig suffer less from poaching then than they do in
the hot weather, when their grounds are often
hunted and all their runs are known.

It is, in my opinion, a great mistake to harry
coverts holding pig in June. If you do so, you
inevitably break up the litters. The old sows bolt
and you see the little striped squeakers, of all sizes
from that of a rat up, running in every direction.
I am sure many of these are lost and are never
collected by their mothers again. In June you
must hunt light outlying coverts and locate your
solitary boar. The old gentlemen are no more
fond of a squealing family than we are.

I do not know how a sow collects her scattered
young. I have never heard a pig yelling unless
injured ; in such cases their voices carry well over
a mile. If a sow were to squeal she would soon
collect her family ; however, she does not, and I
misdoubt we cannot teach her her business. More
than once, when sitting up, I have seen a sow
collect her progeny and proceed on her way, giving
low grunts as signals.

Pig are very prolific breeders, and there can be

NATURAL HISTORY 23

no doubt that, given suitable coverts, if your stock
of pig is not increasing there is assuredly poaching
taking place.

If you kill small immature pig you will ruin
your stock.

Size and Weight. — Pig vary much in size. Baden-
Powell records one of 42 inches in height killed by
Mr. J. M'Leod, Chumparan.

Williamson, in his Oriental Field Sports, 1808,
records a pig of 39 inches who took them twelve
miles.

E. B. Baker's Sport in Bengal, 1886, records one
of 38 inches. Captain R. D. Burlton, with the
Nagpur Tent Club, 1896, killed a boar of 38 inches,
358 Ibs. Moray Brown, in Stray Sport, 1893, quotes
a letter from "an old enthusiastic Bengal Hog
Hunter," in which the latter says, " I have turned
up old notes and find such records in 1854, 1855,
1856. Two boar, each 36 inches, one boar 37 inches,
one 39, one 40|, one 42, and one 43 J inches."

The biggest boar I have ever seen is one in
Rowland Ward's, a Siberian boar. He is set up
half crouching, but even so I measured him over
44 inches. He is covered with a sort of fur. I
have never killed one over 34J inches myself.

The biggest boar in India are probably killed in
Behar and in the Nagpur country. Pig inhabiting
the pig jungles are generally bigger than their
brethren of the grassy plains ; this may be due to
the fact that they are not molested. But many of
the big measurements above come from Bengal,
and, I presume, open country. I think the Central
India jungle pig are bigger than those of the
Terai.

The limit of size below which you may not kil

24 MODERN PIG-STICKING

"""a pig differs in various places ; 27 or 28 inches is the
usual standard.

Some people prefer a weight to height standard.
In such cases, 120 Ibs. is a fair limit._ Although on
first sight this seems fair er ^rETs" in my opinion not
so in reality. It is much harder to estimate weight
than height when riding a pig; also, pig vary
enormously in weight in hot and cold weather. I
have seen an over-fed little brute of 27 inches, hardly
worth killing, weighing 150 Ibs. in the cold weather.
On the contrary, one sometimes sees a little, wizened,
old pig, fierce and crusty with large tushes, blue in
colour, or with ginger whiskers, a " tatyra," who
would hardly measure 28 inches, but who exceeds
by a long way the 120 Ibs. Such pig always fight
well, and are fair game. On the whole, I think a
28-inch standard is fairest.

There is only one way now of measuring pig that
I know. A straight line, not over the curves, is
taken between perpendiculars from the wither to
where the hair joins the heel at the foot : both fore-
legs should be held level while this is done. All
Tent Clubs have a fine for killing a sow or an animal
under size. A pig, strung by his four legs on a pole,
is apt to stretch and measure more when he reaches
camp than when killed. So depraved is human
nature that I have even known some hardened
sinner bribe the coolies to carry the pig home by a
route some miles longer than necessary.

Tushes. — A good pair of tushes averages about
8 inches in length. Anything over 9 inches is good.
My own collection runs in all sizes from 12^ inches
down. This biggest tush is a single one three-
quarters of a circle in shape, the upper tush having

NATURAL HISTORY 25

been broken. Its owner tried hard to cut me, but
might as well have been armed with a hoop.

The tushes of the plains pig are, in my opinion,
bigger on the average than those of the forests. I
am only guessing at the size of the latter's tushes.
Such pig can only be shot, and their tushes are
not a trophy any one could value. A pig, of course,
rootles with his nose and under teeth. Is it possible
that, to a certain extent, he uses his tushes for this
purpose also ? This might account for the difference
in the size of tushes. The jungle hog, living chiefly
on the fruits and products of the trees, has not the
necessity of his plains brother for rootling in the
ground for the greater part of his food.

This extract from a letter of Mr. Branford's is
of interest :

I am certainly of opinion that pig cut with their under
jaw spade as much or more than with their tushes ; and
I think it likely they dig with it on hard ground, but do
not know. I have often examined cuts by both boars and
sows that must have been made with the under jaw or
spade, and very nasty wounds some of them were.

All the pig I have seen with fine tushes, pure natural
curves 8 inches or 9 inches, were young looking, though
big ; and I have never seen a really old-looking pig with
good tushes, except in the cases where the upper tush has
been broken or fallen, when an ugly circle has been formed.
My theory is a good boar seldom keeps good tushes, they
are generally found on a cur.

Your idea about hill and jungle pig eating mostly fruit
is undoubtedly sound. All the same, I can show you miles
of rootlings on very hard red soil in these hills.

Had I been asked my opinion as to why pig in one
district had larger tushes than in another, I should have
said feeding, the same as wild deer and antelope ; but, to
tell the truth, I've not noticed much difference in the
districts I have hunted in.

26 MODERN PIG-STICKING

The usual way to extract tushes is by boiling.
I prefer the method of the Meerut shikaries. They
cut with a knife the flesh round the jaws in a circle
about two inches above the tushes. They then
cut through both jaws with a few blows from a little
axe. They lay the two jaws, insides up, on the
ground, and, with two deft strokes in the direction
of the length of the snout, subdivide them into four
pieces, each with a tush. The fragments of bone
adhering can be removed by hand, and the tush
is free in a couple of minutes. The insides of the
tushes remain to be cleared either by boiling or,
preferably, by ants. The less the natural oil is
taken out of the tush the better. Tushes are very
liable to split in India, simply from being too dry,
especially in the hot weather. I keep my own spear
tushes in old French plum bottles filled with cocoa-
nut oil. All mounted tushes and teeth in India
should have a thin smearing of some transparent
grease applied occasionally.

Tracks. — Regarding boars' tracks, I cannot do
better than again quote Baden-Powell :

The deer shows two long narrow sharp -pointed toes.
The goat has a square pug with blunt points to his toes,
which are always held apart. The sheep's pug is more
like that of a boar, being longer than the goat's. The boar's
pug is distinguished from that of the sow by being much
wider in the heel and having the toes more open, and the
rudimentary toes marking the ground wider apart.

It is these rudimentary toe-marks that will tell
you more about a boar than anything else. Three
fingers' breadth across the broadest part of the toe
track mean a very good boar. In wet soil beware
of mistaking the pugs of a little pig for those of a
mammoth.

NATURAL HISTORY 27

Activity. — The activity of a pig is boundless.
He can travel great distances, he is a beautiful
jumper and a fine swimmer. He will, when pressed,
throw himself over any height, generally with no
damage to himself ; though Baden-Powell records
that he once saw a pig break a leg in a fall. Having
straight shoulders, they often fall over a drop when
a horse stands up.

Fighting Powers. — As a fighter, the pig is so
well known that I do not think I need dwell on this
aspect of him at any length. A boar will not turn
aside for any animal living. I have seen him knock
over a camel, and bump full tilt into an elephant.
There are several known instances of their having
fought with tiger. Inglis, in Tent Life in Tiger Land,
records one such case which Baden-Powell quotes
at length. During the tour of a recent Viceroy a
fight between a boar and a tiger was arranged at
one of the native courts. In the first round the
tiger knocked the boar straight out with one
tremendous blow of his forearm. He had but to
give the coup de grace and the fight would have
been ended. He, however, turned away. The boar
recovered, rushed at the tiger, and disembowelled
him. I have never quite liked this episode ; I
suppose you cannot insist on the niceties of the
N.S.C. in a fight of this description.

In all my hunting I have seldom, when alone,
killed a hog who did not oppose me bitterly. And
I am sure this is the experience of most men. If
of a cynical disposition, you will smile and attribute
this to the tendency inherent in man to magnify
his own prowess. Still it is the truth.

When you hunt in company with others, the pig

28 MODERN PIG-STICKING

knows he is over-matched, and occasionally does
not fight. He gets upset by one attack after
another from different quarters. No English word
can quite express the meaning of ghabrou ; it
is a state of confusion and bewilderment. This
word must well illustrate the boar's condition at
such a time. Yet I am sure the same pig would
invariably fight hard if hunted by one man only.
I only say this because on the few occasions when
a pig does not put up a good show, it is annoying
to hear the three or four men who have successfully
mobbed him come back and say what a rotten pig
he was. Of course, in all species there are a few
arrant cowards. But, when at bay and attacked
on foot, I have never once known or heard of a boar
who did not face any number of spears, and charge
and die with utmost desperation. I am inclined
to doubt if there is much difference in the fighting
qualities of a pig in different parts of India. At
east such is my experience. An ordinary pig^-
do not mean your suffragette extremist — will, as a
rule, spar less in thick cover and grass country than
he will in the open. He is no fool, he wishes to live ;
every bush, every clump presents an additional
hope of escape. When he is in the open or in patchy
country he knows that all that remains is the stern
joy of a fight.

And, thank goodness, and I do not say it as a
solace to my worse feelings, I do not think a boar
does feel his death much. There are seldom long
miles of sobbing wind and fate ever pressing behind
him. His is probably a sudden wakening from
sleep, a sharp run at full speed, and then a last
hard fight with blood at fever heat, and the red
light dancing before his eyes. When the blood

Tenacity of Life. — The tenacity of life of a boar
is extraordinary. The idea of a pig getting away
wounded to die in pain is hateful ; with every care
it must happen occasionally. If there is any
consolation, it is in the thought that pig do recover
from terrible wounds. I have several times seen
a pig killed that had only three legs. In the Terai
I killed a pig who bid fair to recover from a gun-
shot wound, apparently some days old, that had
taken away nearly all one shoulder-blade.

30 MODERN PIG-STICKING

One year, on an island in the Ganges about half
a mile long, I speared a big black boar. I gave him
a heavy spear in the near side behind the shoulder,
high up. I held him for a short time, but he broke
away, and, diving into thick cover, escaped me. I
was sure he would die at once, and had the place
watched for vultures next day, but did not find him.
Next year we beat the same island, and put up a
big black boar, who fairly raised Cain at once. He
was only killed after a long fight up and down the
island. Day, R.H.A., ought to have had his
Tommy cut to pieces, and there were several other
narrow escapes. The pig was fighting too blindly,
and did no serious harm; he fell to Skinner,
5th Cavalry. This pig had a scar six inches long
on the near side behind the shoulder, high up. From
this, from his behaviour, and from his appearance
I am convinced he was the same pig. Yet the original
wound looked as deadly a one as can be imagined.

Speed. — The speed of a pig is, I think, apt to be
exaggerated. Shakespear, who did the bulk of his
hunting from 1854 to 1857, says that " a good hog
will run away from the fleetest racer." Baden-
Powell says that a single horseman will take three-
quarters of a mile to catch his pig, though a heat
will run into him considerably sooner. Most writers
on hunting a hog agree as to his excessive speed.

I cannot say that I hold with these views, and I
write with a very full knowledge of the Kadir pig,
whom I place as indubitably the fastest in India.
Provided, and always with this proviso, that you
get away within thirty or forty yards of a starting
pig, with fair riding ground you ought to run up
to him well within half a mile, whether you are alone

.

NATURAL HISTORY 31

or in company ; though you may very probably
miss him on jinks for a long way farther. This
means that you are doing your utmost to burst the
pig ; if you let him get his second wind, he will go
on for miles. If you have a lot of obstacles and
heavy jhow jungle to negotiate, the run will take
proportionately longer. A party of the 13th
Hussars last year took two and a half hours and
seven falls over a cramped country before they
killed their pig ; all honour to a good performance.
If you have to canter for'ard to a holloa to try and
view your pig, you are apt to have a long run. But
getting away to a quick galloping start you ought
to run into your pig as I have said. Ordinary
roughish country and girth -high grass will not
affect the issue ; they are, if anything, in favour of
the horse. Over real rough country, bad nullahs,
sheet rocks, heavy jhow, and other such obstacles,
a pig will score heavily. But given ordinary good
country he cannot live with a really fast horse. As
a rule the pace of a pig varies inversely to his
size.

One of the runs which I recall with the greatest
pleasure was when we were beating an outlying
strip of grass at the end of Jharhina Jheel. Between
the strip and the jheel is a hundred yards of beautiful
turf. The jheel had a lot of water in it, and was
almost impossible to ride.

There were half a dozen of us out ; we had a good
boar in the strip of grass, but could not make him
break. We stood all along the edge expecting a
quick thing, and harried the grass with a couple of
elephants. My luck was in, for the boar broke at
full speed dead in front of me, heading for the jheel
and dear life. I was riding Souvenir, a very fast and

32 MODERN PIG-STICKING

beautiful horse, whose death a year later from
biliary fever hit me hard. Souvenir caught the
hog as if he was standing still, and a lucky spear
through the spine dropped him in his tracks with
some twenty yards yet left of the hundred between
him and the jheel. This was in May. The hog
was fit and hard, and had been jogging in front of
the line for an hour.

Nothing is more noticeable than the difference
in pace between the horses that are now ridden in
the Meerut country and those of fifteen years ago.
The first of the new really fast horses that appeared
was Mr. M. Clementson's Forest King, whom he
brought from Dholpore. The horse stood out in
a class by himself, and won the Kadir Cup.

I realize the change in the pace of horses that
has taken place very clearly when I ride Pioneer.
Fourteen years ago he was, if I may be pardoned
for saying so, at the top of the hunt. Now, if we
ever get a first spear, it is only by low cunning. I
admit neither he nor I have become more rapid in
fourteen years.

Eyesight. — I think pig have good sight, though,
like all wild animals, they are very slow at detect-
ing a man if he stands absolutely still. I stood out
in the open once, as an experiment when beating a
hill near Mhow. I was in full view of a sounder,
which came to the foot of the hill within a hundred
yards of me, but did not break for other reasons.

Last year, in the Central Provinces, after buffalo,
I came across a sounder of pig feeding. I stalked
up to within eighty yards and stood rigid in the
open. The sounder worked up to me and did not
discover me till they were within twenty yards.

NATURAL HISTORY 33

They then, with many stares and uneasy stampings
of their feet, disappeared.

In this connection I can quote an interesting
experience of a brother officer. He was after
buffalo in the Central Provinces in a jungle not much
shot. A herd was grazing towards him. He stood
perfectly still in front of, not behind, a tree while
the herd with a few curious stares grazed up to and
past him. He eventually shot the bull.

I do not think this argues short sight. Wild
animals have very little knowledge of what a man
looks like. They associate him with a blundering,
noise-raising, odoriferous animal : they have not
been taught the appearance of their adversary by
a Zoo and by pictures. That a pig, like any other
animal, can detect motion at once is a truism. It
is a common thing to see a boar take a good look
round before leaving a cover. He undoubtedly
sees well at night.

Hearing. — The hearing of a pig is certainly
wonderfully acute. When the weather is cool,
even with the most quiet of lines, if you ride a mile
ahead you will see pig jogging on, alarmed and
disturbed. People have no idea of the importance
of a silent line. Old Lutchman used to run the
Meerut line with the aid of a powerful voice, and an
unequalled vocabulary. I learnt much from the
latter, and flatter myself I can still bring a blush
to the face of even the most sinful Aryan brother.
Much to Lutchman's disgust I stopped all shouting
and substituted a silent line, an occasional whistle,
and signals. Our bag increased to a marked degree.
Now that pig have got to know the whistle, a new
device is needed : the call of some bird will probably
be the best.

34 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Dozens of hog are lost every year through noise.
Either the shikaries, the coolies on the line, the
syces or the spears themselves are always making
an uproar. It is difficult to stop.

Simson states his conviction that pig are
frequently deaf. I have been on the look-out for
this, but have not found it to be so.

If you have never tried, put your ear on the
ground when horses are galloping, even a long way
off. Their hoofs sound like musketry.

With all wild animals the development of their
various senses is carefully balanced. They would
otherwise overrun the country or die out, as the
balance lay for or against them. A pig's keen
hearing is, in my opinion, counterbalanced by an
almost entire absence of his sense of smell.

Sense of Smell. — I do not think pig have any
more sense of smell than any of the large carnivorae.
I have never found any signs of it. I am sure
neither tiger nor panther can smell. How often
do not these animals, no rogues, but honest-minded
beasts, pass close to a tied-up buffalo, out of sight,
but certainly within smell, and never detect him ?
When sitting up on the ground in a bush for panther,
I have twice now had them in the same bush with
me, and detected it only by the rumbling of their
guts : they had never smelt me. The stomachs
of these brutes are constantly rumbling ; I suppose
they are empty.

A third time a panther and I were in the same
bush, though neither of us knew it. My goat would
not bleat, so in desperation I raised a most heart-
rending " baa." The panther fled with a dismal
" woof."

NATURAL HISTORY 35

Intelligence. — I do not put a pig's intelligence
very high. They have memory and reasoning
powers to a certain extent undoubtedly. I know
of a small bagh within a hundred yards of a camping-
ground which always holds pig, but which is always
abandoned by them at once on the first signs of the
camp being occupied. This argues both reasoning
powers and memory. Again, pig in the Meerut
country have learnt to connect a whistle with
danger. Yet given so much intelligence I always
wonder why they do not use it more. Why do they
ever (still reverting to our one instance of a bagh,
for we need not labour the point) go into the bagh
when they know it will be bad for them one day ?
They are very fond of occupying a favourite patch
no matter how many are killed from it. This is
like the carnivorse. But when one of the latter
takes up his abode in a place, he has no means of
knowing the fate of his predecessor. The pig, on
the other hand, was probably a squeaker brought
up in the same cover, and saw his grandfather and
father killed from it. Like most of us, do they
chance it ?

Pig going to and returning from their feeding
will sometimes take an easy road over open country
if they have been exposed to danger from gun or
panther in a naturally safer route through hills and
nullahs.

I am not one of those who ascribe great cunning
to a pig in a run. A boar will run into cattle, he
will take the roughest line, he will jink, squat and
sneak away marvellously. He will bump into a
lesser pig, drive him out with instant invitation,
and hide in his place. He will do these and many
similar things, but they are mostly matters of

36 MODERN PIG-STICKING

common sense, and do not, I think, compare with
the artifices of a fox. Perhaps with a boar the run
is too short and pressing to allow of much guile.

Choice of Locality. — In Central India there is not
much doubt as to where pig will be found. In
quantity though not in quality they are inferior
to their Northern brethren. Each pig is more or
less accurately located and will be surely found in a
certain hill or " sendhi ban."

In the Northern Hunts, however, the country
is more extensive. The Meerut hunting-grounds,
for instance, extend over between two and three
hundred square miles. Pig are scattered all over
this area, but they are only in any numbers at a
given time in localities of their own selecting.
There may be grass jungles, j heels, dak, and jhow
jungles all available within a few miles of each
other. Happy is the man, sapiens rerum cognoscere
causas, skilled enough in his knowledge of the
working of the porcine mind to predict where their
choice will fall.

I will give you of my own experience, and I am
sorry I cannot tell you more.

First and foremost, regard the weather. Wet
weather, provided the ground is rideable, is a god-
send to the hog-hunter. Pig then leave the heavy
covers, and are always to be found in light riding
country : they can rootle freely, and they
thoroughly enjoy the cool and the damp. Nearly
all the best days hunting I can recall have been
after rain in unsettled weather. This does not
apply to wet weather when it is really cold. At
such times pig invariably go to the j heels or the
thickest cover they can to keep warm.

NATURAL HISTORY 37

Next, do not confuse cover with food. The
latter comes first every time. As long as there are
crops in a country so long will pig be either in them,
if they are high enough, or near them. In a sugar-
cane country as long as the cane is up all the pig
will be in it : there may be beautiful jungles in the
vicinity, but they will not hold pig. When the cane
is down wheat and other crops are still standing.
At such times look for pig on the edges of the coverts
nearest to these crops. A pig will go many miles
for his food, but not a yard farther than he need.

When all the crops are down, pig will be in the
j heels, in jhow, grass coverts, or in patches of jungle
and forest. The last named are always a sure find
unless disturbed. But you cannot expect to get
sport on a big or continued scale by beating baghs
and jungle. Your main resource must be jheel,
jhow, or grass.

Of these three I put the grass as the least likely
to hold pig. You have to get your grass exactly
right to start with. If you hunt it too early in the
season the fluff of the long monj stalks fall as
you ride, blinding you for the time and making it
impossible to follow pig. A little later the raiyets
will be cutting these same stalks for thatching
purposes, and there will be no pig in them then.
A little later, again, the cattle will be grazing, and
the cover will become too scanty to hold much game.
You must watch your grass as a nurse does a baby.
Then, on a few days at the beginning of the hot
season when the sun is bright, but there is still a
nip in the air, and when the lying is soft and dry,
you will meet with your reward.

If the grass is of your own leasing, conditions
are altered.

38 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Do not look for pig in grass jungles in a high
wind. They feel no security then. The grass
crackles so that they know they cannot hear an
enemy coming on them. At such times if you are
hunting in undulating country the "quiet sunny side
of the slope" should hold out good prospects to you.

In grass, and in all other covers, remember a pig
is very much a water-loving animal.

I know some beautiful grass country, miles in
extent. It rarely holds pig simply because there
are good j heels between it and the main feeding
grounds. The grass has no cultivation. I have
meant to plant a few acres, here and there, of cane
in it to bring the boar there. The jheels near are
unworkable.

You must realize that pig get little food in grass,
and none in jhow coverts. They grub up a few
roots ; but truffles and such delicacies seem to be
unknown. There are exceptions, as for instance
the spot there used to be in the Meerut Kadir called
" the Hundred Acres " —a patch of about that area
so trenched and retrenched by pig that we prided
ourselves that none could ride across it without
falling.

Pig frequent jhow coverts when there are no good
jheels available ; and they are apt to take refuge
in heavy jhow when much harried. In the hot
season jhow makes cool and pleasant lying.

Failing crops, jheels are, however, the great resort
of pig. I can give no more advice about them.
When you get jheel and grass intermingled you have
a happy combination. One such I remember
fondly. As I wrote of it when I discovered it, there
were " rushes and reeds, long miles of waving grass,
and many a mark of boar."

NATURAL HISTORY 39

I have said elsewhere that I think it is a mistake
to hunt a covert more than twice a season at most.
If you are compelled to hunt a ground twice, always
allow ten days to intervene between the two huntings.
Pig after being ridden and harried in a covert
invariably leave it at nightfall, and will not return
within at least that period, even under the most
favourable conditions.

Preservation of Ground. — In any country regularly
hunted, whether by individuals or a Tent Club, the
necessity for maintaining an undiminished stock
of pig is a vital consideration. There can be no
question of apres moi le deluge ; we have to think
of our successors, to hand them over prospects of
sport at least as good as those we enjoy.

I have said twice, and, like the " Snark," I will
say it again, " you must preserve." This is the
root of the matter. If preservation is good, and
natural conditions are satisfactory, pig must
increase.

After this, look to your sanctuaries. Every
ground that is much hunted must either have
communication with large game preserves, or it
must have sanctuaries of its own, artificial or other-
wise. Muttra and Delhi are examples of the former,
Meerut and Fyzabad of the latter. Meerut in the
old days used to connect through its Ganges Kadir
with the Terai jungles, getting thus an inexhaustible
supply of pig. Owing to the railway and cultivation
the Terai has now been cut off by a belt of many
miles wide. This is luckily not a matter of much
moment because in the Meerut Kadir there are huge
j heels many miles long, full of quicksands and quite
unworkable, which form perfect sanctuaries.

40 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Fyzabad is an example of artificial sanctuaries.
It has, or can have, large grants of land made by
Government many years ago, in which to preserve
pig on terms favourable to both cultivator and
hunter.

Muttra and Delhi are both fed from native states
— Bhurtpur and Alwar. Kheri, I will not give you
more examples, used to be fed in the same way with
tiger from Nepaul. Owing to years of drought and
numerous fires, a large belt of open country has
intervened, and few tiger now come there.

Drought, over - preservation, or any unusual
occurrence may cause a migration of pig. As a rule,
one is powerless to do anything beyond accepting
the conditions nature imposes. In Budaon some
years ago the jungles on the banks of the canals
were cut down. For two years there was magnifi-
cent pig-sticking ; after that such pig as were left
migrated elsewhere.

The increase of pig at Delhi is an interesting
subject, and will repay a moment's consideration
before I close this chapter. I trust that you will
understand that my remarks are made in no jealous
spirit. I look on Delhi as the hog-hunters Mecca,
and I hope to be quartered there some day. I envy
and admire the results produced.

If you refer to the chapter on Tent Clubs you
will see that in Delhi for years the bag has been a
small and fluctuating one. In 1907, on the arrival
of a Native Cavalry regiment, the 18th Lancers,
preservation was started in earnest. Results were
not apparent immediately. For the three years,
1907, 1908, 1909, the average bag was under 60
pig a year. Then came a great increase. In 1910
the bag was 257, and in 1912 it reached 385 boar.

NATURAL HISTORY 41

-

The question naturally arises as to how this was
done. Preservation of pig must have been exceed-
ingly good. The Delhi country is a compact area,
a ring fence, which offers facilities for this. The
Tent Club were lucky in having an Honorary
Secretary, Mr. Brayne, I.C.S., as efficient as he is
keen.

The bag of the neighbouring Tent Clubs has not
increased in nearly the same proportion. Muttra
went up to large numbers with the 15th Hussars,
and has since remained fairly stationary at a high
level, reaching 400 in 1911, when the Royals handed
over the country. Meerut has increased from an
average bag of 30 pig a year in 1886 to one of about
160. Yet Muttra has been very efficiently hunted,
and in Meerut poachers are, to a large extent, known,
labelled, and watched. The Meerut country is so
extensive that poaching undoubtedly takes place
sometimes in the outlying portions of the hunt.

Considering all this, therefore, it is doubtful if the
difference in the preservative measures of the various
hunts is sufficient to account for the difference in
the bag. In the case of Meerut and Delhi, of course,
the one is an old hunt working almost to the limit
of its capacity, while the other is, so to speak, virgin
soil. The pig were there, but the jungle was
impracticable, the situation had not been developed.
I have hunted over the bulk of the Delhi country
some years ago : it was then mostly unrideable.
In places where we gave up in despair large bags
are now made. The jungle, jhow largely, has either
undergone its periodical cutting, or was specially
felled for Durbar requirements in 1911. This latter
seems likely.

It is probable that the Alwar pig migrate to

42 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Delhi country. They are over-preserved in Alwar
and have to find a home somewhere. The main
Alwar coverts are distant seventy to forty miles from
the town of Delhi itself, and nearer yet to some
of its chief hunting-grounds. Some probably find
their way south and east to Muttra.

These suggestions, right or wrong, may be of
interest as showing the possible influence of natural
causes and migration on sport. That the main
factor has been efficient preservation I make no
doubt.

CHAPTER IV

CHOOSING, BUYING, AND TRAINING A HORSE

IN writing on pig-sticking it is impossible to avoid
a constant reference to the horse : he is the pre-
dominant partner in the sport, and on him the joy
of a hunt largely depends. Otherwise, I would
gladly have refrained from giving you any opinions
of my own ; and I only do so now provided that you
clearly understand that I am not making any
attempt to preach, or to pose as an authority on the
subject. I have loved and been with horses all my
life, but I think the longer a man is with them the
more he realizes his ignorance about them. When
I take people round my own or my battery horses
I listen to their opinions with becoming gratitude.
If you are a youngster, what I have to say may be
of some use to you, but if you are an older man I
would much rather learn from you.

Now, before buying, the first thing is to settle
whether you will ride a horse or a pony. This
depends on your weight and where you are hunting ;
it is not to any extent a matter of expense. A good
pony costs as much as a horse : if he is good at polo
as well he may cost more. And if you are to ride
against horses there is no use in buying an in-
different pony. Do not ride a pony if you are over
twelve stone.

43

44 MODERN PIG-STICKING

All over Central India, and in any cramped
country, a pony is as good as a horse. In the
Nagpur Hunt ponies more than hold their own ;
while Captain Medlicott's brilliant pony, Result, by
twice winning the Guzerat Cup, has conclusively
proved the value of the smaller animal there.

In any country, given a jinking pig and cover
that is not too heavy, a pony is as good as a horse,
and can turn inside him. It has to be remembered,
too, that the modern pony is in size practically a
small horse : very different to the old 13.3.

The only pony I ever owned was an Arab, 13.3,
Punch. I had him fifteen years. We killed a
good many pig together, and fell in nearly eyery
run. I was too heavy for him. He was a dear,
hot, gay little fellow, and I shot him with a very
sore heart.

Even the best ponies, however, to my mind, are
out of place in a galloping country : they cannot
go the pace. I say this with full recollection of
those beautiful ponies, " Fireplant," who, with
Mr. Vernon, 60th Rifles, won the Kadir Cup;
" Solace " (Mr. Wells, 15th Hussars), " Jo Hukm 5:
(Major Maxwell, 2nd Lancers), and " Mosenstein "
(Mr. Micholls, 17th Lancers). Ponies such as these
are almost a match for any horse ; but even they
suffered from being ponies.

Colonel Tilney of the 17th Lancers was riding
Fireplant one year in a heat against myself and
others. We rode a quick, straight-running hog
over thickish country. We were all travelling : I
happened to be on a fast horse, and I remember
wondering how Fireplant could keep up. He came
down and gave Tilney an awkward fall. I have
always thought that this fall was due to the fact

CHOOSING A HORSE 45

that while we on horses were going " all out "
at sixteen annas, the pony was going " all out " at
eighteen annas, and had neither leg nor balance left
to save himself, in spite of his rider's fine horseman-
ship.

In a really thick cover a pony can make no head-
way, while a horse crashes through with his weight.
For these reasons, and from the fact that I ride
13 stone 7 Ibs., I have practically no experience of
ponies, and will discuss with you horses only.

Now as regards the different classes of horses,
Walers, Arabs, Country-breds, and English, it is
hard to say anything that has not been better said
many times before.

The Oriental Sporting Magazines up to 1860 and
later, had strong views as to the impossibility of the
Waler ever holding his own with the Arab after pig.
Now the pendulum has swung the other way, and
you will find few to disparage the Australian horse.

Simson, who wrote nigh thirty years ago, disliked
Walers because he could never rely on them, and
found they generally bucked. The days, however,
of the underbred, bucking beast are gone. The
modern high-class Waler is a beautiful animal,
inferior neither in quality nor shape to a well-bred
English horse, and with a constitution and legs
better suited to Indian hunting. Bold, fast, and
handy, I have many such in my memory, and they
have all my love.

Simson, to quote him again, would ride nothing
but Arabs. But he rode under 12 stone, and paid
about 1500 rupees for his animals : a price equal
to nearly double that amount now. Baden-Powell
loves the Arab, but on the whole gives preference
to the Waler.

46 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Arabs make charming hunters, especially for
rocky or trappy countries. Like the ponies they
cannot quite live with a galloping horse. I have
known many good ones, notably, Captain Barrett's
(15th Hussars) " Chase me Con," and Major
Cameron's (C. I. Horse) beautiful mare, " Summer
Seas."

Pioneer, whom I have mentioned elsewhere, is
a Gulf Arab. In fourteen seasons he has only
given me one fall, and has never been sick or sorry
in his life, except when cut by pig, which was fairly
often when we were both young and foolish. His
only trouble is that he is too casual, and will not
move a leg to avoid a cut.

The Central India Horse tell me that as a result
of their experiences in Persia for nearly two years
lately, they find the Persian or Gulf Arab is exception-
ally well suited for a pig-sticker. He is very bold,
of good constitution, has sound legs, is fast for a
short distance, and is very sure on his feet in even
the most impossible country. Both Pioneer and
Mr. Branford's Rustom bear out this view in an
interesting manner.

Country-breds, thanks to thorough-bred stallions,
are in many cases now very well-bred, nice horses.
They are always hardy, and their feet stand better
than any horse. They are, generally speaking,
cheaper than any other class of horse. They are
often lacking in chest capacity, high on the leg, and
deficient in bone.

I have been disappointed in the little I have seen
of English horses. Sir Locke Elliot brought two
very nice ones to a Kadir Cup, but they were
galloping, striding horses that looked to me more
like steeplechasers than pig-stickers. I doubt if

CHOOSING A HORSE 47

the English horses legs stand the rough ground as
well as the Arab or Waler. Still, a light English
horse with quality ought to do well, and I hope to
take one out when I go to India next : somewhat
bigger than a polo pony, but without the weight
of a hunter.

Now to turn to the buying. The first thing is
to find a man without guile from whom to buy.
You may, of course, buy privately, or through the
Pioneer, from Native Cavalry regiments, from the
Remount Depots, or from the big dealers in the
presidency towns.

The secret of all buying is not to have to buy in
a hurry. If you have to buy several animals to
start work at once you are likely to take some
makeshifts. The man to be envied is he who has
the capital available, and buys when he sees exactly
the right animal in the market.

Always see your horse before you buy him : a
friend's choice is seldom satisfactory. I buy a
good many horses for various people. I get
their epistolary thanks, and occasionally a candid
opinion. " I hope you like the horse," I wired.
Back came the answer, " He's a brute."

I dislike buying " made " horses, and seldom
do so. I bought a horse said to be a good pig-
sticker once. Just before he was sold he was badly
cut by a pig ; his wound was raw when I bought
him. The seller did not know it, but this had made
him unstaunch for life. I rode him in the Kadir.
He would not go near a pig, and I was never in the
hunt. My friends (I did not know I had so many)
protested they could not think what I was doing
with the horse. They deafened me with the noise
of his former exploits. " What a hunt A had

48 MODERN PIG-STICKING

ridden against him when dear old Tom had the
horse." I " should have seen how Dick used to
shove him along over a country." While all agreed
that Harry never lost a spear off him.

If you are landed with an unstaunch horse get
rid of him at once. Sell him according to your
conscience as either a made pig-sticker or a lady's
hack. Give a coward a fair trial, and then never
go on with him. He is not worth it : a crowning
sorrow in this land of woe.

Some of the native cavalry regiments sell horses.
I wonder that more do not.

I bought Crispin, of whom more later, from
Major Knowles of the 2nd Lancers, who got him
from among the remounts of his regiment. He
is the best horse I have ever had, of high quality,
fast and bold. Not many have led him in a
hunt, nor equalled him in his fighting qualities.
Pioneer came from the Central India Horse.

At one of those periodical large gatherings, when
the civilian measures the importance of the occasion
by the discomfort that he deals out to his military
friends, I was in want of a couple of horses. I had
been too busy to do anything till the last day, when
I went to a certain native cavalry regiment and
told them that I was short of time, of a confiding
nature, and without experience. As I knew they
sold good horses would they trot me out one or
two of their best ? They welcomed me. They
kept no bad horses, but the very best they had
were at my service. For themselves, their lives
were spent in the service of the widow and orphan.
The animals they produced would have dried up
the Pool of Siloam. I got a nice horse in the end.

When young I bought a horse from another

PIONEER.

CRISPIN.

To face page 48.

CHOOSING A HORSE 49

regiment. He was a beautiful horse — sideways.
I forgot to look at him edgeways. He was the most
awful speedy cutter I have ever seen. So much
for my experience buying from a regiment.

Some of the best horses I have ever had have
come from the Remount Depots, and I owe many
thanks to my good friends in the department. If
you go to a depot remember they are experts, you
are not, and take their advice.

I make no mention of that atrocity the hired
charger.

I practically always buy raw horses from the big
dealers, and I strongly advise you to do the same.
The mere buying is an education to your eye. The
training of youngsters must teach you, and the
pleasure of riding a young horse that you have
trained is great. Men are often met who put down
long sums, and always ride made pig-stickers.
This perhaps is sound if they are well enough off
to be able to afford it. But they miss the anxieties
and joys of a first hunt : the delicate feeling of
mouth and manner shaping to the rider's will can
never be theirs. Also, though you may be too
young to appreciate this, it must be good for you,
and keep you young to handle two or three youngsters
each growing year.

Once you have settled on the breed of your horse,
and the person of open countenance from whom you
are going to buy him, consider awhile what manner
of animal will you buy ?

I will give you my definition of a perfect pig-
sticker : he should be a little, active, quick, fast,
clean-bred horse of 15.2J hands, with a perfect
shoulder and rein. He should have a bold eye, a
generous disposition, and a courage beyond praise.

50 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Yet with all these qualities he should lack neither
drive nor devil. That his mouth and training
should be perfect requires no comment.

If you agree with me, and you must skip what
follows if you do not, I will amplify this a little more.

I am not a believer in big or heavy horses. I
have owned several of 16 hands, but I have always
found they wanted the more riding, and were apt
to be unhandy after jinking pig. I am sure many
men from their English hunting training over-
mount themselves after pig. There is no question
here of heavy plough and runs of many miles :
almost any animal is up to weight. A heavy
horse cannot be quick, off like a flash, into his
stride at once, and turning like a polo pony.
This quickness is the one most important quality
of all. You can make certain of getting it if you
get the right shape and disposition, and train well
enough. The valuable gift of following a pig of
himself, as if he were going to eat him, you cannot
teach a horse : it must come from the horse's own
nature and from experience.

One of the charms of hog-hunting is that a heavy
man is not handicapped. His extra weight gives
him the more balance and power to turn a horse
or stop a charge.

Pace and quality need no comment. It is certain
that if you once ride really well-bred horses you will
never be satisfied with anything else.

Shoulder and rein I consider vital ; they mean
the saving to you of many falls. At home I do not
think a shoulder is as important as are barrel,
gaskins, and hocks. It is quite the other way in
India. A horse with a bad shoulder is bound to
fall : moreover, your horse must use his shoulders ;

CHOOSING A HORSE 51

when you are on them you must see them working
like the oscillating piston heads of a big engine.

I need not elaborate the moral qualities. You
must buy the best compromise you can, no horse
can be expected to be perfect.

My advice to you, then, is look for as essential :

1. A quick horse. You can judge this best by

eyes, action, turning, movement of hocks,
or possibly the celerity with which you are
shot over the animal's ears.

2. A small horse.

3. A good rein and shoulder.

4. A good bold eye. If a Waler has a small eye

or a bump between the eyes, he is a knave
for sure.

I dislike a Waler with a bump between the eyes
intensely, he is always a ruffian : I have only
owned one. He bucked me on to my back on my
sword one Christmas day, and he bucked me on to
the top of a pig the first time he went pig-sticking.
He did little else, and I sold him very cheap. I
had a letter shortly after from his new owner in
hospital, complaining that our friend had seized
him by the arm in his stall and worried him
shrewdly. I offered him my deepest sympathy.

If any of the above points are lacking in the horse
you are after, I urge you to have none of him.
After these look for quality, pace, action, hocks,
and whatever special points your fancy may dictate.
Each man has his fads. I personally never ride a
brown or black, nor have I ever owned a mare. I
think you will find bright bays and golden chest-
nuts the hardest and best horses in India.

If you see swollen muscles at the junction of
the jaw, and the neck, you must either refrain from

54 MODERN PIG-STICKING

not overwork them, I think their legs stand wonder-
fully. The strains and injuries occur to tired and
unfit horses. The work is very severe. For a heavy
season's hunting I like five or six horses ; and of
them, three out for each day's hunting. I know a
certain man who had eleven horses of the " caster "
class for hunting this season. I would rather have
had half the number for the same money of a better
class. Our friend, though, was right in wanting
several horses. You must change your horse after
every run : a gallop in grass or thick cover is most
exhausting. No horse should be called on to do
more than three really severe runs in a day — two
such are ample. It is the tired horses that always
cause the grief.

If you are lucky enough to be in a district where
there is no competition ride the cheapest you can
get. But, I beg of you, keep one good horse for the
pleasure of his company.

My advice to you, therefore, is to buy the best
horses (Walers) your means will allow raw from
the dealers. Their price will run from 700 rupees
to 1500 rupees in proportion as you insist on the
qualities laid down for our ideal pig-sticker. A
horse costing 1000 rupees to 1200 rupees raw, if he
turns out well, ought to make a very nice pig-sticker,
and sell for 1500 rupees. The Bombay market is
probably cheaper than Calcutta, where horses are
snapped up for the paper chasing. Your native
cavalry horse should cost you considerably less.
If you buy " made " horses you are not a poor man.
You are either a rich man or a confirmed optimist.

A few words on training and I have done this
long chapter.

Train your horse exactly as you would a polo

CHOOSING A HORSE 55

pony ; even play him at polo if you can manage it.
You must get him on his hocks. Nothing is so good
for this as the constant cantering up and down,
and about, putting your legs on strong at each turn
to get the hocks under, and turning on the hocks
alone. Owing to a horse's size and weight neither
his fetlocks nor his temper will allow as much of this
as a pony. Do the whole of your training on a
snaffle. When your horse is trained put a severe
bit in his mouth, and ride him after tame pig and
cattle, but remember not only the trodden worm
but the blown cow turns, or your horse's education
may be all too thorough. Ride with an absolutely
loose rein : your horse may be afraid of the bit for
the first day or two, but he will soon learn that it
is only applied for a specific object, and that the
instant he has obeyed the signal he has a loose rein
again. He will soon become bridle-wise, and you
will then have a perfect -mouthed horse. By a
loose rein I mean one absolutely dangling, I ride
my own horses on the bottom bar of a mohawk, and
seldom have a snaffle. I do not see any particular
advantage in the latter if you always ride on the
loose rein principle.

I had an interesting talk at dinner lately with a
Native Cavalry officer who had just done a winter's
hunting at home. He said he was astonished at the
different standard of training and manners required
in horses in England and in India. His experience
had been that so long as he could jump any manners
were passed as good enough in the English hunter.
Reining back, passage and turning and similar
qualities might be conspicuous by their absence,
and would call for no comment. My friend will,
however, I trust, pardon my calling him an extremist

56 MODERN PIG-STICKING

on training. He holds that two years are necessary
after buying a young raw horse to get him both fit
and really trained and ready for work.

Work in the company of another horse at the last
stages and at full pace. At full speed, and when
excited, young horses are apt to forget their training.
It is good for one man to hunt the other : the horse
soon learns to take his jinks unaided, and you have
the delightful feeling of change of legs and altered
balance before you are ready for it even.

Many starts from a walk or a halt at full gallop
to some object fifty yards away, forward, at an
angle, or about, are of value. Each man alternately
gives the object and the signal to ride. Use your
voice often. If the horse goes wrong in the last
stages use the bit freely to correct mistakes, but
never forget your horse is your pal. Always ride
with sharp spurs ; you may want them to get a
horse's quarter out of the way of a fighting hog.

Remember the rough ground and severe work
require very careful hardening for a horse. You
cannot have him too fit or too hard : even so, if he
is a young 'un, you must work him light.

Failing pig or cattle, you can train well after
jackals or foxes. I trained all my horses this way
one year at Campbellpore. I had a cork on my
spear point.

Teach all your horses to swim. If you have a
long swim in front of you, slip off your saddle, and
lie alongside your horse on the near side, with your
right hand and spear over his withers ; do not
touch the reins except to guide him if necessary.
This is not a difficult accomplishment but it is
seldom well done. We all swim in " R," and have
many good swimmers ; but those who can swim

Lionel Edwards.

"HAVE KILLED PIG SWIMMING."

To face page 57.

CHOOSING A HORSE 57

a horse well, without making him fight, are few.
If you have only a short swim to face do not get
off your horse ; he will carry you easily enough,
and you can catch your pig in the water. I have
twice speared pig swimming. A horse swims double
the pace a pig does. Pig, though, are strong
swimmers and fond of water. I have seen them
repeatedly swim at right angles across a strong
current where a horse at the same place is carried
a hundred yards down -stream. I fancy this is
because the greater bulk of the horse is more readily
caught hold of by the current.

In any pig-sticking country you must expect
to swim at any time. This reminds me of a certain
Hog-hunter's Cup. These are point to point races
after the Kadir Cup : they generally bore me to
distraction. Well, we took our racing friends and
made the course clear to them, quite clear to the
meanest intellect. They had to go round an
elephant with a white flag on him. We warned
them of a couple of awkward nullahs with deepish
water. Soon after they started we saw Major
Tilney, 17th Lancers, fall on his head. He got up
apparently none the worse, though we found later
that his fall had temporarily somewhat affected
his clarity of vision, mental and physical. When
the race ended there was no Tilney. Our anxieties
were allayed an hour later when he and his horse,
very wet and tired, came in. His only comment
was, " D d big nullahs those." He had mis-
taken a white temple across the river for the white
flag. He had swum and re-swum the Ganges.

The Kadir Cup country is so flat and featureless
that these flagged point elephants are sometimes a
necessity. One year one of these flag elephants,

58 MODERN PIG-STICKING

on the arrival of the first horse, was so terrified at,
I presume, the rider's racing seat and demeanour
that he fled forthwith. It was pleasant to see the
elephant bolting for all he was worth, trunk and
tail on end, the white flag drooping down his back,
while an indignant and protesting field galloped
with the utmost velocity in their vain efforts to go
round him.

And now, reader, I must close this long chapter.
You have borne, may be, with my fads, and listened
to my views : it lies with you to sift the corn from
the chaff. I can but hope that your horse when
you get him may turn out well. Long and in all
honour may he be your friend.

CHAPTER V

RIDING A PIG : POLO : HUNTING

. . . and heard great argument
About it and about, but evermore

Came out by the same door as in I went.

F. B. SIMSON gives the following rules for pig-
sticking, which had been taught him as a youngster,
and on which he ever acted :

1. Always gallop fast at a pig : never walk.

2. Always ride at, or take a charging pig at an angle,
not end on.

3. Spear well forward.

4. Have a sharp spear, and do not hold on to it.

Two more rules are so universally known that
they hardly require noting :

5. A horse can go where a pig goes.

6. If you lose a pig, cast for'ard.

And I would add two others of a gospel that I
have ever preached, though I may not have practised
it successfully :

7. You must lie first in a run.

8. Always ride with a loose rein.

I comment briefly on these maxims.

1. Galloping. — Nearly every bad cut I have seen
from a pig has been where the horse has not been
going at full speed. Hog fight often, and use their

59

60 MODERN PIG-STICKING

tushes much ; but always with an animal standing
still. They misjudge the pace of a galloping horse,
and nearly always miss. Of course the momentum
of the pace renders the cut the more severe if it is
inflicted.

2. Charging Pig. — If you ride " end on " at a
charging pig you are very apt to get a pretty fall
unless your horse is clever and leaps the pig. As a
matter of fact if you are riding an animal worthy
the name of a pig-sticker, and you leave his head
alone, he will leap the pig successfully more often
than not. A pig alongside you who turns sharp
across your bows at speed is much more likely to
bring you down. For he either cuts your horse's
legs away from under him, or entangles him in the
spear.

To see hog and hunter mutually pick each other
out when some fifty yards apart, and then charge
each other "bald-headed," end on, with a simul-
taneous squeal of rage is always delightful.

3. Spearing. — If you spear far back you will not
kill. Spears, and the art of spearing are discussed
in a later chapter.

4. Holding to the Spear. — My own view is that
you should never let go except to save a fall ; or
unless, when alone, you cannot keep a heavy boar
out. Holding on is largely a matter of habit ; it
means many broken spears of course, for nothing
can stand the strain of horse and hog. The stoutest
shaft will sometimes break, leaving in your hand
what looks like tangled fibre. Hunting in company,
a man who lets go his spear is a nuisance. If the
spear remains in the hog the butt makes it difficult
to get near him : if it comes out it may land butt
down, point up, and spear some one.

v RIDING A PIG 61

5. Line to Take. — If you do not go over exactly
the same ground that a pig does you are bound to
lose ground, and you will often come to grief. You,
of course, see nothing of the country, but your horse
does ; and the hog ahead is a valuable pilot to him,
telling him where to put in a fifth leg, and where
to shorten his stride. There is no difficulty in
riding hard on a hog's line ; the trouble is in riding
a parallel line, or a stern chase.

6. Casting Forward. — If you lose a boar always
cast for'ard. Find the first piece of open country
you can, get there quietly, hide, wait, and watch.
You will not be always right, but you will be more
often than by any other method. The way a pig
squats in thick cover and then sneaks out on again
unseen is extraordinary. His pursuers meanwhile
continue to guard vainly the spot where he once was
but is no longer. A hog always knows his own mind;;
if he started meaning to go to certain cover to that
cover he will go, sooner or later.

This " casting for'ard " is one of the most
important things in pig-sticking, and one of the
least understood even by men who, in many cases,
are not novices.

I will give you a couple of instances of it.

X and Z were watching a heat nearly a mile
away riding a pig in long grass. After a while it
became obvious from their actions that the heat
had lost the pig. The general direction of the run
had been from left to right across the front of X
and Z. These two watched the heat for a minute
as they continued to wander about aimlessly looking
for their pig in the vicinity of where they had lost
him. X and Z then did what the heat ought to
have done in the first instance, and galloped as hard

62 MODERN PIG-STICKING

as they could about a mile and a half to the right,
where a shallow sandy nullah crossed at right angles
to the general direction of the boar's previous run.
They had not to wait there long before they were
rewarded by the boar coming out to them. His
condition and state made it certain that he was the
hunted pig.

