THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID ir : f PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. A Complete Account for Sportsmen ; and others. BY CAPTAIN R. S. S. ^BADEN-POWELL, \Tfh Hussars ; < Assist. Milit. Sec., South. Africa. Author of "Reconnaissance and Scouting," "Cavalry Instruction," &c., &c. Dum spiro, spearo" Old Shikari. ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR. PUBLISHED BY HARRISON & SONS, 59, PALL MALL, to i\t <^umt ano D.B.J}. i\t ^rinxc of 1889. (All rights reserved.") HARRISON AND SONS PRINTERS IN ORDINARY TO HER MAJESTY, ST. MARTIN'S LANE, LONDON, BY KIND PERMISSION TO His ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT AND STRATHEARN, K.G., K.T., K.P., G. C.S.I., COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, BOMBAY. THE FIRST PRINCE OF ROYAL BLOOD WHO HAS TAKEN A "FIRST SPEAR." A 2 305 PREFACE. PIGSTICKING, a sport second to none and invaluable to our prestige and supremacy in India, deserves, what it has not had for years, a book to itself. The perusal of the following account will, I hope, prove of interest to both civilians and soldiers who have enjoyed this form of hunting whilst serving in India, and also to other travellers and sportsmen who have not yet tried it. These pages have been written with the full and lively memories of an exceptionally happy personal experience of the sport, fresh in my mind. Yet I must crave indulgence for many shortcomings, on the ground that professional work leaves me barely time to revise the proof sheets, or to sketch the scenes vividly remembered. My thanks are due to the following gentlemen who have generously, and at no little expenditure of time and trouble, afforded me their valued assistance in collecting information relative to Pigsticking : VI Lord William Beresford, V.C. ; C. Brookes, Esq. ; F. Carlisle, Esq. ; A. Chapman, Esq. ; Surgeon-Major Gaye ; A. Hills, Esq.; Major Hogg; Colonel Hore ; Major Jeffrey (Connaught Rangers) ; Captain Keir (R.H.A.) ; F. Le Marchand, Esq. ; J. M'Leod, Esq. ; Colonel Mylne (B.S.C.) ; Colonel Pollok; W. Richardson, Esq. ; N. S. Symons, Esq. ; and many other sportsmen. R. S. S. B.-P. TABLE OF CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION. THE NATURE OF PIG- STICKING. CHAPTER I. PIGSTICKING INTRODUCED. Section. Page. 1. Ancient boarhunting ... ... ... ... ... ... i 2. Origin of pigsticking ... ... ... ... ... ... i 3. Modern pigsticking ... ... ... ... ... ... 2 CHAPTER II. AS A SCHOOL. 4. For civilians ... ... 4 5. For soldiers ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 7 CHAPTER III. THE NATIVE VIEW. 6. A boon to natives 12 CHAPTER IV. THE GOVERNMENT VIEW. 7. Government encouragement 14 CHAPTER V. COMPARISONS. 8. Compared with foxhunting 16 CHAPTER VI. WHAT IT IS. 9. The sport defined 21 Vlll TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART I. PIG. CHAPTER VII. POINTS OF PIG. Section. Page. 10. General character 25 n. Varieties 27 12. Signs of age , 28 13. Size 29 14. Height ... 30 15. Tushes 31 16. Sows 31 17. Barren sows ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 32 CHAPTER VIII. HAUNTS OF PIG. 18. Haunts of pig 35 19. Reasons guiding selection 38 20. Preserves for pig 40 CHAPTER IX. "REARING" PIG. 21. Beating cover ... ... ... ... ... "... ... 43 22. Canal jungles ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 45 23. Impassable covers 47 24. Grass plains 48 25. Prickly pear 49 26. Marking down ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 49 27. Pugging 52 CHAPTER X. SEASON FOR HUNTING. 28. Weather and crops 60 29. Statistics 61 TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix PART II. WHAT YOU HAVE TO CONTEND WITH. CHAPTER XL POWERS OF PIG. Section. Page. 30. Craftiness 65 31. Speed ... 66 32. Cunning 67 33. Jinking 68 34. Ferocity ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 70 35. Use of tushes 77 36. Gameness 83 CHAPTER XII. WEAPONS. 37. Long spear 38. Short spear 9 39. Comparative merits 90 40. Spearheads 92 41. Spear shafts 95 42. Fitting the head 95 CHAPTER XIIL DIFFICULTIES OF GROUND. 43. The ground itself ... 97 44. Fences ... 102 45. Rivers 104 TABLE OF CONTENTS. PART III. ANIMAL ALLIES. CHAPTER XIV. HORSES. Section. Page. 46. Their share in the sport in 47. Points of a pigsticker 116 48. The Arab 116 49. TheWaler 117 50. The Cape 118 51. The country-bred 119 52. Purchasing ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 121 53. Making a pigsticker 123 54. Bitting and saddling* 127 55. Veterinary notes ... : 129 CHAPTER XV. DOGS. 56. Their use for pigsticking 132 PART IV. HOW TO SUCCEED AS A PIG- STICKER. CHAPTER XVI. SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 57- India ... 137 58. Africa 146 59. Australia... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 148 60. Sandwich Islands 149 61. Mexico, &c 151 TABLE OF CONTENTS. xi CHAPTER XVII. LIVING IN CAMP. Section. Page. 62. Camp life 152 63. Camp equipment ... ... ... ... ... ... 154 64. Clothes 156 65. Saddlery 157 66. Diversions in camp 158 67. Preserving trophies 160 68. Surgical notes 163 CHAPTER XVIII. RIDING TO PIG. 69. " A good man to pig " ... 166 70. Waiting '. 168 71. Riding to pig 174 72. First spear i/9 73. Spearing... ... 185 74. Carrying the spear 187 75. Falling 188 76. Throwing the spear 189 77. Receiving a charge I9 1 78. Pigsticking in crops 195 79. Attacking on foot ... 196 80. Pigsticking rules ... 200 81. Pigsticking cup competitions ... 201 82. The Kadir Cup and winners ... 202 83. The Ganges Cup and winners ... ... ... ... 204 84. The other Cups ...206 APPENDIX. List of Tent Clubs . ... 210 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. 1. Triumph! Frontispiece. 2. Our Grandfathers at it 4 3. First Spear 21 4. A Native Landseer 26 5. Haunts of Pig 35 6. Straight for him an Eviction 39 7. Rearing Pig 43 8. A Wily Jink .' 68 9. The European Concert 71 10. Paying Toll 75 11. The Enemy Wins ... ... ... ... ... ... 80 12. The Duke of Connaught pigsticking 85 13. Tobogganing on sheet rock ... ... ... ... ... 97 14. Oh, what a Surprise ! ... ... ... ... ... ... 100 15. The Gallery 103 16. A Regular Fizzer 122 17. "Beetle" 132 1 8. A Tent Club , 136 19. The Hoghunter's Cup 153 20. First Spear a Race 166 21. Unity and Disunity 188 22. Shall I? 193 23 Attack on Foot 199 24. The 1884 Kadir Cup ... ... ... ... ... ... 202 25. Corpus apri defero 208 INTRODUCTION. THE NATURE OF PIGSTICKING. PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. CHAPTER I. PIGSTICKING INTRODUCED. I. "Pigsticking," according to Bengal, or "Hog- hunting," according to Bombay phraseology, is, in its primitive form, the most general and ancient sport in existence. I hesitate, however, to bore my reader with its history from the year I, as he can trace this in all the detail he desires in histories, cyclopaedias, natural history books, classic inscriptions, Egyptian hiero- glyphics, and, probably, cuneiform records. In Ancient Britain as in Ancient Egypt, in Europe as in Asia or Africa, boars from time immemorial have been hunted by men on foot armed with spears and aided by dogs, just as they are hunted to this day in Africa by the natives, in Germany by the nobles, in Albania by the peasants, and in New Zealand by the sheep farmers. 2. Origin of pigsticking. The modern form of pigsticking now in vogue in India is, however, of more recent origin. Like foxhunting in England, which only gained its regular standing as such on the decrease of stags little more than a century ago, pig- sticking, as now practised in India, became recognised only at the beginning of this century as the substitute for bearsticking, which had till then been the most popular sport of Bengal. The bear was hunted by B 2 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. mounted sportsmen armed with a short, heavy, broad- bladed spear which was thrown a la javelin ; but bears became scarce, and the bearhunters took to spearing pig in the same way, and soon found that in the latter beast they had a foe more worthy of their steel. In order to lend an additional interest to the proceedings it became usual to get up a sweepstake before starting to ride a boar, which was won by him who first succeeded in throwing his spear so that it stuck fairly into the boar's body ; and to avoid mistakes each man's spear was de- corated with ribbons of different colour. The eventual death of the pig was not in those days an important consideration. 3. Modern pigsticking. The more modern con- ditions of pigsticking may be briefly described thus : A beat is organised and the hunters are posted in parties of three or four at points of vantage along the edge of the jungle or cover. On a boar breaking cover the party nearest to it starts to ride it, each man racing to be first to come up with and spear the hog thereby winning the honours of the run. The " first spear" won it remains for the party to unite their efforts to repel the attacks of the boar, and finally to overcome and kill him with their spears, which are retained in the hand throughout the encounter. To the uninitiated, the term " pigsticking " conveys but a very feeble idea of the nature and qualities of the pursuit, which, were they more widely known, would prove attractive to a more extended circle of sportsmen than at present. Moreover in many Indian stations Tent Clubs have had but a struggling and unsuccessful career, simply owing to the fact that their supporters have been ignorant of the best ways of finding and PIGSTICKING INTRODUCED. 3 hunting their game ; also it very often happens that a district, swarms with pig and is perfectly " rideable," but that the sportsmen inhabiting it do not recognise these facts through a common want of knowledge of the nature of the sport and its management. For these reasons, therefore, I have endeavoured in the following pages to bring into more general notice the components that go to make pigsticking the sport it is, and in doing so 1 have grouped them under the following heads, viz. : I. The quality of the quarry. II. The dangers and obstacles that intervene in his behalf. III. The animal allies of the sportsman. IV. The secrets of success. H 2 CHAPTER II. AS A SCHOOL. 