I remember one afternoon we were beating
north along some grass bourrh lands. The Kadir
was on our left, and the country on the edge of the
Kadir was a mass of hills and nullahs, a nasty
country to travel over. In the Kadir were fields
of sugar-cane and dak and palm jungle. I was
on the left alone, and there were two heats on my
right composed mostly of novices. The extreme
right heat rode and lost a pig. It was obvious that
the pig's point was the Kadir. It was probable
that he would not go straight down to it on account
of the noise of the line and the other heat. It was
likely that he would travel straight on for some
way, and then turn down left-handed. I at once
cantered forward about a mile, and standing watch-
ing on the highest hillock presently saw my friend
slanting as I had expected towards the low ground.
I gave chase and had a pretty run. The boar got
to the broken ground on the edge and r%n all along
it. He would not face the Kadir on account of the
open ground that lay at first between him and the
cover. I travelled over a mile before I got on terms
with this pig. The ground was really rough, and
both the pig and Pioneer had to scramble like
cats. When I got up the pig came in well, and I
got in a good spear, but could not get it out and
had to let it remain in him. A bad piece of work.
The pig, seeing that he could not get at me continued

v RIDING A PIG 63

on his course slowly and very sick. I was debating
whether to try and finish the matter with my
stirrup iron or whether to gallop to a little hamlet
a quarter of a mile away to get a lathi or stick, with
the almost certainty of losing the pig, when Norton
who had also cast for'ard came up. The sight of
him seemed to give the pig a fresh lease of life for
he charged him savagely at once, and cut Scatters,
Norton's horse. The butt of the spear was in the
way ; however, Norton killed him.

7. Position in a Run. — No run will ever give you
pleasure to think of unless you have cut out, or
tried to cut out, all the work, be it in competition,
Tent Club, or hunting trips. If your horse is not
fast enough you may not be able to do the bulk of
the hunting. Try to, at anyrate ; you will help in
the hunt more by being first than elsewhere. Never
lie second on purpose, or ride cunning as regards
the work. A fast horse is a great advantage, but
he is not everything. In the Kadir Cup, and still
more so in ordinary hunting, how often does one
not see a good man on an inferior horse leaving
better horses behind him ? The extra knowledge
and quickness give an advantage of two or three
lengths, most difficult to make up, be the other
horses as fast as they may.

Ever since I have hunted in any country, I
have always been struck with the way in which a
really first-class performer, no matter how he is
mounted, leaps into full stride and sails away on
the boar's tail ; riding easily with no effort and
leaving his heat behind with the difficult task of
making up ground or trying vainly to get up by
chipping in on a pig, who always seems to go just
the wrong way.

64 MODERN PIG-STICKING

To my mind the mad joy of a race for the spear
over a rough country can be equalled by nothing
on this earth. But I cannot make myself too clear
when I say that this racing and riding for a spear
is entirely conditional, and must be tempered with
discretion. The first object in all pig-sticking is
to hunt the pig; the second to kill him; and the
third, a bad last only, is to get the spear. Any-
thing that interferes with hunting the pig or killing
him must be wrong, and cannot be too strongly
condemned.

In any awkward ground or thick cover you must
ride the pig slow, there must be no racing. Shout
as the boar turns. If you are not on the pig you
must ride wide, or behind, to help the man who is
on, and you must give him all eternity to ride and
spear his hog in. You must act unselfishly, and
play the most strict cricket in every possible way.
But the moment the pig gets to easier country
challenge the man on the pig at once. Make the
pace as hot as you can. Have no patience with
dawdling, crawling methods. I have tried both
systems, slow hunting and fast. With youngsters,
who do not know when to take a pull for difficult
cover, you may override a few hog with the latter
method ; but even so I am sure you will kill more
pig than by " wear him down " hunting.

8. Loose Rein (see also chapter on horses).—
The more I hunt, the more I am convinced that why
people fall is because they will not leave their horses'
heads alone. Put a mob of unbroken horses,
without riders, over the jumps in one of the big
maneges at the Remount Depots. Note how few
fall. They may stumble, but they recover ; their
heads are free, their balancing levers untouched.

RIDING A PIG 65

My experience holds good in this respect as regards
all the Northern Indian countries, and the rougher
ground towards the Terai. I never found much
trouble with a loose-reined horse over the rocky
hills of the Deccan and Central India. As for black
cotton soil, I prefer long reins and my flat feet.

So much for our maxims. I add a few general
notes on hunting.

The hunting instinct is poor in most of us. It
is almost hopeless to expect people to keep silent,
to help on the line, or to hide when a cover is being
beaten out to them. You may post a heat, moving
on tip-toe to hide them. If one of the heat comes
up late, will it ever enter into his head to walk
quietly to his post out of sight of the beat in order
that the sound of his hoofs may not carry ? Not
a bit of it. He will rattle gaily up in sight of the
beat and ask for directions in a cheerful shout from
the other members of his heat, whom he will prob-
ably find standing in front of their posts in full view.

Again, many men get away moderately quick
with a pig under their noses. It is only an in-
finitesimal number who can both think and act
quickly on the slightest sign. Cattle suddenly
disturbed, waving grass, a flick of dust, a disturb-
ance on the line, a shout, a gesticulating cultivator,
all of these have their meaning and their message,
what to do and where to go. It is for you by
natural instinct, by quick sight, by training, and
observation to interpret and act aright.

In riding a hog, press him for all you are worth,
at once. You will then burst and catch him in a
short distance. If he gets his wind he may take
you a long way. Then, when once you are on his
tail, settle down to your hog's pace. Nurse him

66 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

through thick cover, at this period', with a good
margin of speed in hand. Waving grass and dust
will help you much. Cutting out the work does
not mean seeing red and riding like a lunatic all the
way ; it means good hunting. When your oppor-
tunity arrives, touch your horse lightly with the leg,
and you are on the pig in a couple of bounds at
twice his pace.

At the end, when you do make your rush, you
must go in like a tiger, " all out," man and horse,
every nerve and muscle strained. Whether the
boar comes into you or not, this is the whole art of
killing a pig. It is your horse's pace and impetus
that gives the blow, not the strength of your arm.
I have written more on this subject in the chapter
on " Spears." If you are riding a slow horse " all
out " with only just legs to catch the pig, you must
spear when and where you can. It is a tiring and
difficult performance.

In difficult cover, I repeat, ride slow and shout.
In 1913, " R " Battery, R.H.A., won the Muttra
Cup in country of all sorts with Mr. Norton, Captain
Phillips, and Mr. Clibborn. The two men nearest
the pig when he got up hustled him all they knew ;
the third rode twenty yards behind, and in echelon,
decreasing this distance as the pace slackened,
ready for a jink especially on the side on which lay
any special cover.

When a hog is in one cover, and has only a short
distance to his next cover, your only chance is to
stand with your back to the latter and face the
cover where he is. When he comes out, ride for
a charge at once.

If you are beating a cover with a line, and come
to the clearly-defined end of the beat, let the line

RIDING A PIG 67

go, and stand some hundred yards back : the pig
is bound to break back through the line to you.

In riding a hog always remember, or know by
pig-craft, what his point is, and always look for his
point in that direction. In a heat of the Kadir
Cup of 1912, I got away first on a mean pig, who,
I was sure, was a nasty jinking beast. He ran left-
handed, but his point was to my right. I had the
legs of the others, and only rode at a hand gallop
quietly behind the boar's off -hind. He jinked, as
I knew he must, turned sharp to his right across
my front, and was speared.

As a general rule, gallop straight into a heavy
boar, but take a small pig easy. You will be lucky
to spear him before he has jinked once or twice.
But this all depends on the country, and how much
you are pressed. I detest little pig, and seldom
ride them. There is a joy in the hunting of a big
boar quite different to that of a small.

I am all in favour of the first spear being a good
one that shall either kill or disable the boar so long
as you are in difficult country or hunting on a trip.
In a competition, or in a Tent Club, when the ground
allows, I consider a spot of blood sufficient. It is a
matter of opinion and of circumstances.

With a fast horse make the pace more than ever
a cracker from the start. This year I was riding
one day with N of the Political Department, a hard
rider. I was on a thoroughbred race-horse, he on
a fast pony. We got away level on a boar who had
a couple of hundred yards' start. N shoved along
for all he was worth, and I kept level with him,
smiling. When we got up I made my spurt, and
missed handsomely as the boar jinked sharp. N
came with a rush, and I lost the spear through bad

68 MODERN PIG-STICKING

judgment on my part and fine horsemanship on
his. I ought to have utilized my pace to get as
far ahead as possible, so that I might go slow on
the pig and, if need be, take a jink before N came up.

It is common to see men in every hunt who ride
really hard, and well, yet do not get many first
spears. This is often so among men who have
hunted much at home. They realize the necessity
for pace and for riding a good hunt, but they do
not always acquire the savageness and devil which
must make them go in at the end. It is simply
that they are accustomed to have their fox pulled
down for them, and also because they wish the other
fellow to have a chance of joining in the fun. A
good man in front of me at the end of a hunt as he
twists and turns with his pig, determined to kill
at all hazards, always strikes me as horribly selfish.

I have tried to deduce some rule for learning
from a hog's ears and tail, and the turn of his head,
which way he is going to jink. But I have found no
certainty.

Apart from the question of being ready for a
pig to jink to his point, I find the best place to
ride after a boar is about a horse's length straight
behind him, and the least shade to the near side.
Here you are well placed to take a jink either way,
you are ready for your spurt, and he must indeed
be a ruffian who would pretend you are not on
the pig.

If you have the faster horse, and are riding
against one other man who is your intimate friend,
or if you are in a competition, you must get the
spear even on a little jinking pig. A decent boar
wants no manoeuvring. Go ahead at once, and
ride half right or half left between your opponent

RIDING A PIG 69

and the boar. You are nearest the pig, and have
a right to your line. The other man must either
go further out or pull up and go behind you. In
either case a sharp turn on to the hog leaves you
with a tiring pig in front, and your adversary with
a long stern chase behind. I was doing this to
my complete satisfaction on Crispin against S in
this year's Kadir Cup. My horse put his foot in
a hole, we both fell and were hors-de-combat, while
S went on and speared.

In easy country a deliberate jostling run, among
men who know each other well and are not novices,
is quite amusing. Only it must be agreed on before-
hand, otherwise the more reputable members of
the gang get caught napping. I remember one
pleasant ride through light grass girth high. Three
of us were abreast, and the only reason the right-
hand man alone speared was that the other two
were each so busy riding off their right-hand
neighbour that they had no room to get their spear
hands down. It was pointed out to the right-hand
man that he had had an unfair advantage in having
no one on his right.

The signals in pig- sticking are universal and
well known. Spear horizontal across hat means
sow or squeaker. Spear pointed at arm's length
in any direction means a boar viewed. It should
be accompanied by shouts as the pig turns, and can
hardly be mistaken as the signaller should be
galloping. A hand waved in the air means that
you are not on the pig. A hand twisting vertically
at the wrist, when made to a man elsewhere when
guarding a beat, may mean " where is the pig ? 5:
Some people do not understand this.

An expert can and does distinguish a boar from

70 MODERN PIG-STICKING

a sow under any conditions a long way off. But
many boar are undoubtedly let off by novices, and
sometimes by men who ought to know better,
especially in the cold weather. They like to signal
quickly because it gives them the knowing look of
an old hand. For his first year the novice should
not signal unless he is quite certain.

So long as there are no onlookers, the signal for
sow is useful when you come to bad country and
are uncertain of your horse.

No account of riding a pig can be complete
without an allusion to killing one on foot. As I
have written elsewhere, this form of sport is some-
times necessary when a wounded boar has taken
cover in thick cover or in heavy crops, such as
sugar-cane, and cannot be tackled on horseback.
In these cases the spears have no choice ; they must
go in on foot. It is not right to leave a wounded
boar to die in pain, and it is, of course, quite im-
possible to put coolies or beaters in to drive.

This is an amusement which is apt to lead to an
interesting fight between two spears and the boar.
Three spears if steady must always win. In the
case of a single spear I am inclined to back the boar.
It, of course, depends on how severely the latter is
wounded.

I can give you no advice as to what to do beyond
urging you to hold your spear steady and not to
thrust. Your procedure with a wounded hog if you
find he has to be tackled on foot should differ from
your method of handling a wounded tiger in the
matter of waiting. Tackle a boar at once, give a tiger
several hours' law. The boar will be tired after his
run, and short of breath : every minute's delay is
in his favour. The tiger, on the contrary, has been

RIDING A PIG 71

wounded when quite fresh, and the longer he has
to stiffen and feel his wound the better. I give
you several experiences of my own in this book,
but I have never had to tackle an un wounded boar,
so I will give you a couple of instances which
happened to others.

My father, the late Major- General Wardrop,
going in on foot once, Poonah way, into a cactus
patch after an unwounded boar, was knocked over.
He was then charged again by the hog, but he hit
him on the snout with his clenched fist. The boar
went off, and my father escaped with a badly-
ripped arm.

A friend writes to me from Saugor :

Some years ago Colonel Manifold, I.M.S., was civil
surgeon at Rampur, and in charge of the gaol there, which,
at that time was cleared for cleaning and repairs. A boar,
one day, during severe floods, took shelter in the empty
gaol. The gaoler at once incarcerated him, and sent word
to Manifold who had a round with the boar single-handed,
inflicting a skin wound with a blunt native spear. He then
wired to Bareilly for his friend Maxwell in the 2nd Lancers.

Maxwell was delayed by duty for two days. Meanwhile,
Manifold fed the hog with much grain.

When Maxwell came the idea was to net the pig, and
take him to some rideable ground. All the exits from the
gaol, bar one, were blocked with stout barricades of scaffolds
and planks : each barricade was garrisoned with sepoys ;
and Kunjars spread a net across the remaining opening.

On being disturbed, the boar scattered one of the
barricades, garrison and all, like paper, and then went
through the net, also like paper. He then took cover in a
small inclosure from which all efforts to dislodge him were
fruitless.

The two spears with an orderly went to the entrance
while stones were thrown through the windows at the boar.
He soon charged and was missed by two spears, but impaled

72 MODERN PIG-STICKING

himself on the third, the lead hitting his chest and the
point coming out at his tail. The hand and thigh of the
third man was cut, and the man himself was dashed against
the wall. It was against the wall that the spear probably
struck when it was driven through the pig. The other
spears got up and the pig was quickly killed — a heavy
pig of 31 inches.

The above is an instance of an unblown boar being killed,
but he had only a few yards to get up steam in. His killers
did not suffer from the weight of a fully- developed charge.

Last month, here, a boar took cover in the Betel-nut
gardens. These are several acres in extent, roofed over
with trellis, only about six feet high, and divided into alley
ways by hedges of betel -nut, each alley way permitting
of the passage of one man only. In the betel gardens it is
always semi-twilight, and the lowness of the roof and the
narrowness of the alleys makes carrying and handling a
spear very awkward. A boar 31 J inches, 185 Ibs., had
been rattled out of the garden : after receiving a charge
of shot in the snout, he had lain up again in it, and nothing
would move him. Three spears entered the garden, and
saw, sixty yards away down an alley, the bloody snout of
the recumbent, but now thoroughly rested boar. Down
that alley went two spears, in single file, with the rear man
closely backing up the leader. The third spear came down
the next alley. Of the two spears in the boar's alley, one
had never seen a pig before, and had no idea that he would
charge. At thirty yards' distance the boar came at the
two spears, reaching them at top speed. The leading man
knelt ; his spear took the pig on the off shoulder, and
deflected him slightly, but he was knocked over by the
boar's shoulder. The boar, squeezing past him, took the
hinder man at mid-thigh (luckily not using his tushes),
and flung him to blazes, and then passed away, tearing
the spear out of his shoulder, but being considerably in-
capacitated by his wound. The third man in the next
alley was unable to help. After hunting him again by his
blood tracks and failing to find, these three left the betel
garden, just in time to find the boar had broken, and to

RIDING A PIG 73

be able to mount and be in at a very lively death. The
man whom the boar struck got off with a week in hospital
and a bad bruising — particularly lucky as the boar was
well tushed. The force of his rush was amazing. One
felt like meeting a run-away horse.

In the old days, about 1830, round Poonah
tc Sabring Hog " was a regular practice. I can tell
you nothing of my own knowledge about this, but
quote you an experience of Colonel Vaughan's with
a 250-lb. boar.

He writes :

My incident was as follows :

I was, with my adjutant, trumpeter, and orderly,
watching the leading squadron of the Regiment going to
water in the Nerbuddah after crossing the railway bridge
on the Khandwa-Mhow line. A large sounder of sows
and squeakers jumped up in the middle of the squadron
and made off upstream. I cantered along, followed by
my staff, abreast of them, and presently saw an old boar
some three hundred yards ahead of them. The river-banks
were intersected with small ravines so we scrambled along
by the water's edge, and gradually got level with the boar.
It was impossible ground to kill him in so we rode parallel
with him and shouted at him, and presently he turned
inland ; we gave him a good start, and then raced him. I
drew my sword and gave him the point in the loins as he
reached a cotton-field. As there was a nullah in front, I
galloped to the far side of the field to head him off, and
shouted to the trumpeter and orderly to each watch one
corner of the cultivation. Then Mitford and I drew the
field backwards and forwards like spaniels. The old boar
squatted close, but at last jumped up and charged me.
I whipped my horse round and received him with the point
of the sword which held him off. Mitford then gave him
a thrust, and he staggered and died. I measured the
grease marks on my sword 14 inches; it went into him
easier than a spear, and came out as easily. It was an
old pattern cavalry officer's sword ; the new pattern would

74 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

probably be more effective as it has a sharper and finer
point.

The various forms of riding pig, alone, in Tent
Clubs, and on trips are so often referred to in various
chapters that there is no need to say any more
about them. However you hunt, three methods
are open to you, beating a cover, beating on a line,
and " gooming " alone. All these are also described
elsewhere.

I must just add that I personally much prefer
hunting with a line to beating a cover. In the
latter there are inevitably tedious waits ; one is
taking no hand in the beating, and the country
between is generally easy going, often fields. In
Central India, and over the big cactus fences of
Guzerat, the last objection does not exist.

I prefer the beating in line through the long grass,
as in the churs of Bengal and all our Kadir lands.
There is no tiring waiting, there is a constant
excitement. The sea of grass, with its jhow, its
river-beds, and winding nullahs, calls forth in the
highest degree the boldness of the horse and the
hunting qualities of the rider. In

The yellow waving grasses, league long on either hand,
With cloudless skies and sun-dimmed eyes and burning river
sand,

there is a sense of freedom, of elation as boundless
and as healthful as the sea.

I will say no more on these subjects, but I cannot
close this subject without a brief allusion to the
kindred pursuits of polo and hunting. Com-
parisons in either case are impossible. But it may
be of interest to consider shortly some of the merits
and demerits of each.

v RIDING A PIG 75

The case of polo is simple. The finest game in
the world teaches obedience, discipline, organiza-
tion, unselfishness, nerve, riding, and quickness.
But does it necessarily teach a man good hands,
an eye for and a capacity for getting across a
country, a knowledge of the language and the
natives, and a capacity for fending for himself?
After all, one is a game, and the other a sport.
It is enough for the devotees of each to respect one
another.

Polo is, except as regards tournaments, a cheaper
amusement than pig -sticking. There are no re-
curring expenses of meets and of transport, and
casualties are less. There is a far better chance of
recovering or making money on the sale of animals.
At present regiments are largely esteemed by their
polo. Ponies they must and will have.

As regards hunting, I have written to several
of my friends who are as noticeably good to hounds
as I, personally, know them to be brilliant after
pig. With considerable trouble I have obtained
their consent to publishing their views.

Mr. P. U. Allen, I.C.S., Commissioner of the
Lucknow Division adopts rather a non-committal
attitude :

I think there is nothing on earth to beat the desperate
excitement of getting on terms with a big fighting pig,
before he makes his point, and then taking his charges until
he drops. When, after many years of pig-sticking, I spend
a winter hunting a big bank country in Ireland, it is an
intense enjoyment to me to apply my Indian experience
and try to take my own line.

Pig-sticking and hunting have this one thing in common,
that they make you rise superior to the elements. Some
of the happiest days of my life have been spent under an

76 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Indian sun when the thermometer registered 110 degrees
in the shade, while I can remember the positive pleasure of
a 12-mile hack home in the face of a blinding storm of sleet
and rain after a real good day's hunting.

Major R. Garden, 17th Lancers, writes :
The word best in your query has rather posed me. I
think that is a question which will never be settled. If
you ask me which require the greater skill and judgment,
I say fox-hunting, for the following reasons :

1. There are many ways open to go when the fox is
found : there is only one way to go when the pig is found.

2. You have a great thrusting crowd to compete with,
fox-hunting. You have three or four only pig-sticking,
and a great open country to get your start in.

3. Your brain, your eye, and hands are at work fox-
hunting sometimes for one hour on end. This entails
saving your horse. Pig-sticking they work for a few
minutes only, and the knowledge of the staying powers of
your horse is practically never called in question.

4. I think that a good man to hounds will unquestionably
be a good man after pig, and that in a very short space of
time.

But a good man after pig may never become a good man
to hounds.

This I think is the test which in my opinion shows fox-
hunting to require more skill and judgment than pig-
sticking.

Lieut.-Colonel W. A. Tilney, 17th Lancers, gives
his views as follows :

On the whole the best of hunting is preferable to the best
of pig-sticking.

In the former there are more incidents in the actual
chase, it lasts much longer, and you must always be using
your head and cunning.

Pig-sticking is a grand rush of a few minutes with every
thought concentrated on the pig, and none for your own
or your horse's safety. The horse must look after himself
and you.

RIDING A PIG 77

In hunting the rider's prowess is paramount, in pig-
sticking the rider must leave things chiefly to his horse.

Major F. W. Mackenzie, R.F.A., writes :

Before trying in any way to compare " fox-hunting "
with " pig-sticking," one must at once put out of court
all forms of " competition pig-sticking " as fox-hunting is
a sport pure and simple with no element of competition
in it.

Against this it may be argued that the spirit of com-
petition does enter into fox-hunting in as much as men try
to be up first ; but among the best this is really the desire
to be in at the death, not to beat any individual.

I will therefore confine myself to a few remarks on
pig-sticking as done in the lonely jungles of Bengal, as
against fox-hunting with a wild sporting pack in Ireland.

To begin with the former, there is the start in the early
morning writh, at the most, three spears in all. A small line
of five elephants, with lead horses filling up the gaps. Grass
and jhow jungle as far as the eye can see, broken up by
small streams, many of them with steep sides covered with
jungle, and heavy muddy bottoms, clumps of thick wood
dotted about, and the hills of Nepal as a background to all.

Nothing is to be heard but the swish of the elephants
tramping through the grass, when in a second this peaceful
scene is changed to one of wild excitement by the time-
honoured cry of " Wuh Jata " (there he goes), and right
enough, an old boar is viewed stealing away on the right.
The three spears are off in hot pursuit. First the chase
leads across a stream, then half a mile burst in the grass, a
sharp jink, and back to the stream again, this time banks
lined with heavy jungle — one man across — one upstream —
one down. When, after a few minutes' suspense, there is a
wild halloa forrard on the far side, and again we get on
terms — but there are only two spears now, for one is upside
down in the stream. A hundred yards short of a thick
clump the gallant boar, feeling he cannot reach cover, whips
round and charges home. And so on through a long day —
no two hunts, no two falls, no two cuts the same ; then

78 MODERN PIG-STICKING

home to camp at sunset, tired and weary, with five good
boar accounted for and at peace with all the world.

And now for the latter :

A morning, clearing after a wet night, a gentle breeze
from the south-west, a steep hillside crowned with gorse,
and below, mile upon mile of grass country fenced with big
sound banks and stone walls. A small field, and hounds
are quickly in covert. A whimper, a crash of music, a
short pause while every hound gathers on the line, and
then " gone away " from the lower side of the covert — a
wild rush and scramble down the hillside, and the fields
fall gradually into their places, behind and on each side of
the flying pack.

Seven miles are covered, hounds are running almost
mute now, the few riders up are looking for easy places to
save tired horses when the pack with an eager cry fling up
their heads, as they run from scent to view — a seething
mass of black, white, and tan. The huntsman whoop, and
another stout fox has met his end. And now who shall
compare ?

One thing is certain, as fox-hunting is the best sport at
home, so is pig-sticking in India.

Pig-sticking is all in favour of youth — the environment
of the sport, and the inability of most of us to see red after a
certain age account for that. Whereas fox-hunting is a
game one hopes to carry on to the end, to see red would
only mean one saw but little else. What one loses with
youth, one should gain in knowledge and judgment.

To sum up, if only for the sake of the country, and the
hounds, I would give it to the old country.

A well-known cavalry soldier, after a season in
the Shires, wrote out to me last year, " It is very
good, but I feel I am sitting in the stalls at the
theatre. I long for a fighting boar."

I quote some further remarks, the views of a
man who is really good after pig, but lacks, he says,
the judgment necessary in one who aspires to be
in the first flight at home.

RIDING A PIG 79

He says that, given a horse that knows his job,
all that you need to do to hold your own after pig
is to make up your mind to leave his head alone,
and keep your eye on the pig. In crossing an
English or Irish country, the getting out of each
field presents a fresh problem, how and where to
have this fence, etc. A mistake in any one of your
decisions may cost you half the day's pleasure.

In a fast thing, with a big field out, you feel far
more jostled and hurried, at the start at any rate,
than in pig - sticking. You have the whole field
against you in getting a start. In pig -sticking
your heat and the pig are all helping you, if you
need help, to get over the country : it is only at
the end that the feeling of competition and anxiety
comes in.

He agrees with Major Garden's view that, owing
to its surroundings, you get more pleasure for the
time and money spent out of fox-hunting than pig-
sticking, but there is no denying the fierce joy of
a spear in hand and a boar in front with the faint
swish of the grass behind to tell you that your heat
just can't quite get there.

Another good man to pig and hounds, to whom
I sent these remarks, writes :

I am certain that hunting wants more skill and judgment.
On the other hand, I make no question that pig-sticking
is a higher test of horsemanship. I have seen real good men
to hounds who were not Al horsemen, but cannot think
of a really first- flight pig-sticker who is not a really good
horseman.

Speaking from the pig-sticking point of view,
I venture to make one or two remarks on all these
views.

I quite agree with the writers as regards their

80 MODERN PIG-STICKING

own premises, but I am not sure they have not
omitted certain points. They dwell on the hunting
and riding a pig, but they make little mention of
the fight at the end — the reckless charge of an
angry boar which is surely the cream of the whole
sport. Does Major Garden make enough allowance
for the skill needed in locating, hunting, and
killing a pig, single-handed or with a friend in
unknown country ? Major Mackenzie knocks out
all element of competition. He is in accordance
with the accepted traditions of the sport as laid
down in every book on the subject that I have read.

Yet I remember comrades,
Old playmates on new seas,

when he and I were exploring new country, and
one of my greatest joys used to be a jostle with
him. That I seldom won did not lessen the pleasure.

And there are two facts in pig-sticking which I
have never known disproved.

Firstly, that more men comparatively go well
to hounds than to pig. In sixteen years' fairly hard
pig-sticking, I cannot count as numerous the men
absolutely brilliant all round in every branch of
this sport.

And the other fact is, that men hunt with hounds
and go well up to quite an advanced age. I have
not seen five men of forty, and only two of forty-five,
who were real flyers pig-sticking. I used to put
thirty-five years as a limit to a man's pig-sticking
even moderately. But I have unluckily been
compelled to change my views. Does this mean
that pig-sticking makes a greater demand on nerve
than hunting ? I admit that a large fence with a
tired horse, and no knowledge of what lies beyond,

RIDING A PIG 81

terrifies me even more than a blind country pig-
sticking.

The truth is, you cannot make comparisons. A
nameless friend is right in preferring the home
surroundings, the climate, the scenery, the long
hack home in the cold, and " the warm hearth-
stone," when you enjoy tea and bath, and think
the day over.

For myself, whether I am after pig, tiger, bison,
or snipe, I think each best at the time. Yet I know
in my heart that to me nothing can equal the hunt
of a flying boar with, if great luck so will, the thunder
of feet behind, and the whole of wide, wild Asia
before me to counterbalance the pleasant surround-
ings of an English hunt.

CHAPTER VI

HUNTING ALONE

MY own experience of hunting alone has been an
odd pig in the Dekhan and Central India, a con-
siderable number wherever met during the time I
have been in Northern India, and two trips of a
fortnight each at certain places near the Terai,
where I had excellent sport.

Hunting alone is a charming sport. You are
generally in unknown country, you have to study
the ground and use your utmost pig-craft to fore-
cast the hog's run and the point he will make.
There is the certainty of a fighting pig. In oft days
there is a joy in reconnoitring the country, and in
studying beats, drinking-places, and tracks.

I have, however, little faith in the tracking powers
of any white man. Even my friend Mr. Clutterbuck,
of the Imperial Forest Service, skilled tracker
though he be, would, I believe, be the last to claim
an equality with the Gonds and Bhils of Central
India, or the wild jungle men of the south.

The great drawback to hunting alone is the
expense. This is inevitable, for it all falls on one
man. And I find myself slow in company after hunt-
ing alone. One has been doing careful, deliberate
hunting, pulling up to the hog's pace in any but
the lightest cover, and taking ample time to give

82

CHAP, vi HUNTING ALONE 83

a spear. I also find in myself, to my shame, a
tendency, when alone, to regard any difficult ground
as bad ground and go easy, thereby losing a pig
that I would certainly never have done had I been
in company.

Before a man has any right to consider himself
no longer a novice, he should have killed one or two
boar alone. Nothing else will give him the requisite
confidence in his horse, his weapon, and himself.

When alone on my trips, my dog Baskerville,
half bulldog and half foxhound, eighty pounds of
fighting bone and muscle, was my constant com-
panion. He was too heavy to keep up in a run,
but was nearly always in at the death, following
by scent and ear. He was never badly cut by a
boar, though he ran many chances.

Hunting with my brother-in-law, Major, now
Colonel, Short, R.H.A., while exploring unknown
country, we put up a 32 -inch boar, who ran in
circles. The boar had not been speared when
Baskerville got up and made his usual dart for the
off ear. He missed the ear, and I thought he would
be killed ; but in his bound he turned half over,
seized the hog by the snout, and then hung on till
his foe was killed. He was untouched, but very
sore. It was the finest performance I have ever
seen.

Once, when out with Baskerville near Delhi, I
came round a corner of ground and found him
seated in a little circle with two large wolves. All
three were on their hunkers, facing inwards, noses
almost touching. When I appeared the wolves
bolted, and Baskerville lumbered after them in a
make-believe pursuit.

Poor old hound, he was never beaten in a fight.

84 MODERN PIG-STICKING

As gentle with my mother and myself as he was
fierce with others, he will surely " give us joyous
greeting."

I will give you an account of one or two runs,
and have done. The first person, in describing
hunting alone, is apt to become monotonous.

When you hunt alone, carry a knife, and have a
syce riding after you with a spear. The second
horse may be useful, too, if you have had a fall.

I speared a fair hog once, and broke my spear
in his back. He took refuge in a small stream
about eighteen inches deep and a few feet wide,
and stopped there. We had come over a roughish
country, and my syce had fallen. The hog would
not face the open again, nor could I get at him to
use my butt. We must have stayed there over an
hour before I got a spear up. During this time the
pig made frequent feints at me, and I much wished
that, failing a spear, I had a camera.

I put up a good boar, a few months ago, out of a
wheat crop, who took a line down a lane towards
some dak jungle. The lane ran between mud walls,
and had a deepish ditch on either side. The hog got
into the left ditch on my near side, where I could
not touch him, and threatened to make good his
point ; so I got into the ditch too and tent-pegged
at him. My horse, a good 'un, Hullucky Bill,
flew the pig, and I broke my spear just below the
head in his back as we leaped him. From this, and
from Hullucky's hind feet on his head, the hog fell,
but recovered and scrambled away to the side.

I had no knife and no second horse. That
infernal boar went steadily on at a slow trot, sore
hurt, but always getting away from my men, who

\

HUNTING ALONE 85

were running up with a spare spear. I had only
the shaft and head of my spear left, a long clumsy
weapon. Though I had a pocket-knife, I stupidly
did not cut off a couple of feet of the bamboo. Had
I done this I should have had a useful club, and
would doubtless have killed the hog with blows on
the head, as I did once before.

To kill with the lead you must hit the boar on
the side of the face at right angles as he charges.
You can hit either forward or backwards ; it
requires accurate timing. You must gallop, and
if you make a mess of it you have the hog into you.
It is useless to gallop from the rear : you must cross.

It was the best part of an hour before I got a
spear up. The boar charged, at first very angrily,
every time I crossed him. He charged many times,
but with my clumsy club I missed him. Hullucky
had some close shaves, and twice bucked heavily
with the boar underneath him. Presently I got
the hang of the thing, and gave the boar several
staggerers ; I then knocked him over twice. After
this he would not face me again, but made half-
charges and jinked. He laid down in wet wheat
once, while I yelled myself hoarse, but could get
no sign of a spear. I then took the boar through
some small sugar-cane patches, and at last lost him
in a big field of the same. I guarded quietly, got
a spear, and felt master of the situation.

In about half an hour the boar broke on the far
side of me. I galloped round, but he heard and
turned sharp into another mass of sugar-cane. I
was hard on his tail, and had time to have killed
him before he reached it, but, to my disgust,
Hullucky funked and would riot go near.

I made a cast for'ard, and took post half a mile

86 MODERN PIG-STICKING

away on a small canal, where I felt sure the boar
must come for water. After a wait, just at dusk,
I saw my friend come down. He was several
hundred yards away. I galloped to him, but he
heard the noise and staggered up the bank. In the
dark I never found him, nor did I ever see him again,
though I searched for a week. I fear he 'must have
died. Poor beast, he and his hunt have haunted
me in my dreams.

Hullucky was an unusually bold horse. I
suppose the frequent charges, his narrow escapes,
and my yelling for a spear upset him. An excited
rider is the devil. I rode Hullucky in the Kadir Cup
a fortnight later. But he funked, and was beaten
by a better man, but a possibly inferior horse that
had had no part in the run. It took him a month
to get right, but I am glad to say he has killed
several pig since in his old form.

With a knife like Baldock's (see chapter on
" Gear ") I should have had no trouble.

One of the best hunts I ever had lasted two
minutes. A big pig had been giving trouble, killing
one man and wounding others. I was at lunch
with Sir George Luck, then Inspector -General of
Cavalry, when I got word from my shikaries that
they had marked him down. I made hasty excuses,
biked to my house, got the first available horse, and
away. I found my men watching a field of wheat and
mustard, hip high. As soon as the line started the
boar got up in the middle of the field and ran along,
bounding above the crop to see what was happening.
His big black mass above the yellow and green crop
looked well. He saw me at once, and came straight
at me. I met the charge with, I thought, a rotten

KURERA AND THE LAME BOAR.

MORNING STAR.

To face page 87.

HUNTING ALONE 87

spear, for my horse (a cur who later broke his leg)
shied away. The boar remained still, a dark mass
in the crop. The idea of fighting this hog on foot
was repugnant to me. I got my horse up with some
persuasion, but I found the pig stone dead ; the
spear had broken his spine. He had a game leg,
and I give his photo.

Some years ago I had a hunt of the Meerut Tent
Club all to myself. I had advertised the meet,
sent out camp, and made all arrangements. Two
or three spears failed me at the last, so, sooner than
disappoint the shikaries, I went alone, and lived in
considerable luxury with big tent, ice, and the full
staff. This comfort was the more welcome as it
was the hottest season of the year.

On starting the first day in thick jhow I had a
coolie badly ripped by a boar before we had been
going two minutes. After doctoring this man, I
spent the rest of the day in fruitlessly riding many
pig, all of whom were too good for me in the heavy
jhow. I stubbed one horse, and got back to camp
at noon content, but black from the burnt jhow,
with various bits of skin chipped off by the boughs,
and with my other three horses all tired out.

The next morning I beat a patch of grass about
half a mile long with an awkward winding nullah
running through the middle of it. We soon put
up a good boar, and I speared him heavily in a
thick patch on the edge of the nullah, which was
quite dry. He then got up the bank and stood
under a low babul tree with overspreading branches.
I waited watching until in a short time the
shikaries on their camels came up with spare spears.
I then rode on to the boar, trying to entice him to

88 MODERN PIG-STICKING

charge, for the overhanging babul thorns were so
thick I could not get at him. But the pig would
not leave his cover, and simply faced me as I circled
round him. I then made the shikaries work round
the far side, hoping that they would distract him
while I got a good spear on foot from his rear.
Here again I was foiled, for the pig knew where the
danger was, and never took his eyes off me. Baboo
and I then went in on foot and killed him.

I hunted no more that day. Both my horses
and myself were tired and sore from the previous
day's gruelling.

On the third day we beat some low sporting
looking grass and drew it blank. We then came to
a straggling thorn bagh which was separated from
a similar but thicker bagh by a deep and winding
stream full of reeds. The two baghs were about a
hundred yards apart. There were only two fords
to the stream, distant about quarter of a mile from
each other.

On beating the bagh a pig at once broke, and,
crossing the stream, took a line, not, as I expected,
for the other thorn bagh, but over open country to
a long grove of palm trees a mile away. I at once
went to the lower ford, but lost my bearings, and
was some time in crossing. I could then see no
signs of the pig. However, obeying frantic screams
of look-out men in trees, I cast for'ard half a mile,
and there beheld the pig pursued by Baboo on his
camel, travelling as fast as they knew how. Baboo
with arms outstretched, skirts flying, pugri streaming
in the wind, and his camel with great ungainly legs
flying in all directions, gave me a greater impression
of speed than anything I have ever seen.

I was riding Burt that day, a particularly

HUNTING ALONE

bold and gallant horse, and the handiest that I have
ever ridden. He was afterwards thrown carelessly
for a minor operation, and broke his pelvis, to my
lasting sorrow.

We caught the pig just before he reached the
palms. I had some difficulty in making Baboo
get out of the way. The pig was an evil fellow,
though of fair size — 31 inches, I think. I rode along-
side inviting his attack, but at first he would not
come in. However, I still rode alongside, edging
him so far from his point that he at last hardened
his heart and came in with a rush. My spear got
him fair in the side high up, he cantered on a few
yards with the blood pouring from his mouth and
nostrils, and then fell over dead without a groan.

I enjoyed this run much, but felt rather small
at being so badly left by Baboo, who had started
level with me and crossed by the upper ford.

Another pig was reported to be still in the bagh,
so I beat for him, staying this time on the palm
grove side of the stream. The pig broke, crossed
the stream, and, taking the big bagh en route, worked
his way down a strip of date palms, through some
scattered houses to the snipe jheel which runs all
along these parts, and which was still wet. Here
I killed him. Both the pig and horse were bogged,
but the pig felt it most.

This finished my little meet.

I will give you a short account of my best day
on my trips alone.

I had to wait till nearly ten o'clock before I could
get my coolies. It was the market day in the
country town five miles away, and most of the
inhabitants of the little hamlets had gone there.

90 MODERN PIG-STICKING

However, I was very happy in the lovely cold-
weather morning, pottering with a gun and trying
to shoot a partridge. My camp was on a little
bluff above a river, below which, on two sides, lay
the hunting grass, while behind stretched a maidan
where lived many buck. Baskerville and I used
to stalk them, generally from opposite directions ;
it amused him, and we never hurt the buck. The
photograph does not show the jungle well. It was
a lovely cover, and as I had already hunted it for
pig I did not mind disturbing it with a gun.

Some way behind the camp lay a deep winding
stream, and then a plain, five or six miles wide, in
which were a few crops, and every here and there
clumps of jungle, relics of the main forest which
had proved too stubborn for the clearer's axe. The
river on which my camp lay flowed along one side
of the plain. It had a small Kadir or bed, some-
times nearly a mile wide, overgrown with grass and
jhow, and in places remarkably rough under foot.
In the distance were the dark jungles of the Terai
and the foot-hills of the Himalayas.

At last the coolies arrived, and away we went,
a little cavalcade of three horses and some thirty
men, leaving the hound, who was lame from a
previous hunt, disconsolate in camp.

When we had crossed the stream we turned sharp
left for half a mile, and then beat some sugar-cane
on the banks. There was no crossing the stream,
it was too full of weeds. After considerable beating
three pig broke across the maidan some way off,
and got into low sugar-cane three-quarters of a mile
away. However, I got them out of this with the
help of a couple of local men and a dog. They took
a line left-handed to the river, and I killed the boar

BASKERVILLE.

CAMP NEAR TERAI.

To face page 90.

HUNTING ALONE 91

without event just as he was reaching the Kadir.
He was an indifferent pig. When I got back I
learnt that a big pig, the usual " biggest wot ever
was seen," had crossed the stream.

However, there was no good in greeting ; so
we moved on to our next place, three clumps of
jungle placed in the corners of a triangle each about
six hundred yards apart. I made sure we should
find pig there, for the many marks promised good
sport. But there was only one boar at home, a
nice pig who took two hours' hunting. The grass
between the patches was high, and he used to get
a long way before I saw him. He was very lame,
and I was furious with my shikari, who I thought
had shot him. At last he took a line over a dried-up
drainage cut and some broken tussocky ground,
where I caught him up and killed him after a pretty
scrap and some bad spearing. He broke my spear,
but I was able to get another at once. Half his
left shoulder had been shot away some days before ;
the wound had maggots in it, but would have healed.

We now gave the horses and coolies a rest. I
used to take out for tiffin, on this trip, only a stick
of chocolate. Books said it was sustaining.

After tiffin we worked down to the river and beat
the Kadir. The grass here had turned to light
jhow. I soon saw a big boar jogging on quietly
over an open patch about a hundred yards away.
I dashed after him and caught him just as he was
entering a belt of cover. He turned into me, and
I speared him at full speed, the merest touch. I
galloped on and wheeled sharp about. But the
hog was dead, speared through the heart.

I changed horses and went on for half an hour,
and then put up another nice boar, a smaller fellow,

92 MODERN PIG-STICKING

but very black, and with curly tushes. I had to
take him slow as the country was thicker. Suddenly
he jinked right-handed from me and, wheeling about,
charged with his full force. He gave me a perfect
opportunity : the spear went clean through his
lungs and broke, turning him over. I went on and
wheeled in time to see the gallant beast scramble
to his legs, stand swaying from side to side with the
blood pouring out of his mouth, and then fall over
dead.

I was pleased at these two pig.

We went on for another hour but did no good.
I rode one boar, but the country, now near the hills,
was poisonous, and, I admit with shame, I did not
go, as I ought to have. There only remained a
quiet trek of some miles back to camp, talking to
the men, thinking the day over, revelling in the air
and scenery, knowing how good it all was.

When I got back to camp, there was the comfort
of a hot tub, a brushwood fire, and the always
grateful whisky and tea ; while the hound, as was
ever his wont, would have first a sup of tea and then
hobble over to the pig, walk round them, sniff at
them, and even nozzle them in all dignity, and
then slowly hobble back to me, his old tail wagging
all the while.

An attractive way of hunting alone is to go out
" gooming " in the early dawn on the line a pig
will take returning from feeding. I always do this
when I can, and have had pleasant days and some
good sport. I used to do this regularly when out
at camp at Pur, forty miles north of Meerut, but I
never killed a pig there, for the ravines beat me.
I went as much for the scenery as anything. Here,

HUNTING ALONE 93

when you ride in the bitter cold to the old tower
on the low hills and see the dawn rise, you thank
God for being alive.

Gradually the scene unfolds itself. The vast
sea of yellow grass, interspersed with the white
feathers and reeds of the j heels lies before you.
Farther is the faint line of the sub-Himalayan
forests, and far, far beyond spreads the long horizon
of giant snowy mountains standing clear and sharp
as their peaks catch the light of the rising sun.

It was here that my friend Mr. (now Major)
D. Forman, R.H.A., killed his tiger. I give the
true version, for there are many stories of this.

Forman and I were subalterns in "H," R.H.A.,
in camp here in 1899. My shikaries reported two
tigers in one of the j heels I have mentioned.
People laughed at me in Mess, for our shell were
daily going all over this Kadir. However, I tied
up, and getting no kill, we sat up one night, as usual,
over live buffaloes.

Through the jheel, where we believed the
tigers to be, ran a little stream hedged in on either
side by swampy grass and narkul taller than a
man. Occasionally the stream opened to a little
clearing with a low sandy beach. In one of these
was Forman's pit roofed over with branches, grass,
and sand, for there were no trees. I was on the
low hills.

There was a full moon, a hard frost on the ground.
One of those wonderful North Indian nights :

When the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze
At midnight in the cold and frosty sky.

In the full of the night the tiger made a rush and
killed. Forman had a small bore magazine rifle
and a revolver. He fired and partially paralysed

94 MODERN PIG-STICKING

the tiger, for he never went thirty yards from the
spot. The bullet had gone through his loins about
an inch below the spine. Forman's rifle jammed in
the mechanism with the fine sand, and in spite of
his utmost efforts was of no more use in this affair.

The tiger, a big male, lay roaring, getting up and
falling down occasionally. The tigress came, and
the watcher in the pit could see her in the brilliant
moonlight licking the wounds of her stricken mate.
Presently Forman's desperate efforts to free his
rifle disturbed the tigress. She walked round the
pit growling, but made no effort to dig him out.
The hunter meanwhile sat in the corner, revolver
in hand, ready for eventualities. The tigress re-
turned to her mate and stayed with him until dawn.

Forman, when there was light enough, seeing
the coast clear of the tigress, crept out of his machdn
and advanced on the tiger. The tiger also advanced,
at a walk, on him. Forman emptied five barrels
of his revolver at the tiger without effect. We
afterwards dug four bullets out of his cheek, neck,
and chest. He then hurled his revolver at the tiger
and fled.

I had marched on the sound of firing, and met
Forman retiring. We made a detour so as to have
the open stream between us and the tiger. He
must have heard us, for as we stepped out of the
rushes he was in the water, about fifteen yards away,
coming towards us very slowly and painfully, poor
beast.

This fine angry tiger, up to his elbows in the
stream, with the background of white sand and dark
green reeds, and the yellow dawn above, made a
picture which is as vivid with me now as when I
saw it.

HUNTING ALONE

95

I shot the tiger, a fine male 9 feet 6 inches. I
ran no risk whatever ; but Forman's show, whether
you think of what he saw, or what he did, has always
seemed to me good.

The tigress lived some years. She was missed
from a tree. Then Mr. Faunthorpe, I.C.S., certainly
the best shot in India from an elephant, and probably
on foot too, beat for her in a patch of grass near
where her mate was killed. She dodged the line
for hours, but, getting bored, climbed on to a stack
of grass bundles to see how the hunt went. Faun-
thorpe aimed at her for about two minutes while
his elephant swayed ; at last he got a bead he was
satisfied with, and knocked her over, stone dead,
at a distance of over 200 yards.

CHAPTER VII

DAYS WITH THE MEERUT TENT CLUB

I WILL try and give you an idea of a few days'
sport at ordinary meets of one of the great Indian
hunts. I have written of some days at length :
the accounts of the other days are for the most
part brief extracts from the Meerut Tent Club Log.
The short accounts, as written at the time, will
show you everything better than any words of mine.

I have chosen days on which various incidents
happened. Do not think therefrom that we always
kill panther, slay countless hog, ride heroically, or
fall for ever on our heads. The times when we
kill few pig or many pig without incident are
numerous ; the long blank days are not unknown.
But of such I do not write. I need be no subtle
craftsman to show you a blank canvas and call it
a picture ; although I always remember the Board
of Examiners at Calcutta. I was examining a
man in Hindustani. He, finding the questions
uncongenial, submitted a blank paper, which I duly
forwarded. I was asked by the Board for my
reasons for not sending with the candidate's paper
a certificate that he had had no help in doing it.

I will describe to you first a day's beating a
cover, and then I will be quit of it ; for you know
my views on this subject.

96

n THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 97

The scene is Bussundpur Bagh, one of our few
covers in the Kadir. There are nine spears out.
Coolies have been collecting since midnight with
the help of a full moon, and we start beating as
dawn breaks.

The bagh is a fine jungle four hundred yards long
and two hundred yards wide. Everywhere are
great trees with dense undergrowth at foot of
thorns and bussoonta beloved of tiger. In the heart
of it stand some old pillars and carvings. Here,

Where some ancient temple in solitude decays,

is a stronghold of pig and panther. The bagh
stands on a little rise sloping gradually to an en-
circling nullah, whence stretches a mile of turf to
the main pig jungle of jhow and grass.

Two heats are generally on the nullah, and a
third on a knoll, a continuation of the bagh itself.
From the nullah it is good to look over the quiet
waters of the stream and the green slope up to
the dark foliage of the bagh with the snowy moun-
tains in the distance.

I am with P and S, both good men and well
mounted. We have drawn our post on the knoll.
Pig for us must either run along the uplands on
our side, or cross the nullah. If they are in our
territory we will also cross and hunt them over
the turf. We command the plain below us, but in
the dim haze of dawn can see little save the dust
of the village cattle as they go to graze.

Gradually the din of the beat grows stronger.
We can hear the harsh cry of the peacock, and see
jackals sneak away. Presently, far away we see the
farthest heat riding. A pig has swum the nullah,
and we can just distinguish him with Lochinvar

98 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

in close pursuit. Possibly he is a good boar ; for
the cunning old stagers sometimes sneak off at once,
though more often they wait to the bitter end.

Now is our turn, for, as we watch, a sounder have
crept out under our noses, crossed the stream, and
gone away on the maidan. We run to our horses,
trot quietly over the ford, line up, and then away
we race with the one boar of the sounder jogging
some three hundred yards ahead. We have short-
ened the distance to half before he grasps the
situation. With one turn of his wicked old head
he, too, is in full stride. But he has left it too
late, and we collar him some two hundred yards
from his point, the heavy grass. We are all nearly
abreast. With a sharp jink the boar avoids the
leading horseman, and, turning sharp right, crosses
S's near fore and brings him down. Hog, horse,
and man fly headlong. When the dust clears we
see S pinned under his horse, who is lying, knocked
out, tail on to the pig. The pig is standing looking
at them both, shaking his head, bewildered and
angry, and things look awkward for S. P is near
S's horse's head, and sees that the only thing is to
jump off, and run to help on foot. This he does
with his customary quickness ; but the hog with one
glance at his fallen foe, disdains him, and seeing
me coming up on the right, charges home. Neither
horse nor hog flinch. The spear goes deep into
his back, and the tough shaft breaks like splintered
matchwood. But the fight is not over, for the
gallant half-paralyzed beast cuts again and again
at P before he falls with a sob, dead, on his side.
S's horse is lame, and his own leg badly swollen,
but he can hunt. We fix him up, and go back to
our knoll.