4. In laying before the reader the following notes on the " premier sport of India " I must begin by asking the attention of elders in authority in India to the fact that "pigsticking" is not the mere waste of time that many of them appear to deem it to be ; and of those of the younger generation to the fact that under the veil of so unattractive a name lies a wealth of sport. . Civil. To the civil authorities I would make a special appeal. They would do well to study the following paragraph taken from the "Times of India": "Con- sidering that the Government expects officers of the Army and the Civil Service to be good horsemen, it is very hard to feel that the finest enjoyment and instruc- tion on horseback in the world, viz., a race after a good boar with a fight at the end of it, should receive not only such scant encouragement from those in power, but that apparently there should be actual discouragement shown behind the scenes." In confirmation of this several civilians of high standing in India have informed me that an officer of the Indian Civil Service cannot perform his duties thoroughly or adequately if he is unable to ride ; for instance, a Civil officer ought to make a practice and a point of visiting the different outlying villages and localities of his district at unexpected times ; making himself personally acquainted with the headmen and AS A SCHOOL. ' 5 others, dispensing with the usual intermediate agency of the irrepressible babu or chuprassie ; that he should ride about and see things for himself, not trusting entirely to reports ; and he should endeavour to -make himself personally known to and looked up to by all classes. A man who is a votary of pigsticking could not but carry out all these hints. Many a young man of those who pass annually the examination for the Indian Civil Service does not know a horse from a cow, and yet on joining his district is expected and ought to ride about as if trained to it from his youth up. Polo and pig- sticking are the very best riding schools for beginners, and though both are common in India, the latter, as it can be enjoyed in out stations where only "two or three are gathered together," will generally be the school for necessary horsemanship most open to civilians. On becoming a pigsticker the pursuit of sport will take the young " civilian " to covers in all corners of his district ; he will of necessity be brought into personal contact with all classes of natives of his district at unexpected times, and differently than when on his periodical and ceremonious tours of inspection ; he will see for himself the state of crops, irrigation, cattle, etc., etc. ; and, if a successful sportsman, he will win by his prowess a standing in the estimation of all native classes higher than any that could be obtained by a stay-at- home " clerk-in-an-office young man." An admiration of physical courage is inherent in every race, and among the less civilised peoples such prowess is looked on as a necessary qualification in any conquer- ing or governing race. When hunting in the interior of South-West Africa, the late Surveyor-General of Ordnance (Hon. Guy Dawnay) was recognised by the 6 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. natives as a wise and friendly councillor, but his prime claim on their confidence and respect was his reputation as " the man who fought the monkey " ; due to the fact that with his bare fists he fought and defeated a savage chimpanzee ; and all the natives accepted him in con- sequence as a born ruler of men. Every out-of-the-way performance on the part of an Englishman in field sports is regarded by the natives of Hindustan with a stunned wonder and admiration ; and even by Shikaris and jungle tribes as indicating a proper prowess in the dominant race. Even among the Baboos a feat of daring may be regarded as a mad freak, but inwardly it is taken to be a proof that the Englishman is of a different and superior order of beings, of an order indeed which occasionally they suspect is not. unconnected with the devil, but none the less irresistible on that account In the Allahabad district a few years back a Secretary to Government joined in a pigsticking party ; the boar had been brought to bay and the Secretary was on the point of rushing in at him with a final attack, when a leading native squire who was present begged him not to, " Un logon ko chor-do" he said, " yih un ka kdm hai t dp kakdm kalam kai, balan ka nahin " (" Leave it to the others, it is their business, your work is with the pen, not with the spear ") ; but when, to his surprise, he saw the lord of the pen go in and win in best form with the spear, his veneration became thenceforward unlimited and fixed on a firmer basis than ever. It is, perhaps, unnecessary to remind the reader that, as any business man in India will allow, hard physical exercise enables an European to get through office work in half the time that is necessary for those who remain AS A SCHOOL. 7 " soft " in condition from too scanty an allowance of active out-door movement. Small wonder, then, that the question is asked Why is the sport still occasionally frowned at by those at the head of Civil Service affairs? May they study all accounts of this noble sport, then enjoy the sport itself, and so turn to reforming their ways and those of the Civil Service generally ! 5. Military. To the military authorities no hints need be given, because the excellence of the sport as a means of training and developing the desired talents and powers in an officer, is now-a-days pro- perly recognised by all competent heads. Sir Arthur Cunynghame, in common with such authorities as Sir John Malcolm, Colonel Ord, Sir Lionel Smith, and others, states that " Pigsticking is most useful for developing the attributes so necessary in a soldier, viz., eye, hand, a firm seat, courage, and activity." We English are apt to comfort ourselves with the reflection that in the event of an European war the smallness of our cavalry force will be compensated for by its superior qualities of dash and horsemanship. The French and Germans are well aware of this fact, and have spared no pains to bring their own, already well horsed and well equipped, cavalry to an equal standard in these desirable points. To attain this result their main efforts are devoted to imbuing first of all the officers with the desired qualities. Abroad, military tournaments, races, paper chases, etc., are instituted by government for the encouragement of riding on the part of officers, and facilities are given them of obtain- ing well-bred chargers, and foxhounds are kept at the larger garrisons in Germany. 8 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Our British government, on the contrary, gives officers no inducement or aid to become good men in the field, possibly because they recognise the fact that as long as foxhunting exists in England the natural inborn love of the sport will keep the young officer up to the mark, probably also because it does not look round and see that its neighbours are drawing up to us in our strong points, and that to keep ahead in the race for perfection some aid should be given to our officers in still further developing their talents. Much might be done, as various writers have suggested, in the way of a liberal expansion of the system of taking horses from the ranks, by employing officers' hunters as troop horses for the summer months, by utilising young officers as rough- riders, etc., etc. But a great stride in the right direction would be gained, and one that could not be followed by any other nation, were the sport of India placed on a firm and certain basis, and young officers sent to that country for at least two years out of the first five of their service, during which every facility would be given them for practising polo, pigsticking, shooting, and stalking, and their concomitant arts of woodcraft and camp life. Not infrequently does it happen that a cavalry officer or one of that rapidly increasing " arm " mounted rifles wins for himself the reputation of being a smart leader on a field-day ground, and yet completely and con- spicuously fails when put to the real test of actual cam- paigning in a strange country. He is capable of putting bodies of troops through most intricate movements in good order on a level parade, but once on unknown, wild, or broken country he is all at sea. He does not possess by nature, or has not developed by practice, the power of taking in at a glance the peculiarities of the AS A SCHOOL. 9 terrain and making the best uses of them, nor of recognising his opportunities and seizing them with dash and determination ; two of the most useful acquirements in a cavalry leader. These are the two faculties that are particularly developed in pigsticking. Apart from the fact that any hardy exercise conduces much to the training and formation of a soldier, pig- sticking tends to give a man what is called a " stalker's eye," but which, par excellence, is the soldier's eye. It teaches him to keep looking about him both near and far, so that by practice he gets to notice objects in the far distance almost before an ordinary man can distinguish them even when pointed .out to him. In difficulties of ground he will learn to keep a look-out to the front and not only see his way over present ob- stacles but also the best line to take when these have been successfully disposed of. The habit of looking for and noticing the smallest signs of pig teach a man to note and carry in his mind those little marks by which he can often obtain important information, and will always get the country more or less mapped into his brain by a succession of insignificant signs and land- marks, the value of which can be duly appreciated when he has once had to perform a reconnaissance by night ; or to work through an unknown country in time of hostilities. The hunting-field has been described by the best authorities as the training school for the cavalry officer, and, without doubt, hoghunting, which in India takes the place of foxhunting, is not one whit the less useful for that purpose ; for on a minor scale it possesses many of the requirements of cavalry service. To excel in either, in addition to the necessary preliminary qualifica- tions of being a good rider and skilled in the use of one's io PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. weapons, one must have acquired the art of getting over the ground by the shortest way, and must be ever on the look-out for opportunity, and ready to seize it when it occurs and make the best of it, to the extent of one's gifts of dash and determination ; in a word one must have matured not only the " pluck " which brings a man into a desperate situation, but that " nerve " which enables him to carry the crisis to a successful issue. How many a man from sheer neglect to look about him, or from want of an eye for a country, will make for his goal by quite a roundabout course, whether it be across a hunting country or on the battle-field, and finally, on coming within distance of his object, hesitates to commit himself to the attack, anticipating the occur- rence of a better opening which probably after all does not present itself. In both pigsticking and war these failings are common, and their antidotes are in both cases similar. The dash and keenness, the pluck and determination, that are invaluable in the one are as equally important in the other. General Gilbert used to say that a good hoghunter could not be a bad soldier, and in himself he fully bore out this axiom. The description of him at Sobraon paints in equally true colours many a good sportsman on more modern fields of battle " He on his good steed erect appears As when he met the boar, But now a worthier foe inspires, A deadlier game his skill requires." David Johnston describes hoghunting as "the most entertaining, noble, and manly of all sports ; the best school for young cavalry officers. They learn to ride AS A SCHOOL. ii and to manage their horses so as to encounter any diffi- culties they may meet with, in going through unknown countries, better from one day's keen hoghunting than from a year's exercise with their regiment." Major H. Shakespear, another proved soldier and sportsman, says in his " Wild Sports of India," apropos of pigsticking, " The training that makes a sportsman makes a soldier ; it gives him endurance and it gives him an eye for a country and a familiarity with danger." 12 CHAPTER III. THE NATIVE VIEW. 6. In addition to the foregoing advantages derivable from pigsticking it directly benefits the peasantry of the districts in which it is carried out. Many people are to be found, as in all such questions, who think otherwise, but take the real feelings (if you can) of the people most interested, namely, the agricul- turists, and it will generally appear that they look with favour upon the maintenance of a sport which draws so well-paying a visitation on to their village. Their best looking country-bred horses are then sold at good prices ; their forage is bought ; and a large proportion of the men and boys receive ample pay for beating the jungle ; their bullocks and carts are hired for the carriage of the tents and camp paraphernalia. One pigsticking meet is as good as three market days to the village in whose neighbourhood it takes place. Then again the peasants are brought into more frequent, pleasant, and profitable contact with Europeans, and get to look upon them as friends and honest employers, in- stead of dreading their appearance, as mere taxgatherers or magistrates riding about levying fines, and inflicting punishment. The Englishman, whether civilian or mili- tary, thereby becomes better acquainted with the natures, customs, and interests of the people over whom he is THE NATIVE VIEW. 13 placed ; and naturally regards them with kindlier feel- ings. In both respects mutual advantages result, and governor and governed are brought into relations of a personal and friendly character of the utmost value to our hold on India. CHAPTER IV. THE GOVERNMENT VIEW. 7. How then can the authorities aid in so useful a cause as is the encouragement of pigsticking ? The well-being of the sport in an Indian district generally rests to a great degree in the hands of the Commissioner ; and officers of this position, as a rule, see the benefits that accrue to their villagers through this medium, and therefore do their utmost to encourage sport and to prevent poaching. Yet some few Com- missioners there are who are so desperately afraid of anything being said against them in the local news- papers that they allow natives to carry guns as they like for the annihilation of pig (and naturally of all other kinds of game as well), and who make no attempt to further the sport of the Europeans in their district. This short-sighted policy is one of the causes that operates to keep open the gulf between natives and Englishmen. It only requires a hint from government to ensure the sport having a thriving existence in almost any district ; and where such great benefits accrue to both races it is only reasonable to hope that government will not only extend this encouragement, but also practically foster the sport by the grant of waste jungle lands to serve as preserves. Under such an aegis many places that are now nearly THE GOVERNMENT VIEW. 15 denuded of pig would in a short time be restocked, many hitherto unknown pig countries would be opened up, and in tracts where at present no pig exist they would soon be introduced by means of parents imported from other jungles and turned down in adequate preserves. Much waste land in India can thus be put to the very useful purpose of promoting a sport which will enable the civil and military rulers to carry on their paternal despotism with greater energy and greater advantage to the natives ; and also whilst maintaining their prestige with the Indians, Englishmen will be hardening them- selves for any struggle the future may have in store. 16 CHAPTER V. COMPARISONS. 8. Ever since the first "first spear" was taken has controversy raged over the rival claims of pigstick- ing and foxhunting. Many and many an evening has been spent over an Indian dinner table in discussing their relative merits ; and, although it is generally allowed that they cannot be fairly compared owing to their widely differing elements, still, the argument continually crops up, and when it does so I would always allow it to run its course, for it has many good points in its favour, and the above conclusion can always be brought into play as a peaceful solution when the time has arrived for the final whisky and soda. In support of this view of the matter I would quote the old sportsman who said that "nothing was more low, generally speaking, than 'buck- ing/ but that he considered a man not only might, but positively ought, to buck when pigsticking was the theme, that being the sport, par excellence" The fact is that pigsticking is a rough, wild sport, with somewhat strange and foreign .surroundings, emi- nently suited to a keen sportsman, even though he be needy, who in India finds himself in a position to buy two hunters for the price of one English one, and to keep them on an outlay that would not serve for *5 of a horse at home ; and who in addition, by reason of the settled nature of the weather, can be sure of at least four months COMPARISONS. 17 of continuous hunting, without the risk of finding his horses thrown idle on his hands to eat their heads off during sudden visitations of frosts or storms. Lastly, it is a sport in which a savage quarry has to be warily hunted and boldly fought, and where the whole object of the chase is his death. Foxhunting, on the contrary, needs money, and although of a tamer nature, has just as many delights born of the glamour of its peculiar home associations, surroundings, and comforts. But here the main point is a good gallop over a fenced country, the death of the fox being a secondary con- sideration. Sir Thomas Seaton, in " From Cadet to Colonel," gives a spirited, though somewhat one-sided, comparison of the two sports. " Hoghunting," he says, " is the king of sports. Foxhunting in England is all very well ; a mob of pretty dogs yow-yowing musically after a poor little beast that is only too happy to escape if he can. The only excitement is the gallop and the jumps, the " raspers,"" flying over a brook, or tumbling into it, etc., etc. Still when he finds himself at his own fireside, the hunter expatiates on the ' glorious sport ' he has had. Glorious sport indeed ! The hypocrite ! Let him go to India and try a turn or two at hoghunting. Put him on a good horse, place in his hand a sharp, nicely balanced seven-foot spear, and station him just inside the edge of the jungle with a bit of open before him. Let him hear the elephants coming trumpeting, and the beaters giving their warning cry, let him see the sounder break cover and get into the open ; then let him gallop after them, and with a friend, single out a big boar and try for first spear. If the boar is a good one he will go at a splitting pace for perhaps a couple of miles, and if he finds he can't escape, will stop at once, C 1 8 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. turn, and charge down like lightning upon one of the two. Let it be our sportsman. He may perhaps stop the brute's rush, but he won't kill him, and then when he turns and tries for second spear, the really dangerous one, he will see what a devil the wounded boar is. He won't think much of foxhunting after he has once suc- ceeded in despatching the more formidable animal." The above account was written some years ago, when it is reasonable to suppose that the balance between the sports was more equally disposed than it is now, for while pigsticking has of late years improved without changing its characteristics, foxhunting has, on the other hand, become a more artificial pastime with less real sport in it. A good authority on the subject has recently said : " The hunting field is nothing if it is not amusing. It must be very amusing even now when the railway brings crowds of strangers to the covert side, when every covert is expected to hold a fox or two, and the chase is a mere race across country. It is hunting no doubt, but there is much less of real downright hunting than there used to be, and as to woodcraft there is no longer any call for it. The hounds are perfection, if there is such a thing ; so are the horses, and the riding is as good as ever ; but the hunting is gone, and with it the pleasures attending the gratification of an instinct in a hunting animal." Pace is everything now ; thoroughbred hounds and horses ; well drained lands ; and the fly-ahead spirit of the age, all help to this end ; there is no time nor need for steady hunting and exercise of woodcraft ; all that is " slow " and out of date, not up to the requisite modern steeple-chasing ideas. Even that enthusiastic sportsman, the late Mr. Bromley Davenport, feels bound to confess COMPARISONS. 19 that, as a sport, foxhunting has seen its better days. He says in his delightful book : " Perhaps no greater anomaly, no more palpable anachronism exists than fox- hunting in England." It is true that among its devotees the pastime is as popular as ever it was ; it is computed that they num- ber 100,000, and that their half-million of horses and hacks cause a weekly ebb and flow of some 6oo,ooo/. in wages, forage, and stabling. But still for all this it is little more than a pastime, although the most exhila- rating and enjoyable that exists, and as such, with its happy English surroundings, pigsticking need not be run against it. Major Moray Brown, in his "Shikar Sketches," compares the two sports in words that well express the opinion of a great number of us who have had experience of both sports during late years. He writes : " You cannot compare the two sports together. To begin with in fox- hunting you are dependent on ' scent.' Granted the ex- citement of a fast burst over a grass country, and that you are well carried by your horse, the end What is it ? A poor little fox worried by at least forty times its number of hounds. Has he a chance, bar his cunning, of baffling his pursuers ? No. Now, how different is the chase of the boar of India ! There you must depend on yourself in every way, and at the end your quarry meets you on nearly fair and equal terms, and though certain chances are in your favour the odds are not forty to one against your killing him, as is the case in foxhunting. Please do not think I am decrying foxhunting, for I am not. I love it ; I adore, with a sort of venatic worship, both a fox and a hound ; but if I were given my choice of the two sports, I should choose hoghunting, just as C 2 20 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. you, dear reader, would prefer a gallop with the Quorn or Cottesmore to a day's "jelly dogging ! " Doubtless, as a cross country rider and sportsman, a foxhunter would be the first to take to pigsticking should fate ordain that he must visit India. And, in fact, with all the modern conveniences, rapidity, and economy of travel, there is no reason why many a hunting man should not nowadays take fate into his own hands, and at the wind-up of the season at home start for the sunny East, there to set himself up with a few horses in a good locality for two or three months after the pig, from say the beginning of April till the middle of July, when the rainy season will interfere with his further sport there, just as the autumn shooting will be calling him home again. I venture, therefore, to hope that the detailed de- scription of " pigsticking" given in the following pages may be of interest to foxhunters and other sportsmen, and if it should be the means of introducing any of them to a sport which succeeds in meeting with their approval, my satisfaction will be complete. ; 21 CHAPTER VI. THE SPORT DEFINED. 