VII

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 99

As we go we see the centre watching a light boar
break. They give him law enough, and then ride.
Three good men, and three of the best horses at
the meet, the result of an argument the previous
evening. As pretty a sight as you may wish to see
as they fly past us.

They come with the roar of the sullen surf

On the bar of a storm-girt bay.
Like muffled drums on the sounding turf

Their hoof-beats echo away.

No hunt can last at this pace. The pig swerves
slightly to the left where C and Ugly are to the
front, as ever. They seize their opportunity, and
the run is soon over.

While we change our horses on the knoll we see
two more boar run almost straight into the arms
of the same heat as they return. Two spears tackle
one pig, the third the other. The former is soon
accounted for, but the latter is a master of tactics.
Whenever his pursuer gets within spearing distance
he throws himself on his side out of reach of the spear,
picks himself up at once, and darts off at an angle
under the horse's tail as he goes by. Three times
this happens before they disappear into the grass.
Later a single figure appears, telling the tale of a
disconsolate rider and a deservedly successful pig.

The far heat seemed to be riding, but we have
no time to watch, for our luck is still in, and we have
two more runs in rapid succession. The first calls for
no remark. In the second hunt we are after a fine
pig of 32 or 33 inches, the master boar. Instead of
crossing the nullah he sneaks out towards the up-
lands on our left. We have to give him law, or he
would break back ; and a heavy boar like this will

100 MODERN PIG-STICKING

not break twice. We know his tactics : two of us
ride him, while the third rides parallel on the left by
the nullah. After a hot run of a quarter of a mile,
the hog turns sharp left down to the nullah, which
has broadened here to wide jheel and swamp. The
two spears thunder behind him, while the third,
on the left, tries to take him broadside on. But
the effort is miscalculated : the hog pauses just
enough to let the broadside man pass him, and then
with a swerve and a couple of bounds has reached
the jheel and safety.

Where a hog is making a point and there is a
chance of intercepting him, the above method is
worth trying. But the broadside man must take
chances ; he must time his pace exactly so as to
catch the hog broadside on, and not over-shoot
him as in this case. Also, if the other spears are
hot on the pig, he runs a good chance of giving a
dangerous foul across them. It is not a good
manoeuvre for novices.

This is the end of our sport ; for, though there
are long waits, and other pig break, none do so to us.
The signal is made that all is over, and the line
comes out, dripping with sweat, scratched, and
tired. Harder work this for the coolies than the
open country.

High noon is now on us as we leave the bagh
and the plain shimmering in the sun, and get back
to grateful shade, tub, and breakfast. We talk
over the runs, and hear the fortunes of others, and
of the vile behaviour of one pig who enticed his
hunters into a melon bed, and so on to their heads,
and went his way rejoicing.

So the day ends with ten good pig, and one more
happy memory.

vii THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 101

I must now try to give you an example of our
more usual hunting " on the line."

We are camped in February at Kulpur in a
mango bagh, low down in the Kadir on the edge
of Jharhina Jheel. There has been heavy rain the
day before, so we are not astonished on waking to
find ourselves enveloped in a cold clinging white
mist that make a toilet in the open none too
pleasant. However, breakfast and a blazing fire
in the tent enable us to face the delay necessary
before the fog can lift. At last, at about 8.30,
we can dimly see the red orange-like sun trying to
come out, so we send on our horses and the line,
while we give ourselves one final warming at the
fire before starting.

Our way lies for a couple of miles over an open
maidan which holds a few scattered sugar-cane
fields. At one of these fields we find the line — an
unexpected halt, for our rendezvous is another
mile farther on. Puran has seen a sounder cross in
the mist and disappear into the crop. We beat
it at once, but though the sounder breaks no
rideable boar at first appears. While we are
resuming our road there is a sudden hooroosh from
the rear of the field, and at once some eight spears
can be seen in hot pursuit of a small and disreput-
able hog, while our master, with many expressions
of disgust, surveys the scene with Napoleonic dis-
favour. The wretched hog, though he runs and
jinks and fights for all he is worth, has of course
no chance and is quickly slain. The field then,
like naughty boys, gather to hear the winged words
of the master, " mobbing — disgraceful — murder,"
and the like. Having been on a slow horse myself,
and never in the hunt, I venture to plead that I was

102 MODERN PIG-STICKING

only spectating ; but my excuses are received with
the contempt they deserve.

Having pacified our Hon. Sec., we once more
continue our way, and reach the hunting-ground,
a strip of mimosa a mile long and a quarter of a
mile broad bordering the banks of a bourrh gunga.

The grass here grows in tufts and patches, some
of them fifteen yards in diameter, almost im-
penetrable, and forming a famous lying ground for
pig. Apart from sport, the beat is not devoid of
charm. The thickness of the jungle renders the
progress of the line slow. We have ample time to
enjoy the scenery, the deep blue sky, the yellow
grass with its palm-trees and its thorns, and the
quiet stream on our right with its silky reeds and
silent pools, their surface, here broken into ever-
widening ripples as a mugger sinks noiselessly, or
there churned into violent commotion as some big
duck rises hurriedly and flies quacking away.
Pervading all is the faint sweet smell of the mimosa's
golden flowers. Rightly is it called " Mimosa
Land."

Sport here is disappointing. On our left they
run a pig which turns out to be a sow, while the
heat across the stream ride a hog who has crossed
far for'ard, giving them only a momentary glimpse
of him. They have a long gallop, but never find
him. Such luck as there is befalls us in the centre
above the stream. We put up a fair pig who dodges
in and out of the bushes on the edge of the water
but is too stupid to cross. He fights well, though
sadly hampered by the thickness of the jungle, and
so dies.

We all then cross by a ghat, one member causing
some amusement as his horse dives in the deepest

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 103

part, compelling his rider to wade up to his neck
through the icy water.

On re-forming line we are in the typical grass
hunting country, one long line of yellow grass, chest
high, with palms and tufts of jhow stretching to
the horizon, while on our left runs the ever-present
bourrh gunga. At our feet in the open spaces lie
pools of water from the recent rain, reflecting the
blue sky and looking uncomfortably slippery. Not
a sound can be heard but the quiet swish of the
coolies. Nothing but the eager faces of the riders
scanning the country and the occasional fretting
of a high-strung horse betokens the prospect of
immediate sport.

Suddenly the calm is broken by a shout from
some beaters on the left, and a sharp yelp from the
shikari on the nearest camel, " Sahib, soor beitha."
They have found a pig squatting. We pull up and
watch the nearest heat canter up and beat the patch
with their spears. There is an instant commotion,
and then away they go at top speed, a pretty sight.
A short run it must be, starting, as they do, at this
pace on the boar's tail. Z on his good bay has the
advantage, and makes the running, but a jink
favours Y, and the two ride neck and neck. A third
jink helps little D, and he shoots in between the
astonished pair and their pig, getting the spear,
while Z catches his hind legs in a hole, and comes
down spread-eagled. A dangerous foul, my friend,
if there ever was one. However, D explains that
he could not hold his horse, a new one borrowed
from Lucknow ; and it only remains for the heat
to condole with him on his horse.

But our master has no ears for the tale, and
signals his line on. In a little time we see Puran

104 MODERN PIG-STICKING

stand in his stirrups, and point his hand, and give
the great cry, " woh-h-h jata," as he views a pig
half a mile away. We and the right dash out
together, but it is obviously their hunt, so we pull
up and watch our friends. Two of them are old
hands, the third is a youngster. It is interesting
to watch the latter as he gallops blindly on, wild
with excitement, but seeing nothing. The other
two are riding at a fast canter, scanning the country,
and turning sometimes a hurried glance back to
Puran for fresh signals as to the hog's line. Ap-
parently they both view together, for we hear two
faint yells, and see two spears both pointing,
though in different directions. There are two pig
afoot. Alas, the horizontal spear shows before
long that one is a sow. The other spear and the
boy by their actions and circling evidently have a
good ride and a determined fighter.

Pig are plentiful, though for the present not much
in our way. The right have hardly remounted
when they are again signalled forward. After a
long hunt they pick up their pig, only to lose him
shortly after as they swing left-handed to the jheel.
But the left, led by the old spear X, have been
backing them up, expecting this, and we see X
suddenly riding hard. It is a strong heat ; they
are all up, and it is very good to see the horses
drop about a foot in height as they open from a hand
canter to full gallop. They kill their hog, a fine
one, and angry ; and we hear later from X that,
as he was backing up the right, he first saw for a
fraction of a second a faint flash of black above the
grass. It might have been, and was exactly like,
one of these low-flying king crows. However, it
was enough to set X in full gallop : a matter of

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 105

quick sight and brain. Bad luck on the boar, but,
to use the touching Indian phrase, " Uska wakt
agya tha " (his time had come).

Once again the line goes on. Our master has
no spears ahead, for the line is quiet and pig are
lying well. For a time we have calm, broken only
by an occasional sow or squeaker who depart with
more noise than many a boar.

The line now wheels to Bhugwanpur, and sport
once more begins. It is curious how often a wheel
means a change of sport. Is it simply a change of
country and aspect, or is it more ? A fine hog
gets up at my feet with a " woof," sending two
coolies flying. The other spears are some way off.
I am riding a young horse, just made, and still
without a name. He remembers every lesson,
travels very fast, and shows that he has that in-
valuable gift, which none may teach, of following
a pig on his own without any need of reins or leg.
With the start I get, it is not a fair hunt for the
others, yet it is a run that my memory holds dear,
and you will forgive me, reader, that, in my pride,
standing over the dead boar, I called my horse
" At Last."

As we walk back to the advancing line we see
the right once more riding another nice boar.
Very pleasant it is to watch the leading man as he
sails noiselessly through the grass, horse and man
at one, smooth, silent, and effortless, as it were a
shadow passing on a screen. But the fates are not
ever kind, for horse and man come down with a
heavy fall, and the others lose the pig.

After sewing up N's eye, and seeing that the
coolies are not really the worse for our boar, we
start again, and our heat are soon riding a heavy

106 MODERN PIG-STICKING

pig. He takes a straight line back through the line
to the bourrh gunga, and owing to some unhandy
horses gets unscathed to the water's edge. Here
one of our number rides for a charge straight across
him and drops him with a spear through the chest
within six feet of the swamp and safety, a close
thing.

One more pig, a poor one, falls to the left, and
then we close the day, and have a late tiffin under
Bhugwanpur tree, while the coolies enjoy their
gram and sugar, and the thoughts of the coming
feast of seven pig.

N and I do a couple of hours black partridge
shooting, beating the sugar-cane, and working the
grass round the mustard fields, which are ablaze
with yellow blossom, and delicious with their clean
and acrid smell. I am shooting badly, but N hits
clean and true, and I enjoy seeing the splendid old
blacks come sailing, black wings outspread and
great white eye circles staring, only to crumple into
a mass of feathers in the air.

Evening shadows have grown long, and a globe
of yellow gold, the Indian moon at its full, has
appeared over the horizon, and lights us on our
path as we recross the ghat and make our way to
the lights of the distant camp.

I will now give you extracts from the log of a
five-day meet in our southern country :

February 18, 1905.— Present : Fail, A.V.C. ; Johnston-
Stewart, H.L.I. ; White, Kincaid-Smith, M'Cullum, 4th
Hussars ; Nixon, Smith, Poston, Wheatly, Parsons, R.H. A. ;
and the Hon. Sec.

First blood to Smith, who, with Parsons, killed a lynx.
After an hour's steady beating put up a boar, who broke

-

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 107

back. He was all for fighting, and should have cut several
of us. But he was handicapped by his tushes, one of which
was 12 inches long. He cut Fail in the end, and with two
broken spears in him, died as a hog should. The right
then beat out a heavy pig, much to his disgust, and slew
him after a short run. After this, we ran a sow and then
a boar, whom we killed after he had cut White's horse
badly. Stewart's pony came to grief over a blind well
after clearing it cleverly.

Sport after lunch was like the curate's egg. Heats
scattered to the four winds, pursuing pig. Two boar were
brought to book, and at least one more got off unhunted.
Rain in evening. All well except that Poston would skin
lynx in mess-tent just before dinner.

February 19. — A day of regrets and incidents, including
those to five boar and one sow. A boar was put up almost
at once, was speared by Kincaid-Smith, and then lost.
White, Stewart, Poston, and the Hon. Sec. then ran a nice
boar. The last named, when almost on terms, fell pleasantly
enough, and being sent to camp on a charpoy, hunted no
more for five weeks. White unselfishly stopped. The
others went on and killed. After a little delay, when the
line restarted, three boar were afoot. One got away, one
was killed by Stewart and White, and one fell to Poston
and others. Again did luck and a pig favour this heat,
but grunting defiance he fled, and was seen no more.
After this, four more boar were ridden and lost. The grass
was high and difficult, and the hunting none too good.

After tiffin a pig was soon viewed away. The centre,
with the hot blood of youth and a bottle of beer coursing
in their veins, pursued. Suddenly Stewart's " J.P.," a good
horse and true, pulled up dead lame. Shoulder dislocated
and broken. Fail, as ever, did all he could, but to no avail,
and the good horse had to be shot. After this a small boar
was killed, and then a big one, but not until he had taken
his hunters through Dhubarsi bagh and thorns galore.
A few sows and a sad mistake (sow, sixteen rupees) closed
the day. One of good sport mostly made a mess of.

February 20. — Hon. Sec. still sick in mind and body.

108 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Kincaid-Smith and Fail had gone in. Smith, White, and
Poston in centre soon got away after a pig. White led at
a good pace and speared. The boar got into thick grass,
cut Kincaid-Smith' s horse, whom White was riding, broke
a tush, and presently died. A little later these gentlemen
again got away. White made the running and speared.
The pig fought well, and was finally killed by a good spear
which made him spurt blood like a whale. After riding
a small pig and a sow the centre ran two good pig into
thick grass by jheel. The right rode up to help, and
Parsons and Thompson fell heavily.

A blank afternoon till near close of day, when a good
boar got up on the right. Thompson's horse put his foot
in a hole, and his master, falling on his already damaged
shoulder, broke it. Nixon and Parsons then had a run
on the friendly, unselfish principle, and eventually killed.
Spear to Nixon.

February 21. — Smith, Poston, and Stewart put up a
good pig. After a short run he took refuge in a bagh;
turned out of this, he went well away with Smith in hot
pursuit. M'Cullum rode over to lend a hand, and promptly
had his horse cut to blazes. This was the only boar seen.
The Hon. Sec., on return of hunters to camp, endeavoured
to explain non-appearance of pig by story of poachers ;
obviously a subterfuge.

February 22. — Pouring rain. Ran a sow, then lost a
boar. About 2 it cleared up, and we restarted. A big
boar soon broke. Poston got the spear, and the hog died
fighting hard, having ripped Nixon's horse severely. Further
on two boar were afoot. One went to the front and was
lost; the other went back and, after some two miles of
high grass, was speared by Smith, and killed after a further
hunt in high jhow. The party then went to camp, and
bandaged wounded animals. A wet night, out-and-in.

February 23. — Killed one boar, and then back to Meerut
in " D " R.H.A. Brake.

Results of meet :

19 boar.
1 lynx.
1 horse killed.

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 109

1 horse very severely injured.
5 horses badly cut.

7 others cut.

2 riders knocked out.
No complaints.

Remarks by Editor. — Some pretty moderate spearing.
The horse is said to be the cavalryman's best weapon, but
he should not be used to kill pig without the aid of a spear.

And now for a day a year later :

January 28. Heats :

Right.— Browne, R.H.A. ; Fletcher, 17th Lancers ;
Forsyth, R.F.A.

Right centre. — Hon. Sec., Nixon, R.H.A. ; Lang, 5th
Cavalry; Higgon, R.H.A.

Left centre.— Watkins, R.H.A. ; Short, R.H.A. ; Bryant,
R.H.A. ; Muirhead, R.F.A.

Left. — Smith, R.H.A. ; Garden, 17th Lancers ; Parsons,
R.H.A. ; Lynch-Staunton, R.H.A.

Beat towards jheel. Left centre got on to a pig, and
killed after long run, Bryant getting the spear. Soon after
a good panther got up among the ravines on the right.
All of the two right heats who saw him rode him. Nixon
getting up first gave him an excellent spear in good style,
and Forsyth, Fletcher, and Higgon coming up, the panther
was killed, objecting hard, but without damage to any one.
The Hon. Sec. then killed a horrid little brute, and soon
after Lang and Higgon, getting away, killed a nice boar.
Nixon hurt his back. The left got away at a good pace
after a fine boar. Parsons in the lead fell heavily in some
holes. Lynch-Staunton followed suit. The other two
went on, and after a real good run killed. So to tiffin.
Parsons had damaged his shoulder considerably. Our
amateur doctor having played with him for over an
hour, finally succeeded in absolutely dislocating it. Hav-
ing sent Nixon and Parsons in to Meerut on charpoys
the remainder continued hunting. Started beating south
from Adampur. After an hour a panther was put up out
of a patch of grass near a low mound covered with thorny
grass. The panther got safely to the mound, and then

110 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

turning squatted in the open. Short was on to him first.
Man and beast charged simultaneously. As they closed,
the panther struck the spear aside, and springing, bit Short
in the right thigh ; he then dropped off, and went into the
thickest part of the mound. Garden followed and speared,
and several others following suit, the panther was soon
killed. A coolie was badly clawed. The latter was
properly dressed, but Short, thinking he was only scratched,
did nothing to his own leg beyond dabbing some carbolic
on the only claw mark visible, and continued hunting.
Soon after killed two fine fighting boar, the first of whom
gave a good run. The latter was chopped within two
hundred yards.

Within four hundred yards of Dhubarsi, a pig was put
up and ridden by practically every one. He escaped un-
touched into the thick clump of bushes within one hundred
yards of the bagh, and finally charging " Sinkum," was
well speared by him. He then retired into a patch of cover
quite impracticable for a horse. While the bold spirits
of the hunt were taking off their coats, rolling up their
sleeves, and assuring each other that they really must finish
him off on foot, a frantic row was heard in the clump. In
dashed the bold spirits, and found that Lang, who had
previously gone in on foot after the panther, and apparently
not found it sufficiently exciting, had gone in on all fours
without a spear while they were talking, and having seized
the pig by the hind leg was trying to drag him out. The
boar was much annoyed, but luckily distracted by the spear
in him and a dog who was going for his nose. The bold
spirits having pulled Lang off succeeded in spearing and
finally killing the hog. This ended a ripping day.

Dressed Short, annoyed to find he had been severely
bitten ; skinned panthers ; then to bed dead tired.
Short suffered great pain during the night, went into
Meerut on Monday, was taken to hospital on Tuesday, and
operated on by Mackenzie, R.A.M.C. Gangrene had set
in, and he was very dangerously ill. Thanks to Mackenzie's
skill he recovered after over a month on his back.

Bag : 9 boar ; 2 panther.

VH THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 111

I must give you an account of a run when Mr.
Charrington, 15th Hussars, was hunting the country.
I was not there then, but the run has always amused
me.

March 11, 1903. — Van der Gucht, 3rd Skinner's Horse;
Bramwell, Charrington, and Norton, 15th Hussars; and
Brassey, R.H.G., slept at Gurmuktesar, and made a com-
fortable start next morning. A couple of miles walk on
the other side of river resulted in some quail and partridges.
Khubar then being received of boar in jhow, the cry was
for horse and spear. A sounder broke with the old boar
at the end. A hot pursuit was given, but the wily one made
straight for the railway, and Charrington and Norton,
striving to head him off, took tosses over the wire on to the
embankment. So to tiffin. After this, about 3.30 P.M.,
abandoning Morpheus for Diana, line started. After half
an hour a pig went away on the left. Bramwell pursued
hotly at first, but bit the dust, and was knocked out.
Norton took up the running till he too partook of the same
savoury morsel on the far side of a blind well. The pig
took refuge in a small patch of sugar-cane. Two sports-
men guarded this. The third went back to gather the
fragments and bring up the line. At the third " hank " the
crafty soor broke with Charrington and Brassey close
behind. They both speared. The boar took to the bourrh
gunga. Meanwhile, Norton again took the floor. The first
branch of the bourrh gunga was negotiated safely. But the
next and deeper bit accounted for two more sportsmen,
Brassey and Van der Gucht, who both lost their horses.
Charrington, however, managed to swim across, dragging
his horse behind him. Both his stirrups were lost in the
bourrh gunga. On went the pig, followed by Charrington,
to a small bagh, where the two played a short game of
hide-and-seek. Tiring of this the boar went back to the
bourrh gunga and recrossed. There, however, he saw the
two survivors who had remounted. So he came back again
to Charrington, who followed him on a very tired horse,
and eventually killed him.

This extraordinary pig must have run about five miles

112 MODERN PIG-STICKING

before he was bagged, and accounted for no less than six
falls among his five hunters.

Indeed a merry day. Eight falls and only two pig
ridden.

A pleasant day I can recall was in May 1906.
We started early and beat a beautiful grass country.
A typical day of line hunting ; with the steady
silent line of coolies going quietly through the long
yellow grass, and with the riders, all old hands,
behind, every nerve of horse and man taut, ready
to spring into instant action at sight of pig or sound
of magic " Woh jata." It was a piece of country
we wished to hunt lightly, so we only killed four
boar, though there were many pig about. The last
pig gave us an amusing run. B and I were so busy
riding each other off, that for a brief moment M,
who was mounted on a slow and inferior animal,
got in and speared to his delight and our mutual
disgust.

The weather was poisonous, a real hot day, with
a scorching wind and a dust storm. The others
had to go in, and I envied them when I thought of
the iced drinks awaiting them. I hacked on to
shoot a panther some twenty miles away. I
passed my kit en route, took over my rifle, and
went on again. As I got to my destination, a
patch of dak jungle half a mile long, at about 3
P.M., I could hear the panther " sawing " loudly. I
went to a village close by, got a drink from the
well, which was very brackish, met my shikari, and
went off to sit up at once. My machan as usual
was on the ground, hidden in a bush. My goat
was tied eight feet away in front of me. My
shikari had gone, and I had hardly loaded my
rifle when the panther came out from my left

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 113

and walked up to the goat. The latter strained
back at his rope, then jumped forward and butted
the panther hard in the nose. The panther, much
disconcerted, turned about and vanished before I
had had any chance of getting my rifle up. When
you sit up at these very close quarters the slightest
sound or movement betrays you. You cannot
possibly move till you are certain the animal's
eyes are not on you.

I sat wondering and cursing. Within five
minutes the panther appeared again, this time on
my right. He had made a detour behind me and
come up on the other side. I had my rifle laid,
and was almost ready for him. He again walked
quietly up to the goat, who had reined back to the
limit of his tether, and stood looking towards me.
The sun was behind me, and he seemed to think
there might be something amiss. Every lash of
his eyelids showed as he stood lazily blinking at
me in the afternoon sun. A fly bit him, I suppose,
for he turned his head aside as if to bite at his
off quarter, and I killed him — a fine male 7 feet
6 inches. The whole thing was over in ten minutes,
and I had skinned him before my camp arrived.
I had no servant, but I remember I cooked a good
dinner that night, and went to bed tired and happy.

I wished to pension that plucky goat for life,
but the villagers would have eaten him just the
same ; his life would have been short, his pension
long.

These natives are impossible. I had a little
wild pig once whom I tied to the same peg as a
timid horse I had. I hoped to make the horse
accustomed to pig, and brave : a stupid hope.
After some days the horse did not regard the pig.

114 MODERN PIG-STICKING

His (the pig's, the horse never had one) mission in
life was fulfilled. My syces came to me ; they said
that one of their ambitions had been to own a little
wild pig, it would make a charming pet. Would
I give it them ? I did. A week later, not seeing
the little pig, I asked where he was. They had
eaten him.

I have not touched on the camp part of the life,
nor will I do so now at any length.

Yet we, too, have our pleasant surroundings at
times. It is not all a land of heat and thirst.
The long motor drive or train journey, with
anticipation best of all companions, is always good.
Pleasant is it to ride the long hack alone through
the Kadir to camp ; to look up some old village
friend, and to recall past runs and incidents, how
well Q went here, there X fell, and here again what
a shocking mess one made of it. You get to the
big trees and the white tents, enjoy a tumbler of
boiling tea with a touch of whisky in it, and after-
wards a quiet stroll round the horses, and a chat
with the shikaries.

Next morning you wake at dawn. Perhaps you
join in our old pastime of trying to see sun, moon,
and star at once. You can hear the syces busy
with the horses. Men move briskly, for there is a
hoar frost on the ground, and the chota hazri tea
is welcome. Outside camp you hear two black
partridge cocks wrangling. You slip on a pair of
boots and sally out in your pyjamas to join in the
discussion. Then, after an excellent breakfast,
away you go to hunt.

When the hunt is over and you have seen to
your horses, perhaps your shikari takes you to

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 115

some favourite jheel of his where you spend a
pleasant hour or so with flighting duck and snipe.

Then back to a tub, the cheery mess tent, and
a warm fire, where with ginger wine and whisky,
and the fragrant mongpulli nut, you fill the aching
void till dinner. And so to bed.

And now, for one last day, my last in the Kadir.

This was in June last season, at Sherpur. The
whole hot season had been a rainy one, and it was
evident the monsoon was now on us. The sky was
overcast with great black clouds, and it was more
than doubtful if we would get a hunt before the rain
came. However, four of us went out by train. Our
fifth was N, the political, who was coming out along
a country road by bicycle, and then by ferry across
the Ganges, and so to camp. Having bicycled
from England down the Euphrates to the Persian
Gulf, no ordinary track had any terrors for
him.

We reached camp just in time to get all snug
before the rain fell very heavily for many hours,
lasting in fact until about 9 A.M. next morning.
N had not arrived in the evening, but to our joy
he turned up wet, dirty, and hungry, in time for
breakfast. He had bicycled out and reached the
Ganges, which was in full flood, at night-fall. He
took out the inner tubes of his bicycle, inflated
them, and putting them round him as lifebelts
started to swim the river. But he had hardly
gone twenty yards when he was knocked half-
unconscious by the bough of a floating tre,e, and
carried back to the bank from which he had come.
The bicycle tubes saved his life. He spent the
night in a neighbouring village, and refreshed by

116J MODERN PIG-STICKING

gram, goor, and milk, made a successful essay in
the morning to swim the flood.

We had two days of somewhat indifferent sport
with continued hours of soaking rain. Whenever
it cleared up we used to beat the uplands or any
ground that would allow a horse to stand up. Pig
were about, and we killed a few.

While beating a small thorn bagh we put out
quite a nice pig after several unsuccessful beats.
He had three hundred yards to make his point. I
was perfectly posted, and to my great shame the
hog got away past me untouched. I had become
bored, and was busy bullying a caterpillar when I
suddenly grasped the fact that the pig had passed
me : it was too late, and the boar got down a steep
place two spears' length ahead of me.

This was on our last day but one, and we killed
no pig. In the evening it cleared. I quote from
an account I wrote. It is of no value, but may
possibly show more or less what our feelings were
at the time.

In spite of a blank day we enjoyed the night. The rain
had cleared away, and was followed by a perfect evening.
Away in the west the afterglow shone out red-gold in
purple setting. The graceful silhouettes of the village
buildings in the distance, and the dim aisles of tree trunks
with their cobweb of tent ropes faded gradually from
purple to grey, and from grey into blackness of the night.
Overhead were the masses of foliage with their myriad
fire-flies, and the wonderful glory of the Indian starlight.

We listened to N's gramophone. We enjoyed Russian
melodies, and the old English songs. Forgotten were the
many disappointments, the long blank days. We talked
but of great hunters of the past, of good days that had
been. We wondered whether any of us would ever see
the Kadir again. We knew that in all our wanderings its

DAWN.

To face page 116.

-

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 117

memories would ever cling to us, its voices never cease
to call.

The next morning A, 1st Life Guards, and I went
gooming (i.e. going quietly looking for game) to a
favourite spot of mine. I loved to go gooming
here, and wander in the dark before dawn in the
long grass between the jheel where the boar fed,
and the heavy jhow jungle where they lived in
the day.

Come with me, reader, for an instant in spirit,
and we will stand on some little rise as the night
closes and look towards the dawn. Presently we
see with straining eyes some dim black objects far
away which only distinguish themselves by their
movement from the surrounding patches of grass.
A quiet walk on a course set to intercept their
path will soon reveal what they are. If cattle they
will go stolidly on, while there will be no mistaking
the rush of a hog-deer or the bound of a startled
buck. Pig we may always know, for when alarmed
they will halt suspicious every few yards, with head
aloft and ears cocked, peering for their unseen
enemy.

The sounder have heard our horses' hoofs, and
they are doing this now. Presently they go on
again, and this is a signal for us to do the same.
Again they halt, and again we copy them. So the
moves continue, and each time we have gained a
little ground. At last the strain is more than
porcine nerves can stand ; suspicion becomes
certainty confounded, and the sounder break into a
canter. All concealment is now at an end, and we
single out the biggest pig in rear, who, refusing to be
shouldered away any longer, makes a line straight

118 MODERN PIG-STICKING

for the jhow. We now press for all we are worth,
and have half a mile to catch him in, though there
is as yet a sinking fear that he may turn out to be
a sow after all. All we can see is a faint black
mass on a lighter background. Our stride tells,
and we are soon on the pig, when a sudden jink
reveals a lean, long head and wicked gleaming
tushes. All our doubts are now at an end, and
there remains for us good hard galloping and a
sharp fight before we kill while yet well away from
the cover.

We have dismounted, and are standing with
our panting horses over the fallen boar, drinking
in the clear, fresh morning air, as the first rays of
the sun top the distant mountains and the little
fort on the bluff. Surely never was fairer start to
fairer day.

And now, reader, I must leave you dismounted,
and return to hard realities. I have often goomed
here alone, and I never failed to have good sport,
and one morning I killed two hog and speared and
lost a third. This day I began to fear my luck had
at last failed me, for the sun was almost up, and there
was no sign of a pig. But on taking a final " goom "
through the grass I saw to my delight the cocked
head and ears of a pig about a hundred yards away.
He had not seen me, and I quietly made a detour
and got between him and the jhow. I then gave
chase, and was astonished to find that the pig,
instead of jinking back past me went straight out
towards A, who was nearest to the jheel. I rode the
pig quietly, chiefly because I did not want to press
him and drive him back to the jhow, and also
because I believed he was a sow.

A wisely stood still till the pig passed close to

-

THE MEERUT TENT CLUB 119

him, when the vigour with which he took up the
pursuit left little doubt as to the pig being a boar.
We soon killed, A doing most of the work.

This was the only pig we saw, and we hacked
back to camp in time to have a hasty breakfast,
and join the line below camp in Busaoli grass.
We had glorious sport, and killed four really
handsome boar, all old stagers living alone. We
saw no sows. I was lucky enough to be in every
run, and my horses did more than I asked of them.
What would you more, reader, for a last taste of
pig-sticking ?

In the last run N came down heavily, but his
pony was not hurt. We rigged up a charpoy, and
carried him into the nearest station. As the last
pig was killed, the flood-gates of heaven were
opened, the rain came down in torrents, and so —
good-bye.

CHAPTER VIII

HOG HUNTERS' HALL OR THE TENTH HUSSARS
IN PURNEAH, 1909

By Colonel JOHN VAUGHAN, D.S.O.

THE 10th Hussars were not fortunate in their
stations during their Indian tour, 1902-1912, being
stationed at Mhow and Rawal Pindi. There was
a little pig-sticking to be had at Mhow, but the
civil administration of the Indore State permitted
the natives to shoot pig, and consequently the sport
deteriorated. However, most of us were agreed
that it was by far the best sport in the East, and
took every opportunity of going either to Muttra
or to the Guzerat or Kadir meetings. It was my
usual plan to take about a month's leave after the
Inter - Regimental Polo Tournament, and devote
myself to pig-sticking. In 1908 I determined to
organize a regimental camp in Bengal for the follow-
ing spring. It took me about six months and much
correspondence before we brought off our projected
trip.

Curiously enough I eventually selected a locality
recommended to me by a friend in England, Mr.
Charles Miller of Rugby, who had formerly been a
planter near Motihari. He and Mr. Keith Marsham,
secretary of the Cairo Polo Club, wrote me accounts

120

m HOG HUNTERS' HALL 121

of great numbers of pig in two places. One was
an island in the Brahmaputra, and the other the
Forbesganj district in Purneah. Between these,
on further inquiries being made, there appeared
little choice, but I was told that the island was some-
times flooded, and therefore might prove a failure,
and this decided me to select Forbesganj as less of
a gamble.

Mr. Irwin of Motihari kindly introduced me to
Mr. Patrick Duff, a veteran planter and manager
of the Forbes estate. This gentleman made excellent
arrangements for us, and the only difficulty unsolved
was how to get elephants to beat, as we were assured
that coolies would be useless in that district. I
therefore wrote to my friend Victor Brooke of the
9th Lancers, who was at that time Military Secretary
to the Viceroy and in touch with all the native
nobility in Bengal.

The Maharajah of Dharbanga came to our aid-
may his shadow never grow less — and not only lent
us thirty of his state elephants, but a large and
complete camp equipment as well. These were
later supplemented by six very experienced shikar
elephants belonging to the Maharajah of Baneli,
procured for us by Mr. Frank Lyall, I.C.S., who
later joined our camp for a few days. Messrs.
Kellner of Calcutta provided the mess, and did it
cheaply and well.

The arrangements were now complete excepting
that we were in the normal position of the young
cavalry officer of not having enough horses.

As I was then commanding the regiment, anol
have always considered that pig-sticking is the
finest war training for both horse and man, we made
up our numbers with troop horses. These we bought

122 MODERN PIG-STICKING

out of the ranks and insured ; after our camp was
finished we re-sold the horses to the Government.
There is a good regulation which enables one to
re-sell within a year at cost price, the framer of
which no doubt had the impecunious but sporting
cavalry subaltern in his mind when the regulation
was drafted. The horse's cost was, I think, 950
rupees for a stud-bred, and 1200 rupees for a Waler.
The insurance was about 6 per cent, and Cox and
Co. charged the same rate for borrowing the money,
but as the horses were all re-sold in about a month
our bill for hiring good horses was not excessive. We
got a concession from the railway company for what
the babus called " not less than four players of the
pig-sticking only," double journey for single rates,
and this worked out at roughly 100 rupees per
horse from Pindi to Forbesganj and back. As the
distance was sixteen hundred miles each way this
works out at about thirty-two miles for a rupee, or,
in English, a halfpenny a mile, which is cheap
enough.

The whole trip, including our subsequent shoot
in Nepaul, cost us £100 each. I have never had
better value for the money. On these long journeys
to save expense I am always ready to send horses
or polo ponies by trucks instead of boxes, provided
that arrangements are made to unload and groom
and exercise the horses every twenty-four hours.

At the last moment two of our 10th Hussars
were unable to come, and Messrs. Weinholt and
Cheape of the K.D.G.'s volunteered as substitutes.
We went first to the Kadir meeting, and then sent
some of the horses on from there to Forbesganj,
where they arrived about three days after the Pindi
detachment.

HOG HUNTERS' HALL 123

There were no casualties en route, and this I
attribute partly to the painstaking care of the
Indian railways, whose officials I have always found
most courteous and capable, provided that one does
not try to hustle or browbeat them ; and partly to
the fact that the syces were all placed under the
orders of Shoeing - Smith Norman of the 10th
Hussars, who accompanied us throughout the trip.

On Sunday, March 27, we arrived at Forbesganj,
the terminus of a narrow-gauge railway, at 2 o'clock
on a hot afternoon. Here we found elephants for
our kit and hacks for ourselves. After a good meal
in Mr. Duff's hospitable bungalow, where we were
royally received, and heard many tales of the
ferocity and size of the local boar, we hacked out
to our camp, which we found just as it was getting
dark.

The next day we spent in reconnaissance, and
naming various places for future reference (see
sketch opposite). Our hunting ground lay some
twenty miles south of the Nepaulese foot-hills.
Formerly it was under indigo, but it is now let to
natives to cultivate ; the chief crop seems to be
rice, but in March, of course, there were nothing
but the stubbles as an indication of what the crops
had been.

Some years previous to our trip the Kosi River,
which runs from north to south, some twenty miles
east of the Bukrah River, had overflown its banks.
A great flood had forced its way into the Bukrah
River, and covered the country with silt. Between
Hare Corner and the south edge of Poached Egg
Jhil a very thick growth of nurkul grass had sprung
up, and this formed the main covert for the pig.
There were also several nice jhow coverts as shown

124 MODERN PIG-STICKING

on the sketch. There, were moreover, numerous
bahris, or thickets of bamboo, and mango in which
pig would lie. The villagers were a timid race, and
gave us little assistance, though they were glad
enough for us to kill the pig ; but not a man of them
would go into or near the coverts excepting an
occasional herd-boy mounted on a buffalo.

The country provided great sport and varied
going. Poached Egg was a dried-up jhil, covered
with elephant grass, and there was throughout its
area a succession of circular mounds from 18 inches
to 3 feet high, the whole representing innumerable
poached eggs in a plate two miles square. When
we first inspected it we thought that it would be
quite unrideable, but after our elephants had
traversed it for a week or so in every direction we
could ride it, though it was always extremely
difficult to kill a pig in. There was another very
bad bit of going between " dry nullah " and Kotal-
poor, with several blind nullahs about 5 feet deep.
In fact we only managed to kill one pig in " dry
nullah," and that was more by good luck than good
management, and thanks to numerous holloas from
the mahouts. "High Jhow " was unrideable, and
the elephants could not keep a line in it ; we had
to resort to a good deal of gunpowder to get the pig
to leave it. North of High Jhow, between the
Bukrah River and Khumgeerah, the jhow gradually
petered out, and this was the most deadly place
for pig. They did not usually spend the day there,
but there was sufficient cover there to induce them
to lie up when hustled out of the thicker coverts.
Their only chance of safety was to reach High Jhow
or cross the river into Poached Egg, where there
would soon be so many pig afoot, and the cover

HOG HUNTERS' HALL 125

was so thick that one was likely to lose or change

pig-

We had an unusual amount of rain for the time

of year, and this kept the going good. In many
of the bahris the grass was smooth and close like
an English lawn. To hunt a pig through a succession
of these bahris was perhaps the pleasantest of all
hunts. Most of them were only about a hundred
yards wide and a couple of hundred yards long.
The bamboo prevented one galloping straight
through, but there was no under cover beneath the
mangos. Then there would be a patch of cultiva-
tion to the next bahri, and the question was could
you or could you not spear before the pig reached
it. If you did not you had to nurse him through
the next, and across a patch of open grass land,
and through or round a village. The villages are
ramshackle affairs with matting about 5 feet high
used as fences round the gardens. The pig were
not at all afraid of them, and would gallop through
the matting like a clown jumping through paper
hoops. On one occasion two of us were riding a
pig up the main street of Durrumgarh. He was
just ready for me to spear. I collected my horse,
and drove him forward, thinking, " I've got you."
But not a bit of it ; the pig jinked sharp to the right
through an open door of a house, and forced his
way out through the wall. He then turned to bay
among some woodstacks in a backyard. I broke
my spear in him, and my pal did ditto ; we had to
stay and watch him whilst a native ran to the line
for fresh spears. Even then we were lucky to kill
him without getting a horse cut, as there was no
" liberty of manoeuvre " in the backyard and
among the woodstacks. Meanwhile a native woman,

126 MODERN PIG-STICKING

an aged man, and two or three couple of brown
babies had come out of the house into the street
and set up a terrific wailing. One of us examined
them whilst the other watched the pig, and found
rather a nasty cut from the pig on one of the children.
However, Norman proved equal to the occasion
when he arrived with his farrier's box, and a few
coppers dried away all tears.

These Purneah pig were very independent
customers when we first arrived, and several times
when we met pig coming towards us at a walk or
trot — not hunted pig — they cocked their ears and
went straight for us. We found that the sows
generally jinked in the last stride rather than charge
straight home. However, after a few days they
soon adopted other tactics and fled for cover.

There were such quantities of pig in Poached Egg
and High Jhow that for the first week we beat one
of these coverts every morning. We usually break-
fasted about 4.30 A.M., and hunted from 5 A.M. to
11 or 12 noon. In the afternoon some of us would
go out with a gun for the pot, whilst others would
make an expedition to look up some outlying boar
of whom the villagers brought us khubber.

These outliers were generally of the old and bold
variety. They would take up their quarters in the
outskirts, or even in the gardens of a village, and
the natives could not, or dared not, turn them out.
We generally used to take four or five elephants for
the purpose, and the villagers used to allow them
to walk over their gardens with pleasure as long as
we were likely to kill their enemy. It was amusing
to see the way the elephants helped themselves to
green bananas as they passed through the gardens.
There was not much difficulty in killing the boar

VIII

HOG HUNTERS' HALL 127

once he was roused, as the villages were surrounded
by stubble fields, but we had many an amusing scurry
round the village, down the streets, and back again,
with natives flying in every direction and clustering
in the boughs of trees to see the hated pig killed.
These natives take to trees like monkeys the moment
they get a panic.

On March 30 and 31 we had bad luck, losing
two horses. Meade and I were hunting a pig in
some thick jhow, Meade was just in front of me,
and I thought he was on the pig when I was charged
from my left rear — a direction which I think the
cavalry training book terms " disadvantageous
to the man attacked," —the first that I knew about
it was getting a bang on the right foot, and my
horse nearly falling and limping. The pig had cut
him from hock to stifle on the inside of the off hock.
I led him out into the open, the blood spurting from
his artery, and blew my whistle, and put my hat
on my spear. Presently Norman came up with
his box and we put on a tourniquet. We got some
elephant tackle from camp and improvised slings
on a convenient mango -tree. This took us three
or four hours. We left a syce, forage, and water
with the horse, but he kicked himself out of the
slings, and bleeding recommenced. We then threw
him and shackled his legs, and again stopped the
bleeding, but during the night he kicked about so
that it broke out again, and he eventually died
sixteen hours after he was cut. The following
afternoon in a fast gallop from a village, Weinholt's
pony fell over a small bund between the paddy-
fields and broke his neck.

These were the only horses that we lost out
of our thirty-six ; only one remained sound through-

128 MODERN PIG-STICKING

out the three weeks of our camp. Several were cut
by pig, noticeably Weinholt's Hawke, which was
cut in the shoulder. We had lost a pig in some
jhow, and were looking about for him when a pig—
the hunted one or another — literally jumped at
Weinholt and cut his horse's shoulder (see photo).
This was a big Waler, and I have never seen a horse
cut so high. I also had the bad luck to get my
plum Vedette cut on the gaskin the first day I rode
him, and he was not able to take the field again.
Stubs of burnt jhow, however, were the most
frequent causes of injury, but these were only
temporary.

The personnel of the expedition were also
frequently on the sick list. I took rather a heavy
toss the very first day, Weinholt was next, then
Cheape hurt the point of his right shoulder and
for the remainder of the time used his spear with
his left hand. Palmer got the worst fall, hurting
his back badly ; he spent the rest of the time in camp,
and distributed the remains of his stud amongst the
survivors. De Tuyll, after a succession of tosses,
had both his eyes bunged up. Gosling had the
most amusing fall or rather lift. He had just
arrived, and as he had only three or four days in
which to show his dash he started off " hello bello "
after a pig through some thorn jungle, and was
speedily removed from his saddle by a mimosa-tree.

Though we had six officers in camp, and
whilst Lyall was with us seven, on only one day
could we put more than five spears in the field.
The temporary convalescent used usually to sit on
a pad elephant and direct the line, and, if his ail-
ments permitted, used to shoot a few partridges,
snipe, hares, quail, or green pigeon.

COLONEL J. VAUGHAN'S "VEDETTE.

<,,,

I

PIG CUT.

To face page 128.

HOG HUNTERS' HALL 129

When we first assembled we devised a system
of signals with our spears for working the mahouts,
and had them out one afternoon for foot drill so
that they soon got pretty handy. All that was
necessary was " line," 'fi column of elephants from
the flank," tc right or left shoulders," " advance,"
" halt," " come to my assistance." We also all
had whistles for whistling pig away, or calling
attention of the line. The elephants were further
subdivided for "shikar," " charra," and "dak"
work. At first we tried to bring every pig into
camp and weigh him, but we had to give this up.
We then enlisted three sansis, or gipsies, who were
all for blood, unlike the natives. They each had
sacks, an axe, and knife, and were on the right,
centre, and left of the line on elephants. Any one
killing a pig tied a piece of " Turkey Red " to a bush
or on a piece of elephant grass. Down from the
elephant jumped the butcher, ran to the carcase,
cut off the head, and put it into a sack. After
measuring the boar the man who had got first
spear put his mark on his nostril or ear so that we
could recognize our own tushes on return to camp.
The gipsies' friends and relatives were allowed the
bristles and the carcases in lieu of cash payment
for their services. We sometimes had a long beat
before we got a ride, and would then get into the
middle of a lot of good boar when it was important
not to waste time, hence our red flag and butcher
arrangement.

On the whole sport was wonderfully even, we
never killed less than eight pig in a day, and
never more than sixteen. The total bag was 180
boar in 22 hunting days between 28th March and
21st April.

130 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Hardly a day passed without interesting and
exciting incidents. We usually divided into two
heats, two spears in one and three in the other,
sometimes we had two heats of two each and a
rover. At first we took out three horses apiece,
but later had to content ourselves with two. Some-
times each heat had as many as eight or nine hunts
in the morning, and this was enough for three horses
and also for one man.

Were I to let my memory run riot I could fill a
volume with incidents of those happy hunting days.
I have told of the death of the two horses and the
suburban boar who took to the houses. We had
some first-rate fighting pig and in places, especially
in Poached Egg Jhil, they were very difficult to kill.
Two incidents occur to my mind which may be
worth relating.

Weinholt and I were riding a pig. Weinholt
speared but lightly, and the pig took refuge in a
wallow. The mud was up to the horses' hocks,
and one could only have advanced at a walk. I
therefore whistled up an elephant from the flank
of the line to put the boar out of the mud. When
the elephant approached the boar dashed at him
and tried to cut his foot. Fortunately it was one
of the Baneli shikar elephants, as many elephants
turn tail if a pig charges. The elephant pressed the
boar into the mud with his trunk, put his tusks
under him and threw him a dozen yards or so.
This operation was again repeated, the boar attack-
ing again. The second throw landed this brave
boar on hard ground where he was quickly
despatched. This incident shows the courage of
the boar, and the sagacity and training of the
elephant.

HOG HUNTERS' HALL 131

The other incident is merely interesting as a queer
coincidence. Meade and I after a long hunt
brought a boar to bay in a bahri. A rare fighter
too. He charged me first ; using the overhand
spear I struck him deep between the shoulders, but
let go of my spear. He then attacked Meade and
got the butt of my spear under his horse's breast-
plate whilst Meade speared him (between the ribs
I think), but could not get his spear out. They
were absolutely fixed, like two fighting stags whose
antlers are interlocked. I rode up on Meade's
right, and he let me take his spear in my left hand
so that I got a pull at a different angle and got it
out. Meade then got hold of my spear with his
right hand and got it free from his breast-plate,
so when the boar died each man had the other's
spear. As a young friend of mine once said, " I
see now that I should not have let go of my spear,"
but this is not always as easily done as said.

Lyall was a great exponent of overhand spearing
and we had many an argument and illustration
of both methods. Eventually we came to the
conclusion that in open or grass country the under-
hand spear was the quickest way of killing a pig,
whilst in places where there was bamboo, jhow,
or thorn to deflect your spear the overhand style
was more certain and safe, especially with a charging
pig. Our spears were 6 feet or 6 feet 6 inches, and
leaded.

I fear that this chapter has been written in a
somewhat chatty style, but for the benefit of others
who may wish to try new ground outside an exist-
ing hunt I will summarise the chief points in
military fashion.

1. Reconnaissance. — Must extend over a con-

132 MODERN PIG-STICKING

siderable period. Information must be verified
up to date. Personal reconnaissance of coverts
and run of pig necessary before a single beat is
made.

2. Organization. — A medical and veterinary
officer or subordinates of those departments should
be included in the party. Elephants and coolies
must be subdivided for shikar, camp, and dak work,
each group under a responsible head man. Shikar
mahouts and coolies require a little drill and a code
of signals.

3. Horses. — Waler troop horses make excellent
pig-stickers. Stud breds are handy but slow.
Make a point of bringing back horses better than
when they went out. Our horses hunted three or
four days a week. In addition to 16 Ibs. of grain
and plenty of good dhub grass they had as much
oat hay (railed from Calcutta) as they would eat.
This is the best forage, and if grass is doubtful is
worth having at any price.

4. Men. — Don't take any one with the least taint
of jealousy, to spoil sport. Hunt every pig honestly
no matter who gets the spear. Each man should
have a whistle, a measuring tape, and spare red
cloth.

5. Natives. — Work through local headmen, and
get on good terms with the natives. The Purneah
natives are a low type and no sportsmen. Yet they
were useful in bringing khubber. Any kind of
gipsy natives, sansis, brinjaris, or whatever their
name may be, will generally assist to not only
harbour but kill and eat pig.

vin.

HOG HUNTERS' HALL

133

FORBESGANJ DISTRICT, 1909

BOAR KILLED

Size.

36 inches
35 „
34 „
33 „
32 „
31 „
30

Size.

1

29 inches .

.

2

28 „ .

.

14

27 „ .

.

15

26 „ .

.

28

Not recorded (no time for

29

measurement) .

35

Total .

.

25

12

10

1

8
180

FORBESGANJ DISTRICT, 1909

SPEARS

Colonel John Vaughan, 10th Hussars.

Captain Hon. E. B. Meade, 10th Hussars.

Mr. W. LI. Palmer, 10th Hussars.

Mr. M. A. De Tuyll (14 days only), 10th Hussars.

Mr. G. B. Gosling (4 days only), 10th Hussars.

Mr. E. A. Weinholt, K.D.Gs.

Mr. L. St. C. Cheape, K.D.Gs.

Mr. F. Lyall (6 days only), I.C.S.

CHAPTER IX

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL

By MALCOLM M. CRAWFORD, Esq., of Shikarpore.

BEFORE pig-sticking started, sportsmen in Bengal
used to hunt bear with a short, heavy javelin, which
they threw from horseback. As bear grew scarcer
they turned their attention to boar, but they soon
found that a javelin thrown by hand was a poor
defence against a charging boar.