9. Pigsticking is said to be a sport ; . define a " sport " is a difficult matter. By misuse the term has come to have a very wide application, and it is hard to tell where "pastime" ends and "sport" begins. The foreigner believes that the waking thought of the British sportsman is : " God dam, it is a fine day. What shall I kill ?" It is true that in one accepted sense sport involves the death of an animal ; but then the quality of the sport depends on the circumstances and method of compassing the death. As Mr. Cruickshank says, " A savage would consider it the height of sport to go and whang a pig on the head with a lathi (club) una- wares, but we should call this unsportsmanlike, not referring to the result but to the method of bringing it about. We sally out ourselves with the same ultimate object in view, viz., the death of the boar, but then we abandon the most easy and direct way of effecting it, and substitute artificial necessities, such as the hunter being mounted, a certain weapon being used, and in a prescribed manner, and only used when the pig has been put in motion." It may be held that a field sport is the better in pro- portion to the extent to which it fulfils the following conditions : 22 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Firstly. That a quarry worthy of one's steel is found. Secondly. That the enjoyment is heightened by the excitement and triumph of surmounting any obstacles and dangers that may intervene, and offer the quarry chances of escape, such for instance as the bad or fenced nature of the country, the natural craftiness, power, or fierceness of the quarry, or inadequacy of weapons used. Thirdly. That the enjoyment is further heightened by the sportsman bending to his will that of other animals, such as horses, hounds, hawks, etc., so that they assist and delight with him in the chase. Fourthly. That the enjoyment is yet further heightened by the success of his own individual prowess, in emula- tion with, or excelling his fellows, in the pursuit. Considered in these lights, without reference to associa- tions and surroundings, it is evident that pigsticking is second to none among sports, let us, therefore, proceed to look at it under these four heads. PART I. THE PIG. A QUARRY WORTHY OF ONE'S STEEL IS FOUND. CHAPTER VII. POINTS OF PIG. 10. Boar. The " zoological attributes " of the wild boar may be found in any encyclopaedia of natural history, but the following summary of his points may be of practical use to the pigsticker, and are not all to be found in the school books. At the outset of an inquiry into his natural history, we are confronted with the eccentric and obstinate character for which he is famed. The pig is generally described in such works as belonging to the artiodactylate ungulata species of animals, his feet being even-toed, two functional and two rudimentary ; but Aristotle, who classed all animals under the heads of whole-hoofed, cloven-hoofed, and digitated, shows the pig as obstinately "ambiguous," since in Pceonia and Illyria whole-hoofed hogs were common. Again, in the usual course of Nature, animals are the less prolific as they are larger in size, and digitated animals are more prolific than hoofed beasts, but the sow is an obstinate exception to both these rules. She produces more young for her size than any other animal, and in the structure of the ovarium and in fecundity somewhat approaches the egg-laying species. The wild boar of India (Sus Indicus) is known by Englishmen in the Bombay and Madras Presidencies as the "hog" (deriv. Welsh, hwch ; Breton, hauc'ha, to 26 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. grunt), while in Bengal and Northern India he enjoys the more common title of " pig." In the native dialects he is known as follows : Soor (Hindustani). Bad. Dukar (Mahratti). Paddi (Gondi). Kard hundi, Currijati (Canarese, Mysore). Banela. An old English writer tells us : " An old boar you must call a Singular or Sanglier ; he hath left the sounder four or five years since." To describe him generally, he is an animal of low and powerful build, standing from 28 to 36 inches at the wither. Head long and narrow and carried low, with a short thick neck ; the back and limbs particularly muscular. The top of the head and neck, the throat, withers, and rump, are covered with long brownish grey bristles, and the rest of the body with shorter hair of the same description ; tail straight and tapering, with tag of bristles at the end. The male is armed with two tushes on the lower jaw, tapering, sharp, and pointing upwards, and two shorter and thicker in the upper jaw, also curling upwards. These, in conjunction with his small, yellowish-red eyes, deep set in his head, give him a particularly wicked appearance, which does not belie his genuine nature. The character and size of the " pig " vary much ac- cording to locality; for instance, the species found in Afghanistan is more like the European boar (Sus scrofa) in general appearance, being large-headed and heavy shouldered, with a particularly thick growth of bristles, and an undergrowth of woolly hair. POINTS OF PIG. 27 The Deccan boar is a game-looking animal, with lighter-made body and long muscular legs, weighing comparatively little for his size, owing to his practice of going far afield for his food ; while his neighbour, the Gujerati boar is of coarser build, with less speed and less pluck ; but the latter lives in a more civilised district, where he finds crops ready to hand, and probably is not infrequently crossed with a strain of the village pig of civilisation. II. Varieties. The following are the chief varieties of breeds likely to be met with by the hunter in India of two of which I give facsimile sketches by a native Shikari. i. Tatainya, Tatira, or Mooghun: with small lean head, broad chest, thin rump, and high wither. In colour, dark brown and black, with reddish bristles on neck ; big tushes ; fierce and fast. Common in grass, jhow, hills, and ravines, hard to drive from jungle, and generally pauses on leaving the cover before taking to the open. Frequently jumps and cuts at rider's leg when charging. Other varieties of pig do not usually inhabit a jungle in which Tatainya live. ii. Meilier, Muckna, or Gagas: large and coarse breed; with big head and feet ; thick tushes ; not very fierce ; slow and easily caught. Found chiefly in jhow, grass, and crops, particularly sugar-cane, where a boar will live for months in the same field, thus becoming very fat. (A certain class of elephant is also called " Muckna," being similarly of a stouter build than ordinary males, with short thick tusks. A Muckna 28 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. elephant is, however, merely a lusus natures, not a distinct breed.) iii. Kookunnee or Tdana : is small in body, feet, and tushes ; of a light colour ; and very fierce and enduring. iv. Sooeur is small and compact ; with long toes, and fair sized tushes set deep in the jaw. Fast, active, and enduring, and " exceeding fierce." 12. Age.^The colour of a boar depends partly on his breed and partly on his age. The following are the signs by which the age of a boar is estimated : Up to three years the boar is very small, from the size of a rat to that of a young lamb, very hairy, with dark longitudinal stripes on back and sides. At this period of his existence he is termed a " squeaker," and is not ridden. The horn of the feet is soft and immature. At four years old he is brown, and the stripes have disappeared. He is long in the legs and thin in body. Depends almost entirely on "jinking" (turning suddenly from the line of his flight) to effect his escape when pursued. Tushes very small, sharp, white, and unground. Feet still immature. At five years he darkens in colour, and his feet are fully formed. From five to eight years he is of a dirty black colour. Runs fast, and jinks when overtaken, and fights when driven to it. Tushes come to full size at six years and become worn, the lower against the upper, after that age. The feet, too, begin to wear away after six years. At eight years the colour becomes bluer ; the boar reaches his full measurement of height and length. The POINTS OF PIG. 29 muscles of the shoulder and forearm are more fully developed than in the " black " stage ; the feet wear down. At ten years a new hoof of harder texture is formed, which thenceforward shows little sign of wear until great age is reached. The lower tushes begin to wear down and become very discoloured. Speed and activity de- crease, but the boar grows proportionately fiercer and more prone to charge. At twelve years the colour becomes greyer, the lower tushes wear down and the upper ones become very long and curled and discoloured. The boar fiercer than ever. At fourteen years, old age sets in. The boar becomes grey and often mangy, as Colonel Rice describes him, " dirty grey all over, like an old worn-out white felt hat." His tushes are worn or broken to stumps, and he cannot hold his own with younger rivals, and so takes to a solitary life, with a soured temper, like the old of the buffalo, tiger, elephant, and other animal tribes. He will not run far or fast, preferring to make the best fight he can for his life so soon as pressed. At sixteen to eighteen years his teeth drop out, and his muscles subside away. Twenty years is probably the limit of age he attains, though a case is on record of a boar living till thirty years of age. 13. Size. The largest complete measurements of an Indian boar that I have been able to verify are as follows : Height at wither, 38^ inches ; length, 60 inches; girth, 55 inches ; girth of forearm, 14 inches ; tushes, 8J inches; weight, 300 Ibs. I' also have those of an Afghan boar : 30 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Height, 37 J inches; length, 62 inches; girth, 55 inches; girth of forearm, 1 1 inches ; tushes, 8 inches ; weight 266 Ibs. An "index number," as a standard of comparison, might be obtained by adding together the above figures, in which case the above champions would be represented by the figures 476 and 439^. 