The short spear, weighted with lead at one end,
commonly used in Bengal, was evolved from the
light throwing javelin. At first the spear measured
about 7 feet in length, but it has now become
gradually shortened to 5 feet 9 inches and 6 feet
3 inches. Most men have their own ideas as to
spear heads, the Diamond and Simson patterns
being the general favourites, though the Bayleaf
and an occasional Bodraj are also used. A narrow
head is to be avoided, as, unless the head is broader
than the shaft, it is difficult to give a heavy wound.
The inside shoulders of the head should be sharpened
so as to enable the spear to cut its way out. The
Bengal spear, as all pig-stickers know, is used over-
hand, the hand grasping the shaft a few inches
below the lead, and the head pointing downwards
and outwards below the rider's stirrup. In the

134

CHAP, ix PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 135

heavy grass and jhow jungles of Bengal there is no
doubt that this is the only practicable weapon, as
the rider can use it against a charging boar, where
it would be impossible to lower the point of the
underhand spear.

The old records of the Calcutta Tent Club, to
which I have had access, only date from 1862,
though the Club originated long before that date.
At that time C. B. Stewart, J. Gladstone, J.Thomas,
J. Beckwith, and Major (afterwards Colonel) James
were the leading spirits in the Club.

During the following thirty years of its existence
the Club numbered among its members many well-
known sportsmen, including Lord William Beres-
ford, V.C., General Sir George Greaves, Sir Griffith
Evans, General Wilkinson, " Black " Simson, W. L.
Thomas, Roberts, the brothers Angelo, Prestage,
Lawrie Johnstone, Nolan, John and Tom Anderson,
Alston, Sir Allan Arthur, George Walker, E. V.
Westmacott, Granny Mills, and C. C. MacLeod.

When the Club was first started they hunted
the country south of Calcutta, their farthest meet
being at Tumlook, where, I believe, the unclean
beast has long since ceased to exist. Until the late
'eighties the Club had the use of the Government
elephants at Barrackpore.

Compared with the record bags of the " Shikar-
pore Hunt," the Tent Club did not enjoy pheno-
menal sport, but boar were plentiful and fierce,
and until the early 'nineties a blank day was prac-
tically unknown.

With the extension of the railway the Club moved
farther afield and enjoyed good sport at Ranaghat,
Belgatchie, Patkabari, Sara,Goalundo, and Furridpur.
In later years they moved as far north as Rangpore.

136 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

If their bags were not enormous they were at
any rate varied. Almost the last entry in the
Hunt records relates how the Tent Club met at
Jatrapore on the 13th, 14th, and 15th February
1891, and killed four boar on the first two days.
On the 15th, George Walker and Allan Arthur
crossed ten elephants over the Ganges to Katlabari
and killed two tiger the same day, and one tiger
the following day.

In October 1870, when hunting at Ranaghat,
the Club rode and killed a black buck and doe.

At the Christmas Meet of the same year H.E.
Lord Mayo was present, and eight boar were killed
and a tiger was viewed, but not shot.

At Christmas 1874 at Rajbari seven boar were
killed, and two buffalo were shot.

On 18th and 19th February 1882, four boar were
killed on Goalundo chur and two buffalo were shot.

On 7th and 10th February 1886, on the same
ground, four boar were killed and two buffalo were
shot.

On 25th and 26th January 1890 at Mogal Hat
seven boar and two leopard were speared and killed.
McKie killed the first leopard on the 25th without
much difficulty. Alston killed the second leopard
on the following day. She turned to bay in a bush
and charged out at every one who came near her,
mauling a horse badly before she was finally killed.

I think in the early days the boar must have run
larger than they do now, as I find it recorded that
out of seven boar killed at Belgatchie on 22nd and
23rd February 1879 two measured 38J and 37|
inches respectively.

One of the largest bags ever made by the Tent
Club seems to have been at Patkabari on 20th and

MR. CRESSWELL.

MR. CRAWFORD
ON "EVERMORE.'

BLACK COTTON SOIL

'J\> face />agc 137.

..

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 137

21st March 1886, when twenty-one boar were killed.
The late Archie Hills owned Patkabari, and was,
I think, an Honorary Member of the Club, who were
his guests at this meet.

Under the Rules of the Club any one who killed
a sow, or who speared a boar on his near side, was
liable to a fine of one dozen champagne, and the
penalty seems to have been inflicted on more than
one occasion, the principal offender being a sports-
man who shall be nameless, and who also had an
unpleasant habit of throwing his spear at a boar.

From what I have been told by old members of
the Tent Club I think one of tl>e chief reasons why
pig failed them was because they killed small
boar. This is an undoubted mistake, and nothing
should be killed under 28 inches. If small boar are
killed before they are of a really rideable size, the
supply soon fails.

The " Shikarpore Hunt," which was originated
by Malcolm Crawford about ten years ago, hunts,
in the Nadia district, principally at Moiscoondie
and on the neighbouring " churs " of the river
Ganges. The hunt coat is blue with gilt buttons
with a boar's head embossed on them, and the
letters S.H. The button is given to no one who
has not taken twenty contested first spears.

" Squire " Cress well and Crum have now
resuscitated the Tent Club, and with their young
entry and the ground at their disposal I see no
reason why the new Tent Club should not enjoy
better sport than the old Club, provided they kill
no small boar. Their bag last year, which was
their first season, was fifty-six boar.

Simson's book on pig-sticking, published in 1886,
still is, as it was then, the standard work and last

138 MODERN PIG-STICKING

word on the subject, excepting only his objections
to and remarks on Walers. Walers are now, for
obvious reasons, as superior to the Arab as the Arab
was superior to the then Waler, especially in the
case of men riding 12 stone or over. At the same
time a high-couraged Arab is still very hard to beat
for a light weight.

We, who have hunted from Moiscoondie, know
how accurately Simson describes the country
bordering on the Ganges. Hurrysunkra, Ram-
chundrapore and Soonaikoondie churs were all
hunted by him, and though they have long ago
been washed away, they have since reformed, and
now constitute Moiscoondie and the adjacent churs,
which have been our best hunting-grounds during
the last ten years.

Shikarpore, referred to by Simson, also still exists,
in spite of earthquakes and the vicissitudes of more
than a century.

The late Archie Hills of Patkabaree, a fine old
sportsman, probably did more for pig-sticking in
Bengal than any one else, and his well-known
hospitality was often enjoyed by the late Lord
William Beresford, V.C., Sir Griffiths Evans, E. V.
Westmacott, I.C.S., W. L. Thomas, John and Tom
Anderson, Stocks, Morey, J. Malcolm, R. Lyall,
W. Sherreff, M. Ferguson, Lawrie Johnstone, and
Billy Barker. Of these James Malcolm is still here,
and only last year, at the three score and ten years
of the Psalmist, celebrated the occasion by riding
down and killing a nice boar single-handed.

Ferguson, who probably knows more of the wiles
and ways of a pig than most of us, still occasionally
revisits his old haunts. In fact, on his last visit
to India he killed a 39 J inch boar near Berhampore,

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 139

a record for Bengal. Among sportsmen of a
later date, C. B. Gregson, Granny Mills, G. Coxon,
Elliot, and Chalmers Hills, and A. E. Staley, I.C.S.,
have all, for various reasons, had to give up the
sport. " Judge " M'Donell, who has now crossed
the " Big Divide," was easily the best horseman
of the lot, and as good a spear as any. To see him
take quite an unmade horse alongside a pig and give
a good spear to boot was a liberal education in
itself. Billy Barker, as his friends can testify, is
still with us.

Pig-sticking in Lower Bengal commences as a
rule with the inland villages in early November.
Khor (thatching grass), patials, wild plum, mustard,
and village jungle being sure finds for pig during
that month and December. Perhaps the favourite
cover at this time of the year is sugar-cane, where
pig find food and harbourage at one and the same
time.

From January to March, when the crops are cut,
pig may be found lying out in barley, wheat, and
oats, which all afford excellent cover and provender.
Hunting a pig through oats, with nothing to guide
one but the ripple, as he moves through the crop,
is no easy matter even in company, far less alone ;
he has only to jink or squat to throw out his pursuers
for the time being, perhaps to charge in from some
unexpected quarter or from close under one's horse.

I have often seen a seasoned horse, brave as a
lion in the open, show unmistakable signs of nerves
when hunting in this cover, the swishing of the crops
probably suggesting hidden foes. I have not in-
cluded Arhar, or Raha, as it is called in Behar,
under this category, as no sane man would consider
it fair to risk his horse in such cover, where, owing

140 MODERN PIG-STICKING

to the nature of the crop, the boar can follow every
movement of his pursuer, while the horseman can
see nothing of his quarry.

The churs are seldom ready for hunting before
January, but this depends on the inundation ; the
ground is often very trappy owing to cracks, pig-
rootlings and holes, which are reopened by the
action of heavy rain. The cover, as a rule, consists
of high jungle grass, jhow, and crops, where the
land has been cleared.

Of the two forms of hunting much may be said
for both. Village hunting is often more interesting,
though the inland pig is not as a rule as plucky as
his neighbour of the churs. Still, he often gives
even better sport and long hunting runs, relying
more on his cunning than on his courage to evade
pursuit. In fact, there is no doubt that village
hunting requires a greater knowledge of venery,
and the habits of the boar than chur hunting, where
the boar is more or less in the open the whole time,
and for this reason many good " spears " prefer
the former.

When the chur hunting is finished, which it
generally is with the first heavy rain in May, we
have the bheels to turn to. These often prove a
sure draw, as fine solitary " old gentlemen " may
be found lying amongst the reeds and grasses, who
when disturbed generally mean business, having
established a prestige amongst the villagers, who
usually bolt from them at sight.

The Moiscoondie chur, measuring, roughly
speaking, some twelve miles long by three wide,
was formerly an island, but it is now connected
with the mainland for eight months of the year.
This chur was ten years ago covered with heavy

• PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 141

grass jungle and jhow. It was first hunted by

C. B. Gregson (my predecessor at Shikarpur and
present chief), who had several good little meets
there between the years 1899 and 1901, the bag
varying from seventeen to twenty-five head. Since
then we had good meetg from 1902 to 1905 yielding
in two days from twenty-five in 1902 to seventy-five
in 1905, by which time the jungle had been con-
siderably cleared.

During the first half-dozen years' hunting on the
chur the pig were so accustomed to seeing no one
but timid natives, who always ran away, that they
did not realize their danger when they were being
hunted. The result was that they charged fre-
quently at sight. This, to a great extent, accounted
for the heavy bags, as there were few long runs and
the horses kept fresher.

Our record meet of 149 boar in two days, or
153 in two and a half days, took place on 28th,
29th, and 30th January 1906, and though we have
since twice topped the century we have never
exceeded that bag. I did not see so much of the
sport at this meet as I should like to have done,
having naturally a good deal to do in the way of
bundobast, watching the beaters, etc. My assistant,

D. Somerville, kindly gave up more than half his
day's sport to help me, while Barker, Cresswell, and
Ferguson very kindly helped with the line. I have
often heard Barker say that he will never forget
the sight on the second day, which is perhaps best
described in an extract from a letter of his given
below :

I was with the forward party on the second day in the
afternoon. The beat, consisting of about one hundred and
fifty acres of grass, had been cut to the height of 2 to 3 feet.

142 MODERN PIG-STICKING

We were standing in the uncut grass ; several pig had gone
by us into the cut jungle, but none had actually broken.
As the line of 200 coolies came level with us (and I never saw
a better line kept) on a sudden, as it seemed, the whole of
the cut part of the jungle was alive with pig. As the
sentinel said of Birnam wood, " you might see it coming,
I say, a moving grove," and there drew out into the open a
sounder of at least 300. There were among them quite
20 grand boar, and about the same number of average
height. When they had gone about a furlong, one or two
of the finest boar began to break back ; we promptly
showed ourselves, trying to turn them. This was a mistake
as directly we galloped the sounder stopped, the better
boar came back past us instantly, the rest of the sounder
went on across the open, and as it was hopeless to follow
the large ones into the jungle we had to pick the best of
the second raters ; and the way the sows and butchas
crossed and recrossed us as we charged into the sounder
was most exciting. There were enough boar for us each
to take our own and leave for other parties, and we accounted
for a good many, but they were small compared to the score
of giants which broke back and whose loss we yet regret.

What might, I think, be called even better sport
was a morning I enjoyed with Cresswell and
Ferguson on the same chur in March 1906. Leaving
Shikarpore at about 8.30 A.M., and arriving at
Moiscoondie at 9.30, I got together some thirty
to forty coolies and started to beat at once. We
sat dowQ to lunch at 1.30 P.M. with a bag of twenty-
one boar, to which Cresswell had contributed no
less than ten, Ferguson six, and myself five. We
each had two horsek and the boar were a level lot,
quite up to the average in size and weight, and there
were no accidents.

The spears at our meets are always divided into
parties, which often do not keep together long
owing to the number of pig on foot at one time, so

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 143

that each spear can often single out, ride down and
kill his own boar.

From what our up-country guests tell us our
pig, though braver and fiercer than their pig, are
not nearly so fast. It is quite the exception for a
pig to last more than five or six furlongs if in the
open and well hustled from the start. Some pig
hardly worry to run at all, but turn and charge
after going a very short distance. This is probably
because they are heavy and easily blown owing
to the excellent feeding which is always available
close at hand.

A typical day's hunting on the chur began at
8 o'clock in the morning, quite early enough on
cold mornings. The " spears " would be formed
into parties of from three to four and would move
through the grass some way ahead of the line, who
would be shepherded by factory servants riding
hardy country-bred tats. As the line neared the
end of the jungle a few sows and butchas would
first break, then the smaller boar, followed by the
lords of the harem. This is where the green hands
often made a mistake and many a good boar would
often be lost, for your real old warrior is full of guile
and, unless he is well clear of the jungle, at the least
hint of danger he slips back and nothing on earth
will persuade him to break. As I say, theTgreen
hands might perhaps ride too soon, and so spoil
their own sport, but with a party of three good
spears this would not be likely to happen. After
giving the boar plenty of law the party would begin
to ride. At first the boar would check and look
round, and then be off at the top of his speed, and
for the first quarter of a mile more than hold his
own. The horses would then begin to draw up to

144 MODERN PIG-STICKING

him until the gradual drooping of his tail showed
that his wind and temper were failing. It is the
unwritten law that when a man is within two
lengths of the boar no one must interfere with him,
and it is now that good horsemanship tells. At
the time I am writing of, the chur boar was a gallant
beast and seldom jinked, and no sooner was his tail
down than in he came like lightning, charging
home, only to be met with the spear point behind
the shoulder, the impetus of his own charge and
the galloping horse driving the spear clean through
him. On the other hand he might jink, which
would probably throw the leader out and let
another horse in, but in the end the chur boar
always died game. I have known four boar killed
in the first hour after the start.

Tiffin would follow between 1 and 2 o'clock,
allowing a very full hour for coolies, syces, and horses.
We would start again about 3 o'clock and go on
hunting till dusk, and then ride home to tea, tea
with whisky in it, a drink for the gods, and after a
hot bath we would all be ready for dinner. After
dinner, the usual toast of the boar being drunk, and
the day's bag made up, Fuzzy Graham would then
give us " Over the Valley, over the Level," followed
by Barker with " The Place where the Old Horse
Died," and Billy Tayler with " Long, Long Indian
Day," accompanied by Captain Holden on the
banjo, whose repertoire of songs, sentimental and
otherwise, was always at our disposal. Perhaps
the gem of the evening would be Captain Welde
Forrester's " Again and again and again," and at
10.30 to bed after a well-spent day. The original
and most regular attendants at Moiscoondie were
"Billy" Barker, "Squire" Cresswell, Fuzzy

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 145

Graham, Kenneth Hamilton, Elliot Hills, Archie
Pugh, David Somerville, Billy Tayler, Tom West-
macott, T. H. Wheeler, Colonel T. Grainger, I.M.S.,
my brother, Colonel Jim Crawford, I.M.S., Captains
Hylo Holden, Vernon Keighley, and myself. Later
on, as the older members of the hunt dropped out,
through having to give up the game or through
leaving the district, Roland Pugh, W. E. Crum,
W. K. Dods, C. Westmacott, Lord Francis Scott,
A. Somerville, W. Page, and D. Paterson joined us.
A distinguished visitor, a fine spear himself, referring
to the members of the hunt, remarked to me at a
meet in 1905, " though there are varying degrees
of excellence, these are all workmen. Not a man
amongst them who cannot kill his boar fair and
square single-handed, and this is as it should be
with the practice available." We had occasional
visitors, too, such as Captain Pritchard, thrice in the
final heat for the Kadir Cup, Medlicott, 3rd Horse,
twice winner of the Guzerat Cup. A. Garratt,
C. A. Radice, I.C.S., Jack Ferguson, Major Maxwell,
V.C., and Jack Scott, all good spears who knew
what they were about. Captains Long, Hodson,
Norwood, V.C., Rivers Bulkeley, Harker, Nicholas,
Welde Forrester, Lord Ashby St. Ledgers, the Duke
of Peneranda, and Colonel Victor Brooke were
novices who showed promise, particularly the first
two. Writing of novices, Major J. McKie, D.S.O.,
of Ernespie (so well known as a first-class man
to hounds and between the flags), was the most
surprising I ever saw ; he seemed to know intuitively
how to handle his spear, and could hold his own
anywhere, his natural eye for a country, nerve, and
horsemanship standing him in good stead.

Horses. — As a rule we ride Walers only. I will

146 MODERN PIG-STICKING

not go into the vexed question as to whethe^ horses
or ponies are best ; this each must decide for him-
self. It depends very much on the rider's weight
and build. Riding 14 stone, or over, as some of
us do, I prefer a short-backed active little horse,
clean bred if possible, with the best of shoulders
and knowing how to use them. A good rein and
a bold eye, standing 14.3 to 15.2. His weight
carries him better through heavy-going or grass
jungle than a pony, and he often finds that spare
leg and reserve of balance, which is so difficult to
describe, and which so often saves a fall when a
pony must come down. Personally I prefer a
rich chestnut or bright bay, though I have seen
good pig -stickers all colours down to skewbald,
and sex is, I think, immaterial ; many of our best
pig-stickers have been mares.

Among many good horses, the first that comes
to my mind is " Diana," a little thorough-bred mare,
standing about 14.3 up to 14 stone, belonging to
Billy Barker. She could pull a bit, having started
her career in a racing stable, though she had many
a fine boar killed off her.

Elliot Hills's "Waitress," "Squire" Cresswell's
" Blackie," Tom Westmacott's " Priestess," Crum's
"Cluny," W. K. Dods's "Fame" (winner of the
Ladies' Paperchase Cup), Jim Crawford's " Napier,"
and Ferguson's " Red Deer " and " Comrade "
were all very good ; my own horse " Alba " would
have been so too, but for the bump on his forehead,
which in his case showed him the advisability, at
times, of not going too near a fighting boar.
" Priestess " was a staunch old mare, and took
eighty-one first spears during ten years' hunting.
The horses brought up by those fine horsemen,

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 147

Cajytsyins Hylo Holden and Vernon Keighley, were
always of the best, fast and handy. Among them
I remember "Marquis," " Charlton," " Boxer," and
" Edward." " Marquis " won the Calcutta Paper-
chase Heavy Weight Cup. Amongst ponies I
remember Captain Holden's " Eventide " and

'Pathfinder," Kenneth Hamilton's " Goodchap "
and " Galatea," my own " Evermore," Elliot Hills's

c Pippin," and Billy Tayler's " Meg." All these
ponies were absolutely first class, and, with the
exception of ' * Pippin, ' ' all thoroughbred. ' ' Pippin ' '
alone was a country-bred, and he was, in his day,
par excellence, the finest pig-sticker that ever looked
through a bridle. He must have taken over 200
first spears at a time when pig were not so plenti-
ful as now, during a career of over fifteen years.
He also won two or three races. " Goodchap,"
besides being a pig-sticker, had two Paperchase
Cups and several pony hurdle races to his credit.

6 Pathfinder " won the pony Paperchase Cup as
well as many hurdle races, and was an old rival of
ic Goodchap." " Evermore " won in the Colonies,
and took over seventy spears without giving me
a fall during four years' hunting, and was quite
the best I ever rode. All these are now dead except

4 Meg " who, in spite of her ten years' hunting,
is still going strong, and must have taken 150
to 200 spears during that time. Fuzzy Graham
has shown us the way well -trained polo ponies,
Australian, English, or Arab, naturally take to pig-
sticking. After seeing his Arab ponies " Gulmarg "
and " Christmas," one can well understand Simson's
admiration for the Arab as a pig-sticker.

I see that Baden-Powell states, when discussing
the age of pig, that they remain very small, and

148 MODERN PIG-STICKING

do not lose their stripes until the end of their third
year. My experience, based on the fact of having
kept young pig myself, and having seen others
reared, enables me to state that the Bengal pig
loses his stripes before he is a year old, and often
at eight months, when he assumes a brown colour
and reaches a height of from 21 inches to 22 inches
at the wither. A young boar of eight months,
which is in the compound as I write, stands 21
inches, and is without the vestige of a stripe. I
have known two others about the same size at
ten to twelve months. From my personal experience
and that of friends, I think I am well on the safe
side in saying that by the time a boar is between
three and four years old he stands 28 inches to
30 inches, and possesses quite a useful pair of tushes,
small but sharp, and very punishing. Between the
fifth and eighth year he is fully grown and developed,
standing anything from 32 inches to 36 inches
(occasionally more). His colour, after passing the
brown stage, has turned gradually to a dim gray,
or slaty black, as the case may be. It is a peculiarity
of pig killed in the neighbourhood of Nattore that
they have a reddish growth of hair on the throat.
Our chur pig are given to eating carrion when
obtainable, and have also been known to break up
and devour cattle which they have found " ponked "
in the deposit of silt left by the inundation. This
fact is so well known that Boonas, who are keen on
pork, and who are our best beaters, refuse to touch
the Moiscoondie pig.

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 149

INCIDENTS

Pig, when bringing off a sudden jink, often run
their snouts into the ground while at full speed,
using this as a fulcrum to turn on.

Chur pig have a peculiarity when hunted in grass
of squatting behind a bush, allowing the rider to
pass, and then charging in from behind, sometimes
jumping as high as the horse's croup.

That fine spear, the late Archie Hills, used to say
that a strong -smelling boar was always a good
ic fighter," and I and others have noticed the same
thing.

It is, of course, well known that a pig, hunted or
unhunted, even before he breaks, will turn out
another from his basha to take his place. In this
connection Archie Hills related a story of the biter
bit. One day he put up a fine boar in wheat. The
boar went straight to a basha and roused the
occupant. This proved to be a gigantic specimen,
who turned on the intruder, got him well under-
neath with his snout, and ran him off the field. The
spears took on the big boar, and he paid dearly for
his inhospitality.

Elliot Hills and his brother Chalmers, when
following a hunted pig which had given them a
tremendous run, saw the pig suddenly drop down
dead. Being a fat gross beast, it was probably
heart. I have seen a pig break his neck, when
jumping a nullah, falling with his snout against
the opposite bank.

The under-mentioned incident is worth recording
here. While a ryot was cutting his Kolye on the
chur, not far from Moiscoondie, he was suddenly
and without any provocation, attacked by a heavy

150 MODERN PIG-STICKING

boar, which cut him so deeply in his side that the
boar's upper tush, which was much curled, got
entangled in the man's ribs. The boar, being
frightened, began shaking him about, trying to get
free. The man's shouts attracted- some fellow-
cultivators to the spot. They pluckily attacked
the boar with sickles and lathes, and killed the
boar on the top of the man. They then found
that the tush was so firmly hooked under the
unfortunate man's rib that they could not get the
brute off until they had decapitated him. Needless
to say, the man died shortly after.

Accidents will happen, and beaters are often
slightly cut, though seldom seriously. In 1912,
however, one of our beaters met his death. A boar
turning on the line of coolies knocked a man down
and ripped his back so badly as to expose his lungs.
Although we had two doctors out with us who got
at the poor fellow almost at once, he died in a couple
of hours. A subscription was got up on the spot
for the widow, who expressed herself satisfied, and
I hope it was sufficient compensation for the loss
of her husband.

One of the most startling accidents which I can
remember happened to Cress well a few years ago.
He had just swum an Arab pony across a river, and
the pony stopped to drink in the shallow water,
when a mugger caught it by the head and dragged
it under, and it was never seen again.

I have only once come across deer when pig-
sticking. It happened in, I think, 1900 at Bilmaria,
which lies on the opposite side of the river to
Moiscoondie. We were beating jhow jungle, and
suddenly three hog deer, a buck, and two does
jumped up in front of my party, which consisted of

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 151

Willy Bell Irving, myself, and two others. The
country had not recovered from the great earth-
quake of 1897, and the ground was split in every
direction. We all came down at least once, but
eventually Bell Irving killed the buck. The run
was an adventurous one, as I got concussion and
Bell Irving lost two of his front teeth.

We do not often come across leopards, but Billy
Barker and Abraham Garratt have both ridden and
killed a leopard with a hog spear. Tom Westmacott
tells me that when hunting in thatching grass some
years ago near Chandpara a leopard drove the beaters
out of the grass. At the same moment a boar broke,
and when the " spears " came back after killing
him, it was getting dark and the leopard could not
be found. In Barker's case the leopard was a
female which had just lost her cubs. She took up
her quarters in a patch of paddy with a fence round
it, and attacked any one who came near. Barker
jumped his horse into the paddy and found the
leopard on its back snarling, and killed her with
one spear before she could get up.

The following hints may be of use to the novice,
and I give them for what they are worth.

If you are hunting a boar in country where cattle
are grazing, and you lose him, watch the cattle, and
if you suddenly see them galloping you may be
quite sure that the boar has just passed them.

It is a mistake to take a green horse up to a
wounded boar, particularly if he has a spear in him
and is standing in long grass. If possible give a
green horse a long steady gallop after a boar in the
open and he will very soon tumble to the game.
Many a good horse has been ruined at the outset of
his hunting career by being charged and cut by a

152 MODERN PIG-STICKING

wounded boar before he has understood what is
happening.

Change horses as often as possible, and avoid
riding a tired horse after a pig, as nothing is more
likely to sicken a horse of pig-sticking than being
forced up to a boar when he has had enough.

Always ride a horse at a boar at his top speed,
as he is far less likely to get cut. Never allow a
horse to stand over a pig as the pig is certain to get
home on him. Always wear a pair of spurs and
learn how to use them. Tom Westmacott tells
me that he once saw a horse hamstrung by a boar,
simply because the rider was not wearing spurs
and could not get his horse out of the way quick
enough.

A polo whip may, if necessary, be carried with
advantage, as it is sometimes useful in straightening
a horse if he is inclined to shy off a boar, or if he
shows temper and jibs when touched with the spur.

Opinions differ as to the advisability of pulling
a spear out of a boar. In the case of a heavy spear
our experience is that it is an undoubted mistake.
On one occasion when I had speared a boar heavily
I tried to pull the spear out, with the result that I
dragged the boar on to me, and he cut the horse so
badly that the horse had to be shot. The boar
then staggered a few yards and rolled over dead.
In support of what I say I cannot do better than
quote from Simson's book. He says :

If you hold on to a spear deep in the body of a fierce
heavy hog, all the advantages of pace, a wound well in
front, and of a sharp deeply-piercing spear will be sacrificed.
The hog will recover from the first shock of the wound and
will use his tushes with most deadly effect. Get away from
the hog the instant you have speared him ; take your spear

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 153

with you if you can, but, if you cannot, leave it sticking
in, and at all hazards get your horse clear from the hog.

When hunting in grass jungle it is far easier to
follow a wounded boar if he has a spear standing
up in him. Of course there is much to be said on
the other side. It may be that by leaving the spear
in a boar the rider is left at a disadvantage, but
if he is riding in company this does not matter.
When riding alone a good man invariably picks
his opportunity, and should be able to give such a
heavy spear that a second spear is not required.

It is a mistake to try to kill a pig in " ponk " or
boggy country, because he can get through it
quicker than a horse, and the odds are in favour
of the pig. If, on the other hand, a pig is swimming,
he is at a disadvantage and cannot hurt you.

A novice should remember that his object should
be, not so much to prick the pig and to claim first
spear, as to kill him as cleanly as possible. He
must avoid all jealous and foul riding, and he must
be ready to take the pig whenever the pig charges.
If a pig is just reaching cover a very deadly spear
can be given in the small triangular patch behind
the short ribs, where the skin is stretched tight over
the kidneys. The boar may reach the cover, but
he will drop dead just inside it.

Remember you must never job at a pig. If you
do so you are sure to miss him. Keep your right
hand steady, and when the boar has taken the point
put your weight on the spear and drive it home.

Should a boar saunter out of the jungle at a
stilted trot, instead of at a gallop, he generally
means business, and will very likely charge at sight.

Neither Simson nor Baden-Powell make mention
of the carriage of the tail of the hunted pig. He

154 MODERN PIG-STICKING

always starts with his tail up, but as he gets tired
his flag gradually drops. He will then no longer
jink, but will charge. As he turns to charge, his
tail invariably goes up again and, with ears cocked
and an angry " woof, woof," he comes in like a
whirlwind.

It has more than once happened that having
ridden a boar alone and speared him well, the rider,
having nothing in his hand, has been suddenly
charged by another pig. Should there be no time
to get out of the way, it is I think wisest to
go hell for leather at the charging pig. Being
fresh there is more than a chance that he may not
charge home, and the pace you are going will
probably see you through.

The number of pig killed on the chur and in its
neighbourhood during the last ten to eleven years
totals over 1700, and, though pig are not as plentiful
as they were, there are still quite enough to ensure
the best of hunting for many a year to come.

The following are the records of some of the
principal meets of the Shikarpore Hunt on the
Moiscoondie chur between 1903 and 1913.

With the exception of the record meet of January
1906, details of which are given at length, I have
only given the total bags, and the spears who headed
the list in each case.

1904

13th and \kth February.
12 spears.
59 boar.

A. Garrett, 11 ; E. C. H. Cresswell, 8 ; Jim Crawford, 7.

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL

155

1905

9th, Wth, and llth February.
13 spears.
70 boar.

T. H. Westmacott, 13 ; E. C. H. Cresswell, 11 ; K. M.
Hamilton, 7 ; Keighley, 7 ; M. M. Crawford, 7 ; P. W. Barker, 6.

1906

28th, 29th, and 30th January.

1

i

•g

fii

a

g

.d

3

Name of Spears.

P

3

o

W|

i

8g

H

J]1

S

S

CO

§

••3 co

nS

3

W

&

I

II

i?

»-s

ll

5

st. Ib.

W. E. Tayler .

11 0

4

1

2

1

10

12

22

23

A. J. Pugh ....

13 0

4

I1

. 4

2

10

8

18

20

T. H. Westmacott .

10 8

4

1

10

5

15

15

P. W. Barker .

14 2

4

. .

Not

7

7

14

14

out

Capt. H. Holden

10 8

5

2

1

6

6

12

13

Capt. T. R. Bulkley .

12 6

3

m

. .

e

7

6

13

13

M. M. Crawford .

14 13

2

. .

2

Not

6

5

11

11

out

Capt. W. Rennie

12 9

5

2

4

7

11

11

E. C. H. Cresswell .

13 7

3

2

4

7

11

11

M. Ferguson

14 7

2

Not

6

3

9

9

out

C. W. Graham .

11 12

7

3

3

3

6

6

Capt. J. Norwood, V.C. .

15 13

8

3

2

5

5

D. Somerville

11 12

2

Not

2

2

2

out

G. B. Paris

11 3

5

I2

. .

. .

Not

out

E. W. Collin, I.C.S. .

15 2

1

Not

. .

. .

0

out

R. S. Greenshields, I.C.S.

13 7

2

1

0

G. H. James

11 7

2

. .

. .

. .

Not

0

. .

out

17 spears .

••

63

11

7

4

76

73

149

153

1 Mr. Pugh'8 was the only horse very seriously cut and he afterwards recovered.

2 Mr. Paris was kicked in the face. This was the only fall of any consequence.
He was unable to continue hunting.

3 On 28th January some of the spears went out for three feours on their way up from
the station and killed four boar.

156 MODERN PIG-STICKING

1906

16^ and 17th December.
11 spears.
50 boar.
T. H. Westmacott, 16 ; W. E. Tayler, 10.

1907

18th and 19th January.

9 spears.
89 boar.
R. A. C. Pugh, 18 ; E. B. Hills, 16 ; T. H. Westmacott, 16.

1909

25th, 26th, and 27th January.

8 spears.
36 boar.
M. M. Crawford, 7 ; Hylo Holden, 6 ; R. A. C. Pugh, 5.

1910

21st, 22nd, and 23rd January.

11 spears.
74 boar.

Keighley, 12 ; Medlicott, 9 ; Long, 10 ; Cresswell, 8.

13th, 14th, and 15th February.
16 spears.
71 boar.

Keighley, 10 ; Crawford, 9 ; Medlicott, 8 ; Francis Scott, 7 ;
Cresswell, 6.

1911

3rd, 4>th, and 5th February.

13 spears.
102 boar.

M. M. Crawford, 13 ; K. M. Hamilton, 13 ; W. E. Crum, 13 ;
D. Somerville, 10 ; C. Westmacott, 9.

1911
llth and 12th March.

12 spears.
54 boar.

List of individual spear getters unobtainable for reason
given below.

-.

PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 157

On my arrival from home I found Major Ward-
rop's letter asking me to write this chapter.

My records, photos, etc., being left behind, with
no chance of getting them in time, I find it difficult
to verify all my facts.

My thanks are due to Messrs. " Billy " Barker,
16 Squire " Cresswell, and Tom Westmacott for their
help in writing these reminiscences, to the latter
especially for the paragraphs regarding the Calcutta
Tent Clubs, old and new, and origin of Shikarpore
Hunt contributed by him.

Note by Major Wardrop. — Mr. Crawford's fascinating
account in one or two details touches on points mentioned
elsewhere in this book. But Mr. Crawford's experiences,
although gained in a country separated by the width of a
continent from where I have mostly hunted, bear out my
own views so closely and interestingly that I have made no
attempt to condense either his remarks or mine on these
subjects which we have both mentioned.

CHAPTER X

THE NAGPUR HUNT

By Lieut.-Colonel F. W. CATON JONES, R.A.M.C.

WE all love our hunt, and are not ashamed of
wishing to see it take its proper place in print
among the old Tent Clubs of India.

Baden -Powell does not mention the Nagpur
Hunt in his book on pig -sticking, but we have
another famous sportsman as our scribe and poet
in Moray Brown. His fascinating book, Stray
Sport, is at my side, and his description of a bout
with a good old boar makes one long to be in the
saddle again.

There is no competition in our hunt like the
Kadir or Guzerat Cups, but the member who takes
the greatest number of first spears in the season
keeps a very handsome challenge cup until the
following year. On this cup are engraved the
names of the winners from the year 1863, although
it was not presented until 1893. It was designed
by F. D. Fowler, J. Moray Brown, and G. D.
Giles, the soldier artist.

Another very beautiful cup is in the permanent
possession of the Royal Artillery Mess at Kamptee.
It was presented to the Royal Artillery Mess by
Colonel MacMaster, Madras Staff Corps, in 1869.

158

LT.-COL. CATON JONES'S "DOG FOX " WITH A SHOT TIGER.
"THE RIGHT SORT."

MR. BRANFORD'S ARAB, "RUSTOM."

To face page 158.

THE NAGPUR HUNT 159

The names of the winners since 1863 are also
engraved on this cup, but it does not leave the Mess.

Although the element of rivalry is thus intro-
duced into our midst, I do not think it would be
possible to find a more sporting hunt. The pig-
sticking novice is carefully taken in hand, taught
his trade, and educated up to his first spear. We
hold by the old pig-sticking rule that the killing
of the pig is the first thing, the taking of the first
spear being quite secondary to it ; and that all
should have good sport. To this end horses and
ponies are grouped together, and the veterans and
novices evenly distributed.

When I was at Kamptee (1906-1907-1908) our
best country was in the Wardha district, and our big
meets were arranged for ten days each during the
Christmas, Mohurrum, and Easter holidays. The
Christmas gathering was, of course, the largest and
merriest, but for sport I would select the Mohurrum
Meet which was held some time in February. There
were then not too many spears and the weather
was still fairly cool. At the Easter meet the sport
was excellent, but it was distinctly hot.

Some years ago regular meets were held much
nearer to Nagpur and Kamptee, but these have
been practically given up for the longer ones I have
mentioned. The closer country was as rocky and
difficult as any old pig-sticker could wish, and had
the advantage of letting in the one-horse man.
Four ponies or horses would see you through the
longer meets with luck, but I have had two out of
four knocked out the first day by wounds. The
Wardha country is black cotton soil — a great
cotton-growing district. There are a few grass birs
(rumnahs), some rough thorny jungle, and many

160 MODERN PIG-STICKING

long groves of date palms (sendhi bans) at the edges
of the nullahs with which the country is intersected.
The date palms are cultivated by the natives for
the extraction of " Toddy," and the jungle formed
by them is often very thick and impossible to ride
through. It forms an ideal home for pig. Water
in the nullahs, shade, solitude, and safety in the
thick jungle, and rich fields close by to feed upon.
No wonder our pig run heavy and our " grim grey
ones " are hard to stir.

Come with me now for the " Mohurrum Meet "
to Sonegaon railway station on the Wardha-Chanda
line. Bring with you four good horses or ponies, and
at least eight of tjie stoutest spears you can wield.
I can see Prescott Decie's spear now like that of
Goliath of Gath, and his mighty thrust as the boar
came in. But think not that any spear shaft that
can be wielded by man will always stand the strain.
Wait till you come almost level with a 34 or
35 incher, see him turn his eye up at you, and
wounded or not charge in with a bound. Keep
your spear well down, take him just behind the
shoulder, lean well towards him and thrust, no
jobbing. Through and through goes the spear,
and he strikes you hard on the boot, and lucky for
you if he does not put his tush through it or miss
you and wound your horse. Now comes the strain,
Hold on you must, as your horse rushes forward ;
but it needs a mighty man and a mighty spear-shaft
to turn over or round that tremendous mass of
energy and hate. I confess I am no Sandow, I
used what our Captain (" Pat " Gibson of the
Durham Light Infantry) called fishing-rods. But
I came prepared with a sufficient number. We
used the underhand spear, and usually about seven

THE NAGPUR HUNT 161

feet long. In thick grass or " jhow " one can use
this overhand. Any spear was allowed, and I
have seen the short overhand spear used by an
expert. He failed to keep two heavy pig off, and
had two ponies badly cut on the same day. After
this slight digression on spears, this preparatory
lecture in the train, we arrive at Sonegaon station
to find a hearty welcome from our captain. The
mess tent is pitched and ready ; our servants,
ponies, and tents have arrived before us. Just a
word to ask if the ponies are all right, and in we go
to tea, and talk over the Khubber. It is said to be
good, but the Malguzar or Patel of such and such a
village has been netting pig. However, we have
heard the same story before, and still hope that
all the pig have not been netted. Then round the
horses, a tub, and dinner. Early to bed as our
orders are to be up at daybreak. We will suppose
we have a dozen spears out. Our captain sorts
them into four parties of three each, according to
mounts and knowledge of the game. The oldest
pig -sticker of each party is its captain. His
vocabulary in English and Hindustani should be
an ample one. The rocky and thorn-covered hills
of Esumba are beaten towards Airundgaon sendhi
ban, and, with luck a boar is ridden and slain. More
probably he escapes into the sendhi ban untouched.
We then beat the sendhi ban down-stream. The
cover in places stretches a hundred and fifty yards
across ; in places it thins down to nothing at all
but a few solitary date palms before the next thick
piece is entered. Our object is to induce the pig
to break cover, and make across the fields or broken
thorny country for the next sendhi ban three-
quarters of a mile or so away.

M

162 MODERN PIG-STICKING

The Hunt Club shikari has a shot gun and a few
cartridges to make the wily old boar move. Nothing
less than a dose of No. 5 or 6 shot behind will make
some of the old fellows get up, much less break
cover. They know the game too well. The local
beater when he sees one of our old friends in a thick
bush, or even in the more open ground, has a habit
of looking the other way, and redoubling his yells
and screams when he has safely passed beyond
him. But to return to our beat. A line is formed
across the ban stiffened here and there with assistant
shikaries and those well known to be stout-hearted.
One party of spears is on either flank of the beat,
and moves with it ; the other two are forward on
opposite sides of the nullah, perhaps half a mile or
so on, and about a hundred and fifty yards or so
from the cover, concealed by bushes or trees. These
\ \ parties can dismount, but keep moving on from
vantage point to vantage point as the beat advances.
All along the edge of the jungle as far as the beat
Lv is to go flagmen are placed in trees to flag the
$^H parties on to a rideable boar which has broken to a
flank. One's sport depends largely on these men,
and how often do they disappoint one ! When pig
would not break we tried two lines of beaters
following each other with an interval of a hundred
yards or so. This was fairly successful. But I am
sure that many of the oldest and biggest boars were
never driven out of cover. Stories of their gigantic
size and exceeding fierceness were many. Some-
times we got them as " outliers," and even then
they required a charge of shot to make them leave
the cover they were in. Abuse, clods of earth,
stones, and sticks were useless.

Suppose now, reader, you and I are with one

THE NAGPUR HUNT 163

of the forward parties. We are dismounted and
resting our horses, but keeping a sharp look-out.
We see a flagman gently waving in the direction
of a pig which has passed him, but which as yet
we cannot see. Now mount quietly and wait,
keeping under cover. " Ah, there he is, a 32
incher, I think." He stops and looks forward,
sees no enemy, and, reassured, lobs on. Your pony
pricks his ears, and his heart goes hammering
against your legs. " No, youngster, back ; will you
keep back ! ': Now at a word from the captain of
our party we move gently out, any excess of zeal
on the part of the rank and file being sternly
repressed. We get between the boar and cover,
and break into a slow trot to nurse him away.
Now comes the question of judgment. How far
can one let him go ? We must not start riding
too soon or he will double back to cover ; nor too
late or he will be into the sendhi ban he has his eye
on before we can lay him out. But our captain
is an old hand, and knows the jungle well ; he
breaks into a canter and we spread out into a line
on each side of him, but kept well in hand from
fear of that terrible vocabulary. The pig has not
yet realized we are after him, and goes quietly
lobbing along. We increase our pace a bit, and
now he realizes we mean business, and off he goes
at speed. Faster we go, but not pressing him too
much. He is not yet safely away from the jungle
he has left, but we know that our time is very near,
and we watch our captain out of the corner of our
eye. As the hoarse, fierce " Ride " comes from
his lips our ponies bound forward, and it is a wild
race for first spear. For a time we do not gain at
all. Then our youngster on a fast tearing pony

164 MODERN PIG-STICKING

gets there first, and the old boar, tucking his tail
in, redoubles his efforts and shoots ahead. A quick
jink round a bush, and he has shaken off his pursuer.
Our captain, on his steady old Arab going hard, but
with just that little bit to spare, gets on. The boar
tries a jink or two, but the old Arab, his ears laid
well back, twists with him. Now just that little
extra bit. In go the heels (don't have your spurs
too sharp) and he is level with the pig. A Central
Province boar cannot stand that. A quick, wicked,
upward look, and in he conies. The spear goes
true, and with luck is wrenched free without
breaking. Up comes number three, and of course
is charged, but gets in a good spear. Our old boar
has still some energy left, and in a final charge
receives his death-wound from the youngster, and
rolls over with a grunt, game to the last. But
perhaps that eager novice could not be restrained,
and breaking free from discipline rides his pig too
soon, and in spite of the words, " keep inside,
keep inside," from the captain. The mischief is
done, and we must try and kill the pig before he
gets back to the cover he has left. But only one
spear can be given before he gets inside that safe
retreat followed by two village pi -dogs. We
stand looking angrily at the " cause " of all this.
The vocabulary flows, and our novice takes it well,
but at last he says, " Old chap, I know I am a
— , but I have had all I can stand ; I thought you
said ' Ride.5 : We leave it at that. We dismount
and enter the sendhi ban spear in hand, and make
towards where we heard the pi-dogs giving tongue.
Abreast with spears well advanced and held low
we walk up the main nullah. It is very hot. As
we round a corner we come on our old boar lying

THE NAGPUR HUNT 165

down in a puddle panting with two dogs lying on
the bank three or four yards away with their tongues
out, but every now and then giving a four pi-dog .
power yell. The boar seems quite done, but as
we approach he looks at us, then gets up and walks
slowly towards us, then raises a trot, then in with
a rush straight on the middle spear. Our centred
man is driven back by the force of impact, but we
on the right and left drive our spears home into the
chest. Still trying to urge his way up the spears
the boar falls on one side and dies without a groan.
It is as well to carry a shikar knife, either in the belt
or boot as the Rajputs do. General Kinloch, after
being disarmed and nearly killed by a boar, always
carried a knife. I have seen Sir Pertab Singh of
Jodhpur dismount, go up behind a wounded boar
standing at bay, catch it by the hind leg, throw it
over and stab it through the heart with his short
curved knife. Colonel Baldock's spear-head knife
is rather heavy, but I remember longing for one
when trying alone to keep a wounded boar from
cover with a broken spear. So back to the beat
which has been halted for us and another party.
The hunt goes on with varying success over the
same sort of country until about midday, when we
begin to look anxiously for the hunt club lunch flag :
a red ground with a yellow bottle, and spear head
on it. This was always hoisted on the very top
of the highest available tree. Water and feed
horses and men. How well one remembers that
black buck stew. But not " Toujours black buck
stew," please. Then smoke and sleep if one can
till 3 P.M., when it is boot and saddle and off again.
Probably news has been brought in of an outlying
boar, and the party that has had the least sport is

166 MODERN PIG-STICKING

detailed by the captain to attack. Then perhaps
a grass bir is beaten, and so to camp tired and
happy. The pig were usually brought into camp
in carts, so there was no chance of that useful
stretching for a doubtful measurement. Our lowest
limit was 26| inches. After dinner it is the duty
of the sportsman who has taken most first spears
or slain the biggest boar to write up the log in the
/ hunt records. Occasionally the writer soars high.

The monster came down like a wolf on the old,
His tushes were gleaming like silver and gold,
The glints from his eyes were like stars in the East,
He charged, was speared, and now is deceased.

An honourable record of falls was always kept.
What shame is there in a pig-sticking fall ? The
man who never has a fall never tries for one.
" Here's luck to all who fear no fall, and the next
grey boar we see." Occasionally we were lucky
enough to bag a panther. Our party had just
finished off a good fighting boar on foot, and we felt
rather pleased with ourselves when we were attracted
by loud yells from another party. At first we could
not make out what they were after, then saw it was
a panther, so hastened to join in the fight. She
was dead before we got up. Poor Hughie Reid of
the Royal Scots (he died of cholera) had got in two
spears, and Pratt of the same corps one. A full-
grown female in good condition.

As stated before, we seldom got the very big
boars to break from the sendhi bans, but occasionally
we found them lying out. They did not run far,
and nearly always charged in before they were
speared, but their charge, though sometimes im-
possible to stop, was clumsy. A fast 32 incher gave
us the best sport. He ran and fought with great

THE NAGPUR HUNT 167

agility. At one place (Alipur) we always found
outlying pig. Here one day during the Mohurrum
Meet our bag was seven boar. The average height
of these was 33 inches and weight 261 Ibs. The
largest measured 35 \ inches, and weighed 319 Ibs.
This is the largest boar I have seen killed, but not
the heaviest. We got one weighing 325 Ibs. I
cannot discover what the record tushes of the hunt
are, but I got one boar whose height was 33 1 inches,
weight 285 Ibs., with thick tushes measuring 9j
and 12 1 inches. The longer one was due to a
broken upper tush. This defect probably saved
a pony from being disembowelled, as the pig got
right under and kept lifting him up and down.

I also got a 33 1 incher weighing 325 Ibs. with
very thick perfect tushes measuring 9| and 9|
inches. This was an " outlier." He would not
get up until he received a charge of No. 5 shot
behind.

Our record year was the season 1906-1907, when
" Pat " Gibson of the Durham Light Infantry was

our " Captain."

__.
Total number of boar killed that season 107

Hunting days .... 37

Average height of boar killed . . 28-6 in.

Average weight of boar killed . . 191-4 Ibs.

Largest boar killed . . . 35 J in.

Heaviest boar killed . . . 302 Ibs.

The biggest boar ever killed by the hunt measured
38 inches and weighed 358 Ibs. ; first spear, Captain
R. D. Burlton, 2nd Madras Lancers, 1896.

Brethren of the Nagpur Hunt, I have done my
best to tell " the tale of our lives." It has been
feebly done, yet as one wrote one seemed again to
feel the grip of the spear and saddle, the straining

168 MODERN PIG-STICKING

to reach the boar before he could gain the jungle,
the rush and the sidelong charge met true. Alas,
that one cannot paint in words what one sees and
feels.

Postscript. — We of the Mhow, Nasirabad and
Hyderabad (Scinde) Hunts are little people com-
pared with our big brethren, but we are as keen as
even they can wish. Is there any one who really
rode a pig over the rocky ground of Mhow who is
not proud of having gained a first spear in such a
country. To get a spear there one had to ride.
The man who looked never got one.

Companions of the Nasirabad Tent Club, does
not the thought of Sendolia hill and bir (Bagri)
even now make you thrill ?

That horrible horn at 4 A.M. The wait for the
returning pig, the grass bir in line, the upheaval
of a haycock, and the outrush of a fine old boar,
the sounder scrambling over the rocky steeps of
Sendolia hill. All kinds of pig-sticking in one day.
Eight pig in one and a half days our best effort.
Pig small, but game. They could not grow big,
poor things, on famine food. It was a large boar
that measured 28 inches.

Hats off to the old boar of Bithur, our "Alphonse."
May he still be going strong. Many a good run did
he give us in his rocky jungle home.

We called our sport hog-hunting at Hyderabad
(Scinde), because we so seldom stuck the pig.

A hurried circular chit from the secretary about
11 A.M. to the three or four stalwarts who never
failed. A boar marked down near Meanee monu-
ment. Meet there at 1.30 P.M. Off went one
pony at once with a spear or two, and an hour or

THE NAGPUR HUNT 169

so later we cantered out the five miles along the
sandy track we call a road in Scinde. At the
monument erected to those who fell in Sir Charles
Napier's great fight we find the ponies and grinning
shikaries. A good pig marked down a quarter of
a mile away in a tangle of Li (jhow) and babul
bushes only ten yards or so square. No big bando-
bust. A few clods and out he rushes. With
whistles in our mouths off we go at once at speed.
X is on him. The rest spread out right and left,
blowing their whistles when on the pig. It is only
so we can hope to catch him in this jungle. The
boar gallops past Meanee monument, we going all
we know to catch him before he reaches the impene-
trable babul fence round Meanee forest reserve—
his home. Once through this fence he can lie down
in safety and look at us. He reaches his goal.
But we live in hope of better luck next time.
Tracking is easy in the sands of Scinde, and the
shikaries never played us false. We had to guard
our horses' legs against the babul thorns by leather
boots with a flap over the fetlock and knee. Even
with these the thorns often laid the horses up for a
few days, though we stood their legs in hot water
on our return home.

Note. — My friend is, as a poet, shy. But I must insert
this ballad which is as remarkable for its accuracy as it is
for its literary excellence. — A. E. W.

A BALLAD OF THE NAGPUR HUNT

MOHURBUM MEET, 1908

A band of pig-stickers set out

From Kamptee and Nagpur,
All bound for the Mohurrum Meet,

To hunt the Mighty Boar.

170 MODERN PIG-STICKING

The Captain bold was Gibson, he

Called Pat, and Mrs. G.
And Hoskyns and young Jones they made

An eager company.

At Tooljapur young Coventry

Appeared upon the scene,
And walked us off to dinner all,

A merry crowd I ween.

Next morning Pratt arrived agog

To slay, and heartily
We welcomed him a brother bold

For any devilry.

And now wake up my Pegasus,
Come put your best leg forth,

Record in your most fluent verse,
And go for all your worth.

The best day in the annals of
Our famous hunt must now

Be handed down by you to all,
" A sorry steed I trow."

With spavins, ringbone, splints and strains

And windgalls not a few ;
You know you simply have to go,

You miserable screw.

Before we started from the camp

A panting beater came,
Reporting that a mighty boar

Was lying near ; one game

To kill his man ; so mounting quick

We rode to lay him low.
Roused from his lair in rage he rushed

Upon his nearest foe.

Mahomed Ali just in time

To save his pony speared
The head ; then all with wild hooroosh

Joined in the fray and cheered.

THE NAGPUR HUNT 171

After a jink or two young Jones,

Mounted on " Foccus Dog "
(That hardy, game old veteran),

Got on. It seemed the hog

Was surely his without a doubt,

When slipped his saddle round,
And J was clean out of the hunt,

And nearly kissed the ground.

Then Gibson with unerring spear

Transfixed the boar's thick hide,
In less time than it takes to write

That old manslayer died.

We gazed on his great bulk with awe.

By jove ! he was a snorter,
The measure tape proved him to be

Five-thirty and a quarter.

No time was there to mourn for him,

The work was yet to do,
The soor-log were many still,

The spears were very few.

Then Blenkie, Jones, and Coventry,

With Hirst (a new recruit),
Pursued a swiftly running hog,

Caught up and killed the brute.

But not before his mark he left

On Hirst's game little Tat.
He cut it badly in the hock,

'Twas of the genus " rat,"

But very game. The Gibson crew

Found and rode another
Stout member of the porcine breed,

To No. 2 a brother.

Brave Mrs. G on trappy ground

Got on him first, and G
Followed in dread, being sure that now

A widower he'd be.

172 MODERN PIG-STICKING

She gave a real good spear, and then

That gallant pig he fought
At all and sundry charging in,

And set his foes at naught.

But finally he, too, was slain.

Young Hoskyns' turn came next
After a weighty gentleman

Who ran until perplexed,

And out of breath with running hard

Sought refuge in the river,
After the Hoskyns' spear had pierced

The region of his liver.

Now up and down on foot they fought

Close by the river flood,
Until this gallant boar at last

Fell lifeless in the mud.

" To horse ! To horse ! " the Captain cried,
" No place for sluggards here,"

And out we went to beat the Ban,
Or did we beat a Bir ?

I quite forget, but anyhow,

A goodly boar soon broke,
And off we rode to lay him out,

Each larruping his moke.

Save Gibson none had ere a chance,

And his was second one.
So died a likely pig before

The fight had well begun.

Another boar reported was,

Hopes of the bag enhancing
Were great. We went to turn him out

When lo on us advancing

We saw him come, formed line, and met

The foe, but turning tail
This coward pig fled swiftly off.

Flight was of no avail.

THE NAGPUR HUNT

J took the first ignoble spear,

Soon died the coward boar ;
His weight was near 300 Ibs.,

His height was 34.

Six boars were slain ; another one

Claimed our attention still ;
And Mrs. G, on Cigarette,

Rode on his tail until

He charged, and charging met the spear,

A good one. In each hand
Grasping a lance, G got him down

And quickly made an end.

So seven boars by seven spears
Were slain : can one do better ?

This day should be recorded in
Our annals as " red letter."

Divided up the inches of

Those seven pig when done
Gave 33 to each ; their weight

Panned out 261.

All honour to our Captain bold,

All honour to his crew,
For showing us such ripping sport,

Jowahir Singh, Paikoo ;

Abdullah with his faithful oont,

The Buddoo, don't forget.
And now to dodge the eggs and cats

I'll not remain, you bet.

F. W. C. J.

173

CHAPTER XI

THE GUZERAT CUP
By Captain H. E. MEDLICOTT, 3rd Skinner's Horse.

THE Guzerat Cup was instituted in 1885. Previous
to this there were annual gatherings of sportsmen
from Guzerat and Bombay, but there was no com-
petitive event before this year. The Cup was
subscribed for by " The sportsmen of Guzerat."
A competitor could enter as many horses as he
wished, and had a separate chance for each horse ;
in fact the horse won and not the man. This rule
was so palpably favourable to the rich man that it
was altered, and from 1886 onwards the rule that
" the man wins and not the horse " has been adhered
to. This is the fundamental difference between the
conditions of the Guzerat and Kadir Cups. When
there has been a sufficient quantity of pig, com-
petitors have been allowed two chances, otherwise
only one. In each of the two chances a competitor
may ride anything he likes, the same horse, or
different ones. This rule, as I have said, was made
to put a poor man on equal terms with a rich one ;
but to ensure this the horse of the one-horse man
must keep going throughout the meet. This,
however, was not sufficient to allow the poor man
to compete with any degree of success against the

174

CHAP, xi THE GUZERAT CUP 175

Maharana of Dholpur and Maharaja of Patiala in
1892, when they brought down forty-five hunters
between them !

In 1889, Dr. Tully, one of the original supporters
of the meet, died in Burma. He was devoted to
Guzerat and its sport. When news of his death
was received a subscription was set on foot among
his many friends in the Bombay Presidency to
perpetuate his memory, first by monuments to be
erected in the Rajkot Church, and in his parish
church in Ireland, and secondly if possible in some
way connected with sport. For this purpose about
1000 rupees was forthcoming, which was added to
by unexpended balance of other funds, and it was
decided to apply the interest of this as a perpetual
subscription to the Guzerat Cup, thus forming
the nucleus of an Endowment Fund, which may
be added to by other sportsmen afterwards, and
perpetuate Dr. Tully's memory in a way which
would undoubtedly have been most pleasing to
himself. In the year 1891 a point-to-point race
for horses and ponies which had competed in either
the Guzerat or Salmon Cups was inaugurated and
christened the Tully Hog - Hunters' Cup, value
250 rupees, part of which was raised from the above-
mentioned fund.

In the year 1910 further subscriptions were raised
by Lieut. -Colonel Forbes to the extent of nearly
7000 rupees, which were added to the Tully Endow-
ment Fund, which in 1910 had risen to about 5000
rupees, thus making in all 12,000 rupees, the interest
on which is sufficient to provide a sealed pattern
Cup annually to the winner. The Cup bears an
inscription to the effect that it is provided out of
the Tully Endowment Fund and a fund collected

176 MODERN PIG-STICKING

by Lieut.-Colonel Forbes. At the same time the
Tully Hog -Hunters' Cup and other races were
abolished.

The Prospectus of 1914 announces that the
winner of the Guzerat Cup will also hold for a year
"The Pertab Singh Gold Challenge Cup." This
has been presented by H.H. the Maharajah of
Idar, who is a great supporter of the meet.

Lieut.-Colonel Forbes has put the whole concern
on a thorough business footing, and the thanks of all
sportsmen are due to him.

It was decided in 1911 that there should be no
second chances in the Guzerat Cup if there were
more than twelve competitors, and that the Guzerat
Cup should not be run for unless there are at least
twelve separate bona fide entries and ten actual
competitors. The most important rules in this
year's (1914) Prospectus are :

(a) Each heat will be in charge of an umpire, against
whose decision there is no appeal. But the umpire may,
if he wishes, refer to the committee.

(b) All spears must be shown clean to the umpire before
starting, and no spear will count unless the umpire can
see blood or fat on the spear or blood on the pig.

(c) Spears to be delivered mounted and on the off-side
only. Left-handed men must declare, and may spear
on the near side only. Spears must not exceed a total
length of 8 feet, and must be serviceable hog-hunting
spears.

(d) All entries are of men, not of horses, which need not
be the property of competitors.

(e) If the pig gets away unspeared, all the riders in the
heat shall be considered to have lost their chance, provided
the umpire considers a fair opportunity for spearing has
been given.

(/) Foul riding is not allowed, and any competitor

THE GUZERAT CUP 177

offending is liable to disqualification. Intentional collision
is foul riding.

THE SALMON CUP

When the Guzerat Cup was started in 1885
Captain Salmon generously stated that he would
present a Pony Pig- sticking Cup annually as long
as he remained in Guzerat. He himself won the
Guzerat Cup in 1886, leaving Guzerat shortly after-
wards. In 1887 the Cup was provided by Bombay
sportsmen. About this time Captain Salmon died,
and in 1888 a Cup, to be competed for by Arabs
13.2, and C.B.'s 13.3, and under, was provided by
subscriptions to commemorate his memory. In
1889 the Guzerat Cup won by Captain Salmon in
1886 was purchased by the Guzerat Cup Committee,
and made into a Pig- sticking Challenge Cup for
ponies, called the " Salmon Cup," which can never
be won outright, to perpetuate the memory of
Captain Salmon and of his services to sport in
Guzerat.

In 1890 the sportsmen outside Guzerat supple-
mented the " Salmon Cup " with a Cup, value
250 rupees, to become the property of the winner
of the Challenge Cup. In 1891 ponies 13.3 and
under were allowed to compete, and as years went
on the height was gradually raised to 14.1. In
1893 the Cup was recast to the present fine model
of a silver boar on an ebony stand.

At the present time (1913) the supplementary
Cup is a replica of the Challenge Cup, and ponies
ridden in the Cup must hold I.P.A., C.T.C., or
W.I.T.C. certificates of 14.1 or under, or be measured
14.2 at the meeting. Other rules are the same as
for Guzerat Cup.

N

178 MODERN PIG-STICKING

A few quotations from the records may be of
interest. The opening paragraph of the description
of the Guzerat meeting of 1888 reads :

There is no sporting event in the Bombay Presidency
that excites more interest than the above competition,
especially amongst those whose kingdom is the jungle-side
and whose sceptre is their spear. Racing, pure and simple,
is no doubt an excellent thing, as without it people would
be deprived of much amusement, and, what is more
important, the breed and speed of horses would never be
kept in their present state of perfection. Steeplechasing,
again, is most popular, as it not only tests speed, but the
nerve of the rider as well. Pig-sticking combines every-
thing of these two, with the additional charm of riding
over new and unknown and unmade country with the
pluckiest of Nature's animals as a leader. There is a little
desultory pig-sticking carried on during the year at various
places in these parts, and at Easter it is now the custom
to invite all who love the sport, to meet and fight out who
is best man at it. And there is more than honour and glory
to be won. The good men of Guzerat dip their hands
deep in their pockets every year, and give a handsome Cup,
weighing many shekels of silver, to the winner, to become
his property for all time, and to be handed down to his
children's children as a standing testimony to the skill of
those who have gone before them, as an incentive to them
to go and do likewise, and as a permanent memorial of
Guzerat liberality. No one out of Guzerat is allowed to
subscribe, yet all are free to ride for the Cup. One sporting
doctor, Doctor Tully, who has so frequently competed
before, and is now in Burma, circumvented this above
rule by entering when he had not the remotest chance of
being present, and so helped the funds. May this spirit
prosper and spread, and each succeeding year see more
competitors to the fore.

Probably the most exciting contest ever seen
in the Guzerat Cup was the final in 1885, the first
year. The two competitors left in were Mr.

THE GUZERAT CUP 179

" Littleton " (Jack Symons) and his brother " Nick "
Symons, mounted respectively on Skylark and
Wood Pigeon. The place was Deo Dholera.

" Are you ready ? Ride ! " shouts the umpire, and off
went Wood Pigeon, stealing the start, but closely followed
by Skylark. The pig dashed into a thick hedge like the
one he had been beaten out of, and both riders crashed
through it, but where was the animal ? He had stopped
in the hedge and sneaked out at the end of it. Both riders
caught view, almost without checking, and then a tremend-
ous set-to took place after a fast jinking pig among bushes,
but in a fairly open country. After several turns at top
speed, now one having the advantage slightly on the turn,
and now the other, the boar was in front jinking from left
to right, Skylark on the left after the boar, Wood Pigeon
on the right riding to cut off the boar as he was crossing.
As the boar passed under Wood Pigeon's nose Mr. Littleton
speared him in the quarter, and Mr. Symons simultaneously
in the shoulder. The pig went on to the right and both
riders stopped. Both spears were covered with blood.
Mr. Littleton called spear, not having seen the other spear.
Mr. Symons called dead heat. It was not disputed, and
was counted as a dead heat.

The dead heat was run off later and won by
Mr. N. Symons.

The first Guzerat Cup won by a Waler was that
of 1888, won by Mr. Littleton (Jack Symons) on
Albatross. He had previously (1884) won the
Bhima Cup on another Waler (Kestrel). The general
opinion at the time was, a big Waler would have to
be very handy to be able to compete with the Arab
and country-bred, but given this, " that a good big
was better than a good little 'un."

A most amusing incident is recorded in 1891 :

The last morning in camp was productive of what was
a dangerous, if somewhat amusing, incident. Just as an

180 MODERN PIG-STICKING

old sportsman was beginning his toilet, a mad native
woman appeared at the door of his tent, brandishing one
of his Bengal spears round her head and going for him.
Discretion being the better part of valour, he made excellent
time round the field, with the demented lady in hot pursuit.
Eventually she speared and drew blood, but the wound
was not serious, and the sportsman's servants and others
coming to the rescue, the lady was secured and walked off
by the police.

No doubt her instincts were sporting — especially as
we think her quarry is sometimes known as " Grey Boar "
— and so we hope her incarceration or punishment may
not be very long or heavy, as the case may be.

The good old sportsman was, it need hardly be said,
much chaffed over the matter, and we fear the subject is
too good to miss being immortalised by the pencil of our
inimitable Bombay artist, who was present. The chaff,
however, was as good-humouredly taken as our congratula-
tions were sincere on his lucky escape from a serious wound
and a " bad business," as his faithful servant described it.

The Records of the Guzerat Cup contain many
illustrations, beautifully done, mostly by Mr. F. C.
Macrae.

I will conclude by making a few remarks which
may be of interest to any one coming from outside
to take part in the meeting for the first time. My
remarks elsewhere on the Ahmedabad Tent Club
as regards the country, charkuwalas, knee - caps
for men and horses, and gaiters (except as regards
the use of knee-caps for horses, which I do not
recommend should be worn for the first time in a
competition, as a horse needs to get accustomed to
them, and is liable to get rubbed when first wearing
them), all apply equally to the usual run of
country in Guzerat, of which Ahmedabad is a part,
but there are a few matters which apply only to
the competition.

•

Th*

THE GUZERAT CUP 181

The expenses of the meet are not heavy. The
rate of messing is not high, and the coolie bundo-
bust is run economically. The railway authorities
grant liberal concessions for man and beast. The
present entrance fees for the Guzerat Cup are:
1st entry, 15 rupees ; 2nd, 25 rupees ; 3rd, 50
rupees; and for the Salmon Cup, 10 rupees, 15
rupees, and 30 rupees.

Great assistance is given by the Indian civilians
of the district, many of whom are keen shikaries
themselves, and without whose assistance nothing
can be done. A noticeable feature of the meeting
is the presence of a number of Indian gentlemen
from that part of India ; and an inspection of the
records show that they have competed with much
success.

Spears must not exceed 8 feet in total length.
Some people prefer to use them a little shorter.

It is difficult to give advice as regards how to
ride in a heat. I am quite sure that the most fatal
thing to do is to override the pig at the beginning.
Occasionally one can get a good chance in a lane,
bounded by thick cactus hedges, if they are un-
penetrable as well to the boar as yourself, but in
the open a dash too early in the proceeding is sure
to make the pig jink, and will probably let up a
rival. He should be nursed quietly without hustling
him, and the chance of getting a spear will present
itself ere long.

RECORDS OF THE AHMEDABAD TENT CLUB

The actual records start from December 1857,
though it is recorded that a Major Thatcher's
membership dated from 1853. Unfortunately the

182 MODERN PIG-STICKING

records of the totals, 1876-82, are very incomplete,
and a few other years' records are not forthcoming.
On January 10, 1859, among members present at
the meet were " General Roberts " and " Lieutenant
Roberts," and the latter continued to hunt there
till 1861.

In those days the height and weight of boars
were disregarded, and only the age recorded ; from
1867, however, an attempt was made to record the
height at the shoulder and the length of tushes.
In this same year the name of Gerard (afterwards
General Sir Montague Gerard) appears and con-
tinues on and off till 1870. There is a drawing by
him in the Tent Club Log (which is well illustrated
throughout) of "The Mighty Boar," killed at
Nagpur, February 23, 1867, whose description is
thus recorded :

Age unknown.

Height, 37 inches.

Tushes, 9| „

Girth, 54

Length, 76 „

Whether this monster was killed by him or not is
not related. Charkuwalas, described in another
part of this chapter, were first mentioned in 1861.
A reward of 4 rupees was given to a shikari for
each boar killed ; this was subsequently raised to
5 rupees.

On December 30, 1882, a special meet was arranged
for His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, but
the result was not worthy of the occasion.

In 1888, a boar who was being hotly pursued
jumped a fence, and went straight down into a
fifty-foot well. He was hauled up, with great diffi-
culty, with ropes and released. In the year 1892

THE GUZERAT CUP 183

a famous pig, called the Phantom Boar (christened
thus on account of the number of occasions on which
he disappeared when apparently his pursuers had
him " stone cold "), was killed by Captain Barley,
who was again at Ahmedabad in 1904-1906, when
his excellent bundobusts for outwitting the wily
boar, and the true hunting spirit which he drilled
into his field, produced one of the biggest yearly
totals on record.

The best years recorded were 1860-61 (49 boar),
1882-83 (44 boar), 1883-84 (47 boar), 1905-1906
(42 boar). The bad rainfall in 1900-1901, 1911, and
1912 was the cause of very poor sport in the seasons
following those years, but it is hoped that the good
rains of 1913 may have revived the stock of pig
in the country.

The following letter is worthy of reproduction.
The writer, Mr. Hancock, was one of the original
promoters of the Guzerat Cup some eighteen years
after the events here recorded.

For the annals of the " Ahmedabad Hunt," from an old
member.

To the Secretary, Ahmedabad Hunt.

DISTRICT near JAMBOOSIB,
28th February 1867.

DEAR SIR — After many a blank day, having been long
pursued by bad luck, I yesterday resolved to pursue my
bad luck till I broke it. When out beating the day before
I had dismounted to shoot a black buck, and was stalking
him round the corner of a hedge when, with a grunt that
made my heart thump, a big boar jumped out of a bush
on my right and rushed across me with a wicked look in
his eye which made me instinctively cover him with my
rifle till he passed. " Blood and thunder," I shouted (my
horse's name, by the way), and, a trusty wagree running up

184 MODERN PIG-STICKING

with him, I mounted in a jiffy, and after clearing three or
four fields I spied the pig hesitating at the edge of a cotton-
field as to which way he would turn. " He that hesitates
is lost " — / lost him.

I went home and dreamt about him, and the next
morning beat the neighbouring covers. I had hardly
entered them, when a boar, twice the size of my friend of
the previous day, jumped up, and away we went. After
smashing through a couple of cactus hedges, we jumped
another into a lane, where, not expecting a drop, I broke
my right stirrup leather in landing, and turning sharp to
the right — the lane was winding and the boar a knowing
one — he slipped through the hedges directly I pressed
him, and generally managed to sell me at the corners of the
fields by going through the side hedge instead of the one
ahead, thus giving me two jumps to his one. He led me
across two lanes, double jumps, that no horse could clear,
and I had to jump through them. At last I was closing
on him in a thick cotton-field, when the horse's legs caught
in the cotton and castor-oil stalks, and down he came. I
flew over his head, taking the saddle with me, for the girths
gave. I was up again in time to see the boar turn down a
lane to the left : I jumped on my bewildered horse and rode
him barebacked down the lane as hard as he could pelt.
The lane luckily led into the open, where I saw the old boar
making the most of his time for the next cover. Settling
myself well down to my horse's backbone I urged him across
the open, and just as the boar plunged into another thick
cotton -field I collared him. He turned on me so sharp
and unexpectedly that, as you, reader, would have done
nine times out of ten in such circumstances, I missed him,
and oh, misery ! driving my spear into the ground, split
the shaft half-way up. Grasping it together as a drowning
man may grasp a straw, I rushed at him again, this time
prepared for anything. As I came up, he, as I expected,
charged desperately; down went my spear between his
shoulder-blades where neck and body join — first spear and
last spear, for it rolled him over dead, and thus I broke
my luck.

THE GUZERAT CUP 185

I had hurt my left shoulder badly, and consequently
in a second run could not well manage my horse ; however,
I managed to leave a deadly spear in the loins of another
boar before noon, and expect he will be brought in " found
ead " by a " jury " of wagris in a day or two.

G. E. HANCOCK.

Hunting the Boar. — In no part of India is a day's
pig-sticking such a match between the brains of
the hunter and those of the hunted as in Guzerat.
Owing to the small size of the jungles and the open
country between them the " cunning " of the boar
is extremely highly developed in Guzerat. When
going to the meet great care should be taken not
to go near that side of the jungle towards which it
is proposed to beat, and syces with spears and
horses should be sent by circuitous routes, and
leather covers should be provided for spear-heads
to prevent them glistening in the sun. Each
sportsman should have a good whistle, tied by a
leather strap to a button of his coat or shirt, and
a suit of some dull colour. During the beat no
horse who whinnies or champs his bit should be put
anywhere except with the line. On arrival at the
meet the heats are told off, and an experienced
" spear " put in charge of each heat. The remainder
must obey him implicitly. The heats that go
forward should go quietly, by a circuitous route,
all together, and unaccompanied by syces or beaters.
On arrival they should take cover if possible, and
riot talk or move until the captain decides that a
rideable boar has broken. Even then there should
be no wild rush, as the boar is very liable to break
back if pressed too close.

As soon as the heats have taken their places

186 MODERN PIG-STICKING

the line starts. The line should at first go slowly
and quietly, as, if they start quickly with too much
noise, an old boar is more likely to lie still and refuse
to move himself, and send out the sows and
bachas ; and while the heats are searching amongst
those for a boar the wily old man breaks away back
and probably escapes. When a boar breaks, the
charkuwala signals him away, and the heat use
their whistles, which is a signal for the line to halt.
As regards the riding of the boar, the first
thing to remember is that " first spear " is nothing,
killing the boar is everything, and every move
must be subordinated to this end. The heat should
not ride one behind the other, but spread out.
Thus if the boar gets into difficult country or jungle,
the man on the boar continues to ride him as far
as he can (whistling as long as he is on him), whilst
the others go ahead and mark out on the other side,
whistling with all their might if they see the boar
going away. Once a boar has been speared he is
an ugly customer, and should be treated with all
respect. I do not recommend a novice to go up
to a wounded boar at a slow pace. I advise him
to get behind him slightly to the left and gallop
past him, when the boar will probably turn in on
him and give him a chance of delivering a real good
spear ; the boar should not be allowed to get in
too close to the horse before spearing, but should
be taken well away from the horse, and well in
advance of him, and should be speared just behind
the shoulder. This will save the horse. The spear
should never be thrust at the pig, but the pig
should be made to run on to the point of the spear.
There should be no delay in trying to finish off
a wounded boar when once speared ; humanity

THE GUZERAT CUP 187

demands that he should be killed as quickly as
possible.

As regards spears, I prefer a spear about 7 feet
in length, a good male bamboo shaft with a bay-leaf
head. A file should always be carried by one of
the syces, as the spears must always be kept very
sharp. I do not recommend the use of the over-
hand spear in Guzerat. Undoubtedly with the
Bengal hogs the overhand spear is the best and
gives far better results ; but in Guzerat it is not
suitable to either the country or the pig.

The most suitable Animal. — I consider that the
15.1 Waler is the most suitable, though a good
country-bred is a useful addition to one's stud,
especially in May and June, when the heat is really
appalling, and the Waler is likely to get fever.
The horses take very quickly to jumping the cactus
fences, as they get considerably punished if they
charge through them and soon give up the game.
I do not believe in " any horse being good enough
for pig-sticking." It only leads to accidents and
disgust at being left in the rear. Many people who
give 2000 rupees for a polo pony, which practically
never goes off a beautifully rolled and smooth
ground, expect to get their pig-sticking off an
animal costing 200 rupees, and are naturally dis-
appointed at the result. As far as my purse has
allowed me, I have always kept good sound horses
for pig-sticking, and the resulting sport I have had
has amply repaid me. I do not think a Waler
should ever be taken out until he has been at least
a year in the country.

In Guzerat I always put gaiters on all four legs
of my horses, and generally thin leather knee-caps,

188 MODERN PIG-STICKING

tied above as well as below the knees. I used to
exercise my horses like this before the pig-sticking
season started, so as to get them accustomed to
them. I do not believe in the combined gaiter
and knee-cap, which is not secured about the knee,
as when jumping the horse's knee is left bare owing
to his forelegs being bent, and if a thorn gets in,
the knee - cap only rubs it and makes it worse.
Many sportsmen wear stiff knee-guards on their
own knees to keep the thorns out.

I strongly advise taking out with the tiffin a
packet of permanganate of potash, a pair of scissors,
and a pair of tweezers to deal with the thorns.
The legs should be washed over, as the thorns can
then be more easily located and pulled out with
tweezers. In the case of an obstinate thorn, or one
difficult to find the exact position of, the hair all
round should be cut away and a poultice applied,
if necessary. The legs should then be washed
thoroughly over with a strong solution of per-
manganate of potash. If these precautions are
taken, the risk of trouble from thorns is not great.

Inhabitants. — These are mostly Guzeratis ; their
language is difficult to understand. They make good
beaters and are brave. There are many quite good
shikaries, though, like others, they fail lamentably
at times. They are excellent trackers (puggies),
and there is great scope for this science in the sandy
soil of Guzerat ; and many a long crawl, following
the trackers as they make a circle round each pug-
mark with their sticks, has been rewarded by
stirring up an old boar who had crept away from
the noise of the beaters, and thought himself secure
in a quiet hedgerow.

THE GUZERAT CUP 189

The Guzerat Boar. — A good Guzerat boar will
measure about 31 inches in height, and is remark-
ably fast. When hunted, he is certain to try and
make a " point," which he will strive to reach until
it is absolutely denied to him. When thus cornered
he fights, and fights well, but he is not likely to
charge before then. This is quite different to the
Bengal boar, who seems to me to think of nothing
but fighting, and comes at one at any period of the
run. In fact I once saw a boar in Bengal, when
driven out of a jheel, reach his jungle stronghold
in safety and then deliberately turn round and
charge his pursuers.

A good average boar would weigh about 200 Ibs.
in winter, 180 Ibs. at the end of March. He is nothing
like so heavy as the boar at Nagpur, where we killed
one over 300 Ibs. a few years ago, and this is not
uncommon.

Pig are not very plentiful in Guzerat, but there
are quite sufficient for sport, and very rarely did we
have an absolutely blank day from Ahmedabad
during the two years I was there.

The Guzerat Country. — The Guzerat country is
quite different to any other country I know. The
best of the country is dotted over with small jungles,
and between them there is the most perfect going
on sandy soil, the ground being cut up into fields
by cactus hedges of various heights.

Various obstacles present themselves to the
riders, such as a lane with hedges on both sides, a
huge cactus fence, a babul thicket, or strip of jhow,
which may or may not be as equally formidable
to the boar as to his pursuer.

The distance between these small jungles varies

190 MODERN PIG-STICKING

considerably. Some of the bigger hedges contain
large prickly bushes which the pig delight to lie
up in, and, if well away from a jungle, once they
have been located there is very little bundobust
required to drive them out. The charkuwala is
an indispensable feature of the Guzerat country.
The country is well wooded, and charkuwalas, i.e.
men with flags (though I can find no derivation of
this), are placed very early in the morning round the
vicinity of the jungle it is proposed to beat. These
men watch the pig going back into the jungle from
their nocturnal wanderings, and report if there are
any good boar there ; and also when the heat
commences and a boar is on the move, they signal
his whereabouts to the heats. Other men go out
in pairs to the likely spots for pig to lie up, and if
they find a tola or " sounder " of pig moving, they
follow them up quietly until they stop. One man
then ascends a tree and the other goes back to the
line to give the khabar. The raised flag of the man
in the tree can be seen from some distance off, so
it is often unnecessary to wait for the beaters if
the lying-up place is a bush in the open. The
charkuwalas occasionally lose their heads, drop
their flags, and wave their turbans round and round
their heads, and refuse to answer any questions
from an excited heat; but on the whole they are
most useful. I have never seen them used else-
where than in Guzerat and Nagpur.

Except for occasional meets lasting several days,
the Ahmedabad Hunt Club very seldom have to
make arrangements to stay out overnight. The
meet is seldom more than fourteen miles, and very
often only four or five ; and nearly every season a
boar is located in the small grass jungle within half

THE GUZERAT CUP 191

a mile of cantonments. During the hot weather
many a monotonous day is cut short by the arrival
of khabar of a boar lying up in some field or hedge-
row.

Pig-sticking generally starts towards the end of
November and continues up till July. There is
generally a break in the rains after the first fall in
this district, and if this has not been too heavy,
excellent sport is obtained, as the pig can be tracked
without difficulty.

One of the best hunts I ever had was in the final
of the Guzerat Cup of 1909. Captain Vernon (of
Kadir Cup fame) was the umpire, and Colonel
" Jim " Forbes and myself the competitors. I
wrote down a description of the run almost directly
afterwards, and though apologizing for the com-
position, I think it best to set it forth without
cooking it up.

A good boar followed the tola out of the castor-
oil field where they had been lying up, and Vernon
got us off to a splendid start. Forbes soon went
to the front, with me on his right. I then crossed
behind Forbes to the left and he rode the boar hard.
The boar turned left-handed, and I followed him
through a dried-up jheel and then through a gap.
Here Forbes had very bad luck, as he could easily
have gone through the gap first, and there was
nothing to show what was beyond. It happened
that there was a lane, and I quickly turned down
after the boar and speared him. shortly after in the
lane.

The spectators had all kept well clear, and when
the boar was speared they all went off in the wrong
direction ; so Forbes and I had to try and finish
the boar off ourselves. This took us over half an

192 MODERN PIG-STICKING

hour ; he was a very cunning hog and kept running
down a lane in front of Forbes on his near side,
making it impossible to get at him. He charged
me twice and cut Result rather severely below
the hock ; then he got into a small jheel surrounded
by a thick belt of waitabit thorn bushes. Ejected
from here, he ran back amongst the beaters,
who were now coming up, and cut one of them.
Then he ran up a long narrow lane where one could
not get at him, and eventually out into the open,
where I stupidly headed him, thinking he was going
into bad country. Thence he went back to the
jheel, where I spied him, with but his snout sticking
out of the water. I tried to spear him in the deep
mud and nearly fell on top of him. He came out,
ran round the belt of bushes, and then back to the
water, charging Vernon — who had a bad hand and
could not hold a spear, and consequently had to
get out of the way — and Forbes, who speared him.
He then lay down and rolled about in great wrath ;
over and over he went, foaming at the mouth and
snorting and grunting with rage. Up again and
out for another charge ; I speared him, but left my
spear in him, and he lay up again. Forbes then
galloped past him and gallantly pulled my spear
out of him, and gave it back to me ; then he speared
him and broke his spear about 6 inches above the
head, which luckily came out, hanging by a thread
of bamboo. The boar was now in a position, with
a bank covered with thick bushes at his back and
the jheel in front, where I could not get at him on
horseback, so I dismounted, and stalked down the
bank and drove my spear in behind his shoulder,
and broke the spear and had to beat a retreat.
Forbes then dismounted, and, taking the head of

A GUZERAT FENCE AND A JINKING BOAR.

CAPTAIN MEDLICOTT'S "RESULT."

To face page 192.

THE GUZERAT CUP 193

his spear, with only about 6 inches of shaft left,
went straight for the boar and drove it into him
like a stiletto, and finished him off. The boar never
uttered a sound except when charging and rolling
over in the water ; and, when mortally wounded,

Game to the last — with defiant eye,
In silent courage he lay down to die.

A true Guzerat boar, a little above 31 inches in
height, very heavy and fine tushes, exceedingly
cunning, and a great fighter when collared.

I have often been asked, " What do you consider
the best pig-sticking country ? " "Which pig do you
consider the best ? " My wanderings in search of
the boar have taken me over the cactus fences of
Guzerat, through the sindhi-bunds of Nagpur, the
jhow and grass of Bengal, Meerut, Delhi, and
Muttra, and over the sandy plains and rocks of
Rajputana, and I have loved every hunt I have
had; but if I had to answer the above question,
I should say unhesitatingly, " Give me a Bengal
hog in Guzerat country."

CHAPTER XII

THE KADIR CUP

I ONCE put on a board on the main road from the
Kadir camp to the hunting ground the old Persian
couplet :

Agar firdos bah rue zameen ast,

Hameen ast, wa hameen ast, wa hameen ast.

If there is a paradise on earth,
It is this, it is this, it is this,

that all who ran, or fell, might read. And I looked
for a kindly smile from the finer minds. Alas, such
as glanced at it took it apparently for but yet another
edict to annoy a long-suffering public.

Yet surely it is a paradise, this land at which
you look as you stand in the noble bagh with the
water at your feet, and the yellow grass stretching
far as the eye can see ; full of pig, the heart of the
Meerut Kadir.

The Kadir Cup has often been described. But
I must try and write a little about it and give you
a few notes. For I hunted the country seven
seasons, and have ridden in it fourteen years.

" The blue ribbon of pig- sticking," the meeting
lasts three days, and is always held in the end of
March. It begins on Monday. The heats are
drawn on Sunday evening. It is good to get out

194

I

THE LINE OF THE KADIR CUP.

HUNTING GRASS : KADIR CUP.

To face page 195.

THE KADIR CUP 195

early, to go round the 120 to 150 horses that are
running, and to meet old friends. The line next
morning is a fine sight, with 50 elephants crowded
with competitors, spectators, and a fair sprinkling
of ladies. In front is the line of 150 coolies, with
the flag elephant, signallers, and the shikaries on
their camels. Ahead are the three heats with their
umpires.

I quote from a description of my mother's :

Well worth a study are many of the competitors, men
from all parts of India, of all branches and professions.
Here is clearly distinguishable a veteran, his good horse
marked with scars perhaps, honourable mementos of the
chase, nursing the umpire, riding in his pocket as it were,
to get the best of the start. There is a youngster fidgeting
and prancing, showing the strain on horse and rider ; here,
again, a well-known cross-country rider on a blood steeple-
chaser; and so on with endless variety.

All stand still till a wave of the master's hand causes the
line to advance, in a silence broken only by the swish of
the beater's sticks and the passage of the elephants through
the golden, waving grass and thick green bushes.

A sudden shout proclaims that a boar has broken, and
that the heat nearest can be seen following their umpire
in pursuit. When satisfied that all see the pig, and that
it is rideable, down goes the flag, and faint on the breeze
comes the thrilling word " Ride."

Meantime the halted line follows, with deep interest
and raised glasses, the fortune of the chase. The leader's
quick start and gallant ride, the desperate efforts of those
behind, the sudden jink, the neck-and-neck race with
the second man, another jink, a horse down perhaps,
and then — the spear ; one man pulling up and showing
his spear for blood to the umpire, the others riding on
to kill.

And last, and by no means least, comes the suspense
while the umpire signals to the flag elephant, visible every-
where, the number of the winner ; the flag elephant then

196 MODERN PIG-STICKING

hoists the winner's number according to the printed
programme, and the line goes on at once.

Thus it continues through heat after heat until a rest
is called for luncheon. We had started at 7 A.M., and I
think no one is sorry to find some refreshment ready for
us under a big tree by a stream in a picturesque spot ; and
I am sure we all enjoy our lunch and rest. Very soon,
however, we are remounting our elephants, and have a
long and exciting afternoon, which does not end till 7.30.

We are not a bit tired, the excitement of watching the
heats prevented that, yet we were not sorry to hear that
the meet next day would not be till 9.30. How we enjoyed
the tea our kind hostess sent us while we dressed. I need
not say we all enjoyed our dinner, nor that, although we
had all much to say of the day's proceedings, we did not
long delay in seeking the sleep that almost overcame us
before we had dined.

A long day's work. I always admire the keen
ladies who one and all stick it out. They are most
welcome at this meeting.

The second day is a repetition of the first, but
with less heats to run off, and shorter hours.

On the Wednesday are run off the semi-finals
and final, when we congratulate the winner on an
envied and deserved success. In the afternoon
are the Horse and the Pony Hog Hunters' Cups,
point - to - point races over several miles of pig-
sticking country. Grief is common, but our doctor
and vet. ride behind, and all is well. So with
speeches, dinner, and songs another Kadir Cup
is over.

The point-to-point races always mean some grief.
Generally the race is run at a sensible pace. I
remember one year the Hog Hunters' Cup was over
four and a half miles of very rough ground, and the
pony course over similar ground, but shorter. They

THE STAFF OF A KADIR CUP.

To face page 197.

THE KADIR CUP 197

made the pace a cracker from the start. Horses
could not do it. Out of twenty-two starters ten
fell ; one man fractured his skull, and four were
carried in. While the doctors were busy with the
bad cases we looked after the others. One, who
had only shaken his head up a bit and seemed weak
but otherwise well, we dosed shrewdly with brandy.
His wife, who was at the meeting, was very peevish,
poor lady, when she found her husband not only
with a face like a pudding, but distinctly merry and
bright.

The ordinary heats at the Cup are, as a rule,
extraordinarily free from grief. The ground is
honest, and people ride good horses. I remember
a run in 1899, when four started after a boar. Two
horses broke their necks in a nullah. The boar was
lost. The remaining two ran another boar next
day, when one of them ran into a tree in a field,
the only tree in the place, and was knocked sense-
less. The fourth man won. Such is luck.

Only a few years ago John Vaughan's beautiful
horse Vedette, who had won the Cup before, and
Lambert's Battle were killed in a small patch of
jungle in quick succession.

But events such as these are the exception.

I give no account of the organization or running
of the meet. As the Cup is now run it is in prac-
tically every detail my own design. I cannot well
criticise. I was lucky in handing over to Mr.
Norton, R.H.A., a better man than myself.

I was always scrupulous to carry on the vital
conditions of the Cup, and to resist any attempts
to bring in any innovations. I only regarded myself
as the trustee of a great hunt. The conditions that
Forbes made when he gave his original Kadir Cup

198 MODERN PIG-STICKING

in hunting form in 1873, the being allowed to enter
two horses, the genuine property of the rider, horse
to win and not the man, still hold good. After
winning a heat, a man, should he be sick, may
be changed, but not the horse.

Up to 1881 the umpiring used to be done from
elephants. And in 1883, when Baden-Powell won,
the Kadir Cup meeting frequently closed the season.
The fine hunting months of April, May, and June
passed idle. In 1888 and 1889, each year from start
to finish there were only nine heats ; now there are
at least fifty.

Umpires have been one of our greatest anxieties.
It is certain there will not be more than half a dozen
good umpires at the meeting. The Hon. Secretary
has to use these solid. He should not ask Dick,
Tom, and Harry out of compliment to them. A
good show for the heat comes first. An umpire
must have decision, strength of character, quickness
of mind and eye, an intimate acquaintance with
the rules, and a thorough knowledge of pig-craft.
A bad umpire may mean hours on the line, a
bad start, and a feeble decision at the end. I
remember one umpire, a subaltern in charge of
an unruly and very senior heat, who was second
to none as a disciplinarian. I quote the Pioneer's
account of the meeting :

Heat on line for many hours, many runs, many falls,
and much gali (abuse) for the umpire. Umpire, however,
equal to the occasion and, loosing unsuspecting heat on
brink of huge and muddy nullah, pulled up himself and
placidly waved "No heat," while his charges recovered
consciousness and sorted themselves below. After this
display of umpire's mettle awestruck heat much quieter.

A good umpire should pride himself on never

THE KADIR CUP 199

galloping his heat. If the boar gets up in view,
as he appears there is a flick of the wrist, down goes
the flag — " Ride," and away they go. The quick
man of the heat has perhaps gained a couple of
lengths. If the pig is put up out of sight, the umpire
may have to canter his heat till he can see. If the
heat close behind him cannot see, that is their fault.
To gallop a heat is a crime. A heat should never be
slipped towards the elephants.

We have tried to make the Cup less of a race
and more of a hunt, to help the man with a quick
eye and brain, and hunting knowledge.

An umpire now has power to disqualify a
competitor for a dangerous foul. There is no
appeal from his decision. The spirit of the meeting
is the spirit of hunting. Bumps and fouls occasion-
ally occur, but the riding is scrupulously fair.

B. P., who won, waited in an important heat for
his solitary opponent, who had fallen. M., 2nd
Lancers, would not take a spear because he thought
he might have interfered with another. F., 17th
Lancers, shouted to me, " Right, right," when I
happened to be on the pig and did not see how
he had jinked. Other instances recall themselves,
but I have said enough to show the unselfish spirit
of it all. There is a good deal of chivalry about.

I think the reason a novice often shows up well
is that, from his lack of experience and knowledge
of the sport, he takes chances that the older hands
do not. I have never known an old hand ride
foul, it is always the youngsters. Still, they make
us gallop, and they train on. More power to them.

A drawback to the Kadir Cup is the luck of it
all — the inadequate test that has to be made to
find the winner. It is impossible to work on other

200 MODERN PIG-STICKING

than the knock - out system. Heats have to be
run in parties of three, and, in the first round, often
four ; neither, time nor the supply of pig admit of
running the Cup in heats of two. To win four heats
on the same horse will land a man winner of the
Cup.

Consider now the luck of it all : a turn of the
wrist, a jink favouring one more than another, an
unrideable jink, a hog that squats at full speed in
a bush, heavy patches of cover, a fall, a dropped
spear, failure to show blood ; remember that any
one of these things may happen to you or your
opponents, multiply by four for the four heats, and,
if you win, thank the gods in whose lap you have
lain.

Still, all honour to the man who wins. No luck
alone will take him right through unless he is a real
good man, and unless he takes his opportunities.
Luck never forgives missed opportunities, she does
not always offer them.

You must gallop ; I do not say show up in every
hunt. You can only do that if your horse is fast
enough. I have only once known a man win who
did not gallop " all out " consistently. It is good
that this is so, for one is sometimes tempted to
imitate a man who rides cunning.

I have purposely avoided names in this chapter.
One or two wins stand out conspicuously as owing
less to luck than others, where the winner has
indeed experienced but little more good fortune
than such as may befall a brilliant performer in a
successful hunt.

As in all pig-sticking, the horse counts enormously.
A good horse is rarer and dearer than a good wife.
But for the pig-sticking and the racing there would

THE KADIR CUP 201

not be a good horse in India. All the money is
on the polo. Since hired chargers came in the
class of horse has gone down. I cast no slur on
the depots from whom I have had some of my best
horses.

Your bill for the meet will come to about 120
rupees for the four days. This includes 32 rupees
for your two nominations. If you are inclined to
grumble at the bill, remember that a big camp . in
the jungle, fifty elephants, and all the preservation
and lease of 5000 acres cost money.

I cannot close without a word about the elephants.
We always spent a week with them beforehand
beating in pig. They were a constant joy ; their
drill an anxiety. We envied, but never equalled,
Mr. Clutterbuck's skill, as with outstretched arms
he worked his stately crashing line through the
jungles of the Terai.

Once when Mr. Norton was hunting the country,
an elephant, when fetching forage, became " must,"
got rid of his mahout, and took up his abode in a
village some ten miles away. He was a tusker too
big to tackle without risk to borrowed animals.
Norton wired for professional elephant - catchers.
They came, and we were again at the village. The
old brute was in the main street, his pad-ropes
trailing as he rocked to and fro. He recalled
the picture of the " Fighting Temeraire." The
inhabitants of the village were perched in trees
and on the walls like the monkeys in the " Hunting
of Kaa."

C of the I.C.S. was with us. We had difficulty
in preventing him from assaulting the elephant
with his spear on his horse ; he was sure the brute
was a cur.

202 MODERN PIG-STICKING

We enticed the elephant out, one rider halting
till he came up, and then galloping off with the
elephant in pursuit.

There were three elephant - catchers — two with
white cloths, the third with a huge pair of pincers
(chimta), circular, studded with spikes on the inside,
actuated by a strong spring and kept open by a clip.
The elephant was now in a grove of trees. The
flagmen enticed him to charge them, but they always
dodged him as he came screaming at them. The
pincer-man ran in rear of the elephant, seized his
opportunity, put the pincers round a hind leg and
released the clip. The pincers closed like a rat-
trap, and the elephant pulled up at once, dead lame
and beaten. The men handled the brute for ten
minutes with sharp bamboos, and then they climbed
up his tail. Norton and C also got up at once.
We rode him home. I forget the name of the lady
he carried at that meeting. He killed the mahout
this year.

At the Kadir Cup, and at various times when
shooting with Sir John Hewett, I used to meet an
old mahout called Hiddan Khan. This man, when
out with Mr. Wild, I.C.S., was the hero of a remark-
able adventure with an elephant. I asked my friend
for details.

Mr. Wild writes :

It was the Christmas of 1902, up at Rampur Chata in
Bijnor, and the only people out were Swann, my " joint,"
my wife, and myself.

The elephant was a big tusker, the only tusker we had
out. He went " must " after we had finished shooting
and dismissed the line to cut " chara." We heard nothing
about it till shortly before dinner, when the servants reported
that the elephant had gone " must," and could not be got

THE KADIR CUP 203

into camp. As a matter of fact he had got his fodder-
cutter treed about half a mile from camp, and would not
leave the place. He had a grudge against the man and
meant to get him. Hiddan Khan, who was on the elephant,
could do nothing with him, but he stuck to him, and never
left him. We had all the other elephants and horses taken
away to a river-bed a mile or so off, where they spent the
night. There was no stone temple or any building, and
the camp was just a clearing in the middle of thick forest
and high tiger-grass. The night was pitch dark and very
cold. After some time the elephant left the " chara "
cutter and came to the place where the elephants had been
tied up. There he ate up the whole of the rations prepared
for eleven elephants. Then he went back to the tree where
the " chara " cutter was. He had been too paralysed to
come down and make a bolt of it. Next time the elephant
left the tree we got the man out of it, stiff and cold with
fright, and got him into camp by a roundabout way, a
ticklish business. When the elephant went again and
found the man had gone he was furious, and came down
to the camp. First he came on the carts, killed two or
three bullocks, and smashed up two carts. He tried to
get at his mahout, who had been unable to get off, and had
had to take refuge at the back of the pad like a mugriwala.
Then the elephant came to the Tahsildar's tents, where he
picked up a howdah and threw it about ten yards on to a
tent. All the Tahsildar's people had bolted to a few big
trees where our tents were. Then the elephant came on to
our tents. We could only make out where he was from
the mahout's calling out. " The elephant is coming."
Swann and I were ready, and as soon as we could make
him out, about fifteen or twenty yards off, we each gave
him two barrels. This turned him, and we each got in
two more. Of course we had to chance hitting the mahout
as we could not see anything but a black mass. The
elephant went off a little way, trumpeting and knocking
down trees. This was about 11 o'clock. About 2 he
made another determined attack which we kept off in the
same way. Then he went off a little way to think it over.

204 MODERN PIG-STICKING

When dawn came he was standing some distance off, and
I hoped we would be able to get ropes on him. However
he was still murderous, and went for any one he could see,
so I decided to shoot him. By an extraordinary accident
I found among my cartridges one loaded with a solid
bullet. Where I got it I can't imagine, as I had never
brought any. However, a lucky shot with this rolled
him over, the mahout taking a heavy fall. He (the mahout)
at once got up and limped into the jungle, and had to be
brought back, thawed, and fed. His name was Hiddan
Khan. He is still living, I had him out with me last
December. He was really to blame for taking out the
elephant which had shown signs of becoming " must,"
but he more than made up for his fault by the splendid
pluck with which he stuck to the elephant.

I must tell you one more elephant episode, though
not connected with any Kadir elephant.

Three years ago, when enjoying the regal hospi-
tality of that greatest of all sportsmen, Sir John
Hewett, then Lieutenant- Governor of the United
Provinces, we were beating for a tiger who was in
the same place where he had defeated us once before.

The tiger was in a thick patch on the edge of a
shallow sandy nullah which ran through a gorge
of trees and jungle with high cliffs on either side.
Below the patch where the tiger lay the nullah turned
sharp across the gorge to the cliffs and back, and
then on ; making a > -shaped promontory, across
the base of which any animal would make a short-
cut instead of following the winding nullah. The
promontory had a thin belt of small trees and
saplings on the edge opposite the tiger's cover.
At the tip of the > a little cleft ran up the cliff.
By this the tiger had escaped before.