14. Height. Sportsmen are generally satisfied, how- ever, to measure the height only of any boar they kill. The extreme height attained by the boar has often been a subject of discussion, and ever will be until all sports- men consent to use the same methods in measuring. The method generally employed nowadays is given on page 161. The following are the greatest height measurements of which I can find trustworthy record : One of 42 inches, recorded by J. M'Leod in Chum- pa run. One of 39 inches, recorded by Mr. Williamson in Bengal (he had also seen two of 42 inches). One of 37 inches, recorded by Tent Club Log at Nagpore. One of 36^ inches, recorded by Tent Club Log at Muttra. One of 36 inches, recorded by Tent Club Log at Cawnpore. One of 34 inches, recorded by Tent Club Log at Ahmedabad. One of 34 inches, recorded by Tent Club Log at Meerut. The Nagpore Hunt have been exceptionally fortunate in getting big boar; in 1870-71 they killed six over ^ inches, and five of 34 inches. . . POINTS OF PIG. 31 One of 43 inches is recorded by Daniel Johnson (1827) in Bengal, but there is nothing to show how the measur- ing was carried out. Hence it would appear that 42 inches is attainable, but that anything over 36 inches is rare. 15. Tushes. The lower tushes of a full-grown boar average from 8 to 9 inches in total length, of which nearly two-thirds is embedded in the jaw. The largest tush recorded is that of a boar which was shot in unrideable country in the Gheer, in Kattiawar. This measured \2\ inches. Mr. Williamson states that he has seen a single tush 1 1 inches long. The boar recorded above as standing 43 inches had a tush of 10 inches. Any tush over 9 inches would be decidedly above the average. A perfect pair of tushes should, if placed point to point and base to base, describe a complete circle. The upper tushes are very much thicker, shorter, and more curled than the lower, and are blunt. One I have now mounted as a stick handle measures 4-^ inches. In passing I may remark that tushes are perhaps best utilized as stick, umbrella, or parasol handles. The author of that curious book " The Gentleman's Recreator," published 1686, writes of the tushes of the boar : " The two biggest do not hurt when he strikes, but serve only to whet the other two lowest, with which they frequently kill." He adds : " If he but touch the hair of a dog he burneth it off; huntsmen have tried the heat of his teeth by laying hairs on them as soon as he was dead, and they have shrivel'd up as with a hot iron." 1 6. Sow. The sow attains her full height at five years of age, but does not stand so high as the boar in his prime (eight years). The highest I can find record 32 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. of is 32 inches, but that is exceptional. She is more heavily bodied, and does not possess such well developed limbs and quarters as the boar. Several sows live in company and form the harem of one boar. A sow is in her prime from five to ten years of age, and produces two litters a year, the period of gestation being four months. The first litter will consist of two or three young ones, but each successive litter will increase in numbers up to nine or ten. Wolves, hyaenas, and particularly jackals are great destroyers of young pig, and a sow with young at heel is in consequence very watchful and fierce. In many places their method of attack is by biting instead of " tushing." 17. Barren Sows. - - Barren sows are commonly met with, and are often difficult to distinguish from boars. They are lean and leggy, and, having no cares of maternity to tie them to one neighbourhood, are addicted to roaming far afield, like boars, in search of good food, so that the muscles of their backs and limbs become similarly well developed. The most conspicuous points of difference that distinguish a boar from a barren sow are the long tushes ; but a barren sow also shows tushes and very frequently has a tuft of hair jn the belly, and another below the tail, which at a little distance give her all the appearance of a boar. I have known two such sows ridden and killed in one day by old hands at pigsticking in mistake for boars. The tushes of the barren sow, as in the case of the tusks of the female elephant, are thinner, shorter, and more curved than those of the male. At Okhamanda two sows were killed, one of which had POINTS OF PIG. 33 tushes 8J- inches long, and the other showed 2\ inches projecting from the jaw. These tushes, unlike the boar's, are thickest at the gum and taper again towards the root. Barren sows have all the speed, endurance, and vicious- ness of the boar, with none of the utility of the matron sow, and they may therefore be considered lawful game for the hunter's spear. But it is otherwise with ordinary sows, whose persons should always be held sacred by sportsmen, except only in the extreme case of running- off cup competitions in thinly pigged districts. In the rules of the Calcutta Tent Club, it is decreed that any one spearing a sow shall be fined a dozen of champagne, nor is this too severe a punishment (always excepting barren sows), when one considers the vital importance of their existence for the future prosperity of sport. For not only do they produce fresh boars as fast as the older ones are killed off, but also they attract roving old gal- lants to their jungles from other districts. And it is needless to point out what unsporting butchery it is to kill a slow, soft, and defenceless sow, in lieu of her fast, muscular, and vicious lord. A man who would wantonly " stick " a sow is well classed with one who would wan- tonly shoot a fox. In the rules of the old Harra Hunt, framed at the beginning of the century, it was laid down that " to shoot a hog, except when self-preservation or that of others may demand it, is unworthy of a sports- man, and such a proceeding on the part of any member of this club will entail his expulsion." The practice of running sows " because there are so few boars " is on the face of it a most suicidal one, and has resulted in frequent instances in the extermination of the sport in given districts ; but men are unfortunately D 34 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. selfish and very nomadic in India, and so long as they get their runs for the few months they may be in a station they do not pause to consider what sport will be left for their successors. The only remedy lies in the hands of sportsmen themselves, for to expect govern- ment intervention with close-time regulations at any date before the extermination of the last boar is. according to all experience, to expect the impossible. 35 CHAPTER VIII. HAUNTS OF PIG. 18. Haunts of Pig. The usual homes of pig in the plains of India are : Woods, with thick undergrowth of bushes and grass. Open plains of Rana grass (which is used by the natives for thatching purposes, and grows to a height of 3 feet). High tiger grass (10 feet) and covers of tamarisk (j'/ww) bush (4 feet), usually found along dry river beds. Reeds and grass in marshes (jheels). Broken kills, ravines, and dry watercourses (nullahs}. Crops, such as sugar-cane (gunna], 10 feet high ; lentil (dhall), 5 feet ; wheat (sunnee), 3 feet ; indigo (leel) ; millet (jowar), 8 feet ; gram (ckunnd), 2 feet ; cotton (rooee), 3^ feet ; spiked millet (bajri), 8 feet ; barley (Jow\ 2\ feet, etc. Clumps of prickly pear, a close-growing thorny cactus, from 5 to 20 yards in diameter, or in long thick hedges. Groves of date palm, trees. Jungles of trees, bushes, and grass mingled, growing along the banks of the canals. In the jungles pig usually select tufts of grass or bushes in which they make " forms " for themselves. In these they lie during the day, leaving them in the evening to go in search of food during the night, return- ing to them just before dawn. If living in crops they do D 2 36 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. the same, cutting down with their teeth what straw they want wherewith to make nests for themselves and young. Outlying patches of bushes near a jungle are very often selected, especially by very old and solitary boars, as residence. Cocks of millet stalks, isolated tufts of tiger grass, heaps of dry camel thorn, are also favourite lairs, the latter in particular when lying in a dry water- course. It is surprising what a small amount of cover of this kind suffices to conceal a whole "sounder" (family) of pig. They will lie crowded up together, and will often not move though the bush in which they are is beaten and shaken ; indeed they will often bolt more readily if rendered suspicious by the beater simply standing still close to their lair. When inhabiting hills or ravines, they usually select holes and corners in winter which are dry and open to the sun, and in summer which are moist and shaded. Crops of sugar-cane are very favourite haunts of pig, because they afford not only very dense cover but also most succulent food, and being subject to frequent irri- gation they ensure him a constant water supply for drinking and bathing purposes. The crop stands twelve months from sowing to cutting ; and so a boar, on coming into residence, has at least nine months of quiet ease before him without any necessity to move a yard in search of food. This life suits very old boars par- ticularly well, and when a sugar crop is beaten out such an old bon vivant is almost always to be found in it ; but it is a most difficult matter to persuade him to come out : he knows how unprepared he is in wind and limb for a race for life across country, and so long has he been a stay-at-home that he cannot be certain that his former HA UNTS OF PIG. 37 distant places of refuge can still be found : like the Taquir's description in Igd-i-Gil, he is " void of wisdom, Being o'er filled with food, even to the nose." And when at last he has been forced from his strong- hold he will not run far nor fast, but will probably take to fighting, instead of fleeing, for his life. A pig will change his quarters from one cover to another as he finds the water supply fail in the one, or a favourite cultivated crop, or wild root or berry, come into season near the other; or on account of the destruc- tion of his home by jungle-fire or flood, or of its too frequent intrusion by beaters. Hence a cover which is one month full of pig may during the next not contain even a single squeaker. These points, should, therefore, be remembered by the hunter when selecting a cover to beat out. Many a Shikari has obtained the name of being preter- naturally 'cute in finding pig, when in reality he was doing no more than use his common-sense, in acting on the above considerations. To sportsmen inquiring as to the presence of pig in certain jungles, peasants of the neighbouring villages are very apt to give misleading reports : in one village they will say there are plenty of pig and will describe their huge size and fearful depredations with staring eyes and outstretched thumbs ; these simple peasants have very likely not seen a pig for months, but they have a lot of mouldy grain or other commodity in their granaries which they hope to sell should the Sahibs muster a large camp near their village ; in the other village perhaps the crops have not been a success and 38 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. the headman, while he treads out a boar's footmark swears by all his gods that no pig has been seen within miles of the place. He knows that the advent of a camp will mean a clear-out of his scanty store, or he owns some tender crops that will ill bear being ridden over, or occasionally, I fear, he may bear in mind some past act of illtreatment at the hands of the white man. It is fatal to the interests of sport to illtreat the villagers or to let your servants or Shikaris do so, as they are very apt to do under cover of your prestige. The secretary of a Tent Club or manager of the beat ought not only to be well up in Hindustani but able to speak that patois of it that is common in his particular district. And he ought to have an immense fund of patience. Shouting and cursing at a coolie already dumb- foundered at the very sight of a white man is not the way to clear his understanding. A good Shikari should therefore be sent two or three days before a meet to the proposed jungle and find out for himself the state of pig there ; in this way much inconvenience and dis- appointment may often be saved. 