Sir John being anxious to give me the shot, and
wanting to guard the cleft put me in a tree in the

THE KADIR CUP 205

belt I have described, and posted the other guns
on their elephants across the gorge lower down.
He himself, with his usual unselfishness, took the
elephant line and beat down towards us. He
warned me there was probably a wild elephant in
the beat.

I climbed by a ladder into my post, a straight
stemmed tree about as thick as the calf of my leg
with a forked branch some ten feet up. It was the
best tree available, but so slender that I could
neither put up a machan, nor take my second rifle
and camera.

Soon after the beat began the elephant came out
of the cover and stood splashing himself in a pool
in the stream, a big tusker with one large white
tusk. He presently came on ; but instead of taking
the short-cut at the base, came down the fringe of
trees towards me. He came very slowly, and
looked magnificent. He was " must," for the glands
on his face were streaming. There was a curious fas-
cination to me in his slow and solemn movements.

He came up to my tree and stood there under it.
I had to draw up my legs not to touch him. I held
the .400 like a revolver with my right hand fingers
on both triggers a foot off the back of his head.

Unless I killed him stone dead one touch of his
body would flip me out of the tree like a stone
from a catapult. If I did kill him Sir John would
probably hang me.

The elephant stayed quiet for a couple of minutes
and played with the ladder which was still against
the tree. He put his trunk on some leather where
a break had been bound. He sniffed this and threw
it down. A little later he walked quietly down
the beat. We never saw the tiger.

CHAPTER XIII

TENT CLUBS AND THEIR MANAGEMENT

A TENT CLUB in India corresponds to a Hunt in
England. The country belonging to each Tent
Club is generally recognized, and the boundaries
so far as other Tent Clubs are concerned, are clearly
defined. To hunt without permission in the country
belonging to a Tent Club would be a crime of the
first order. This is no check to private enterprize,
for, in so vast a continent as India, there are hundred
of miles of country hunted by no one. In such
places all that is needed is the readily obtained
consent of the Collector of the district.

The hunting and management of a Tent Club
are carried on by an " Honorary Secretary." I
have always objected to the title, but it is an old
name. Be under no mistake : the very last thing
an Hon. Sec. ought to be is a secretary of any sort
or kind whatsoever. He ought to be a king of his
country : every bit as much master as an M.F.H.
is at home.

In addition to the preservation and hunting of
his country, an Hon. Sec. has also the minor, but
important, duty of providing for the comfort and
messing of the members of his Tent Club at each
meet.

Having hunted a Tent Club for many years, I

206

m TENT CLUBS 207

give you my ideas as to what sort of man a good
Hon. Sec. should be. And I do so the more readily
knowing how lacking I was in most of the qualities
I recommend.

First and foremost our good Hon. Sec. must be a
man of enthusiasm. He must be determined to
make his hunt a success : a dilettante, bored man
will never succeed. With energy and drive he
must have plenty of tact ; yet he should be capable
on occasion, which should never arise, of shrewdly
biting any one, big or small. If he is weak he will
fail. He should have a gift for the hunting of pig
and an intimate knowledge of their ways. If he
is a good performer himself his word will carry
the more weight. He must know the language
well enough to talk with the villagers and the
coolies on the line, and to take no shame when he
meets a native gentleman on equal terms.

I assume now that you, reader, have taken over
a country, and I venture to offer you a few words
of advice. I have no wish to be didactic. I cannot
in every other line say " my advice is " do this or
that. Please assume this phrase as written.

I will divide what I have to say under the different
headings of :

(1) Committees and members of the hunt.

(2) Preservation of ground and pig.

(3) Hunting the country.

(4) Interior economy.

COMMITTEES AND MEMBERS OF THE HUNT

Tent Clubs vary : some have a committee, others
do not.

To my mind committees are an invention of the

208 MODERN PIG-STICKING

devil. They are the resource of the lazy, the prop
of the weak, the servant of the strong man. I have
never seen a committee that was worth a rap in any
affair of this life. In one Tent Club I knew the
rule was that the committee would fix where the
meets would be. Now the best Hon. Sec. I ever
knew, N, used to get on his camel with a blanket
behind him, and ride for trips of three days at a
time, reconnoitring his country, and living on such
fare as the various villages could provide. Is it
likely, I ask you, that such a man will meekly
report to a committee, probably at the bar of their
club, and accept their decision as to where the
meets will be ?

This is only one point in an argument which I
will not carry further. My strong advice to you
is, that if you are going to be Hon. Sec. make it
clear that you will not work under any one. Have
a committee by all means, honoris causa, but leave
it at that.

But instead, every three months or less, hold
meetings of your Tent Club. Produce your accounts
and the sport you have shown, and invite criticism.
Having heard, amend your ways or resign.
Remember although you are master you are Hon.
Sec. solely and simply to show sport, to carry out
the wishes of the club, and to ensure the utmost
comfort and smoothness of running to all. If you
fail in any of these things you must go. There is
a great temptation, when you feel you are firm in
the saddle, to regard yourself as the main factor,
the members as a bad second. Disguise this view
with whatever charm of manner you may, it will
never be acceptable ; any inclination to self-
assertion or laying down the law is impossible.

XIII

TENT CLUBS 209

Meetings at intervals are a necessity. An
engine must have its safety valve. At competition
meetings if you take a man's money he is entitled
to representation in the fullest sense of the word.
He must have a voice as to the principles and rules
of the competition.

As for the members of the hunt, remember that,
somewhere in your country, there is a Collector
who is the civil ruler of your district. Always a
hard-worked man with few holidays, he is nearly
invariably a fine sportsman. Try to fix meets to
suit his off days. Get his powerful help to keep
off poachers, to stop the infringement of common
rights and render amenable recalcitrant villagers.
So shall your sport thrive, and you make a friend
to value for life.

Treat even the most influential members of your
station with kindness. Tell your general of your
plans, hopes, and fears ; remember he is as keen
on your sport as you are.

Bear with all subalterns and youngsters ; they
shall teach you every detail of your art.

You cannot get out a programme of your meets
too early. Try and meet the convenience of all.

Personally, I have always experienced extra-
ordinary consideration and kindness at the hands
of members. I can only wish you as good
fortune.

PRESERVATION OF GROUND AND PIG

You must know every inch of your ground : go
round it often, and at all times of the year. Whether
you go on the hardy scale, like N, whom I have
mentioned, or more comfortably, is immaterial.

p

210 MODERN PIG-STICKING

The more you shoot with your shikaries the better :
never let them be idle.

Most grounds are capable of much extension :
do not be content with only hunting what your
predecessors did. Shikaries love " the daily round,
the common task," and many of their masters are
curiously apathetic in this respect.

If you want to preserve a ground, hunt it. If
the villagers think you are not coming they will
assuredly kill pig. I reserved a large tract of
country once for two years, and did not hunt it at all.
There were less pig at the end than at the beginning.
In the Meerut country in 1878-79 and in 1879-80
there were no pig killed owing to the Afghan War,
yet in 1881 when hunting reopened the year's bag
was six pig.

You will never do any good with preservation
unless you are a friend of the native gentlemen of
the country and are well in touch with the villagers.
Before all, however, in this matter, comes the
Collector of your district. Without his help you
can do little good : work hand in hand with him.

The social amenities of life, small invitations
made and received on both sides, will soon win the
hearts of your bigger natives, and capital fellows
you will find them. The only man likely to give
you trouble is the bunniah who has usurped some
better man's place.

Take every opportunity of dealing personally
with the villagers ; they are a willing, kindly folk.
Know any headmen you can. Of the lower ranks,
pay the coolies on the line and in camp invariably
yourself. The rate varies, four annas is a maximum.
Working with people they know, if they get all the
pig (the syces protesting), and a free midday meal

XIII

TENT CLUBS 211

of chenna chebenna (gram and sugar), they will
come for considerably less. If you want to win
your coolies' hearts the surest way is through their
children. Have little races and scrambles. A few
annas go a long way, and the children never forget.

Do what you can to help them with medicines.
In the Meerut Tent Club we generally have a lot
of sick up every evening, and we are often so lucky
as to have a doctor out. I have never met a doctor
who would not give up a couple of hours of his
leisure to doing good. We have very complete
medicine chests, of a large size, partly for this very
reason.

The number of sick about is a sad sight. Travel-
ling dispensaries as yet hardly touch the fringe of
the work. The natives of the countryside will not
trust the native assistant surgeons ; they will go
any distance to see a white man. Disease of the
eyes is terribly prevalent. We try and get the cases
that have a chance of recovery to go into Meerut,
where are the best of eye surgeons ; but when we have
a doctor out with us there are few afternoons in the
Tent Club that you will not hear the bitter sentence
of blindness pronounced on some poor fellow.

If you are to have the villagers and zamindars
on your side you must treat their crops with almost
as much respect as you would a farmer's wheat in
England. You will often in India see a man ride
through a field because he is too lazy to go round.
Natives, however, are the worst offenders. One
of them will always wilfully do as much damage
as any three white men. A line of coolies each
breaking off several succulent sticks of sugar-cane
will hardly convert the owner into an enthusiastic
supporter of pig-sticking.

212 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Your best ranges of covers will need chowkidars
on them. Local men are useless for this : they
take bribes, and are not strong enough to resist
pressure. Pensioned sowars or native drivers are
also certain to take bribes, but they will be more
satisfactory. Men actually serving, if they can
be relieved sufficiently often to be obtainable,
probably produce the best results.

If the villagers' crops are being damaged by pig
you must protect them, killing sows if absolutely
necessary. I am no believer in the " riding barren
sows always " theory. Having taken these steps
you may approach your Collector with a light heart
and ask him to reduce the number of gun licenses ;
unless he does this you will never succeed in
preserving.

India is now becoming so cultivated that both
Collector and Local Government are likely to lend
a favourable ear to any representations you may
make, on the grounds of preservation of grazing
land, against the ploughing up of new areas of jungle
grass. In good seasons cattle live with difficulty.
In bad seasons, without the grass lands which these
short-sighted people want to plough, the cattle die.

In the chapter on " Pig " I have written on the
subject of natural or artificial sanctuaries, and the
necessity for them.

If you have no such natural preserves you must
acquire land and make them. This is not so
expensive an undertaking as it seems. If you have
cultivated the right spirit among your native land-
owners they will, to a large extent, give you free
and generous help. If they know that the authori-
ties look with a favourable eye on the sport they
will help even the more readily. Sir John Hewett,

TENT CLUBS 213

by coming to the Kadir Cup as he used to when he
was ruler of the United Provinces gave an enormous
impetus to the movement among our native friends
for helping the sport.

Apart from any such free grants for the preserva-
tion of land, a well-thought-out system of lease of
ground by the Tent Club, and sub-lease by it of the
grass cutting, thatching, and grazing rights, will
enable preservation to be carried out on an astonish-
ingly cheap scale. A little thought will show that
this is reasonable. The ground certainly is not
cultivated, but otherwise all its products are used ;
only the cycle of the various operations is so
arranged as not to interfere with sport. The grass
is cut on sub-lease for eating and thatching, and the
cattle similarly graze there, but only after the
country has been hunted.

These remarks on artificial preservation apply
to light soil alone. It is impossible to insist on
rich soil lying fallow. The financial aspect then
becomes too big.

In the Kadir country we found it necessary to
rent an island some 5000 acres in extent ; this was
partly to preserve pig, and partly to put an effective
barrier to petty cultivators from the south who
were working up north. It has been a complete
success, and the cost has been comparatively
small.

Unless dealing with Rajahs, Raises, or really
big Zamindars, the trouble lies in the multiplicity
of owners of any given piece of ground. Govern-
ment really owns the land and leases it out ; but
owing to a system of sub-leases, and death succession
arrangements too complicated to describe, the land
becomes subdivided among a host of small people,

214 MODERN PIG-STICKING

and it is with these you may often have to deal.
In all these negotiations the help of the Collector
and his tehsildars is once again necessary.

I have not mentioned tehsildars before, and I
take the opportunity now of offering them my
tribute of praise. They are native officials in charge
of sub -districts under the Collector, and give all the
practical assistance needed in hunting. Only big
matters go to the Collector. I look back with
gratitude to the courteous, willing help I have always
had from them whether Mahommedan or Hindu.

Do not disturb your covers more than you can
help in the breeding season. Never hunt a country
more than twice a year. Some countries are hunted
more often, but I always think they suffer in the
size of their pig.

Your stock of pig depends on your success in
dealing with poachers and vermin, i.e. panther.

Now for the poachers ; they are the devil. Nuts,
kagis, sansis, aherias, ruffians all, call them what
you will, for their generic names are as many as
the countries which they infest. Luckily these foul
depredators generally poach in retired spots. You
must burn their nets, destroy their snares, take away
their spears and kit, and convince them of the
entire unhealthiness of their surroundings. Your
arguments should be both personal and direct, and
should leave if possible an indelible impression.
You must exterminate these people by hook or
by crook. Use the utmost rigour of the law against
them. If your Collector is one of a new class un-
fortunately now occasionally met with, a spectacled
youth, the pick of his university, and " heir of all
the ages," full of sympathy with the native, but
with little working knowledge of him, you may not

TENT CLUBS 215

get the help you could wish. In such case you must
redouble your own efforts.

In dealing with poachers your zamindars or
native proprietors will help you.

I have been told that a study of the nomadic
races of India is interesting and instructive. This
may be so : for myself the solitary fact that I know
to their advantage is that they are a disappearing
class.

Curiously enough panther, which used to be
numerous, are fast disappearing from our Meerut
Kadir. For this I can offer no explanation.

HUNTING THE COUNTRY

You cannot take too much trouble with your
shikaries : be they good, bad, or indifferent, the
quality of their work will vary exactly in proportion
as you are keen or otherwise. A slack Hon. Sec.
means slack shikaries.

I can give you little advice as to the caste of
men you are to employ, you must cut your
coat according to your cloth. They must be
local men, and they must have hunting knowledge.
Certain castes are hereditary shikaries and poachers :
your shikaries will probably have to be of one of
such castes. But the higher their caste the less
liable will they be to social pressure on the part of
those simple but engaging villagers, Ram Narain,
Mahomed Bux and Co., when they urge them to do
something that is not in the interests of sport.
Of course you must be sensible and not put caste
first. It is no use to try and turn a hereditary
billiard marker, for instance, into a keen and deter-
mined hunter of big game. But any one who has

216 MODERN PIG-STICKING

shot with the Central India Horse will recognize
the great influence possessed by their shikaries,
sowars, and non-commissioned officers of a high
class.

Never let any one give a single order to your
shikaries except yourself. They must look up to
you as their best friend, but they must also be
afraid of you. Pay by results. If a man gets the
same pay whether he produces sport or not, what
can you expect ? If you find them wrong, through
want of experience or by ill-fortune, make every
allowance, say not a word. If you find them
wrong through carelessness or neglect, say still less
at the time : afterwards, in private, make your
views quite clear and cut their rewards heavily.
If a man fails you twice get rid of him.

In many hunts you will see an old shikari kept,
often past his work but with the glamour of years
of sport behind him. I am convinced such men are
a mistake ; they certainly know the ground, but
they are quite unable to get over it.

Your good shikari must be ubiquitous and
tireless, always over the ground. He should
have, like Cassius, " a lean and hungry look," and
not be " sleek -headed such as sleeps o' night."
If he is fat get rid of him at once : he must be
unjust, rich, and lazy. A knowledge of tracking
is essential.

Impress on your shikaries that their reports
must be accurate, and that they must always, if
anything, under -estimate the prospects of sport.
Teach them what cover is rideable and what is not.
If you cannot do this you must go out before each
meet and ride through the covers yourself. You
have no right to drag the members out many miles

,.

TENT CLUBS 217

to put them in stuff big enough to hide an elephant,
and then sigh over the inability of your shikaries
to judge, and acquiesce blandly in the will of
Providence.

Never tolerate blank days. One occasionally
is unavoidable. A succession of them means bad
work on the part of yourself and your shikaries.
Your members are spending money, they expect
sport. You must not take them out on recon-
naissances in force, trekking wearily over miles of
unreconnoitred country which may, or may not,
hold pig. Your last reports before hunting should
not be more than two or three days old.

Make your shikaries tell you what they have
done, and what they propose to do. Make up your
mind, give your orders, and have them carried out
tv> the letter. Natives like to change their mind,
arid a shikari, mounted, and with the prospect of
a possible rupee or two for first spear before his
eyes, will think nothing of taking a tired line a
couple of miles out of its way on the chance of an
outlying pig. Never allow this.

Mount your men on camels or ponies, the former
for choice. Men cannot run a line properly on foot, it
nor can they see as well as when mounted. Unless
mounted it takes them a month to get from one
place to another, and to bring in reports.

However good your shikaries, remember yours
must be the brain power behind them. Shikaries
who can plan out a whole campaign are very rare ;
they work by rule of thumb. It is for you to con-
sider the influence of weather, crops, and want of
water in each place. A patch of cover may be full
of pig one week and not hold a single one the next ;
past records and your own pig-craft must tell you.

218 MODERN PIG-STICKING

The secret of all successful shikar is to go to the
right place at the right time.

I cannot quit this subject without a word of
tribute to the shikaries of the Meerut Tent Club
with whom I have had the good fortune to work.
Old Lutchman, Napoleon of scoundrels, master of
men, long pensioned, and now hunting in the lands
of " le grand peut-etre " ; Purun, patient, silent, and
wise ; Baboo, an Indian D'Artagnan ; Aherias all,
they will ever hold a warm corner in my heart.

Pay much attention to your line, train it to be
absolutely silent. More pig are lost by talk than
this world wots of. Sahibs and syces are bad
offenders.

Try for short, brisk days. A successful hunt
should be like a good parade, quick, sharp, and to
the point. If you start a line at 6 A.M. and go on
till 2 midday, you cannot expect to get coolies.
Many of them have, in addition to the beating,
probably another hour's walk each way to their
homes.

I have never found afternoon hunting of any
value. Better is a longer morning, and then a good
rest to horse and man. You yourself can usually
fish or shoot.

Start your line punctually to a second of the
advertised time. In one hunt I know they pride
themselves on their unpunctuality. Within an
hour or so is good enough. c We are out to enjoy
ourselves, not for a soldier's parade." And they
may get in at any time till night. People's ideas
of enjoyment differ. I prefer to know my time,
to save my horses every minute I can, and to
arrange for my own movements in comfort.

Make the spears see that all bushes are thoroughly

TENT CLUBS 219

beaten out. You cannot do this with a line going
fast. Go slow and be thorough. After years of
experience I believe that for every pig put up
another is gone over and left by the line. An old
boar sits very tight. Even when you have put
half a dozen pig out of a patch, go on beating it,
the cunning old gentleman is probably still there.

In grass jungles in the cold weather pig's nests
thatched over with grass are often met. When
you beat these the usual volcano of pig occurs.
Sometimes an extra prod or two into the nest will
unearth the old boar, who has refused to budge, and
hoped to escape detection. It is sound when beat-
ing a nest not to stand in front of the mouth of it.

To persuade gentlemen to hide when beating
out a cover will not be one of your easiest tasks.

Ladies are quite out of place at ordinary meets
of a Tent Club.

Place your heats by lot by all means, but never
consent to drawing for the formation of each heat.
You must make them up yourself; it is not fair
on the Tent Club, the pig, or yourself to do other-
wise. How often has one not seen a heat of novices
or bad performers lose pig after pig, or let them get
away wounded ? The first thing is to kill the hog,
and after that to give every one, especially the weaker
spears, as fair a show as possible. Work within
these limits. For instance you might well put
three good men on slow horses together, or a good
man on a slow horse with novices or inferior men
on better horses. But, I repeat, as a rule it is not
fair to crowd all your good men together in order
to make an easy show for the others.

And when all is said and done, why should not
the good man, who has learnt the game and mounted

220 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

himself well reap the benefit ? I have not much
sympathy with the novice. I hunted with singular
unsuccess myself as a beginner ; more so even
than now. A youngster does not expect to play
in first-class polo tournaments within a few months
of starting. The pig-sticking novice is apt to be
less diffident.

Avoid weak performers in your own heat. Make
it up always as hot as you can. Thus shall you
avoid any breath of calumny.

INTERIOR ECONOMY

You must run your camp well, and make it
comfortable. Insist on absolute cleanliness. The
table service may be as cheap as you like, but should
be changed for every meal, and spotlessly clean.
Examine all the kitchen arrangements daily, and
if anything is untidy make yourself really un-
pleasant. Pay much attention to your cooking.
Have simple meals by all means : soup, joint, and
puddings are enough for dinner, but each course
should be really nourishing and good. The great
heat and long days take it out of a man, and he
requires well-cooked food. If you know nothing
of cooking, learn. Any lady friend of yours who
prides herself on her establishment, will teach you
gladly. How often do you get a good joint with
good gravy in a mess as compared with a private
house ? Yet your cook can do it if he knows that
you know, and that you are determined to have it.
In the cold weather you have ample game at your
disposal too.

I have never seen why because I hunt pig I
should live like a pig.

TENT CLUBS 221

The scale of your luxuries in tentage, fires, ice,
beer, wine, and cooking must depend on the wishes
of the members and the state of their pockets.

Alone, I often used to go out with a couple of
blankets, and a saucepan, and do my own cooking.
In company I think you want greater comfort.
And the more of you there are the more comfort
you want. It is not unpleasant in a big meet to
sit over a fire with a good glass of port and talk over
the day with some man of another heat. Half the
joy of a Tent Club is the friendships you form with
men in other services than your own.

A good roomy tent is of great value.

On the question of expense I can tell you little.
This must depend so much on local circumstances.
One naturally wants to reduce expenditure. In
Meerut, where all the country is thirty miles or so
away, and where meets last for three and a half days,
you will be lucky if you can keep your expenses
down to ten or twelve rupees a day. This includes
messing, drink (a little), all hunting expenses, batta
or extra pay to syces and servants, charges for your
numerous first spears, and your own transport
expenses.

CHAPTER XIV

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS

ALTHOUGH our legitimate quarry in this book is
the boar, still many other animals are ridden and
speared, and I propose to give you a few notes on
those more commonly met. You will notice that
I particularly avoid classifying some animals as
rideable and others as not. I am convinced that
there is no animal living, excepting elephant and
rhino, with which, given fair riding country, a
determined man with a good spear on a bold horse
cannot compete successfully.

Having expressed this heroic statement, let me
have my usual clear understanding with you,
Reader. I have never met buffalo or tiger in riding
country. I can tell you nothing about them ; and
I am sure that should I so meet them, my attitude
would be that of the Army of Lars Porsena in its
historic encounter with that friend of our youth,
Horatius Codes.

There is no record, that I know, of either tiger
or buffalo having been speared in recent years.
This you must not ascribe entirely to the degeneracy
of modern sportsman. With the increased facilities
for shooting, and the extension of cultivation, it is
very rare for these animals to be found in country

open enough to permit of riding.

222

CH. XIV

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 223

Buffalo, we know, were speared in the old days
with the throwing spear. Baker, in his Sport in
Bengal, in 1886 mentions that he heard of a man
spearing two buffalo in one day, but his horse was
killed and he had a narrow escape for his life.
This looks as if he had been using the thrusting
spear. There is no doubt that the encounter would
lead to a very " pleasant bickering," as Sir Nigel
says. A long and heavy spear would be needed.

Skinner, of Skinner's Horse, at the beginning of
last century speared more than one tiger, I believe,
by circling round him and throwing his spear.
Outram speared a tiger, but I think I am correct
in saying that he did it standing on foot on a rock
as the tiger passed him. All the more honour to
him. Nightingale, I believe,| also speared a tiger,
though I can find no record of it.

In all these instances, however, I cannot find
any clearly authenticated record of a man having
ridden and speared a tiger using the thrusting spear
of the present day. It remains to be done. Simson
mentions a tiger being put up, but "none were so
stupid as to ride it."

In 1899 I hunted a certain country near Aligurh.
A fortnight later several spears, when hunting the
same country, put up a tiger in an open field, and
watched him for half a mile before he disappeared
into cover. It is so easy to talk, but I always like
to think I would have had a try for him. I do not
believe a tiger would be much harder to spear than
a panther. I am sure he would squat in the same
way ; he would not be as active as a panther, and
he would be a much better mark. You would have
to ride wide, give a good spear, and be off. One
really good spear in the chest would be enough.

224 MODERN PIG-STICKING

If you only inflicted a flesh wound with a poor spear
you would have to look for bad trouble. I make
no doubt whatever that a bold pig-sticker would
take you right up to a tiger. I have shot a con-
siderable number and I fully realize their power,
but I am convinced the thing can be done. The
prize would be well worth the considerable risk.

If you pig-stick much you are certain to meet
these pests, panther, sooner or later. Big game
shot though I am I use the term advisedly, for
there is no limit to the damage which these brutes
do to pig ; not to the big boar, but to the sows and
squeakers, which is far worse. In order to ex-
terminate them from a pig preserve there are no
measures from which I would shrink, excepting
poison, which I look on as fair for neither fish, flesh,
nor fowl.

My experience with panther has not been as
large as I could have wished. This is partly due to
a certain contract I was unwise enough to make
with my mother. I have, however, speared three.
Of one, who to a certain extent defeated me, I have
written elsewhere. The first I ever speared gave
me no trouble at all. He ran along bounding as
usual. The feature with all big cats is the way they
seem to arch their backs when in a hurry, especially
over rough ground, and carry their long tails straight
perpendicular in the air. The chief thing I could
see of my friend was his tail above the grass. I
remember I was using my spear overhand that day.
Down went the panther's tail, and I knew he had
squatted. We were on him within a fraction of a
second ; my horse, Jansen, went well into him,
and I got him exactly right and underneath me.
The spear broke his back and he never moved again.

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 225

With number two I cannot recall doing any deed
of valour. In fact, I think my part was that of the
little dog who yaps on the fringe of a scrap. Why
I cannot tell ; either my horse or I were suffering
from nerves, or else we got up to the hunt late.
All I do remember is a group of Mackenzie (R.F.A.),
Bourne (2nd Lancers), and some one else all standing
above a very peevish panther who was clawing and
biting at their horses' hind legs. All the horses, or
most of them seemed to have lost their heads, and
to be quite unable to move. Two horses died from
that fight, and Mackenzie's New Zealand bore
many marks of it to his grave.

He was a gallant horse, New Zealand, and
wonderfully fast over a country. I bought him
from Mackenzie. He eventually died from a heavy
fall we took. But while he was in his prime,
especially with Mackenzie up, there were few horses
his equal. He was cast for a gummy leg (which never
failed again) from H Battery. He had a marvellous
shoulder, great chest and limbs, and the temper of
the devil. It was temper and power got him through
the thick country. On the flat I reckon a man on
foot would have given him a race.

With panther even more than pig you must
gallop. They always squat at the end, crouching
for a spring, and one has to either disable them, or
get away quick enough to avoid their jumping
on the horse behind one as one passes. Mr. (now
Major) Gillman, R.H.A., had some trouble in this
way. He speared a panther and was holding him.
Others came up and proceeded to spear. But
Gillman was so insistent on their spearing through
the same hole that his spear was in, lest the skin
should be injured, that the time went on and no

Q

226 MODERN PIG-STICKING

further wound was inflicted. The panther got
bored, broke away and sprang on Gillman's horse.

BEARS

I have never had a chance of sticking a bear.
We had one in glorious hunting country this May,
but a silly youngster got there six hours before us,
beat for him, and fired at him at thirty yards,
missing him handsomely.

I took Crispin within touch of a performing bear
a few weeks ago. The bear stood up sparring.
Crispin stood with ears cocked, great eyes staring,
and every muscle beneath me taut, but he never
moved.

If I am ever again quartered in Secunderabad
I hope to spear many bear, revisiting all Nightin-
gale's old haunts, which I know.

I wrote to my friend Mr. H. Branford, the well-
known pig - sticker and tiger - shot of Mirzapur,
about bear. I give you his interesting letter in full.

About 1903 I was out at the Barkatcha camp trying
to find pig for Major Geddes of the 77th Battery, and here
I feel I must pay a tribute to a good sportsman, as I some-
times wonder if without his help I should ever have been
able to make people believe that our hill boar could be
ridden and killed. No day was too long for him, and blank
days he took as they came ; no country was too rough,
and though I was then only a youngster who knew very
little of the ways of hill pig, still he always did what I asked
cheerfully, and did not grouse when we failed.

Five of us were beating a rocky gorge, in which bear
had never been heard of, for pig, and as there were two
lines a pig might take I sent a heat of three to the East
with instructions not to join us but wait for a second pig,
and Geddes and I took the nullah. Early in the beal

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 227

which was a very long one, a shikari came running up with
a gun saying, " A bear is coming, shoot it." Of course
Geddes and I decided to ride it, and sent off word to the
others to join us when we went away.

It is customary here often to follow a pig for a mile or
two, or drive him for a mile or two before the word " ride "
is given, as he has to be humoured into a bit of country
where he can be killed.

Geddes was mounted on a flea-bitten grey called
Speckles, a good and staunch pig -sticker of many
seasons, and I on a young one in his first season ; he looked
a good 'un, but he had no heart, and refused pig after once
being cut. The bear shuffled past us unpleasantly close
(we were dismounted), but took no notice, and we started
after him at a trot. The line was a good one, the first mile
a nullah running through black cotton soil.

I told Geddes that the next mile was like a billiard-
table, and that I did not intend to give " ride " until the
bear was in the middle of this, as it was obvious we could
do what we liked with him in regard to pace. Geddes
laughed and replied, " All right, but we toss for the skin,
as the man who says 'ride' gets the spear." I agreed
and afterwards we felt rather fools in being so sure of
"Bhaloo's" skin. On the word "ride," Speckles
flashed past me and passed the bear, but not within ten
spears' length, and he went two hundred yards before
Geddes stopped him. I felt " this is all right," and took
it slowly, but my pony was having nothing to say to it
either. Slowly the bear made his way to the hill. We
getting madder and madder, the horses worse and worse,
and the bear got angry too and made a good deal of noise.
He went into the hill which was very small, and I knew
he would go on to the next across a rocky ridge. I told
Geddes, and we rode round and I pointed out the bear's
line. Geddes scrambled up on the ridge saying, " This is
Al, no horse can bolt from here." So there we waited, I
praying hard that Geddes looked better eating than I.
My prayers were answered, and the bear chose Geddes,
who just managed to hold Speckles long enough to allow

228 MODERN PIG-STICKING

the bear to reach his hocks when he speared the bear
overhand in the face, and then away went Speckles
down the rocky slope, and I after him. We then collected
the beaters and other heat, and drove the bear out again ;
he got a long start and took a very bad line, but we hurried
him for two miles though none of the five horses were for
it. Robinson, R.F.A., however, got in one good spear
by a clever ruse. The bear was travelling along a track
with high bushes on both sides, so that often the horses
could not see the bear ; taking advantage of this Robinson
jumped over a bush where he hoped the bear was, guessed
right, and got in a spear. We then lost all trace for the
day. That night at the Headquarters Mess any one who had
had a horse guaranteed staunch to bear could have had his
own price for it. A dozen or more bloodthirsty men turned
out next day on all sorts of horses. Two owners were very
confident, Geddes on a very big T.B. English pony mare,
and Roach, R.A.M.C. (a very keen man), on a very high-
caste Arab which was the general favourite. The shikaries
reported the bear as marked down, and we found him at
once, but he was very stuffy, and though most of us had
some sort of chances at him during the day no one had
a good chance but Roach, who nearly wept because his
Arab funked it. About midday a beater got a nasty
punctured wound on the temple from a blow from the bear's
paw. We then stopped beating and decided to try and
finish the job on foot. I was chosen as tracker, and so had
to lead the way ; and it is the only time in my life that I
have felt pleased at being unable to follow a blood trail as
it was mostly crawling under bushes or rock, and though
I knew every man behind me was all for it, still it seemed
to me the best place was behind. Neither, sad to relate,
could I make anything of the tracking and it got dark.
Next day the gunners all had to work, and my men could
not find the bear as he was dead and was found many days
afterwards quite rotten. The mauled beater spent ten
days under Roach's care, and had a splendid time.

The conclusion I drew from this hunt was that the
chances of getting a horse staunch to bear were almost

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 229

nil once the bear had been roused and was angry and noisy ;
but most of them were only a little afraid at first, and it was
the quaint waving hair that frightened them first. I saw
that a horse was very much faster than a bear even on
very rocky and broken country, also that a bear is a very
clumsy beast, and could be killed on foot if two or three
spears could dismount together in the open. This is what
Geddes and I ought to have done on the first day and
during the first run, and what we probably should have
done had the other heat joined us ; after that one chance
we were always separated in ones and twos in thick, bushy
and rocky country. The other heat told us that they
understood that the shikari said, " A very large pig is
coming," and that is all ; which shows how important a
knowledge of the language and ways of the people of India
is to the would-be hunter of bears or anything else.

My second attempt at bear happened about March 1903
thus : I was out shooting with two friends who had not
shot bear, and who were very keen to do so when news came
in of a bear lying out on an old bund miles from any hills
or ravines. The country was cultivated and cut up with
little irrigation channels and very blind. So far as my
position as host allowed I tried to persuade my guests to
ride the bear, but they decided to use guns, so I mounted
an old caster from the 77th Battery and hoped that they
would both miss. The mare was old and very bold, and,
so far as I knew, afraid of nothing but slow and clumsy.
One of my friends walked up to the bear asleep in a thick
bush and missed him like a man ; the bear then scuffled
past the other who did likewise from the cover of a pepul
tree. The old fellow then came to me ; I nursed him very
carefully, till nicely in the middle of a field and then clapped
in my spurs, and before bear or mare knew what was
happening I got home a good spear. The bear roared, and
the way that the old mare reared up and then bolted was
extraordinary, I did not know she could. Well then I had
a rare old time ; the country was thick with natives
harvesting, and the bear was out for blood, but not very
active. The mare would not go near him, and all I could

230 MODERN PIG-STICKING

do was to ride her in between the man or woman who was
being chased, and draw him after me, and this I did ever
so many times. The old mare would canter with the
bear just out of reach, but when I tried to stop her and spear
overhand the bear always roared just before he seized,
and off the old mare would go again. I am not a very
strong horseman, a bigger and stronger man might have
held her. This went on, it seemed to me, for ages, and
once we passed down the main street of a hill village. In
the end a gun was brought up, and I had to shoot the bear
who by then was very slow and groggy, but I cannot claim
to have speared him. He was a big male bear in fair coat,
but nothing like the first one. In this case I feel sure that
a better horse would have enabled me to give a fatal spear.
As it is I don't understand why I did not. I speared exactly
where I meant to, and the spear went well home it seemed
to me. I sometimes think the old mare really stopped
before I got there, and perhaps the spear did not go in as
far as I thought ; also I know bears are very hard to kill.
Anyhow the result at first was nothing but noise, and the
bear did not seem to me to be any the worse for it until
shortly before the gun came, and by then he was decidedly
sick. This bear looked awfully funny scrambling along
behind me with great curved forearms ready to grab the
mare.

My third effort was in about April 1909. Four or five
of us were out after pig, and whilst beating a rocky gorge
word came up, " A bear is coming." I could hardly believe
it as the gorge is the home of bears, and full of caves and
holes ; however the shikaries had seen the bear and put
stops over the holes, and she came out.

I had out that day my old Arab, Rustom, who was
even then a little shy of pig, though still the best I had ever
seen, a little cobby grey waler mare about 13.3, another
pony, a wild silly little fool, very staunch to pig, but I did
not fancy her straight shoulders over rocks, and a beautiful
little country-bred pony about 13.3 called Colonel.
This pony was bought by my brother in the Himalayas
from a missionary, chiefly, I think, out of pity, as he had

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 231

nursed the pony back to health after he had carried a
heavy parson about forty miles a day till he gave in.
Where Colonel came from before that I do not know,
except that rumour said he had been raced and I know he
had by his ways. I was only keeping Colonel whilst
my brother was away in Burmah, and only took him out
as a hack for the good of his health as he pulled like sin
though he was as safe as a church.

I girthed up these last two ponies and decided to make
up my mind which to ride at the last moment. When the
bear appeared the mare took no notice at all ; all the
others looked frightened except Colonel who seemed
very interested only, so that decided it and I mounted him.
The bear took the rocky nullah for half a mile or so, when
it opened out into bushy and difficult country.

I waited till the bear was in the middle of the best bit
of country, and then dropped in the nullah. Out she
went, and I after her, certain that I was at last on a horse
that knew no fear. The gallant little beast went straight
as a die though the bear turned and waited, and I speared
through the shoulder, and as I passed I marvelled at the
slight resistance to the spear. I turned the Colonel
with great difficulty and brought him back, but now things
were altered. The bear was making an awful row, and
the pony was mad with excitement, and a terrible handful.
The bear had just crossed a deep but narrow nullah, and
as I cleared this I realized how it was she had survived
my spear. She was carrying a good-sized cub on her back
which I had not noticed, and I had speared too high. Up
went the pony again, and just as I thought I had done it,
the little beast swerved in and jumped at the bear like a cat
entirely upsetting my aim. I speared far too much over,
though through again ; this time it was harder still to pull
up and turn, and by the time I did so the bear was back in
the nullah, where I could not get at her so well. However
I got in a crossing spear through the loins and on turning
found her nearing the gorge with W. T. M. Wright on her
heels in the rocks. Bear going about three miles an hour
and his cur of a pony (who had heart for nothing not even

232 MODERN PIG-STICKING

pig or polo) about 2 spears lengths behind, Wright spurring
and driving with all his might over the most awful rocks.

My shikari, Issery Singh, seeing the bear coming, grabbed
a spear from a syce, and shouting to the syces to follow
got to the edge of the gorge, backed up by Colonel's
syce alone (a Pahari), armed with a stick only. I knew
Issery Singh would meet her and I knew she must knock
him over the cliff if he did, and was very relieved when he
obeyed my shouted order to let her pass. I thought she
would die every minute, but she got into a cave and I had
to leave her. Wright sat on the cave that evening and a
fine leopard came out early which he shot.

Next morning my shikaries reported that the bear had
not stopped in the cave but gone right through and left
no blood trail, and that I could not have speared as well as
I thought. But the day after the cub was found near the
cave very hungry and a smell attracted the men to a bush
a few yards from the cave where they found the poor old
bear dead, and there she no doubt was dead all the time we
were trying to get her out of the cave.

This bear I can claim to have fairly killed with the spear
but I did not bag it, and have nothing but the claws as a
trophy.

These are the only three times I have speared bears or
seen them speared, but when alone I have had several other
attempts without any luck, though I have found and hunted
them ; but always the country was either too bad to ride
at all or the bear got too much start or he refusd to leave
his cover. From what I have seen I am quite sure that
given a staunch horse and a bear on even very bad country
he is an easy quarry to hunt and kill with the spear ; but
evidently horses staunch to bear are so rare as to be prac-
tically unobtainable, and so this, as a sport, is hardly worth
bothering about. But I think great sport might be had
by three keen men on clever hill ponies armed with short
strong spears with a stop on the shaft about 2 feet from the
point, if the men dismounted and tackled the bear on foot
as soon as they had got him angry. The only trouble is
to find the bear when you want him and your best chance

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 233

to do this is in May, the very best month in the year for
pig-sticking in these parts. At this time it is hard to get
men keen enough to spend ten days in the great heat for
the chance of spearing a bear, when they know they are
missing good pig-sticking ; and what can man want better
than that ?

BLACK-BUCK

To spear a full-grown, fit, unwounded black-buck
is an exceedingly rare feat. I look on it as the
highest test to which a horse can be put. I have
never even tried it. I give you an account by Mr.
Clibborn of my battery who speared one.

In October 1909 Watson, R.F.A., and I went for a ten
days' trip to Mukdumpur in the Ganges Kadir. We took
horses and spears hoping, if possible, to get a ride after a
wounded buck.

One morning we saw a nice buck some three or four
hundred yards away ; Watson was to have the shot and
I remained behind to ride him down if necessary. He
failed to get near him, and eventually as the animal
trotted off he took a long shot. I at once, as arranged, gave
chase, but soon realized that the buck was not wounded.
I would have pulled up only that I hoped Watson would
join me later with a fresh horse and by this means we
might secure the buck. At first I gained on him and got
to within fifty yards or so ; however, just as I began to fancy
I would get him, he simply streaked away until one hundred
or more yards clear. After this, by taking various short cuts,
I got fairly close ; then the buck, now apparently really
frightened, made every endeavour to throw me off; he dodged
round trees and scrub, he galloped to the bank of the bourrh
gunga, dropped to the water's edge and then came up again
the same side. The mare I was riding was extraordinarily
game. She simply followed that buck like a dog after a hare.
Eventually, after a hunt lasting at least thirty minutes,
I managed to give him a light spear far back. From that

234 MODERN PIG-STICKING

moment I knew that he was spent, and a few minutes after-
wards I ran into him in the river-bed.

Both Watson and I examined him most carefully for
any signs of a bullet wound, but both then and when
skinning him later found no signs of anything except the
spear wounds. I think there is no doubt that he was
unwounded and healthy.

The country was all in favour of a horse as against a black-
buck — grass about 3 feet 6 inches high and fairly thick,
good hard-going. The buck was by no means gorged, but
was in very good fat condition. His horns measured 19 J
inches. The mare was distinctly distressed for some
hours afterwards, but she ate her feed at night and was
quite all right next day. She unfortunately died some
two years afterwards of tetanus.

I never want to spear another buck ; I can remember its
pathetic eyes to-day.

HYJENA

Hyaena are often met with on the line, and still
more of ten heard at night, though I do not think many
people know their call. I have heard every sort
of noise from a screech-owl to a bull-frog ascribed
to them. They are generally ridden when put up,
and as a rule give a good run. They are the most
jinking brutes in creation and the hardest to spear.
As they run and as they jink they sway from side
to side like a sheaf driven in the wind. Their long
upright mane enhances the effect and causes one
often to over-estimate the size of their bodies and
miss them. In spite of their powerful jaws they are
wretched fighters. I have had a spear-shaft nearly
bitten through by one, but that was only when the
poor beast was in extremis. I saw one speared this
year who, when he was collared, abandoned flight,
and went straight for his hunters, biting hard right
and left. I have never seen another case of this.

XIV

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 235

NlLGHAI

I would not ask you to make a habit of riding
nilghai, but to spear one or two of these fine beasts
will give you a useful experience in handling large
animals, a confidence in yourself, and a true line
as to the pace and stamina of your horse. Apart
from this, they are fine-looking beasts and they do
no harm. " Live, and let live."

You must either run into your bull at once, or
be prepared for a hunt of five or six miles. Their
wind is tremendous and their pace most deceptive.
Looking at a big bull lumbering along, few would
think that he was capable of extending a fast horse.

I will give you a short account of two runs after
nilghai to exemplify what I have said.

The first bull got up about thirty yards from me,
in front of the line which was beating a cover of
light jhow and long grass. He had evidently been
asleep and was slow in getting away. Crispin and
I had reduced the distance to half before he knew
what he was doing, and we caught him within a
hundred yards. Both nilghai and Crispin were
then travelling about as fast as anything I have
known. When we closed, the bull turned sharp in
to his left across me. Crispin flew the bull and
staggered badly, but did not come down. I suppose
his hind legs must have hit the bull. My spear
went clean through the nilghai behind the wither
and of course broke ; the momentum must have
been great. The nilghai was knocked over by the
spear and Crispin's legs, and never moved again.
He was miles away from anywhere, and we had
to cut him up as he lay. He was the biggest bull
I have ever seen.

236 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Two years ago in the Kadir Cup country we had
a herd of nilghai about us all day. They were
cantering all over the place, and, having got their
second wind, were in fine galloping condition.
Towards the end of the morning, which had turned
out dull, I got on Morning Star, who is a very
fast thoroughbred, and, picking out the biggest
bull, gave chase. He was all on the qui-vive, and
was a hundred and fifty yards away when I started.
He took me some five miles before I speared. I
ought to have speared him considerably sooner, but
Morning Star was just off a race-course and not
as handy then as I could have wished, and I lost
ground at every jink. I speared the bull twice,
but never got a good spear. Finally I lost him in
a patch thick enough to hold an elephant. It was
a hot May day. There had been a fire ; parts of
the ground were like iron, and we were nearly
choked with the fine ashes. Morning Star was very
done. I had to off-saddle him and walk, saddle
on head, three - quarters of a mile to the river,
where I poured water on him. The horse was lame
for months after, and had enlarged fetlocks for life.
So much for the nilghai as a beast of the chase.

PAKAH

Parah, or hog -deer, are very common in the
Meerut Kadir, and are fairly often met in all the
Northern Indian countries. They give a longer run
than a pig, but, like all the deer tribe, put up no fight.
They often yell badly when speared, and I find this
so unpleasant that I have long ago given up hunting
them. I have not speared more than half a dozen
parah in all.

SPEARING VARIOUS ANIMALS 237

By curious fortune I have been in at the death
of the two record heads for India, though I speared
neither myself. The first fell to Captain Winwood,
5th Dragoon Guards. As far as I can remember, he
gave a stupid jinking run over easy country.

The other and the bigger head fell to Mr. Pollok,
15th Hussars. We were hunting a grass country
when this fine stag got up. He ran a quarter of a
mile and then went head first into a water buffalo.
He fell back half stunned, and was speared by
Pollok at once. I was dismounted, changing a
saddle, and only got up at the end.

WOLF

I have never had a chance of riding a wolf. I
remember Messrs. Bryant, R.H.A., Barry and Pollok,
15th Hussars, and Captain Greathed, R.H.A., riding
and spearing one in our southern country. Light
bourrh land with grass jungles. Bryant got the
spear ; I believe he and Greathed on the faster
horses did the work : both were very well mounted.
Bryant was riding a charming horse, Mark II.,
whom he sold later at a longish price. They hustled
the wolf at once from a flying start and got him
jinking within two miles, when his fate was soon
sealed. I examined him carefully. A full-grown
dog-wolf, not gorged, in good condition, and with
no signs of mange or sickness on him.

This is a rare feat and only possible for really
good horses under favourable conditions. By this
I mean a good start and galloping ground ; I do
not mean a sick or gorged wolf. As far as I know,
the heat were entitled to all credit ; their wolf, as
I have said, was in the pink of condition.

238 MODERN PIG-STICKING

CHITAL

There is a strict law against riding chital in India.
It has been found that after a severe run these
beautiful stags always die from a broken heart.
On one of the two hunting trips I made near the
Terai I was on the edge of a very good chital jungle.
On off-days I stalked chital and I missed three good
stags with the most disgraceful shooting you can
imagine. I got disgusted with this, and laid myself
out to ride one, for I then knew neither the law
against riding chital nor its reason. I daily watched
a certain patch of jungle about six hundred yards
from the main forest. One day I heard it harboured
a good stag. I beat the stag out and rode him over
a line of beautiful turf. I was riding New Zealand,
and he was not quite fast enough. I rode the stag
into the thick jungle just out of reach of my spear ;
in another fifty yards I would have killed him.
He ran straight and never jinked. His spotted
skin and fine spreading horns, just out of my reach,
looked splendid. I was much vexed.

SWAMP DEER

I have never seen swamp deer in riding country.
One was speared a few years ago in the Fyzabad
Tent Club. Shooting them from an elephant you
feel you are firing at a huge cobweb of horns.

CHAPTER XV

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES

IN pig-sticking, as in hunting, a certain amount of
grief is to be expected. I know of nothing so amus-
ing as a real crumpling fall to another, nor of any-
thing so good for a man's own nerve as a similar
fall to himself without damage — a regular galloping
fall for choice, horse and man, six legs in the air,
and then a puff of dust rising from where they
have hit the ground as if a shell had burst. It is
the slow falls that cause the grief, not the galloping
ones.

If a man is to keep young and active he must
fall. And I suggest, with all due deference to the
authorities, that there should be an entry in each
senior officer's report as to how many falls he has
taken in the past twelve months.

Not that in pig-sticking I regard falls as a sign
of either bravery or horsemanship. Some of the
best men I know seldom fall, and I can only ascribe
this to their good hands and leaving their horses
alone. There is undoubtedly an art in falling. One
friend of mine never hurts himself. He stands 6 feet
4 inches, and only hits the ground in sections at a
time. I find I get damaged more often than I used
to. I always fall on my left shoulder and tuck
my head in, leave go of the reins and roll. To

240 MODERN PIG-STICKING

tuck your head in is essential if you do not want
to break your neck. Some people always hurt
themselves, while others generally avoid injury.
Mr. Garrard in the 5th Dragoon Guards had spent
some leave in a riding stable, and it was most
instructive to see him jumping chairs or a sofa in
the billiard-room, landing on his shoulder on the
hard floor without using either hands or arms to
save himself.

In England it seems to me that people send for
professional aid on the first symptom of anything
wrong with their horses or themselves. In India, out
after pig, there is often neither veterinary surgeon
nor doctor within many miles. A man has to fend
for himself. I therefore give you some notes on
the more common mishaps that may occur, with a
few of my own experiences.

I have had a certain amount of practice myself,
having been " laid out " one way or another twelve
times. This includes, however, being twice mauled
(panther only). It is by no means a heavy average
for fifteen years, and it compares favourably with
that of many men. A friend of mine, for instance,
has had two bullets through him, has twice been
hit by poisoned arrows, has been well mauled by
a tiger, and in a single season's hunting at home
has had ninety falls. He claims, however, that he
is now a wiser, if not a better, horseman.

I have no intention of writing a scientific treatise.
I assume that you know your Hayes* Veterinary
Notes by heart, and that you have some slight
knowledge of the amateur treatment of simple
human ailments. Such technical advice as I do
give is not my own, but is due to my old friends
Captain D. Macdonald, A.V.C., and Captain G.

/. A*. Gatacre.

A JINK.

A CHARGE.

To face page 240.

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 241

Petit, R.A.M.C., and I offer them your thanks and
my own.

I will deal with the nobler animal first.

HORSES

Wounds, sprains, fever, and occasionally colic,
are the chief ailments for which you will have to
treat your horses when out pig-sticking.

I must have treated a very large number of
wounds myself, but I cannot describe any one
case that would give you any particular informa-
tion. If you hunt much, you must expect pig-
cuts of every sort, from a mere snick to a gash
that may have ripped a horse's abdomen half
open. In a bad case never move your horse ;
camp alongside of him, and wait there, doing
whatever you can until professional aid can
come.

I used to be very keen on strong carbolic and
iodoform for man and beast, but would never dream
of using them now. I much prefer per chloride of
mercury and iodine. I treated a pet dog of a lady
friend of mine with strong carbolic : it died out of
hand.

The recoveries that are made are marvellous.
I have only once seen a horse bleed to death. This
was a horse of Colonel Lang's, 5th Cavalry, who
had the big artery inside the thigh severely cut by a
spear when after a hyaena. If you have learnt
to stop bleeding quickly you have mastered a
valuable accomplishment. I have very seldom
seen a horse die from his wounds, except with
panther. I remember we had three horses mauled
by one panther; of these Mackenzie's alone recovered.

242 MODERN PIG-STICKING

He was dressed with carbolic ; the others, no worse,
were not.

Spear wounds are very different, and I have seen
many fatal accidents from them. The most extra-
ordinary recovery I have ever seen was that of a
horse, Hunt Cup, belonging to Mr. Yorke, R.H.A.
Yorke speared a pig. What happened has never
been found out, but it is quite certain that the shaft
broke on a crossing pig ; the spear point entered
Hunt Cup at the base of the neck on the off side,
went through his body, and just failed to come out
behind the saddle on the near side. A lump could
be felt where the point was ; the broken shaft
protruded at the neck. Yorke first, and afterwards
Macdonald, attended to this horse, and got the spear
out. The horse always fed well, never looked like
dying, and two months later was in perfect health.

Stubs in the sole of the foot are fairly common,
and a great nuisance. I have known one or two
horses killed by them. The Arhar and the Dal
crops grow with stems nearly an inch in diameter.
The villagers cut these stems with one strong
sloping cut a few inches from the ground. The
same thing on a larger scale happens with jhow,
too ; the stakes dry in the sun, they are quite sharp,
and are soon as hard as iron. In country where
there is much of this (Muttra has a great deal), one
rides with leather soles, but I do not think they are
much good. They keep out nothing and spoil a
horse's frog ; they may be of use to show when a
small stake has gone in ; there is no mistaking a
big one. I have thought of steel shoes, and I
believe they have been tried at Agra. I remember
a horse of Captain (now Colonel) Pitman, llth
Hussars, got badly staked. The stub went in under-

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 243

neath, and came out in the coronet. We found it
hard to withdraw, so Pitman told his syce to clean
the foot well while he was busy elsewhere. We
then got the pincers to withdraw the stub, but the
syce had cut it off level with the coronet. There
was nothing sticking out ; the foot looked admir-
able.

Horses in Northern India are liable to unsightly
spots all over them after a few days' hunting.
" Kadir spots " they are called. They are due to
nothing but bad grooming. If you examine a spot
carefully, you will find a tiny tick in it.

Fever and colic are always anxieties ; the latter
may generally be ascribed to bad horsemastership.
Fever is, in my experience, usually due to chill, or
overwork in the sun with probably unfit animals.

Mr. Kiddle, Australian Field Artillery, brought
over last season two very nice horses which he had
bred himself in New South Wales. But he did not
realize the power of the Indian sun. He hunted
them hard within a couple of months of landing,
and they both nearly died of biliary fever.

An accursed thing this biliary fever is ; I have
lost one brilliant and one very good horse by it.
However, its treatment hardly comes within the
scope of jungle remedies.

Captain Macdonald is so clear as to sprains that
in this subject, as in all else, he has left me little
to say.

I am a great advocate for never despairing as
to fetlocks. No matter how bad they look, work
and massage generally bring them right. I had a
horse, At Last, that I bought as a youngster in
Bombay on dear old Charlie Cough's recommenda-
tion. I have seen few better. He was at first

244 MODERN PIG-STICKING

troublesome in the near fore-fetlock, and I was told
that I had better shoot him, he must have sesamoid-
itis. By good luck I met my old friend Captain
Mellard, A.V.C., in Delhi. He knew the horse well,
and after a careful examination ordered me to work
him hard. I did so and tried to break him down.
He was never lame again, and few horses' legs have
stood my work and weight like his. I sold him for
2000 rupees, and he has just died in his prime of
an unfortunate accident. I do not believe much
(I speak as a fool) in blistering or firing ; I am sure
massage and steady work are better. They have
paid me well with several horses of my own and
of " R."

I kept one valuable horse, that I got cheap, for
eighteen months curing one leg, which he had hurt
hunting with the Peshawar Vale. We cured the bad
knee, but he had stood so long on the other leg that
his fetlock went to pieces, and I had to shoot him.

As regards destroying a horse, one ought never
to go pig-sticking without a firearm. Staff-Sergeant
Farrier Bradford, R.F.A., who had been Lord
Robert's farrier at Candahar, taught me, when I
was a youngster in the 49th Battery, R.F.A., his
way of shooting a horse. I have always followed,
his teaching and have never known a failure.
You rest the muzzle of your weapon in the hollow
above the eye and aim for the base of the opposite
ear. You can meanwhile fondle the muzzle of the
horse with the other hand. There is little blood,
and the horse generally stands for half a second and
then falls forward dead. The system is mechanical,
even the unsteadiest amateur can scarcely miss.

When I was in the 49th, H and E were the other
subalterns. H went off after tiger for three months,

XV

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 245

leaving E in charge of his animals. Among them
was an old pony that H loved dearly. She was to
be . cherished and, if her present ailment should
prove incurable, she was to be shot with all refine-
ments known to humanity. The poor old lady
could not be cured, and E determined to shoot her
himself, so anxious was he to carry out H's behest.
He sallied to the task with a 12 -bore and No. 4
shot cartridges. The mare moved, and E made a
mess of her. The poor beast fled at a high rate of
speed, pursued by E, who had lost his head, firing
volleys of No. 4 at her as she passed.

H, if he reads this book, will hear of this episode
for the first time now.

Now I quote the expert, Captain Macdonald :

Wounds Generally. — The main object should be to keep
wounds as clean as possible and covered from flies and other
insects.

Thin muslin tied lightly above and below the wound is
the best material to use. Wounds should not be bandaged
except in exceptional cases when the tissues are badly
lacerated and require support.

The best and handiest application for an ordinary
wound in the jungle is tincture of iodine. Hair should
be clipped round the wound for a couple of inches and the
iodine painted round that area and on the wound itself.

The wound should not be washed, and the iodine can be
applied daily for a few days. This ought to be sufficient
treatment for all ordinary wounds.

It is, however, sometimes difficult to treat large lacerated
wounds with iodine ; the next best dressing to be applied
is perchloride of mercury, 1 in 1000.

It is convenient to have a bottle of perchloride pellets,
one of which in a pint of water makes a solution of 1 in 1000.
The wound should be washed thoroughly clean with this,
and a pad of cotton-wool soaked in the same solution
applied to the wound and lightly bandaged. In a few days

246 MODERN PIG-STICKING

the perchloride pad can be replaced by a pad of boracic
cotton- wool.

Spear Wounds. — These are awkward things to deal with.
When the bleeding is controlled, cold water irrigation is a
first-rate thing, and in the jungle a chattie and string can
always be rigged up. Put a little permanganate of potash
in the water. An enamelled douche with long rubber
tubing is still better. After two hours' irrigation, syringe
out with perchloride solution and apply perchloride pad.

Pig-cut Wounds. — Such wounds should be treated in the
same way, except when iodine can be used conveniently.

Both spear wounds and pig-cuts are liable to be followed
by tetanus, especially in the case of deep punctures ; under
which circumstance the horse ought to have a dose of
antitetanic serum injected as soon as possible.

Stake and Thorn Wounds of the Foot. — In these every
precaution should be taken that the stake or thorn is
entirely removed and no piece allowed to remain in the
wound. Subsequent treatment is simple. Iodine, carbolic
1 in 20, perchloride 1 in 500, is usually sufficient unless
a joint is injured. Cover the wound with boracic cotton-
wool, kept in position by a piece of wood, or thin hoop
iron, under the shoe from side to side.

Fever. — Keep in the shade and feed on bran.

If 102° or over, give magnesium sulphate (Epsom-salt)
8 ounces, and water 1 quart. Dissolve the salt in warm
water and allow to cool. Follow with : liquor ammonia
acetatis, J ounce ; spirits ammonia aromaticus, 1 ounce ;
water 1 pint, every four hours until the fever subsides,
or until the case is seen professionally.

Colic. — Give at once powdered chloral hydrate, 1 ounce,
in water, 1 pint. Follow by 1 pint of linseed oil and 1J
ounces of turpentine. Let the animal have a good bed of
grass and let him lie down. He may be walked about
occasionally, but on no account must he be trotted nor
kept on his legs for a long period under compulsion.

If the pain shows no sign of abating in about two hours,
give another draught of chloral hydrate. Strong friction
to the abdomen with whisps of grass often gives relief and

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 247

should always be tried. Also enemas of soap and warm
water, about half a bucket.

Chloral hydrate can be given in a ball most conveniently,
but the administration wants more or less of an expert, as,
if the ball bursts in the mouth, it gives rise to great irritation
of mucous membrane. The ordinary pig-sticker is not an
expert, and should only attempt balling after a good deal
of practice. The same remarks apply to carbonate of
ammonia balls.

In cases of exhaustion carbonate of ammonia is the most
useful drug given in a draught : Carbonate of ammonia,
1 ounce ; water, 1J pints.

Bleeding. — Cold water and pressure is, as a rule, all that
is necessary; or a pressure pad of cotton -wool alone
saturated with friar's balsam.

In case of a large vessel, vein, or artery :

If a vein : Bandage tightly on the side farthest away
from the heart and plug the wound with antiseptic cotton-
wool, or wool soaked in friar's balsam.

If an artery : Bandage tightly above the wound, that
is to say, between the wound and the heart. A bandage
or handkerchief tied lightly round the limb (in most cases
the wound is in one of the legs), and a small piece of stick
inserted between the skin and the bandage and twisted
up tight makes a good improvised tourniquet. Very often
more harm than good is done by amateurs searching for
blood-vessels to ligature. Much better in all cases to plug
the wound and bandage tightly, leaving the bandage intact
for at least twelve hours, or until the animal can be attended
to professionally.

Stitching. — As a general rule wounds should be left un-
stitched. They can be kept cleaner, and generally heal
up without leaving much of a mark.

Gaping wounds, however, and wounds having the skin
hanging loose, must be stitched. In these cases the stitches
must be sufficiently close and deep to ensure their not being
dragged out, and ought not to be kept in more than twenty-
four hours if there is much swelling or dragging at the edge
of the wound.

248 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

Sprains, Tendons, and Ligaments. — Symptoms : heat,
pain, and swelling, singly or in combination. Either put
on a pressure bandage, which requires careful adjustment,
or bathe the leg well with hot water for about half an hour,
then wring a bandage out of hot water and apply it to the
sprain fairly tightly, putting a dry bandage over it.

A pressure bandage is simply the following : A thick
long pad of cotton-wool is carefully moulded to the leg over
the seat of sprain, special care being taken that it is of uniform
thickness throughout ; then an ordinary bandage is put
on tightly over this, leaving the upper and lower ends of
the cotton -wool sticking out a couple of inches above
and below. This may sound simple, but it requires some
considerable care and expert manipulation to adjust a
" pressure bandage " effectively. I would recommend
pig-stickers to practice putting on " pressure bandages "
in their stables, as it often comes in useful when hot water
is not available.

Never be sure you are dealing with a sprain until the foot
has been thoroughly searched for a stake or shoeing prick.
Heat in the leg may be the result of injury to the foot.

Girth and Saddle Galls. — Cold water and " white
lotion," viz. sulphate of zinc and acetate of lead equal
quantities, 1 ounce, and water 1J pints.

Three or four high-heeled shoes might be taken into
camp. They would be useful for walking horses into camp
or station with badly sprained or cut tendon.

Drenching Horses. — Stand on the off-side, grasp the
lower jaw firmly with fingers and thumb of the left hand
in the interdental space and raise the head well up. Intro-
duce the drenching bottle into the angle of the mouth with
the other hand and administer the drench in fairly large
mouthfuls.

The above method sometimes fails with fractious
animals, and the best way is to place the loop of a long-
handled twitch in the interdental space of the upper jaw
behind the incisors and tushes (if there are any). Raise
the head well up and drench as before ; or make a loop at
the end of a medium-sized long rope, place loop in the

,.

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES

249

mouth as above and throw the other end over the branch
of a tree, which acts as a pulley to raise the head.

Never hold the tongue when drenching, but if the animal
does not swallow readily the tongue may be drawn out and
allowed to slip back quickly, which often induces him to
swallow.

A long -handled twitch should always be somewhere
handy in camp.

Destroying Horses. — A revolver is the most humane
method, and a service-revolver with ammunition should be
in every pig-sticking outfit and be carried on the line.

Destroying with the Knife. — A straight and true thrust
with a sharp knife into the joint between the first and
second bones of the neck from above downwards kills
instantaneously by severing the spinal cord, but this requires
some practice, and if bungled makes a nasty job. Exact
position is about three fingers' breadth behind the top of
the poll, and the head should be well flexed into the chest.

Horses can be destroyed with the spear in the same
manner.

I recommend neither the spear nor the knife if a revolver
is anywhere handy.

SUGGESTIONS FOR A PIG-STICKING VETERINARY CHEST
Medicines.

Carbonate of ammonia.
Acetate of ammonia.
Spiritus ammonia aromaticus.
Chloral hydrate.
Sulphate of zinc.
Acetate of lead.
Linseed oil.

Tincture of iodine.
Perchloride of mercury tab-
loids.

Friar's balsam.
Permanganate of potash.
Epsom salts.

Instruments and Appliances.

Suture needles.

Scissors.

Metal probe.

Artery forceps.

Enamelled douche with about

6 feet of rubber tubing.
Metal syringe.

Sharp " searcher."
2-ounce glass measure.
Drenching bottle (leather-
covered).
Thermometer.
Enema syringe.
Camel's-hair brush for iodine.

250 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Calico Bandages, 3 yards long
and 3 inches wide.

Tape.

Silk suture thread and cat-
gut.

Thin muslin ad lib.

Boracic cotton-wool.

Pound packets of ordinary

cotton-wool.
Medicated tow.

It is much better to have a really sufficient supply of
useful drugs and appliances than a superfluity of things
seldom or never used, and I consider the above ought to
meet most emergencies out pig-sticking.

HUMAN

With human beings the chief ailments you must
expect to meet are wounds, broken bones, fever,
cholera, plague, and snake-bite.

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. When
H and I were out after tiger, he was our doctor by
mutual consent. In one village they brought him
a baby with an enlarged stomach, such as nearly
all native children have. Perhaps it was excessive.
Anyway, H pronounced it to be suffering from
enlarged spleen, and gave it a fearsome dose : we
were very young. The child died.

I am keen on surgery. Unluckily, so are some
of my friends. One especially looks with longing
eyes on every case to exercise a gift which he regards
as sent from Heaven. Fitted as he is with all
implements and chloroform I am ever in terror lest,
in some temporary absence of mind after a fall, I
may wake to find myself sans tongue or limb from
his kindly ministrations. Still, gifted or not, if a
serious accident happens and there is no doctor out,
you must do something. Therefore the more you
know the better.

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 251

Wounds are probably due to some animal. I
am sure, as with horses, the treatment is per chloride
and iodine, not carbolic. I have been dressed with
pure carbolic on three separate occasions and have
never thought it did me good. I have had con-
siderable experience of tiger or panther wounds,
and have treated half a dozen men myself.

Once when I was mauled we were after pig, and
put up a big panther who jinked back sharp from
us to G who was coming up late. His horse would
not face the panther, nor would he make room for
me, and when I did get in we were all at a halt. I
speared the panther in the shoulder, but he was too
heavy to hold off. He sprang up and sprawled on
the pommel of my saddle and Crispin's wither, but
I drove him down with the spear still in him. He
again sprang up, and this time bit Crispin through
the windpipe. I was still doing my utmost to hold
the panther off, and keeping the spear well in him
forced him down again. He again sprang up, and
this time wrenched the spear away, biting my hand
first and then seizing me by the thigh and pulling
me off. So far I was getting the worst of the argu-
ment, but Captain Talbot of the 17th Lancers made
a not unwelcome appearance and came to my
rescue. The panther made a tremendous bound,
and, although Talbot was riding a big horse, seemed
to come down in a curve on him. I clearly remember
that Talbot looked as if he were spearing up at the
panther in the air. Talbot missed ; the panther
took the whole of his hand in his mouth and dragged
him off too. Others, however, came up, and the
panther got away, and to my great sorrow was never
retrieved. People were busy looking after us.
Talbot had a nasty hand, and I owe him a debt of

252 MODERN PIG-STICKING

gratitude. Captain Luxmoore, R.A.M.C. (now with
the 2nd Life Guards), was out that day, and he took
us in hand at once. I owe my life to his skill and
care, and was able, practically healed, to ride in the
Kadir Cup two months later.

Crispin obeyed hand and leg to the end, and,
though severely mauled himself, took no more
notice of the panther than if he had been a harmless
sheep. When I was pulled off he stayed close by.
You will not wonder that Crispin and I do not part
in this life.

In 1912 Norton and I beat for a tigress in the
Central Provinces. The beat was on the side of a
hill shaped like a hook ; we were in the bend of this
hook. Bear, hog, and sambhur broke to us, but
no tiger. We suddenly heard the tigress roaring
savagely, a great shouting of the beaters, and then
that ominous silence which is always hateful.
We got down at once and went to help. We found
the tigress had broken through the beat, and had
charged one of the men, who cut at the tigress with
his little jungle axe, and turned her, himself escaping
with some slight wounds. The tigress saw another
man half-way up a tree, sprang at him, seized him
by the thigh, dragged him down, and then left him.

This poor fellow was badly injured. He had a
slab of flesh a foot long and some inches thick
bitten off his thigh, hanging only by skin. There
were deep wounds in his groin, and his elbow and
shoulder were much torn. He was very plucky ;
he did not complain at all, nor do I think was he
in great pain. He asked often for cigarettes.
Our only chance was to get him into the nearest
hospital forty miles away. We dressed him, and
I marched with him at once, while Norton went

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INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 253

back, closed camp, dressed the other man, paid off
coolies, and loading himself with some food and
water for me outstripped his men and caught me
up. The man was splendid ; he knew he was
dying, and never said a word of himself : all his
thoughts were for his wife and children. Towards
the end his own people were afraid of him. We
kept him alive with stimulants, and got him some
twelve miles, but progress was slow, for the night
was dark. The beat had only begun at 4 P.M. :
the man died at midnight — a fine fellow who made
one think even higher of the native than ever.

Norton shot the tigress later.

My friend Captain Phillips, of my own battery,
shooting by himself some years ago in the Central
Provinces, hit a tigress who disappeared into a
thick patch of elephant grass studded with trees.
While reconnoitring from some high rocks, all the
natives, as so often happens, could make out the
tigress lying in the grass while the white man could
not. The latter had no intention of going into such
cover on foot ; but while wondering what was to
be done, two or three natives forced his hand by
going into the grass, climbing some trees, and
beckoning to show where the tigress lay.

A shot in her direction drew a growl but no
charge. Thinking she was too hard hit to be
dangerous, P. started to walk her up. On catching
sight of the tigress lying head towards him, he un-
wisely jumped to a tree for cover instead of taking
his shot at once. When he looked round it he
found the tigress, who had never made a sound,
on top of him. He had no chance of firing, was
picked up by the ankle in her stride and dragged
about thirty yards. He lost his rifle in his fall. The

254 MODERN PIG-STICKING

tigress lay down and began to chew both arms.
Phillips had no weapon, and tried at each bite to
get his arm free, keeping as far from the tigress as
possible. Meanwhile, a Bhil climbed out of his tree,
stalked to within ten yards, unknown to either
combatant, and shot the tigress with an arrow.
The tigress dropped the man to bite at the arrow.
P. got away, being struck at and missed by the
tigress, who, however, did not follow him, got his
rifle, and putting the muzzle against her side finished
her off, dead or alive.

The Bhil, who, it is believed, is now a landed
proprietor, was a splendid fellow. A complete
stranger, he undoubtedly saved Phillips' life.' None
of the other natives offered any help.

Having no one but beaters with him, P., who had
been mauled in all four limbs, had his machan
turned into a dhooly and started for camp. He
was met on his way by his bearer, a first-class man,
Hussain, with perchloride of mercury, a syringe,
and some milk and soda — a very welcome first
aid. All wounds were dressed, and as soon as the
camp (about six miles) was reached the bad foot
was put in a bucket, and the worse arm in a canvas
bath filled with perchloride of mercury, while the
tigress was being brought in and camp was struck.

Phillips tells me he thought he had certainly
lost one, and probably both, arms, that his chance
altogether looked poor, and that anyhow he might
as well have the skin ; so he stuck to his tiger.
He was carried in a dhooly nine miles that night,
reaching a dispensary, to which word had been sent,
at 2 A.M. Here he was at once put under chloro-
form by the native assistant surgeon and thoroughly
dressed. The operation was repeated next morning.

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INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 255

Phillips started at 3 P.M. for the railway thirty miles
distant, and reached it in time to catch the daily
train at 8 A.M. the following morning.

Phillips is now none the worse barring a few
stiff fingers, a stiff wrist and elbow. He considers
he owes an arm at any rate to the prompt applica-
tion of perchloride of mercury. This in no way
lessens his gratitude to his plucky rescuer, his
staunch bearer, the several medical officers to whose
skill he at any rate owes the use of his arm, and to
a brother officer who came from Meerut to fetch
him, and was kindness itself during a very trying
journey. The kindness and hospitality shown in
India to complete strangers when in trouble have
to be experienced to be realised.

A syringe with which to clean and sterilise
wounds is a most important item in any hunting
outfit. It is a sound thing to have a spare one in
case of a breakage. Shooting once in the Nizam's
dominions with Mr. (now Major) Fitzgerald, R.H.A.,
and Mr. Broome, R.F.A., I was fairly severely
bitten in the left shoulder and clawed in various
places by a panther. He charged in some blind
jungle as we were following him up. I had wounded
him in the first place, and it was a judgment on
myself for shooting jealously. When they came to
dress me they found our only syringe broken, and
owing to their depth they could not reach the
wounds. Fitzgerald made a first-class syringe with
a quill, a match wound with cotton forming the
piston. We were a hundred and fifty miles from
a railway. The wounds became inflamed, and
things did not look well. However, they cured me
by constant syringing and running water on me day
and night, and I was able to continue the shoot later.

256 MODERN PIG-STICKING

I have twice been bitten in the foot by pig. This
is due to my practice, which I advise you to copy,
of always putting my boot to take the hog's cuts if
I cannot hold him off, and he looks like ripping my
horse. I have saved my horse several times like
this. Your boots will be cut, possibly yourself, but
you save your horse. The first time I was bitten
the boar got through the sole of my boot and dented
the stirrup iron which had engaged his upper teeth.
Major (now Colonel) Browne, R.H.A., and others
were there. The second time the boar got half
my foot in his mouth, and I had to lever his mouth
open when he was dead. Both were good boar
with good tushes, but No. 2 had no lower tushes.
This was with Captain Salt, R.H.A., Mr. Macbrayne,
17th Lancers, and others.

Apart from these instances, it is, of course, a
well-established fact that boar, good boar too, do
sometimes bite instead of using their tushes. Why
this is so I cannot say. I have never heard of a
pig biting who had not been severely wounded.
It may be that in such cases they forget their real
weapon, and revert to more primitive methods,
just as one knows of men who have thrown away
sword or pistol, and used their clenched fists instead.
I suppose nature made teeth first, and then, later,
one grew into a tush.

The most curious instance of biting I know of
occurred last year. Major Gaussen, 3rd Skinner's
Horse, was beating an island in a big canal. The
main stream is some fifty yards wide ; the cut which
makes the island is only about ten yards wide.
Gaussen took post on the latter, and had his native
officer, Ressaidar Sobha Singh, guarding the main
stream with instructions to turn back any boar

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 257

that might try and break on that side. A whole
sounder broke across the stream regardless of Sobha
Singh, who was encouraged by the enraged Gaussen
with shouts of " Can't you stop them, Sobha Singh ? "
The Ressaidar, as he said afterwards, got fed up
with not being able to stop the hog, and seeing
a large boar swimming across determined to spear
him in the water. He did so as the boar was nearing
land. The Ressaidar says, and Gaussen from what
he saw believes, that the boar was swimming when
speared. He was, however, so strong in the water
that he forced his way to land against the spear
and threw his enemy on to the broad of his back.
Sobha Singh put out his hand to save himself.
The boar seized his arm at the wrist in his mouth
and carried him up the bank, shaking him. Gaussen
tells me that it was an extraordinary sight to see
this boar shaking the Ressaidar, who is a big,
powerful man, as a dog does a rat. Gaussen at
once crossed, but by that time the boar had dropped
his arm and got away. Sobha Singh was very
severely mauled ; his right arm was pulp. He was
wearing the Sikh arm bracelet, and this saved the
arm, which, but for it, in Gaussen's opinion, would
have been bitten clean off. Had the boar used his
tushes he must have killed the man at once. I
always suspect that in Kinloch's historic mauling a
number of the wounds were from bites.

One of " R." last year had a curious experience

in the way of wounds. He found a bull bison

asleep in the jungle, and thinking it dead walked

up to it to examine its horns. The indignant bull

woke up and promptly tossed Attoe over his head.

1 You will be pleased, sir, to learn," they wrote,

' that Gunner Attoe has been tossed by a bison."

258 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Gunner Attoe has a scar from shoulder to elbow as
a memento.

On the subject of spear wounds, how to inflict
and cure them, Captain Petit is the great authority.

Broken bones I have little to say about. They
take their usual course, and probably end up
crooked.

I have never been able to persuade any doctor
to take any interest in broken ribs. I have at
different times broken one, three and two ribs, and
the only people I have been able to get to take the
slightest concern in them were the Insurance
Companies. They, I admit, by their sympathetic
inquiries displayed quite an old-world courtesy in
the matter.

As regards fever you can take one step to pro-
tect yourself, and that is get inoculated. Enteric
inoculation is the greatest boon ever conferred
on English soldiers in India. Formerly where I
have had 5 per cent of my men ill, and dangerously
ill, I have now, at most, 1 or 2 per cent ill in
hospital from any cause whatever — most of the
casualties being, I am glad to think, due to accidents.

You may bump against plague or cholera at any
time. Inoculation will safeguard you against the
former.

Captain Forsyth, R.F.A., and I spent a wretched
night once in camp with a syce who had plague and
died next day. It was pelting with rain, and the
poor fellow would get up in his delirium and try to
walk about. His own people were not very keen
on handling him. We were inoculated when we
got back to civilization.

A kindred subject to inoculation is water-
drinking. Personally I regard it as the duty of a

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 259

soldier to drink from any moderately good water.
If you drink only good filtered water always you
will miss it on service and get enteric forthwith.
Last year on manoeuvres we told our fellows in
4 R." that as they had been inoculated a week
before they were quite safe ; failing beer they might
drink from any puddle. Our medical officer remon-
strated in anguish. But we pointed out to him
that either the inoculation was good or it was not.
If he did not believe in his own science we did.
We were right, but I misdoubt me our men drank
mostly beer.

A study of the mortality return due to animals
in India will show you the very heavy losses from
snake -bite. Undoubtedly many deaths due to
murder in its various forms are ascribed to this
cause, and escape detection. Still it is an ever-
present danger in India. Owing to the fact that
Europeans wear shoes and some covering to the
legs, while natives are bare-legged, nearly all the
casualties happen among the latter. No man can
like this ; it is deplorable, but unavoidable.

Considering the large number of snakes in India
it is curious how seldom they are met with. In
my own experience I have known of two fatal cases.
I have seen half a dozen cobras. We found a
Russels viper under our mess table in camp at
Vellichi near St. Thomas' Mount, Madras, and
once stalking a buck I found two Russels vipers in
the same bush as myself ; these and a Karait which
hid in the hood of my mother's motor have been
my total experience.

But the whole point about snakes is that if you
do meet them you may meet them bad. You will
have no time to think ; whatever you do has got to

260 MODERN PIG-STICKING

be done instantly. I am sure the best chance is
in tight ligatures, and the free use of the knife. I
saw Captain Petit bring a man round who was
unconscious and apparently dead. He will tell
you what to do.

I was out shooting last year with Norton. He
had started one day early after buffalo, while I was
having an easy morning in camp. A woman came
running from the village close by for help, crying
that her husband had been bitten by a snake. I
was on the spot within two or three minutes with
lancet, brandy, and antivenine, and found the
patient, a fine man of about thirty, seated crossed -
legged on the floor of his courtyard. A snake had
bitten him as he went out in the early morning.
He was rocking to and fro, but I, in my ignorance,
could see no bad signs. There was dried blood on
the second toe of his left foot ; I therefore cut the
toe freely, tied a tight ligature round the ankle, and
gave him a subcutaneous injection of antivenine
of the right strength in the flesh of his side. I felt
the man was saved. But in a few minutes he
complained of being dizzy, and was very sick ; he
had terrible gasping for breath. I gave him brandy,
but the dizziness increased. I tried to get him to
lie down on his bed, but he seemed to have a
horror of it. He kept saying, " Leave me on the
earth "• — a superstition, I suppose. I then tried to
give him an intravenous injection, but had great
trouble in finding a vein. As I searched he lay
down and was dead in my hands before I knew
it. I imagine that I had not been there a quarter
of an hour. How long before the man had been
bitten, or by what manner of snake, I do not know ;
the blood on his toe was clotted and hard, so I

.

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 261

suppose it might have been some little time. I
told the poor weeping women round that all was
over, but they would not believe me.

As I turned reluctantly and sadly away the
native medicine-man from a neighbouring hamlet
arrived, an old man, wizened, bowed, and worn.
They were simple jungle folks, these, and when
they besought him with cries, he said, " He is not
dead, but sleepeth " : not these words, but very
nearly. He uttered charms, he prayed, he stretched
himself by the body. The old story of Elijah and
the widow's son was being enacted before my eyes.
Alas, no miracle resulted, and it was with a very
sore heart I left the little sorrowing group in the
jungle village.

I know very little about scorpions. There are
two sorts, yellow and black. I have only been
stung by one once. Marching across a desolate
country near the Tungaboodra, in the Madras
Presidency, our tents were so infested with little
scorpions that we could not sleep in them. We
killed as many as forty striking camp one morning.

Scorpions always remind me of a friend in the
Forest Department who is now an authority on
them. He had a discussion as to the merits of the
black and yellow varieties. The argument seems to
have been one of those which arise less from the
clearness of the issue than from the impossibility
of agreeing with the individual. Anyhow, X
said little, returned, caught a black and a yellow
scorpion, and applied first the black and after a
suitable interval the yellow to his own finger.
Having at last first - hand and reliable evidence
he sought his adversary and began, " The black
scorpion is the worse." " Of course he is," broke in

262 MODERN PIG-STICKING

the other; "I always said he was." Poor X had
suffered in vain.

I have aired my ignorance enough. I will quote
to you Captain Petit :

Fever. — N.B. — Be careful to shake down the mercury
in the thermometer before taking a patient's temperature.
In the hot weather the temperature in the " dewai box "
is often over 110°. In case of difficulty in shaking down
mercury place the thermometer in cold water for a few
minutes and then shake down.

Simple Fever. — In ordinary cases of simple fever put
patient to bed and give him 10 grains of phenacetin or
aspirin ; this will reduce the temperature and cure the
headache ; it may be repeated in four hours. If the tongue
is dirty give him a tablespoonful of castor oil.

Malaria Fever. — Diagnosed by patient himself : same
sort of fever as he had on a previous occasion. There are
three distinct stages in this fever, a cold stage, then a hot
stage, and finally a sweating stage. Treatment. — Magnesium
sulphate, 2 or 3 drams dissolved in water, should be given
at once, and then 15 grains of quinine twice a day.

Heat -Stroke. — This is very rare. I only mention it
because it brooks of no delay in treatment. Diagnosis.—
Treat all cases with a temperature of 106° and over as
cases of heat-stroke. Treatment. — In one word, cold water
quickly. Place patient in shade, on a charpoy, or on the
ground, undress him, pour cold water all over him, fanning
him at the same time. If available, rub him with ice.
A patient often resists this treatment; hold him down if
necessary. Continue treatment till patient's temperature
is about 102°, not less than 101-6°. The temperature must
be taken in the rectum, as the skin and mouth temperatures
are not reliable. Then put patient to bed between blankets.
If the temperature goes up again over 106° repeat the
treatment. The worse the patient seems — he may be
unconscious, delirious, or in convulsions — the more urgently
is the treatment called for.

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 263

Snake-Bite. — Generally speaking, poisonous snakes bite
at night, and non-poisonous during the day. Unless one
is certain the snake is non-poisonous treat all cases of snake-
bite as poisonous. Treatment. — If a finger or a toe is bitten
cut round its base right down to the bone, and wash it
thoroughly in a 5 per cent solution of potassium perman-
ganate. If any other part of the body is bitten, at the
side of the bite pinch up the skin between the thumb and
forefinger, and cut it right out, about 2 inches square, and
wash thoroughly with a 5 per cent solution of potassium
permanganate. If quickly available, a razor is the best
instrument for this purpose, but if not any knife or even
a spear will do. This should be done within three minutes
of the bite. I once had a case of a native who was bitten
in the toe, and I cut round its base with an ordinary dinner
knife. I am fairly certain it was a poisonous snake, as he
had some symptoms of snake poisoning afterwards, but
we never caught the snake. After -Treatment. — Don't give
alcohol. Put patient to bed and keep him warm. In
cases of bite by cobra or Russels viper give at least 100 c.c.
of antivenine. Inject it hypodermically along the chest
wall in the arm-pit. The hypodermic syringe must be
sterilized before use. Best method of sterilizing is by
boiling. Antivenine may be repeated again in a few hours
if patient has any symptoms, e.g. weakness going on to
paralysis, weak and rapid pulse, weak and irregular
breathing.

Scorpion Sting. — Scorpion sting is not dangerous, but
infernally painful. Treatment. — Quarter grain of cocaine
injected at the side of the sting will cure the pain in a few
moments. A Christian scientist friend of mine told me
that ordinary lamp oil was the only cure for scorpion sting.

Broken Coltar-Bones. — Diagnosis. — Patient usually feels
the bone break, and the arm on that side is helpless, though
not always as helpless as one would imagine. A friend of
mine took a toss, broke his collar-bone, mounted again,
and went after the pig, but failed to pick it up. I had
taken a toss at the same time, dislocated my shoulder, and
was being attended to when my friend came back. He

264 MODERN PIG-STICKING

was full of sympathy with me till my shoulder was fixed
up. Then only did he tell us his collar-bone was broken.
I felt small. However, we were both filled up with brandy
(neat), and went home on an elephant. To return to
business. Take off patient's shirt, the arm on the sound
side to be taken out of sleeve first — look at the collar-bones
from the front, and compare the two ; the fracture can be
seen easily in the majority of cases. If in doubt run a
finger along each collar-bone, and the fracture will be felt.
Treatment. — Take two triangular bandages, spread them
out, place a piece of cotton wool about 10 inches long,
4 inches wide, and 1 inch in depth, near the apex of each
triangular bandage, and fold them up from apex to base.
Now place one on each shoulder, the centre of the bandage
over the collar-bone. Pass the front ends under each
arm-pit and tie securely at the back in the following
manner. The end of the bandage coming under left arm-
pit is tied to end over right shoulder, and the end coming
under right arm-pit to that over left shoulder. The
bandages must be pulled firmly in order to brace the
shoulder well back. The arm on the injured side is placed
in a sling, care being taken to support the elbow joint.

Wounds, Ordinary. — Wounds are classified as abrasions,
contused wounds, incised, lacerated, and punctured wounds.
The names explain each. Most wounds are caused by
panther, pig, or spear. Treatment in General. — Clean out
and paint wound and round its edges with tincture of
iodine, then apply a dressing and bandage.

Treatment for each class :

Abrasions. — Smear Friars' balsam over abrasions. It
hurts at first, but is very satisfactory in its results. Many
members of the M.T.C. can testify to its efficacy and to
the pain caused by it.

Contused, Incised, and Lacerated Wounds. — Swab out
with tincture of iodine. Apply some sterilized gauze (it is
immaterial whether the gauze is medicated or not provided
it is sterilized), cotton wool and bandage.

Punctured Wounds. — Syringe out with a solution of
potassium permanganate the colour of port wine, plug with

INCIDENTS AND REMEDIES 265

gauze (sterilized) and bandage. Panther wounds are
usually lacerated and punctured. Swab them out carefully
with pure carbolic acid as soon as possible. A little cotton
wool twisted on the end of a probe or stick and dipped in
the pure carbolic acid can usually be pushed down into the
depth of the punctured wounds ; but it is sometimes
necessary to enlarge the opening to accomplish this. Use
your own discretion in each case, remembering that all
panther wounds, even the smallest scratch, are most
dangerous, and too much care cannot be taken with them.
Plug all wounds with gauze and send the patient at once
to the nearest doctor.

Spear Wounds. — Rare. The only case I have seen was
a spear wound which I delivered myself with some skill in
a brother officer's (Collett, R.A.M.C.) back. He was sent
out by my Colonel to taste the delights of pig-sticking,
but I thought it would not do for more than two of us to
be keen on the sport, as it might curtail my chances of
getting leave for the meets. I believe he thought it was
rather a rough game. I was transferred from Meerut
shortly afterwards. Spear wounds should be treated as
punctured wounds.

Wounds caused by pig are usually clean, and are treated
as incised wounds.

For treatment of wounds in a pig send for the veterinary
officer.

Haemorrhage. — Two kinds — arterial and venous. In
arterial bleeding the blood escapes in spurts. It is bright
red in colour. N.B. — In venous bleeding the blood some-
times escapes in spurts when the patient has been taking
severe exercise just before the accident, and is hot and
excited. Treatment for all Ordinary Hcemorrhage. — Expose
the wound, plug it tightly with gauze and apply pressure.
If the bleeding is from a limb, raise it. Absolute rest is
essential. If the main artery of a limb is wounded a
tourniquet must be applied as follows : Tie a handkerchief
securely round the limb between the bleeding point and
the heart, leaving sufficient space for a stick to be admitted ;
pass a stick between the handkerchief and the limb, and

266 MODERN PIG-STICKING

carefully twist it until sufficiently tight to arrest the flow
of blood. A pad should be placed between the stick and
the limb to prevent the latter from being bruised, and the
end of the stick secured by a bandage or handkerchief
applied below and fastened round the limb.

Antiseptics. — Ordinary tincture of iodine is the most
reliable antiseptic for all ordinary wounds. The wounds
should be swabbed out with it and the edges painted with
it. Potassium permanganate is useful to syringe out
wounds ; the solution should be the same colour as port
wine. In snake-bite a 5 per cent solution or stronger should
be used. Pure carbolic acid is the best antiseptic for panther
wounds, it must be applied pure — not diluted. If in
crystals, heat it to form a solution.

Stitches. — Never stitch a scalp wound. In lacerated
wounds it may be necessary to put in one or two stitches
to bring the edges of the wound together, but this can
usually be done by suitable bandaging. Sometimes stitches
are necessary to stop bleeding in a place where pressure
cannot be applied, e.g. the tongue. If you have no special
sutures use ordinary cotton thread — well boiled before use.

CHAPTER XVI

SPEARS AND GEAR

THE youngest hog-hunter knows of the two spears :
the short Bengal spear used overhand for "jobbing"
and tKeHCong Bombay and Northern Indian one
used underhand. Each has its merits and its
demerits. For open country and for a pig gallop-
ing away the long spear has obvious advantages,
while the short spear is well adapted for thick cover
or for a charging pig.

I think it is harder to spear well with the
" jobbing " spear than with the underhand. It is
claimed that the " jobbing " spear is more deadly,
but this I will not grant for an instant. As long
as the cover does not divert it, nothing can be more
deadly than the long spear, whether a pig charges
or not. My own preference is all for the underhand
spear, though I have hunted a whole season with
the " jobbing " spear. I am not a particularly good
spear, but I have been surprised, when hunting
alone, at the ease with which, fairly often, I killed
pig with one spear underhand. When hunting with
others racing alongside, a good spear is much harder
to give ; time and opportunity are lacking.

Every man has his own fancies and his own
physical qualities. For this reason I can offer no
advice whatever as to what form of spear to use.

267

268 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Personally, I am using now spears about 5 feet
10 inches, and weighing only 2 Ibs. 12 oz. This
is because my wrists are weak after various falls
from motor -bicycles on hard roads. A spear of
about 6 feet in length can be used as either an
underhand spear or as a " jobbing " spear if
the cover is thick, or if the pig is a cur and
the country will not admit of riding across his
bows. In such cases you must get the pig right
under you and then strike with the whole of your
force ; the speed of the horse does not affect the
blow. Hunting this year with Mr. Burrard, R.F.A.,
in thick cover, we each of us drove our spears down
clean through a hog's back into the ground. He
was a big pig too.

When hunting in thick cover, if you have a
v second spear up, or are in company, and the pig
looks like being lost, I advocate driving your spear
hard into the pig's back. Hold him if you can,
but if you cannot, then let go ; the upright shaft
will prevent the pig being lost.

Whichever spear you use, except in the case
above, never use your strength or strike. A good
66 spear " is no sledge-hammer business, but one of
delicate rapier play. The merest touch through
spine, heart, or lung is sufficient.

If you hunt with the overhand spear, lean rather
forward and towards the pig. As he comes in, turn
your wrist, lower the point, and the thing is done
— that is, if you have the trick of it ; I have not.

With the underhand spear, bide your time, and
when the suitable moment arises make the rush
we have talked of elsewhere. The boar will come
in to you, and your spear will be driven through
him by the force of a galloping horse and a steady,

XVI

SPEARS AND GEAR 269

unmoving hand. If the boar will not come, you
must, after having given him the challenge, ride
alongside, and then spur across his bows ; he will
be a very craven if he fight not. Still there are
cowards in this world, and if your friend be one of
them you must gallop straight on him, using in all
likelihood the overhand spear.

Your spear must never be "in rest." You
cannot hold your spear arm too still ; pig are so
often missed because men will lunge. Do not lower
your spear till you mean to actually give the spear ;
the glint of it is bad. If a man ran alongside you
with a great spear flashing six inches off your left
ribs, would you turn to the left or right ? To
avoid this glint, and to avoid observation when
taking post at a cover, I had my spears blued.
But the blue wore off ; I did not find it a success.

A spear wants as careful handling as a gun. I
always rather resent the way some beginners
brandish a confident spear. S, R.H.A., was very
sick when his Major would not let him start his
career on a Government horse ; he therefore started
on a horse of his own, and killed him with his own
spear against a charging boar next day. I have had
a spear through my own helmet from a novice.

Watson, R.F.A., with a certain Tent Club this
year speared a hog which crossed him. Horse,
man, and spear were badly mixed .^JWatson's spear
went ^rQ3^h-"hj^^gJS!^ forearm. Enthusiastic
amaleuTS TSme up, and, in the melee, Watson's
mare received a spear through the neck, just missing
the jugular, another in the quarter 8 inches deep,
and a third in the hock. A valuable animal was
thus ruined for life. She is going now at a trot
after a year's nursing, but will hardly gallop again.

270 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Of the unfortunate perpetrator the less said the
better.

Your spear must be really sharp. On a slow
horse, when the pig is going if anything faster than
you are, a sharp spear and a strong blow are the
only resource. Get your spears sharpened profes-
sionally, and keep them sharp with a hone ; use
a file sparingly ; in this lies three-quarters of the
secret of giving a good spear. Messrs. Manton &
Co., Calcutta, sell a stone of carborendum in a
neat case which is probably the best thing.

I have spoken of him before in the Cavalry
Journal, but I must mention again my friend Z,
the Collector, who has his spears sharpened by the
same man who attends to the weapons of the dacoits
of his district. I like to picture to myself the little
queue of Collector and dacoits waiting with their
weapons in all amity outside the armourer's
shop.

For the purposes of sharpening, the steel of the
spear-heads should be as soft as possible ; that of
the English makers is generally too hard. Bodraj
is the chief Indian maker ; he always makes the
Bodraj head, a complicated affair with a strengthen-
ing rib, an excellent weapon, but difficult to sharpen.
Wilkinson makes a very nice triangular bayonet
blade. There are many forms of blades, Laurel,
Simson, and others. I do not believe in the very
wide blades, though such are favoured by many in
Bengal. Mr. Norton designed a pattern which
Manton made. It had a wide socket, no neck, and
a wide triangular head. It looks first-class, but is
not satisfactory in practice. The socket must be
wide enough to avoid much paring of the shaft.
Fix the shaft in with glue ; on no account drive a

SPEARS AND GEAR 271

pin through ; whip the shaft at the edge of the
mouth to avoid any projection.

Buy the, very best bamboos in the market. I
get my ow'nTrom Calcutta, and pay between three
and four rupees each for them. Keep your shafts
with a thin coating of oil on them when not used.

Knives. — If you are hunting alone always carry
a big knife on you. Baldock's pattern is the best
I know of. This has a hollow circular handle, split
in two longitudinally and serrated on the inside.
A ring slides over the outside. If you break your
spear you insert your broken shaft into the hollow
handle, slide the ring up till the two segments grip
tight, and you have then a fresh spear. It can of
course be used as an ordinary knife. The drawback
to this knife is its large handle ; a knife for use on
horseback should have a compact flat handle. Never
carry it in your belt. I used to, but one day, years
ago, I fell on it with my horse on top of me. I was
laid up for some weeks, and have now a dead patch
in my back a couple of inches square with no feeling.
The side of the leg as a place for carrying the
knife has the same objection, it may break your
leg. The back of the calf of the leg is probably ^
the best place. \ccrfeKj

Hunting Gear. — Rattles, bombs, and white
" stopping " cloth should always be taken on an |
expedition. For crops there is nothing so good as
a long rope with, if you like, one or two little bel
attached. This is passed over the top of the crops,
and two men at each end go along sawing it with
alternate pulls. No animal will stand it.

Horse Feeds. — As regards horse feeds many men
make a fetish of oats. They are hard to get, and
are, in my opinion, not good enough in quality to

272 MODERN PIG-STICKING

be worth their cost. The great advantage of giving
your horses the ordinary grain of the country is
that it is obtainable everywhere. If you feed on
oats and they run short, you have to alter your
horses' diet at a trying time.

Clothing. — Personal clothing is of course a matter
of one's own convenience. Being a heavy weight
I reduce my clothing to a minimum. I started a
kit some years ago which is now worn by a certain
number of people ; it consists of a green or khaki
shirt, sleeves cut off above the elbow, khaki breeches
and field-boots. It is cool and neat. I can never
understand why some of my friends disfigure a nice
horse by appearing in rags that would disgrace a
beggar. The horse gear should be beyond reproach,
and the clothes should be workmanlike and neat,
though as patched as you like.

You must protect your spine from the sun, for I
believe most sunstrokes occur in the back. I never
wear a back-pad, as I find it too hot, but I have
instead a strip of coloured cloth sewn on inside my
shirt down my spine ; any non-actinic colour will
do ; red or yellow is the best. I have found this
enough in the hottest weather.

A really good sound hat may save your life.
Take spare ones on a trip. The chin-strap must
be solid and should pass through the brim and go
over the top of the topi. You must wear the chin-
strap so tight under your chin that the topi cannot
possibly jerk off. I know of two cases where men
died from fractured skulls, and each time their pith
hats were picked up without a mark on them. They
had come off in the fall. One chin-strap was broken,
the other was intact. Webbing inside the hat takes
up some of the shock, and I always have a little

SPEARS AND GEAR 273

towel inside my hat for the same reason ; it is also
good after a swim. You have to remember the
ground in India is very hard.

The clothing of yourself, your horses, and your
syces must be inconspicuous. A man who brings
white sun-sheets for his horses, or syces wearing
white puggaries, on to the hunting-ground is a sinner,

I find really soft field-boots are the best footgear.
You may have to walk miles after a fall if your horse
has got away or is lame.

As you know, I recommend spurs always, of the
sharpest.

Saddling and Horse Kit. — A good horse deserves
decent kit. Buy Whippy or Sowter saddles ; they
always fetch almost their original value when sold
in India, and they last for ever. Have a saddle
and bridle for each horse ; your syces must have
them for exercise. There is nothing so annoying
as having to change one's saddle and gear on coming
back from a run and seeing a pig break away before
you are ready.

Running Martingales are very useful, but stand-
ing ones are in my opinion dangerous. B, of the
15th Hussars, who is a brilliant horseman and well
known at polo and after pig, generally used one,
and owed, I thought, many falls to them.

See to your girths personally, their condition,
and that they are tightened up. A brilliant civilian
and one of my greatest friends was killed cantering
into a game of polo. His syce had never fastened
his girths, and his saddle came round with him.

You must have gaiters for your horses from knee
to fetlock, made of leather lined with numnah and
coming down slightly over the fetlock on the out-
side. They will save a cut tendon from a hog.

T

274 MODERN PIG-STICKING

They must fasten by buckles. Any lacing or tying
arrangements are unsound in the jungle ; they
always become undone or broken by stakes and
branches.

With cactus fences you want knee-pads for your-
self and your horse in a modified form. A friend
of mine, F, after having had his horse badly damaged
by thorns, appeared with a magnificent pair of
gaiters on his animal. They laced all along the
tendon, with projections far up the forearm and down
the pasterns. The only defect in them was that
the horse could not bend his leg.

Tents. — For tents most people use the service
80-lb. pattern. If you are tall these tents ruffle
your hair and your temper. I never use one unless
on duty, and prefer either to bivouac, if on a light
scale, or else to camp in comfort in a Swiss Cottage
tent. My bivouac is a bed of Kadir grass with a
waterproof sheet above, pegged down on the windy
side and open and supported by sticks some 3 feet
high on the other side. The bath is in the open,
sometimes cool, air. A grass bed with a few
blankets is far warmer and more comfortable than
any spring-mattress. I read once that newspapers
were a perfect substitute for blankets. I arrived
at the Delhi Durbar of 1903 armed only with sheets
and copies of the Pioneer and Pink-Un. The
warmth was outside.