19. The pig is not particular where he takes up his residence when bent on being near a favourite crop for the period that it is in season. I have seen a pig's lair within 20 yards of a watchman's hut in a melon garden. In 1873 a boar took up his quarters in the Memorial Gardens at Cawnpore gardens not unlike a large London square, surrounded by iron railings with two or three gates. Half-a-dozen enterprising sportsmen went one morning with spears and dogs to interview the intruder, on foot. They closed all the gates and ad- vanced to the attack. The boar, alarmed by their bold "*# HA UNTS OF PIG. 39 front, took to his heels, but finding after three circuits of the grounds that the outlets were closed and his enemies were still pursuing him, turned on them and charged the first comer, Mr. Kingscote, with all his force. The result of the encounter was that the spear went clean through the boar, and Mr. Kingscote threw about three back somersaults and remained prone, while his unfortunate hat chancing to catch the pig's eye became the imme- diate object of his ire and was in a few seconds reduced to atoms. In the meantime the rest of the hunt came up and eventually the boar was killed, but only after a very plucky resistance. Another peculiar case of eccentric selection of quar- ters occurred also in Cawnpore. News was brought to Mr. A. W. Cruickshank, the magistrate, when presiding in his Court, that a boar had taken possession of a native house in the city that morning and was at present un- willing to leave, being engaged in " playing old Harry " with the furniture. The majesty of the law was not appealed to in vain. The Court was promptly adjourned, and the magistrate, attended by Mr. Rogers (a host in himself), proceeded, mounted and armed, to the spot indicated. Here they found a large crowd collected in the narrow street, and the owner of the house standing outside his door, which he had locked on the visitor, listening anxiously at the keyhole as one article after another of treasured ancient furniture was being reduced to matchwood. The magistrate supposing that some infuriated village sow was the cause of all the disturb- ance ordered the door to be thrown open, no sooner was this done than much to his surprise a real good boar bounded out and went without a pause for Mr. Rogers. This gentleman, however, had seen a boar or two before 40 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. in his day, and met him half way with a spear clean through the body. The pig then made off up the alley, and eventually, after a good run through several streets, was overtaken by Cruickshank who succeeded in bring- ing him to with a spear in the spine. He proved to be a fine boar of 32 inches, but the reason for his presence in the city remains to this day a mystery, like Pope's fly in amber or toad in a stone : " 'Tis not that he's beautiful, wondrous, or rare, But the mystery is how the de'il he got there." 20. Preserving Pig. With a full knowledge of the ways and favourite haunts of pig a great deal ought to be possible by sporting individuals or clubs in the way of preserving pig in their districts, and thereby ensuring for themselves and their successors unfailing sport. And in this way much waste land or desert may be most profitably utilised. It is a regrettable fact that the frequent changing about of the civilian as well as the military servants of Her Majesty from one station to another in India strongly militates against the well-being of sport in each centre, since these gentleman are naturally inclined only to think of the present, and to make the most of the sport to their hand without regard to its future in that par- ticular place. But I am confident that it only requires to be suggested to them, as sportsmen, to think of those who are likely to succeed them, to ensure their ready co- operation in securing a safe future for the sport, they benefiting by similar conduct on the part of those they succeed in their own new districts. In many stations where pig preserving has been carried out sport has improved year by year: on the HA UNTS OF PIG. 41 other hand there are many stations now quite devoid of pig which bear names rendered famous in pigsticking records of former days, but whose future interests have never been cared for betimes. In almost every hunting centre there are jungles or " churs " (islands) that are useless to the landowners and can be easily rented for very small yearly payments. If these happen already to be favourite haunts of pig they should be left untouched, with a chowkedar (watch- man) or two permanently retained (his wage is only 6 Rs., or ten shillings a month), to keep off poachers and trespassers, and to kill all wolves and jackals, the devourers of young pig. In a district where pig are scarce, such a preserve might be acquired and then stocked with pig brought from elsewhere. In selecting such a jungle, common- sense should be employed in taking one which is close to water, and which contains the favourite roots and nestling places of pig. If there is local opposition on the part of the agricul- turalists and farmers it will be necessary to wall in your preserve and top the wall or wattle with thorn bushes. Txiis is not the very expensive matter it might appear, owing to cheapness of labour and material in India. In some preserves it may be found necessary occasion- ally to beat in the cover itself, but this should be done as rarely as possible (except in the case of a walled cover, where it does not drive pig away), and even then only certain parts of the cover should be invaded, one portion being granted as an inviolable sanctuary to the pig, to serve as an undisturbed breeding-place. In a walled cover, for the purpose of getting the pig to leave it on a hunting day, one of two systems may be 42 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. employed. One system is to have a good portion of one end of the boundary fence made of wattle and capable of being temporarily removed while the beat is going on. There should be some jungle outside the fence at this point so that when they come to the opening the pig will be tempted to continue their progress ; the beaters of course commence from the opposite end of the cover and work up to the place whence the wattle has temporarily been removed ; here they stop and replace the fence, making plenty of noise all the time to induce the pig who are now being shut out in the outlying patch of jungle to break cover and take to the open. The other way is to make doors in the wall, which are left open while a beat is going on. The pig must be induced to make use of these doors by means of wattle fenced decoy lanes leading to them from inside the jungle, the lanes splaying out very wide at first and gradually narrowing as they approach the gateway. In all cases it will be found that a little trouble and expense in preserving immensely improves the sport in any district. . 43 CHAPTER IX. REARING PIG. "Rearing" is a classical phrase. Our friend who writes in 1686 says : " Where the boar's reared he never stays, but flies con- tinually till he comes to the place where he was farrowed," a home- sickness which may have been true of English pigs, but does not always hold good in Hindustan. The present meaning of the phrase may be translated as " the act of setting pig afoot." 21. Beating Covers. When it is required to drive pig out of crops or grass or bush jungle, for the purpose of getting a run after them across the open, a line of coolies, extending from one side to the other of the cover, is sent in at one end. At a given signal this line, armed with sticks, guns, horns, and drums, advances with all the noise it is capable of. As Thomas Campbell might have sung : " They came, of every race a mingled swarm, Far rung the groves, and gleamed the yellow grass With torn torn, club, and naked arm." If available, when beating other cover than crops, elephants should be disposed at intervals along the line, a few paces in rear of it. Two or three Shikaris should also be in charge of different parts of the line, either on foot or, better, mounted on ponies or elephants. These Shikaris may with advantage be provided with guns loaded with light charges of No. 8 shot, for the purpose of long shots at any sticky old boar who re- 44 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. quires extra inducement to make him quit. A boar soon gets to know that coolies, with all their noise, are but a very harmless crew, and is apt to consider after one or two charges through the line that they are powerless to force him out, but a simple dose of shot is an excellent agent to dispel this illusion, and will generally send him flying from the cover with rage in his heart and tingling in his hide. The Shikaris, should, however, be strictly warned only to fire when they see a boar, and the report will then serve to inform the hunters that a boar is afoot. It is very necessary that there should be one good head Shikari in charge of the beat, and he should be mounted and provided with a whistle wherewith to direct the line to advance when the sportsmen are ready, or to halt when a boar breaks cover and the hunters are away after him. For perfect and intelligent' beating, a squadron of cavalry sent out into a cover in line, firing blank cartridge as they proceed, is a most successful method. Assistant Shikaris may with advantage be placed in trees or other commanding look-out places outside the cover, where they can signal the departure of pig from the jungle by showing a red flag or sounding two blasts on a horn if a boar breaks, and a white flag or one blast if only sows and squeakers are on foot. Ordinary coolies should not be employed for this work as they are apt to mistake sows for boars, and consider almost any squeaker to be of rideable size, and would therefore probably set the sportsmen going on numberless futile gallops. If the beat takes place near any large river it is well to have all quicksands marked by green flags, and fords by yellow ones. During the beat of an ordinary jungle the "parties" REARING PIG. 45 of sportsmen (three or four " spears " in each) are posted at points along the edge of the jungle near which the pig are likely to break, and where there is cover in which they may themselves be hidden. When a cover is beaten with noisy accompaniment as above described, the pig being aroused by the opening chorus will, as a rule, steal off in the opposite direction, towards the quiet end o. the jungle, where, if he finds the coast apparently clear, he will take to the open and make for other hiding places, but if the slightest noise or movement betrays to him the presence of the party lying in ambush for him at that point, so suspicious is he by nature that he will prefer to return and fight it out with the self-evident line of beaters than face a danger whose nature he cannot fathom. He adopts Hamlet's choice. The pig, like the wild elephant, is slow to see an animate object as long as it remains stock still, but the very slightest movement will catch his eye, the glisten of spear point or the flick of a horse's tail are sufficient ; so it is very necessary that some sort of cover should be taken advantage of by the party in waiting, such as bushes, or the shade of a tree, etc. In the Ganges Cup competitions, large artificial screens of grass mats are put up at intervals round a jungle for this purpose. 