Tents can always be had of khaki, and I recom-
mend that colour. For new tents the price should
be about one rupee per Ib. weight.

In any big tent in cold weather a fireplace is a
necessity. I know no pattern as good as the
" Moradabad " stove, which burns firewood safely
in an open English grate.

SPEARS AND GEAR 275

Fans and Mosquito Nets. — In very hot weather
" jost " or electric fans are of value, while mosquito
curtains are a necessity, as much for flies in the day
as for mosquitoes at night.

Water. — It is sound to boil your water. In the
Meerut Tent Club Mr. Norton started a portable
soda-water machine. It has paid and saved the
heavy loss on many full soda-water bottles broken.
Good leather chaguls allow some water to evaporate,
and keep it beautifully cool in the hot weather.

Amusements. — For amusements, chess, patience,
study of a language, and a few books are all good
to fill in odd hours,

Across the cool blue evenings
Throughout the burning days.

Dickens, Shakespeare, and such outlast and out-
weigh many modern novels.

Syces. — As for your syces, who feed your horses,
pay them well, clothe them well, give them blankets,
trust them, have them happy. It will repay you
many times in the end. If a man is starving and
underpaid he must steal his horse's grain. If he is
cold when by himself in the jungle he will sleep in
his horse's rugs. Give your men batta and, if you
like, a small tip of a few annas for each first spear
or pig their horses get. They are wonderfully keen
and need little to make them take an interest in
the sport.

CHAPTER XVII

DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS

I WROTE to the Hon. Sec. of every Tent Club in
India asking for details as to his Hunt regarding—

(a) Average bag yearly.

(b) Biggest bag on record.

(c) Biggest pig killed.

(d) Date of founding of Club.

(e) Nature of country hunted.
(/) Any other item of interest.

I give their replies in full and thank them for
their courtesy.

AGRA TENT CLUB

Records previous to 1900 have unfortunately been lost.
An old former member, however, states that it was not
unusual for as many as 200 pig to be killed in a season. If
this is so, it is evident that much of the country must have
been brought under cultivation since that time. The
average bag since 1900 has been 60 ; 1911 was the best year,
when 129 x were killed in 55 days' hunting between February
1 and August 20. (The rains were very late that year and
did not break until that date.) The average number of
spears was slightly over four. The membership of the Club
fluctuates enormously from year to year, rendering its
existence rather precarious. The main jungles hunted by
the Club are on both banks of the Jumna below Agra, and

1 Of these, 86 fell to the spears of two intrepid gunners of the 14th
Battery, R.F.A.

276

CHAP xvn DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS 277

on the right bank up the river marching with the Muttra
T.C., the country being similar to the Kadir of the latter
Club. These meets are very conveniently situated for
residents in Agra ; the average distance being about eleven
miles, the farthest seventeen. Hunting generally takes
place on Wednesday afternoons and again on Saturdays and
Sundays. The main stronghold for pig is at Gadpura near
Tundla Junction on the E.I.R. It consists of nullahs
near the railway line, which invariably hold pig, and jhow
and grass jungles between the nullahs and the river. The
jhow is very thick and high in places, and killing pig no easy
matter, but if properly hunted pig cross over to Tenora on
the right bank ; and this usually forms the succeeding
meet, which is the most popular rendezvous of the Club,
the Kadir being more open than at Gadpura. The biggest
bag has been made at Tenora for many years now. The
Singhua Meet adjoins the Muttra country some twelve
miles from Agra on the Delhi road. The nullahs near the
road usually hold pig, and if they can be got to break across
the Canal escape afford a short and merry burst across the
grass jungle to the jhow on the river bank. Jhodpur jheel
has a very thick jungle of about twenty acres between the
inner of the four branches of the canal which fork at the
irrigation bungalow, and is always full of pig. It is difficult
to get them to break, the jungle itself being quite unride-
able ; but once away hunting is easy, except for the canals,
especially the main escape, which is wide and deep with
steep banks overgrown with thorn in which many boar
have made good their escape.

In former years there used to be good hunting during the
winter at Fattehpur Sikri, but of late this country has been
somewhat neglected owing to the distance, and pig have
been killed off by natives to a great extent ; proximity to
the border of the Bharatpur State assisting these male-
factors. The biggest boar killed of which record can be
found measured 33J inches.

278 MODERN PIG-STICKING

AHMEDNAGAR TENT CLUB

The date of the formation of the present Club was April
16, 1908. We can get hold of no records whatever for the
Club before that date, in spite of the fact that the old
" Nagar Hunt " was one of the best-known Clubs of India
some thirty or forty years ago.

Average Bag

1908 . . .17 meets, 6 pig killed.

1909 . . . 21 „ 23

1910 . . . 10 „ 5

1911 . . . 17 „ 19

1912 . . . 6 „ 3

1913 (up to date) 6 „ 2

So that in a good year the average is one boar per meet,
and in a bad year it is one boar per two meets. This year,
1913, is one of the worst on record ; but good sport can
hardly be expected, considering the drought that the Nagar
district has suffered from for the last two or three years.

The heading of " Biggest Bag " can be left severely
alone, as there are very few occasions on which we have
even killed two boar at one meet, and never more than that.

From glancing at the records of the Club, one very soon
realises that sport is not good in the Nagar district nowa-
days, and any one who comes out with the Tent Club
requires to exercise the utmost patience, or he will never
get his boar. It is due, I suppose, as I mentioned before,
to the constant famines which the district suffers from, and
which have had their effect on every other kind of sport.
When this Club restarted, in 1908 and 1909 the meets were
held fairly close to Ahmednagar, but now we have to go
much farther afield — by train, motor, or tonga, as the case
may be. Sirur, the old vacated Indian Cavalry station,
is a place where many good meets have been held, and more
boar have been killed there than in any other part of the
district.

The following are the rates of subscription, which were
fixed in 1909 and still hold good : —

xvn DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS 279

1. Ordinary members, Rs.5 monthly.

2. If there shall be any pig-sticking during any month, any

member attending one or more meets shall pay in lieu
of above —

(a) If an assistant Collector, Subaltern, or Captain,

Rs.10 monthly.

(b) Above these ranks, Rs.15 monthly.

Provided that members will continue to subscribe
regularly throughout the year, the subscriptions received
during non-hunting months will form a substantial fund
to meet the heavy expenses incurred at meets. The fund
bears all the expenses of each meet both for hunting and
catering, and members have only to transport themselves
and their kit and horses to and from the meet (and also
incidentally pay for their own drinks). There are no
records of the old hunt.

F. C. GREENSTREET, Hon. Sec.
Captain, 103 Mahrattas.

BAREILLY TENT CLUB

Founded in 1878. Biggest year's bag on record, 169
boar. A gfijKMES. Jto&u jj^ Bag (1913), 76. Biggest pig on
record, 39 inches. The country consists of baghs, jhow,
and grass. The bagh country predominates.

(1) The short spear is used underhand.

(2) The Bareilly pig are very fierce.

(3) The country has a lot of blind wells.

(4) Small, fast, handy horses are most useful, as pig

have to be caught between covers.

H. S. STEWART, Hon. Sec.
Captain, 17th Cavalry.

CAWNPORE TENT CLUB

Average bag, 60 boar. Record bag, 115; 102 in 1911;
103 in 1914.

280 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Depends chiefly on keenness of members and on the
Hon. Sec. hunting the country. Mr. J. C. Faunthorpe,
I.C.S., and the late Mr. Chapman did much for this
country. The large number of factory hands are a nuisance.
Pig are badly poached. Still head of pig can be worked up.
Sport is capable of great improvement and the bag should
be 100 boar yearly.

Biggest pig record, 34J inches. Records since 1869,
formed probably earlier. Nature of country — river country
and canals, grass, and jhow. The Ganges was run here till
1886. A silver spear for greatest number of first spears
used to be competed for annually.

DELHI TENT CLUB

Pig- sticking in Delhi has been earned on for nearly a
hundred years, but only since 1870 has a log been main-
tained. In their early' days a Club can be said to have
existed in so far that, whenever two or three were gathered
together who were keen on the sport, they elected a
secretary whose duties were to arrange for the meet and
write the log. Meets, however, were spasmodic, and often
for prolonged periods only one or two went out. But the
posting of a N.C. Regiment (18th Lancers) to Delhi gave a
great fillip to the sport. They codified the unwritten rules,
and started preserving the country and hunting methodic-
ally. The effect of their work was not immediately
apparent, for the bag of three seasons that followed their
arrival, namely, 1907-8, 1908-9, 1909-10, was 56 on the
average. The next seasons saw the fruits of their labours,
for the average bag rose from 56 to 257, reaching a
maximum in 1911-12, when 385 boar were bagged. For
1912-13 the limit was changed from a height (27 inches) to
a weight basis. The average weight of the pig killed rose
5 Ibs. ; the number of pig killed under 130 Ibs. fell from 45
to 10. Fears regarding the diminution of stock are now
being expressed and the limit will be again raised.

Experiments with wild pig in captivity have proved
that pig are often killed before completing their first year

DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS 281

and even sooner with a 27-inch limit. The height limit has
given place to a weight limit because it has more variable
factors. Both height and weight are recorded in the log,
one or the other since 1897, and both since 1907. The
record pig in height (35 J inches) weighed 200 Ibs. (in March),
and the record pig in weight (282 Ibs.) measured 32 inches
(in January).

The Club is run by an Hon. Sec., who is responsible to a
Committee (of which he is one) composed mostly of Senior
Officers.

J. L. SALE,
P.W.D.

FYZABAD TENT CLUB

All I know for the present is their best bag of recent
years was last year, when they got 60 pig between Easter
and the beginning of July, averaging 5 or 6 spears a meet,
and about the same number of regular spears for the season.
During the preceding four years the bag was each year
below 20, owing to the amount of high grass and the
difficulty of raising spears. They have been beginning
their season late, but this year we hope to have no difficulty
in beginning at Christmas. What the bag used to be in
old days, the history of the Tent Club, and the history and
record of the Grants, I cannot get hold of till I get at the
books, and get at the Collector's office. There are un-
doubtedly grants of land where the cover belongs to the
Tent Club and cannot be cut without their sanction. I
believe a lot of them are in the Rajah of Ajudiya's estate.
He is now a minor and in the hands of the Court of Wards,
and I ought to be able to get hold of them all right.

G. E. B. WATSON, Hon. Sec.
Lieutenant, R.F.A.

JHANSI TENT CLUB

The log in 1901 opens : " There is no Tent Club in
Jhansi because there is no pig-sticking. The ground is
quite unrideable and the pig unget-at-able. No pig has

282 MODERN PIG-STICKING CHAP.

been killed for quite ten years except by shooting." The
writer then proceeds to give accounts of his attempts to
catch pig with dogs and illegitimate appliances. The bag
for the thirteen years has been :

1901 . 2 pig.

1902 . 4 „

1903 . . 5 „

1904 . 3 „

1905 . . 12 „

1906 . . 18 „ 2 nilghai.

1907 . 4 „

1908 . . 13 „

1909 . . . 11 „

1910 . . 17 „ 1 nilghai, 1 panther.

1911 . . 25 „ 1 „

1912 . . . 34 „ 1 „

1913 . . . 33 „ (to date) 1 panther, 1 hyena.

The largest boar on record is 33 inches, not weighed.
This year we have killed several pig about 32 inches and
weighing about 320 Ibs. If there were better preservation
there is no doubt that sport would improve accordingly.
There have been too many gun licences. This year we
have killed the majority of our pig within five miles of
Cantonments. H.H. the Maharaja Scindia has kindly
given us permission to stick at Sooseera for the past three
seasons (a black-buck preserve). They got 17jn_two meets
in 1912 and we got 12 in two meeElTin T913. No grass this
ycfti Uiid we shall go On minting ; We1 killed one yesterday,
30 inches, 175 Ibs. Country is nearly all thorny bush jungle,
more or less stony, and a handy horse is an absolute
necessity. The pig takes a deal of catching, as the horse
cannot go through the bushes whilst the pig go underneath.
Falls are scarce, but one cannot afford to fall often on rock.
I got a grant of Rs.120 from Gymkhana this year to main-
tain a permanent shikari. Formerly country was hunted
by aid of private shikaries; unsatisfactory. Average
number of spears out, 4.

W. P. PAYNTER, Hon. Sec.
Captain, R.F.A.

DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS 283

MORADABAD TENT CLUB

The Moradabad Tent Club must be a very old affair,
dating back to the time when troops were stationed at
Moradabad. In the year 1899 Faunthorpe and Cassells
(I.C.S.) did a lot of pig-sticking, and presumably ran a
" Tent Club." Mr. Martin (I.P.) took over a log from
T. K. Johnston (I.C.S.) in 1908, and since then a log has
been regularly kept up. The bags were as follows :

1908 (Hon. Sec. T. K. Johnston, I.C.S.), 43 boar.

1909 (Hon. Sec. W. F. Martin, S.P.), 52 boar.

1910 (Hon. Sec. W. F. Martin, S.P.), 70 boar, 2 para stags

(17J in. and 18 J in.), and a leopard.

1911 (Hon. Sec. W. F. Martin, S.P.), 119 boar, 2 sow, 3 para,

2 nilghai bulls, 2 wild cat, and 2 porcupines.

1912 (Hon. Sec. A. G. Crawford, A.S.P.), 35 boar.

1913 (Hon. Sec. A. G. Crawford, A.S.P.), 43 boar and 2 para

(16 inches).

Average bag for last six years, 60 boar.

Biggest pig :

December 19, 1909, boar, 280 Ibs., 33f inches.
December 12, 1910, boar, 266 Ibs., 32| inches.
April 4, 1913, boar, 33 inches.
May 4, 1913, boar, 32J inches.

Details. — The leopard mauled the horses of Powell (I.P.)
and Rivett Carnac (I.P.)- A para speared by Rivett Carnac,
horns measured 18| inches. The nilghai were both blue
bulls, and were speared by Mr. Martin : the first after a run
of seven or eight miles, in which C. Collett also joined on
a pony ; the second after a run of about two miles. The
record bag at one meet was 42 boar in three and a half
days at Rainee, Moradabad district, near Bijnor border. A
few gunners from Roorkee joined in.

MUTTRA TENT CLUB

(1) The Muttra Tent Club was formed in 1882 (as now
constituted).

284 MODERN PIG-STICKING

(2) The average bag is about 210 boar.

(3) The largest pig, 37 inches — cf. Baden-Powell's book.

(4) The largest bag was obtained in 1910-11 by the
Royals — 400, excluding sows.

The average height of the pig in the district is 29 inches.
None below 27 inches allowed. Season : January to July-
Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The original Muttra
Cup (won annually outright) was run for the first time in
1885, when Major Lockhart's (R.H.A.) b.a.h. "Poacher"
won. The New Muttra Challenge Cup was run for the first
time in February 1913. This is for teams of three from
any Regiment or Tent Club in India. Run this year after
7 boar per team. The team killing the greatest number of
their pig wins. Only pig actually killed are allowed to
count.

R. WOOTTEN, Hon. Sec.
Lieutenant, 6th Inniskilling Dragoons.

THE POONA TENT CLUB

The Poona Hunt is, I believe, the oldest in India, and
was first instituted at the time of the British occupation
in the Peshwa's days before the Battle of Kirkee. The
best year of late was in 1903, when 34 pig were killed by
the Hunt ; but from then the bags vary very much, and
before the last two years there was a gap during which
hardly anybody went out at all. Last year we killed 20
pig, all but one over 30 inches ; and this year we only
hunted for about two months, on Sundays, and killed 10
pig. We only ride pig 28 inches and over here ; and the
average pig we kill is usually over 30 inches. We got one
34-inch pig this year and one the year before. A 36-inch
pig was killed by Captain Mowat of the 26th Cavalry about
four years ago, and that is the largest I can find mentioned
in the records.

We usually hunt here in the plains to the east of Poona.
The boundary of this Hunt on the east is the Bheema River,
as far up as its junction with the Ghod River near Sirur (the
old Native Cavalry station), above which point the Ghod

DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS 285

River is the boundary. The other side of the boundary
is hunted by the Ahmednagar Hunt.

The pig are usually found along the Bheema and Mula
Mutha rivers, and the meets vary in distance from twenty-
five to ten miles from here. The most usual centres are
Uruli and Yewat Stations on the G.I. P. Railway, and the
Ahmednagar main road. The pig usually live in thick
patches of prickly pear along the banks of the rivers and
are few and far between, and the sounders are very small,
in fact we very rarely see any sows. The pig take a
tremendous lot of shifting, as no regular beating is possible
and the shikaries have to cut up to them with swords. A
really thick cover may hold the pig all day without its
shifting. Occasionally we get pig out of long grass in a
babul jungle, but very rarely.

The shikaries and their myrmidons are usually members
of criminal tribes, Bhils or Ramoses, and are good trackers
and extraordinarily good in the prickly pear. The usual
system here is to have men out over night at the various
covers round, who come in to fixed points in the morning
with their reports.

The country is barren and intersected with nullahs with
a good many small patches of babul jungle, which the pig,
as a rule, run through. There is a lot of rocky and stony
going over low ridges with plough in the valleys, which is
very good going in the hot weather.

There are any amount of pig in the Ghats to the west of
Poona, and we sometimes have beats along the outlying
spurs ; but the jungle is thick and there are few places
where you can get them to break for any distance from the
hills in rideable country. There is usually a deep nullah
every forty yards or so running out of the hills to get across.

For the last two years I have run a week down the
Southern Mahratta Railway about thirty-nine miles S.E.
from here, along the Nira River and what they call the Nira
left bank canal. This is sugar-cane country, and can only
be hunted at the end of the hot weather when the sugar-
cane is mostly cut, except for small patches out of which
pig can be beaten ; but the country is very marshy in

286 MODERN PIG-STICKING

places and the going heavy. There are many pig at this
time of the year which have left the sugar-cane as it is
cut and live in prickly pear along the river. The two meets
we have had here have been quite successful for this part
of the country.

The Deccan pig nearly always puts up a good fight, and
the smaller pig often gives us a very good run owing to the
broken nature of the ground.

The Bheema Cup was run for in 1881-2-3-4-5 and again
in 1903, but there are not enough pig here nowadays to
run a decent meeting. When it was first introduced it
used to be run for at a place called Jiti on the Bheema near
Diksal Station on the G.I.P. Railway, but owing to famine
there are very few pig there now. I have been there once
and we only saw two pig in a week. The Brothers Symons
were the chief performers in the years it was held. Major
England, R.F.A., won it once.

E. V. SARSON, Hon. Sec.
Captain, R.F.A.

ROORKEE TENT CLUB

The Tent Club was formed at a meeting held on April
19, 1882, when Captain C. H. Bagot, R.E., became first
Hon. Sec., though there are sketches of hunting in 1877
in the records. The average bag, 1899-1911, is 25 pig and
1 leopard or para. The bags have fallen off in late years.

In the 1897-98 season it was 45 pig and 4 leopard, 1 para.
In the 1912—13 season it was 15 pig.

The country affords much opportunity for incident ;
" Fassan " is met with in most of the nullahs in the Solani-
Ganges, Kadir.

The " Beehives " of Lhakasar are famous for the number
of sportsmen who have succumbed there. The beehives
consist of a piece of ground which is cut up in every direc-
tion by narrow crooked paths, some 2 feet deep and 1 foot
wide, formed apparently by cattle, leaving small hillocks
of an equal height and varying in size from 1 to 3 or 4 feet

DETAILS OF TENT CLUBS 287

across. The outskirts of Pathri Forest, the goal of many
a hunted boar, afford a unique opportunity to the spear of
emulating Absalom.

The cover has much decreased in late years, as the jungle
is cleared and brought under cultivation ; and the process
goes on yearly, with the result shown by the diminishing
bags of boar. The largest boar killed was 33J inches,
200 Ibs.

We hold joint meets twice in a season with Moradabad
on the boundaries of the two countries. The best bag at
these was 42 pig in four days in 1911 ; the best pig at
these meetings being 33 J inches, 227 Ibs. We do not
include those pig in our totals.

The country consists of grass, jhow, forest, quicksand,
and swamp. It is a difficult country to kill pig in. There
used to be many leopards, but they have been greatly
reduced.

J. F. GRAY, Hon. Sec., Lt. R.E.

SAUGOR HOG-HUNTING
Notes by Major L. L. MAXWELL, 2nd Lancers.

The Country. — It is very open hunting : the pig running
from one hill to another ; or from hill to ravine-intersected
river-bed, and vice versa. Barring chance pig in crops,
the jungly hills and river - beds alone supply the covert.
Stretches of jhow and grass are practically unknown. The
going is very stony ; the nullahs deep, often blind, and often
only crossable under the able pilotage of the boar. Where
there are not stones and rock, there is black cotton soil.
This at its worst is unrideable ; but with only a strip here
and there you can chance it. If a man can catch pig over
the going at Saugor I think he could catch them anywhere.
To horses with good feet the rocky going seems to do no real
harm ; but a farrier must always be handy. Sometimes
a spear or two accompany the line when beating a hill-top ;
but otherwise there is no hunting with the line.

The Boar. — If our experience counts for anything, these
forest-bred boar are far and away more aggressive than

288 MODERN PIG-STICKING OHAP.ZVH

anything else we have met anywhere else. The real old
grey (almost white) monsters one sees when beating for
sambhur in the remote jungles never come to the spear ;
but plenty quite good enough live on the forest fringes
and are killed. Nothing great in size, but they make up
for it in hastiness.

Hunting Season. — This is all the year, except during the
heaviest rains — and except (for stray khabar of marked
pig) in September and October. The records only begin
January 1909.

YEARLY BAGS

1908-9.1 Pig, 6 ; average height, 29J ; average weight, 165 J Ibs.
1909-10. „ 12 „ „ 28i 99 ?j i58l „

1910-11. „ 23 „ „ 291 99 99 183 „

1911-12. „ 25 „ „ 29 „ „ 178} „

1912-13. „ 19 „ „ 30J 5> ?> 178 „

1913-14. „ 22 „ ,; 80f „ „ 177 „

Heaviest boar, 268 Ibs. (height, 32£).

Tallest boar, 35 inches (weight, 266 Ibs.).

1 lynx was killed, Christinas 1912.

1 Langur ape ridden and killed, 1911.

1 Sambhur stag speared, February 1914. Horns, 35£ inches.

Several hyena are killed yearly. Panther are in most
beats. Not unfrequently they are seen on the hill during
beats. One was killed when we were here about 1888.
Saugor pig are very carefully measured with an upright
against the sole and another against the wither, and
measurements are taken from heel to wither.

Note by Major Wardrop. — I make no mention here of
Tent Clubs that have been already dealt with in this book.

1 Half a season only.

CHAPTER XVIII

GOOD-BYE

AND now, friend, it is time that I bid you " Good-
bye." I trust that you will pardon the various
imperfections of this book and realize that the
shadowy ego of the writer is but a means for trying
to tell you of this great Indian sport ; a medium
such as a painter might use when trying to paint
his picture, all in vain though it be.

I can only hope your view of the book will be
that of my old friend F., he of the tiger. " Well,
well," said he, slapping me on the shoulder, "poor
old W., so you are writing a book. Never mind,
I'll buy a copy."

For the rest, if you have not " heard the East
a-calling," if you have not seen the grey boar die,
my one hope is that anything my friends and I have
written may urge you to visit the great plains and
rocky hills of our wild Indian jungles and partake
of their wilder sports. You will never regret it ;
days spent with horse and spear live on in the
memory, they are not measured by their fleeting
|j hours.

In after years as you sit, perchance, in some less
\ happy spot smoking your pipe before the fire, the
i old scenes shall rise again before you. You shall,
f( it may be, take once more the old grey road and

289 U

290 MODERN PIG-STICKING

cross the river in the dawn. You shall hear the
piteous whine of the beggars and the terrible cry
of the lepers at the tollgate, " In the name of God,
the Merciful and Pure, give of your charity to us
who are sore afflicted." You shall see the women
washing in their red saris, the horses shying on the
creaking boats, and the quiet solemn stream with
its long streaks of oily water which breaks into
foaming ripples as it meets the anchor ropes. You
shall face the rising sun, while before you stretches
the dead white sand with purple line of grass and
blacker sky above. You shall revel in the hunting
to your heart's delight ; you shall recall the glorious
all-pervading sun, chief feature of it all. Surely
the poet was right when he wrote :

I love the merry sunlight, for it makes the heart so gay.

You shall, in fancy, return once more, when
evening shadows fall, past streams of carts laden
with sleepy contented people drawn by still more
peaceful mild-eyed oxen. The raiyet at his plough,
the well man singing to his cattle as they labour at
the well, " Ram, Ram, my children, turn again, for
the ' chursa ' now is full,"-— they shall live in your
thoughts again.

Whether you recall scenes such as these, or those
of other hunts and far distant countries, there
is no detail of them all that shall escape your
memory's backward glance :

He that has been in such a scene,

That scene shall ne'er forget :
In silent mood, in solitude

Its dreams shall haunt him yet.

E. F. Norton.

IT MAY BE—"

To face page 291

APPENDIX A

WINNERS OF CUPS NOW RUN FOR

WINNERS OF THE KADIR CUP

1869.
1870.
1871.
1872.
1873.
1874.

1875.
1876.

1877.
1878.

1879.
1880.
1881.

1882.
1883.
1884.

1885.

1886.
1887.

1888.
1889.

Meerut Tent Club Cup
Meerut Tent Club Cup
Forbes' Kadir Cup
Kadir Cup Race .
Forbes' Kadir Cup
The Kadir Cup

Not run for. Afghan War.
Not run for. Afghan War.

Mr. Bebby's g.a.h. " The Doctor."
Mr. Stewart's br.a.h. " Tippoo."
Captain Phillip's g.a.h. " Jurham."
Captain Studdy's g.a.h. " Cato."
Captain Studdy's g.a.h. " Cato."
Captain White's g.a.h. " Mo " and

g.a.h. " Hindoo." Both horses

left in final.

Captain Jeffrey's b.a.h. " Bobby."
Captain White's b.a.h. "Joe"

(Mr. Preston).
Captain St. Quintin's g.a.h.

" Vivian."
Mr. Grant's (4th Hussars) b.w.m.

" Kearney " (CaptainHutchins).

The Kadir Cup

Hon G. B. Bryan's (10th Hussars)

g.a.h. " Sutlej."
Hon. G. B. Bryan's (10th Hussars)

" Greydawn " (Mr. Bishop).
Mr. Baden-Powell (13th Hussars),

" Patience " (Mr. M'Dougall).
Mr. Keir's (R.H.A.) b.w.g. " John

of Gaunt " (Mr. Robinson,

R.H.A.).
Maharana Dholpur's ch.a.h. " Red

Prince."

Mr. Ree's ch.cb.h. " Jack."
Major Clowe's (8th Hussars). Two

horses in the final.
Major Mahon's (8th Hussars).

Two horses in the final.
Captain Le Gallais's (8th Hussars)

b.w.m. " Philippine."
291

292

1890. The Kadir Cup

1891.

1892.

1893.

1894.

1895.

1896.

1897.

1898.

1899.

1900.

1901.

1902.

1903.

1 QO4.

J-iW*. ,, ,,

1905.
1906.

1907.

1908.
1909.

1910.
1911.

1912.
1913.
1914.

MODERN PIG-STICKING

Captain Harwell's (R.A.) b.cb.h.

44 Lacy's Knott."
Mr. Oakes' (5th Lancers) br.w.g.

44 Jinks."
Mr. West's (5th Lancers) br.w.g.

44 Dancing Master."
Captain Blane's (R.H.A.) ch.a.h.

44 Scottie."
Captain Fanshawe's (O.L.I.) b.a.p.

44 Bydand."
General Gurdut Singh's b.w.m

44 Sylvia."

Mr. Edward's (C.S.) b.w.g. " Out-
cast."
Mr. Gillman's (R.H.A.) br.w.g

44 Huntsman."
Mr. Dunbar's (5th Dragoons)

br.w.m. 44 Lola."
Mr. Allhusen's (9th Lancers) b.w.g.

44 Santoza."
Mr. Clementson's b.w.g. 44 Forest

King."
Mr. Warre-Cornish's (17th B.L.)

44 Hermia."
Colonel Seeva Singh's g.a.h.

44 Governor."
Captain Cameron's (C.I.H.) b.a.g.

44 Mousquetaire."
Mr. Livingstone Learmonth's (15th

Hussars) ch.au.g. 44 Eldorado."
Mr.R.GrenfelPs b.w.m.44Barmaid."
Mr. Ritchie's (15th Hussars)

" Bobs."
Major Vaughan's (10th Hussars)

44 Vedette."

Lord Kensington, 44 Twilight."
Mr. Vernon's (60th Rifles) 44 Fire-

plane."

Mr. Paynter's (R.H.A.) 44 Hawk."
Mr. Bromilow's (14th Lancers)

44 Battleaxe."
Captain Gat acre's (llth Lancers)

44 Karim."
Mr. Sherston's (llth Lancers)

44 Magistrate."
Captain H. E. Medlicott, 3rd

Skinner's Horse.

APPENDIX 293

WINNERS OF THE GUZERAT CUP

1885. Mr. N. S. Symons, g.a.h. " Woodpigeon." (After dead

heat with Mr. Littleton.)

1886. Captain M. B. Salmon, g.a.h. " Shahbaz."

1887. Mr. H. G. Bulkley, b.a.g. " Templer."

1888. Mr. J. L. Symons (Mr. " Littleton "), w.g. " Albatross."
1899. Mr. Birdwood, w.m. " Kate Coventry."

1890. Captain H. Capel-Cure, 61st Regiment, " Placid Joe."

1891. Maharana of Dholpur, w. " Donegal."

1892. Maharana of Dholpur (Arab), " Sarang " ; and Maharaja of

Patiala, " PhyUis." Divided.

1893. Maharana of Dholpur, " Sarang." (Burder disqualified

for spearing on near side.)

1894. Captain Beresford, ch.w.g. " Flying Dutchman."

1895. Mr. F. L. Wallace, " Phoenix."

1896. Colonel E. Locke Elliot.

1897. Major Mills, Dublin Fusiliers, Eng. T.B.M. " Clarissa."

1898. Captain Goring- Jones, D.L.I., b.w.g. " Do weel."

1899. Mr. A. Hewlett, C.I.H., b.w.g. " Larrikin."

1900. No meet.

1901. Meet abandoned.

1902. No meet.

1903. No meet.

1904. Captain J. H. M. Davie, Royal Scots, " B.P."

1905. Major Edwards, 33rd Light Cavalry, ch.w.m. " Mermaid."

1906. Captain Sir J. Milbamke, 10th R. Hussars, b.w.g. " Cock-

chafer."

1907. Mr. Medlicott, R.F.A., g.s/a.g. " Result II."

1908. Mr. D. Graham, on br.w.g. " Sparten."

1909. Captain H. Medlicott, 3rd Skinner's Horse, " Result II."

1910. Lieut.-Col. Forbes, b.w.m. " Polly."

1911. Nowab of Radhanpur, bl.w.m. "Nagan."

1912. No meet.

1913. Raja of Baria, b.w.m. " Express."

1914. Mr. G. C. G. Gray, 3rd Skinner's Horse, " Sher Dil."

WINNERS OF THE SALMON CUP

1885. Dr. Tully, " Barabbas."

1886. Dr. Tully, " C/B. ". (Ridden by Mr. Hancock

owing to accident to Dr. Tully.)

1887. Dr. Tully.

1888. Mr. Askwith, R.A., C/B. " Redskin."

1889. Captain Phayre, C/B. " Aladdin."

1890. Mr. Birdwood, " Old Boots." (Ridden by Mr. N. S.

Symons, owing to accident to Mr. Birdwood.)

1891. Captain Capel-Cure, 61st Regiment, Arab " Sunset."

294 MODERN PIG-STICKING

1892. Mr. Waddington, b.a.p. " Laddie."

1893. Maharana of Dholpur, " Madon."

1894. Mr. Littleton, g.a. " Moonstone."

1895. Mr. Gray, C/B. " Aladdin."

1896. Mr. Stack, " Skipjack."

1897. Mr. Gray, " Geordie."

1898. Mr. Fischer, waler " Hawkmoth."

1899. Raja Bahadur of Orcha, g.a.p. " Tarpon."

1900. No meet.

1901. Meet abandoned.

1902. No meet.

1903. No meet.

1904. Mr. St. J. Graham on " Jungli."

1905. Lieut.-Col. Forbes, 109th Infantry, C/B.g. " Sapphire."

1906. Captain Barley, 109th Infantry, br.C/B.g. " Czar."

1907. K. S. Ranjit Singh of Baria, ch.w.m. " Gayley."

1908. Captain F. Rose, 10th R. Hussars, w.m. " Carmen."

1909. Lieut.-Col. Forbes, gr.a.h. " Multiform."

1910. Mr. W. L. Graham, " Blotting Kagas."

1911. Mr. Lang (Pol. Dept.), " Bahadur."

1912. No meet.

1913. Lieut.-Col. Forbes, " Nobleman."

1914. Mr. G. C. G. Gray, "Joey."

WINNERS OF THE NAGPUR HUNT CUP

Presented to the Nagpur Hunt in 1893 by the members. The
winners of the greatest number of spears in each season to be
engraved hereon. Previous winners from the origin of the Hunt in
1863 are also recorded. No of

spears.

January 1, 1863, to May 31, 1863. Lieutenant Herbert, R.H.A. 7
1863-1864. Lieutenant Bloomfield, 1st Royal Scots . .11

1864-1865. Lieutenant Keith . . . . .8

1865-1866. Surgeon Shaw, R.A. . . 11

-i«Aft_i«A7 /Lieutenant Cowie, R.A. I
*67' \Lieutenant Thompson )

1867-1868. Lieutenant West, R.H.A. . . 6

1869. W. S. Herbert, R.H.A. . . . .14

1870 fW. S. Herbert, R.H.A. 1

\ J. Moray-Brown, 79th Highlanders/

1871. F. W. Going, R.H.A. . .22

1872. H. A. Richards, 44th Regiment . . .8
JH- A' Richards, 44th Regiment)

\F. C. Anderson, B.C.S. /

1874-1875. F. C. Anderson, B.C.S. . .9

1875-1876. Surgeon Rogers, B.M.S. . . . . 4

1876-1877. Surgeon Rogers, B.M.S. . 8

1877-1878. Colonel Chadwick, 33rd Regiment . . .4

APPENDIX 295

NO. Of
Spears.
1878-1879. A. E. Curran, 33rd Regiment . . .4

1879-1880. C. Poynder, 5th N.I. ..... 9

1880-1881. H. R. Hickman, R.A. . .18

1882-1883. H. R. Lloyd, S. Light Infantry . . .7

1883-1884. Major D. T. Persse, S. Light Infantry . . 5

1884-1885. G. Stevens, 4th Madras Light Cavalry . 4

1885-1886. H. A. D. Watken . . . . .2

1886-1887. G. N. Going, 4th Madras Cavalry . . .3
1887-1888. Lieutenant R. M. O. Glynn, Middlesex Regiment . 5

1888-1889. Lieutenant H. J. H. Winwood, R.A. . . 7

1889-1890. Captain R. D. Burlton, 2nd Madras Lancers . 9

1890-1891. Captain R. D. Burlton, 2nd Madras Lancers . 9

1891-1892. J. M. Goode, Telegraph Department . . 8

1892-1893. J. M. Goode, Telegraph Department . . 8

1893-1894. Captain W. H. Hunter, Seaforth Highlanders . 4

1894-1895. Captain W. H. Hunter, Seaforth Highlanders . 7

1895-1896. Surgeon Captain N. Faichnie, A.M.S. . . 4

1896-1897. C. R. Cleveland, I.C.S. . . . 8

1897-1898. C. R. Cleveland, I.C.S. . . 12

1898-1899. Claude Ismay, B.N.R 14

1899-1900. Lieutenant S. H. P. Barker, " The Buffs " . .7

1900-1901. { T * T " ' ' V»" " \ 5

I J. L. Fagan, C.P. Police/

1901-1902. J. L. Fagan, C.P. Police . 6

1902-1903. No contest.

1903-1904. W. Bayntun Starky, P.W.D. . - . .16

Police

.C. F. Lumsden, The Royal Scots,
1905-1906. Captain M. L. Goldie, R.F.A. . . 10

1906-1907. Captain W. Gibson, D.L.I. . . . .26

1907-1908. Lieutenant-Colonel F. W. Caton Jones, R.A.M.C. . 19
1908-1909. Lieutenant H. A. Vernon, K.R.R.C. . . 14

/Lieutenant H. C. Chaytor, 26th Light Cavalry^
\C. I. Irwin, I.C.S. / '

1910-1911. H. O. Whymper 7

1911-1912. Lieutenant H. C. Chaytor, 26th Light Cavalry . 11
1912-1913. Lieutenant E. R. Ludlow-Hewitt, R.I.R. . . 18
1913-1914. A. B. Knowles, I.C.S

THE MUTTRA CUP

r Lieutenant E. F. Norton.

1913. R., R.H.A. . . j Captain E. H. Phillips, D.S.O.

I Lieutenant C. J. Clibborn.
c Captain H. E. Medlicott.

1914. 3rd Skinner's Horse . \ Captain R. W. Manderson.

I Lieutenant G. C. G. Gray.

1904 190*5 ' ' > '- I 10

' ) *

APPENDIX B
INDIAN PIG-STICKING SONGS

NOTE. — Four of the great classical songs are included.

THE BOAR

Tune — " My love is like the red, red rose."

The boar, the mighty boar's my theme,

Whate'er the wise may say,
My morning thought, my midnight dream,

My hope throughout the day.
Youth's daring spirit, manhood's fire,

Firm hand and eagle eye,
Must they acquire who do aspire
To see the grey boar die.

Then pledge the boar, the mighty boar,

Fill high the cup with me ;
Here's a health to all who fear no fall,
And the next grey boar we see !

ii

We envy not the rich their state,

Nor kings their crowned career,
For the saddle is our throne of health,

Our sceptre is the spear ;
We rival too the warrior's pride,

Dress stained with purple gore,
For our field of fame is the jungle-side,

Our foe — the jungle boar.

Then pledge the boar, etc.
296

APPENDIX

297

in

When age hath weakened manhood's powers,

And every nerve unbraced,
Those scenes of joy will still be ours,

On mem'ry's tablets traced,
When with the friends whom death hath spared,

When youth's career is run,
We'll talk of the chases we have shared,

And the tushes we have won.
Then pledge the boar, etc.

S. Y. S.

OVER THE VALLEY, OVER THE LEVEL

D.C.

- . ___ _ __

rgiz^-L^,^-^,^ JI-J~N
g — ^4.=-^-^ g - f^ig^li

* ^ U U ^ I ^

fr - I
JlUI J

^

Over the valley, over the level,

Through the ddk jungle, ride like the devil.

Hark ! forard a boar, away we go !

Sit down in your saddle and ride Tally Ho.

He's a true-bred 'un, none of your jinking,
Straight across country, no time for thinking ;
There's a nullah in front, but a boar as well,
So hang the nullah, and ride like Hell.
Chorus — Over the valley, etc.

The ditches and banks are wide and steep,
The earth is rotten, the water deep ;
The boldest horseman holds his breath,
But he'll have to cross it to see the death.
Chorus — Over the valley, etc.

298 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Over we go, the game's nearly done,
The field are gaining, the race nearly won ;
An arm upraised, then a dash, a cheer,
And the boar has felt the deadly spear.
Chorus — Over the valley, etc.

See how he flashes his fiery eye,

Ready to cut, to thrust, to die.

A boar that will charge like the Light Brigade

Is the bravest brute God ever made.

Chorus — Over the valley, etc.

Swiftly he rushes, panting and blowing,
Swiftly the life-blood torrents are flowing ;
And game to the last, with defiant eye,
In silent courage he faces to die.

Chorus — Over the valley, etc.

A. W. CRUICKSHANK, I.C.S.

HURRAH FOR THE SPUR AND THE SPEAR

Tune—" Hurrah for the Bonnets o' Blue."

Here's a bumper to spur and to spear,

A bumper to challenge a song,
A bumper to those who, where'er the boar goes,

Are spearing and spurring along.
'Tis good to be steady and cool,

'Tis better to dare than to doubt,
'Tis best to be clear of the funks in the rear,
And be always thrown in than out.

Then hurrah for the spur and the spear,

Hurrah for the zest of my song,
Hurrah for all those who, where'er the boar goes,
Are spearing and spurring along.

ii

Here's a cheer for the charms of the chase,

A cheer for the glorious burst ;
And who wouldn't cheer when the bold win the " spear,"

For the fearless are always the first.

Th
Th

APPENDIX 299

There are some ever in the right place,
There are some who must toddle and trot,

There are many who love every danger to face,
And many I swear who do not.

Then hurrah for the spur and the spear, etc.

There's a joy when the boar makes his rush,

There's a joy when the monster first bleeds,
There's a joy though to-day has now glided away,

For to-morrow shall double our deeds.
Here's a sigh for the sportsman afar,

A welcome to those who are here,
A health to the whole who in spirit and soul

Are friends of the spur and the spear.

Then hurrah for the spur and the spear, etc.

S. Y. S.

Oriental Sporting Magazine
August 1830.

SADDLE, SPUR, AND SPEAR

Air — " My harp and lute."

Let others boast and proudly toast

The light of ladies' eyes,
And swear the rose less perfume throws

Than beauty's fragrant sighs ;
That ripe-red lips in hue eclipse

The ruby's radiant gem ;
That woman's far the brightest star

In Nature's diadem :
But since for me no charms I see

In all the sex can show,
And smile and tear alike appear

Unheeded flash or flow —
I'll change my theme and fondly dream,

True sportsmen pledge me here,
And fill my cup and drain it up

To Gallant horse and spear.

300 MODERN PIG-STICKING

II

When dayspring's light first crowns each height,

And tips the diamond dew,
We quick bestride our steeds of pride

To scour the jungle through ;
With loosened rein the jovial train

Slow to the cover throng
And wouldn't stir without a spur

To coax their nags along.
We high uprear the glittering spear,

Far flashing to the sky,
With hope elate anticipate

To see the wild boar die.
To such bright hopes e'en misanthropes

Would pledge a bumper here,
And fill their cup and drain it up

To Saddle, Spur, and Spear.

in

'Twere vain to tell the magic spell

That fires the hunter's eye
When shout and roar have roused the boar

And stirred him from his sty :
His rage at first, his glorious burst,

Dark dashing through the flood,
His bristly might, his meteor flight,

And his death of foam and blood ;
He that hath been in such a scene

That scene can ne'er forget :
In sorrow's mood, in solitude,

Its dream will haunt him yet ;
'Mid festal times, in other climes,

He'll think of days so dear,
And fill his cup and drain it up

To Gallant horse and Spear.

IV

But, while I sing, Time's rapid wing

This lesson seems to teach :
The joy and bliss of sport like this

Are still within our reach.

APPENDIX 301

Then let's away at break of day,

Ride vale and hill-top o'er,
Scale mountains' side or stem the tide

To spear the flying boar ;
And Time may then bring eve again,

The while, at Pleasure's shrine,
To check his flight for one gay night

We'll wet his wing with wine ;
And ere we part pledge hand and heart

Once more to rally here,
To fill the cup and drain it up

To Saddle, Spur, and Spear.

S. Y. S.

RECOLLECTIONS

The pictures of horses and faces,

The tiger-skins spread in the hall,
The " Asians " reports of old races,

The tushes and horns on the wall —
What dreams of dead days do they waken !

What visions of past youth recall !
But what use to repine ? I have taken

My leave of it all.

What now can I turn to for pastime ?

I know, in mean streets as I walk,
That I've looked on it all for the last time :

The dripping laborious stalk,
The panther kill — claw-marked and bitten,

The pug marks fresh oozing in mud,
The trail of the tiger lung-smitten

All frothy with blood.

The bells of the cattle returning

At evening, the cry of the shepherd,
The smoke of the undergrowth burning,

The wood-sawing call of the leopard.
The beat, when the elephants crashing

Grows steadily nearer and louder,
The scent of the trees they are smashing,

The lurch of the howdah.

302 MODERN PIG-STICKING

The rustling river- side jungles,

The glimpses of pig as they pass
Through the coolies' thin line when they bungle

The beat in the jhow and the grass.
The sight of the boar as he pushes

From cover, the rush of the deer,
And fast flashing over the bushes

The blade of the spear.

Do they still ride as boldly as we did

Long ago when we hunted the boar ?
High jhow and blind nullahs unheeded,

Unheeded the man " on the floor."
When our pay was in horse-flesh invested,

When no one went straighter or harder,
When the Horse Gunners hotly contested

First spears in the Kadir.

The rifles lie idle in cases,

The spear-heads are eaten with rust.
Old age leaves indelible traces.

Life now is but ashes and dust.
I'm weary of much recollection,

Youth, nerve, and digestion have fled,
But cheer up, there's a saving reflection,

Some day I'll be dead.

J. C. FAUNTHORPE, I.C.S.

THE VOICES OF THE KADIR

The voices of the Kadir that sound so sweet and strong,
How vivid are the pictures, how thick the visions throng.

Who shall describe the beauty, the magic of them all

In silent hours when memory's powers those happy days
recall ?

Once more our muscles tauten, once more youth has its sway,
Once more with tingling pulses we tread the well-known way :

On past the swirling river with splash of falling bank

And clang of grey geese over that fly past rank by rank ;

By yellow waving grasses, league long on either hand,

With cloudless skies and sun-dimmed eyes and burning river
sand.

APPENDIX 303

We see the wild fowl rising, and startled snipe that fly

Past palm trees standing graceful against the crimson sky,

By jheel and swamp and nullah where sweet mimosa blows,
With solemn sinking sunset on Himalayan snows.

'Neath flickering frosty stars at last the camp we see,

A fairy dream of white tents' gleam beneath the banyan tree.

And now 'mid noise of camel and elephant is heard

The voice of keen shikaries who wait the Master's word :

We see the clean-bred horses — of all God's gifts the best —
And cheery smiling faces that long have gone to rest.

By smoky scented camp-fires, the wandering jackal's cry
To dreamless, deep, untroubled sleep shall prove our lullaby.

Hark to the jungle noises, harsh crake of partridge call,
The quiet swish of coolies who beat the grasses tall,

And see the veteran scorning the youngster's prancing pride,
Until the cry, " Woh jata "— " Ride, like the Devil— ride "—

Sets horse and rider throbbing ; for there, full in his stride,
With angry roar the old grey Boar bursts through the jungle
side.

Through thorny babul jungle and ddk trees flaming red,
O'er valley, hill, and hollow, and swampy river-bed*

Through plunging frightened cattle and mellow yellow grass,
Where parah and the nilghai fly shrinking as we pass,

By nullah gaping sudden, that yawns beneath our feet

And heavy jhow with matted bough to hurl us from our seat,

We make our dash for victory, loose rein and iron seat,
With joy at rivals' falling or curse at our defeat.

Keen eyes shall mark the cover side and flick of rising dust
As racing flying forward to take the lead we thrust.

Some may wait upon the jink and cunning pull the rein,
Yet who would deign the spear to gain if he had second lain ?

Lightly touch the gallant horse and firmer grip the spear.

Deeply plunge the lowered steel to stop the boar's career.
Right splendid in his charge with foam-flecked flashing tush

As horse and man go headlong before his savage rush ;
Fiercely, grimly fighting as he draws his dying breath,

His foes around, with honour crowned, he mutely falls in
death.

304 MODERN PIG-STICKING

Sadly we gaze in sorrow and keenly wish that he,

Our gallant grim old warrior, were living still and free.

He shall not roaming wander, he shall not tread again

The smiling luscious cornfields, the stretching grassy plain.

And should kind fate befall us we hope like him to lie
Who nobly died, in all his pride, model of chivalry.

So, through days of friendship true, riding our hardest still,
Little we reck of falling, lightly we deem a spill ;

Laughing at all mischances or petty broken bone,

With pain for others' evils "more deep than for our own,

Sad o'er the injured horses — we pray that year by year
The music sweet of flying feet may thunder in our ear.

These scenes are burnt full deeply. Theirs not the passing hour
To need the artist's cunning or call for writer's power,

When o'er the world the twilight recalls the parted day
As with feet old and weary we sadly tread our way —

'Mid the memories thronging, sweet and clear above them all,
Are the voices of the Kadir — when we hear the Kadir call.

A. E. W.

THE END

Printed by R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh.

WORKS ON SPORT

SPORT ON THE NILGIRIS
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IN THE GRIP OF THE NYIKA

FURTHER ADVENTURES IN BRITISH
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BY LIEUT.-COLONEL J. H. PATTERSON, D.S.O.

8vo. 75. 6d. net.

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Fll

BY CAPTAIN C. H. STIGAND

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DAILY CHRONICLE. — "The finest record of the pursuit of big game we
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TIMES. — "Mr. Sutherland's insight into the habits and customs of the
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worthy to rank with the classics of Neumann and Selous."

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AFRICAN NATURE NOTES AND REMINI-
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ing from cover to cover. It is destined, we have little doubt, to be numbered
among the classics of African literature."

A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS IN AFRICA.

Nine Years amongst the Game of the Far Interior of South
Africa. By FREDERICK COURTENEY SELOUS. Illustrated.
Extra crown 8vo. 75. 6d. net.

FIELD. — " One of the best books ever published on South African sport and
travel. "

COUNTRY L7F£.—lfAn account of some of the most wonderful feats and
adventures that the annals of Africa can show. "

SPECTATOR.— "Mr. Selous's book is one of the most delightful works of
the kind that have ever been written."

GLOBE. — " The book has intrinsic merits which will render it always a classic
in the sportsman's library ; even when time and humanity have cleared from their
old lairs the wild life of African forests."

NOTES ON SPORT AND TRAVEL. By GEORGE

KINGSLEY. With Introductory Memoir by his daughter, MARY
H. KINGSLEY. Extra Crown 8vo. 8s. 6d. net.

WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS. Remini-

scences of Europe, Asia, Africa, America, from 1845-88. By
Sir SAMUEL W. BAKER. Extra Crown 8vo. 125. 6d.

AN ANGLER'S HOURS. By H. T. SHERINGHAM.
Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. net.

LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD.

4

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