22. Canal Jungles. A somewhat similar manner of beating is employed in the case of canal bank jungles. They consist of a narrow fringe, about eighty yards in width, of cover along each bank, usually a mixture of trees, bushes, and tiger grass, with occa- sional pools, full of weeds and reeds. The canal itself is frequently deep and rapid, 20 to 50 yards wide, with steep banks, and, therefore, impassable to a horse, though not so to a pig. 46 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Roads generally cross the canals by masonry bridges every two miles or so. A towpath runs along one bank, between the water and the jungle. Were the beaters put into the cover in one line the pig would simply run along in front of them for miles without leaving cover, or would swim the canal, and take refuge in the bushes on the opposite bank ; it is, therefore, usual to send half the force of beaters away with orders to enter the jungle at a point two to four miles distant, and there to divide themselves into two parties, one to beat the right bank, the other the left, and either to remain there marking time, as it were, shouting and drumming, as a " stop," or to advance towards your present station driving the pig before them. The remainder of the beaters are then similarly put into the cover on both sides of the water and ordered to advance in line after sufficient interval of time has elapsed for the others to get into position. The pig, alarmed by the noise of one party, runs along the jungle tills he meets the other line approaching from the opposite direction ; he will thereupon dive into the canal, and try the far bank, but finding matters in the same state there, he will select the quietest part of the cover, that is, half way between the approaching lines, and then steal away across the open for other hiding places. This then is the point at which "parties" should be posted, one on each side of the canal ; if possible well concealed and about 100 to 200 yards outside the cover. But it is most necessary to give the " canal " pig plenty of start before commencing to ride him, and for this reason : a canal pig is beyond all others chary of leaving his haunt, and knowing full well the natural strength of his fastness is certain to whip into it again, if he once has reason to suspect he is being followed. The sports- REARING PIG. 47 men should, therefore, let him pass their lurking place by half-a-mile at least before they proceed to follow him, and even then, if his " point " is a good distance away, they should only follow him at such a pace as will enable them to keep him in sight without alarming him for another quarter-of-a-mile, before they commence to " ride " him. What has been said of the fox in the Badminton Series applies with equal truth to the boar. " A baby would stop him from breaking cover, but a whole regi- ment of cavalry would not prevent him getting into it." Other parties are best placed moving with the lines of beaters along the edge of the cover, as many pig, find- ing the lines of the enemy coming closer and closer, will break when the nearest comes in sight, but their usual object will be merely to pass round the flank of the line and double into the jungle in rear of it again, and the riders will find it a very difficult matter to prevent them effecting this. A method of " stopping " sometimes adopted in beat- ing canal jungles, is to erect a high strong wattle fence across the cover, and extending well out into the plain, on either side of the canal. The parties are posted behind the ends of these wings, and a line of coolies beats both banks towards the wattle from a distance of two to four miles. The pig on coming to the obstruction turn and follow along it till they find themselves out in the open, where, if nothing occurs to alarm them, they will gene- rally make up their minds to continue their flight in the same direction across country. 23. Impassable Covers. It will sometimes happen that pig will get into a cover into which, owing to its close and thorny nature, the beaters cannot enter. 48 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. If it is found that a chorus of shouts, drums, shots, and squibs, etc., from outside has no effect, the jungle must be fired, but in doing so measures should be taken to prevent the fire spreading, if the country round about is cultivated and populated. The coolies should be stationed all round and supplied with branches of trees wherewith to beat it out if it commences to spread through the grass in a wrong direction. Care must also be taken that the coolies do not, as they are quite capable of do- ing, get caught within the compass of the conflagration. Not long ago a coolie had posted himself in a tree on an occasion of this kind, to give notice of pig breaking cover. After a time he discovered that the fire had spread all around his tree, and finally he was simply roasted alive on his perch. There is nothing a pig fears so much as fire ; and often a wounded boar who has taken to a thick bush where he resists all the induce- ments of spears, shots, and sticks to quit, will bolt at the very sight of a grass flambeau approaching to ignite his refuge. 24. Beating Grass Plains. In searching for pig in open grass plains or in low crops, or scattered bushes, it is usual for the line of coolies to advance with- out shouting or drumming, the parties advancing with the line, and disposed at intervals along it a few yards in rear. The object of proceeding almost in silence is that the pig should have no distant warning of their approach and so be enabled to steal away unseen, but should be roused in his lair, and started in sight of the hunters. In such an advance it is very common to see the parties riding in front of the line of beaters, but there is no object in their so doing ; if they are a few yards in rear of it they can direct the movements of the coolies REARING PIG. 49 (who are very apt to miss stirring up the most likely- looking grass tufts if not watched), and they will never experience the mortification so common in the former disposition of hearing, just when they have strayed a little too far to the front, that a boar has got up under the beaters' feet and has broken back through the line. 25. Prickly Pear Clumps. In parts of the Deccan and Hyderabad districts thickets of prickly pear are common, and are favourite haunts of pig, since no animal with a hide less tough than theirs could make its way into the cover. To drive them out is naturally a very difficult job. Good men are selected and are fur- nished with swords, and posted round the cover. They first strip off every particle of clothing, just as the natives in Africa do on entering a thorn jungle ; in this way thorns have nothing to catch in and generally glance off the bare skin. Each man then proceeds to cut a path for himself through the thorny growth to- wards the centre of the thicket until one of them gets a sight of the pig, who on such occasions lies very close. On finding him the Shikari gets a gun and fires a blank cartridge close to the ground near the pig. Thus attacked in the heart of his castle, the boar bounds forth into the open by the nearest path. Strange to say, in this dangerous service very few Shikaris have ever been wounded by him, as they are warned to "stand clear" by the report of the gun, and the firer takes advantage of the smoke of the discharge as a concealment. 26. Marking Down. In countries abounding in ravines, hills, or wide plains with small patches of bush at wide intervals, such as the Allahabad and Kutch districts, it is usual to have pig " marked down " in their 50 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. haunts during the night previous to the meet. The system followed is somewhat similar to that of "har- bouring " deer in England. Shikaris, or intelligent jungle peasants, are sent out overnight in couples to watch at likely spots for pig returning home from their feeding grounds in the early morning. Experience tells them where to secrete them- selves for this purpose, taking into calculation the locale of the nearest attractive crops, the position of covers, and the fact that pig always keep to the same route in going to and from their feeding grounds. When they see a good boar making his way home they follow him dis- creetly until he takes up his sleeping quarters for the day, whereupon one man returns to camp to report and to lead the hunters to the spot, while the other remains to watch and note any change of lodging on the part of the boar. This is a very sure and convenient method of rinding pig, obviating a great deal of unnecessary exposure to the sun, and tedious waiting and disappointment, but it is all the more satisfactory if you have effected the watching and marking down for yourself. Many assert that pig do not adhere to one route in leaving and returning to their sleeping quarters, but I cannot think they would say so after careful watching. ^Captain Williamson, a close observer of pig and their ways, distinctly states that they observe this rule, and moreover, if they are once disturbed on the march they will abandon that route and take to a new one the following night. The best men to use for the purpose of marking down, or indeed for any Shikari's work with pig, are Goojars, Brinjaries, Khunjurs, or Sansies (wandering grain sellers REARING PIG. 51 or gipsies). Their only object in life seems to be that of travelling about the country killing pig for food ; they are nomadic, more than poor, and in other respects very harmless, and so cannot be held in check by force ; but if their pighunting craft is enlisted into the service of the Tent Club of the district in which they are, the move will be well repaid by the excellent sport they will show, and their poaching depredations will cease as long as the hunters present them with the carcases of the slain. These men are well up in the signs of pig and their ways, and are very keen. They can distinguish a boar from a sow at a marvellous distance, and therefore are particu- larly useful as flagmen outside a cover, since they save the riders many of the heart-breaking useless gallops that are so common when a well-meaning rustic is employed in the signalling department, who waves you away after sows, or after squeakers no larger than a rabbit. In beating out a cover a dozen Goojars working intelligently and keenly together are worth five or six times their number of the ordinary half-hearted and eye-serving coolies. The mongrel dogs usually owned by these gipsies are often of great assistance in getting pig to bolt, and are much used by the Shikaris (themselves of these gipsy tribes) of the Delhi and the Lahore Tent Clubs. Sometimes a boar, especially an old and solitary one, will select a single isolated bush or thicket as his dwell- ing, without its apparently possessing any particular advantages ; it is sometimes far from water and far from crops, and close to a jungle ; but there must be some hidden merit in it, for often when one boar has been killed from such a lair, a visit a few weeks later to the same spot will disclose a new tenant in occupation. It E 2 52 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. is like a good pool on a salmon river, no sooner is the one good fish in it killed than another appears on the scene to succeed him ; or like the particular tussock always tenanted by a jack snipe. I have killed three fine boar within four months, all from the same little bush, and probably should have gone on finding fresh ones there for ever, had not a Vandal of a woodcutter come along and cut it down for firewood. One is often apt to ride by such a place without looking carefully into it : but a pig gives out a very strong scent, and if in passing by a thicket your horse sniffs the air or shows signs of excitement, you may be sure that a pig is there or has lately left. It is a very common thing for horses to smell out pig, and I have known sportsmen smell them out for themselves. I have myself done so on three different occasions. 27. Pugging. The most sporting of all methods of finding pig is by " pugging," or tracking them to their lairs by their footmarks or " pugs " (Gujerati wagJt}. This system is much practised in Gujerat and Kutch, and in all parts of Western India, where ordinary jungles are few and very far between, and where the pig in consequence lie up chiefly in solitary bushes. A large proportion of the natives of those dis- tricts are thoroughly expert in the art, since in every village trained trackers are maintained for the purpose of following up thieves who come into their district from elsewhere ; if they fail to account for the further move- ments of a runaway whose footmarks show him to have crossed into their land, their village has to pay " damages with costs" in restitution of the property lost. It is, therefore, not surprising to learn that there exist nu- merous professors of the art who are trained to it from REARING PIG. 53 childhood, and who can follow signs that are quite invisible to the untrained eye. An Englishman, though he may never hope to attain the skill of a professional, may, with a little trouble and continual practice, learn to track well enough for ordi- nary emergencies, and once tried it is a pursuit that he will not quickly give up ; for there is an indescribable charm about pugging unknown to one who has never practised it. Without doubt the constant and varied exercise of the inductive reasoning powers called into play in the pur- suit must exert a beneficial effect on the mind, and the actual pleasure of riding and killing a boar is doubly en- hanced by the knowledge that he has been found by the fair and sporting exercise of one's own bump of " wood- craft." The sharpness of intellect which we are wont to associate with the detective is nothing more than the result of training that inductive reasoning which is almost innate in the savage. To the child of the jungle the ground with its signs is at once his book, his map, and his newspaper. Remember the volume of meaning con- tained in the single print of Friday's foot on Crusoe's beach. I learnt the full value of such a sign lately when travelling in the interior in South-East Africa. The fresh mark of the forepart of a man's foot some two yards to one side of the jungle track we were then fol- lowing, and a corresponding deep heel mark on the other side, in a diagonal direction, were read to mean that a man had recently run from the direction of a village we knew existed to our right rear, and wishing his journey to be kept secret from us had bounded over our path in one stride, and had gone on in a diagonal direction 54 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. which was a short cut to another village, for which we were then making, and where we had been hoping to arrive unexpectedly before the inhabitants had time to conceal themselves and their supplies, which we were get- ting to know by painful experience they would do. This solitary footprint told us that we had been seen by the people of the last place, who had sent on this runner to warn the next of our approach, so that to obtain the much needed corn there was nothing for it now but to abandon that route, and strike off in a new direction for another but more distant kraal we had heard of. Such a story would of course be read from such signs by any moderately practised hunter ; indeed in Africa as in America a new comer could not go shooting with safety who could not at least spoor sufficiently well to be able to follow his back track in the event of finding him- self lost on the veldt. No one can realise the full mean- ing of the expression " feeling small " till as a " tender foot " or " new chum " he has lost himself in the bush, and then found that he was unable to track himself back to camp again. He feels then what a mere speck he is on the face of Nature. The Red Indian boasts that he can not only distin- guish a civilised man from a savage, though both be wearing mocassins, but also a truthful man from a liar, by his tracks. Although a civilised man may not hope to rival this power, he can still attain a very fair pro- ficiency in the art, provided that he has the gift of very great patience and perseverance, in addition to a quick eye for trifles, and an accurate knowledge of the ways and habits of his quarry. Without these, no man, how- ever much he may desire it, can become even a mediocre tracker. REARING PIG. 55 But supposing him to be possessed of these talents the first step in his education will be to learn to distinguish the appearance of the boar's footprint from that of any other animal, such as the deer, the goat, the sheep, and lastly from that of the sow. The deer shows two long, narrow sharp-pointed toes coming together with a fine point in a heart shape, except when moving fast or in heavy ground. 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 the boar, being longer than the goat's. His toes are held slightly apart, and the heel points touch the ground. 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 more widely apart. His greater age is shown by the increased size of his foot and width of heel. As in the ball of the human thumb, so to an experienced eye there is an individuality in the impression of the markings of the sole of every old boar. Once the elementary points have been mastered the sportsman should accompany a native tracker to the jungle, and watch him and learn from him first to recognise the age or freshness of a track, and then the almost boundless art of deducing and piecing together correctly information to be gathered from the various signs found. I cannot give here the many interesting and instruc- tive tracking anecdotes that abound, but to show in what way the Shikari draws his conclusions, I may quote the incident given by Mr. Saunderson in his " Fifteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India " He was riding early one morning through the jungle with two pro- fessional trackers walking, all muffled up, just in front of 56 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNT1NG. his elephant They were proceeding to look for a tiger which was known to be inhabiting the jungle. Present^ the fresh pugs of a tiger are seen on the path. The trackers pass them by, apparently without noticing them. Some of the beaters, however, who are following along behind, see them and come running up to the pro- fessionals, and jeeringly ask them if they have no eyes, that they pass by the marks of the very quarry they are seeking. To this one of the trackers only replies : " Idiots! At what time do rats run about?" And on closer investigation the abashed coolies discover that across the great square pug of the tiger runs the delicate tracing of the little field rat's toes, and knowing that this rat only comes out of its hole early in the night and retires again long before dawn, they recognise the fact that several hours must have elapsed since the tiger passed there. The best Indian pig trackers are the Mahrattis, the men of Kutch, the Bhils, the Gonds, and the Wagris of North Gujerat One of these men, if ordered to go to a certain jungle and ascertain what pig were in it, would make a circuit of it, and would not only see from the tracks leading into it the numbers, sizes, and sexes of the various pig who had entered it that morning, but would also notice the individual peculiarities of all the boar's pugs, so that he could tell which of them had again quitted the cover, and what pig still remained within. So accurately could an experienced man describe them that anyone not know- ing him to be a tracker would imagine that he was describing what he had actually seen. In pugging boars, the usual method is for four or five trackers or " puggees " to start together like a pack of REARING PIG. 57 hounds on the trail. If the ground is soft, or the pig has gone at speed, the work of following it is easy ; but when he takes to going leisurely, and on hard dry ground, the tracker's true work commences. The last unmistakable footprint is marked with a scratch in the sand drawn round it, and the puggees " cast " forward, and to either side to find a further sign of his progress. When found it is marked, and a new cast made for the next mark. This method is persevered in for hours and hours, and for mile after mile, until more favourable ground is reached and the boar's lair found. As an illustration of the difficulties gone through in following up a boar in this way, I quote the follow- ing from a letter I received from Mr. N. Symons (" Grey Boar of Bombay ") who is one of the few Englishmen who has succeeded in becoming a proficient in the art of pugging : "Wishing to track a good boar that had got away through some thick cover, we called up the headman of the beat (a man lent to us by a friend) and asked him if he could pug. He was a havildar (sergeant) of police. He replied, ' That is my regular business, sahib ; of course I can pug. My work is pugging criminals.' On enquiry we learnt that there were three other men amongst our eighty or a hundred beaters who could pug. However, we started, and got a good footmark for the first few hundred yards, and I noticed that one forefoot was apparently a trifle longer than the other, but as he had been going at full speed it was not certain, so I said nothing. Then we got to short, dry grass land and the pug was lost. I took a long circle round and lit on it in a goat track, and blew my horn. Up came the puggees, and were delighted. A second time the 58 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. pug was lost, and again I had the luck to find it ; not, strictly speaking, the pug, but a piece of broken cactus in a hedge, with the milky juice exuding. This was quite enough. On we went and followed up the pug for miles on short grass, over fields where the crops had been gathered, not so difficult a thing for a professional as an outsider might imagine, for the boar was running, and he cut up the ground with his feet more or less, and so the men were able to keep it up at a run. " By-and-by the boar began to walk, and then I was beaten. I often at that period could not see the pug until it was pointed out by the puggees drawing a circle round it with their sticks. And then we came to a cross track, both pretty fresh. We had now been pugging for three hours, and it was most disheartening. We did not know which track to follow, but after a long look with my eyes shaded I noticed a curious similarity in the two pugs. In both, one of the forefeet was longer than the other. On pointing this out to the Wagris, they said ' Wah ! wah !' and talked among themselves, and then turning to me, said ' Sahib, this is a very clever boar ; he has walked round in a circle and crossed his own track purposely. You sit down, sahib, for a quarter-of- an-hour, and we will puzzle it out.' So we sent back for the tiffin coolies, and sure enough the Wagris did 'puzzle it out.' I could hardly believe it, and was not satisfied till I had gone the whole way round, seeing where he had gone through several cactus hedges and walked up a lane turning into the same field, and coming back to the identical spot. We ringed round and round, but could not hit it off. Meantime one of the Wagris went about carefully inspecting the hedges, for, as he told me afterwards, he had noticed from the pug that the boar REARING PIG. 59 had stood still in several of the last few fields we had come through. When lo ! there he was ! Crouching in the hedge like a hare in its form. A shout, a tally-ho, and off we were ; and we got him after a smart gallop." A further instance of what small indications must be looked for and taken into consideration occurred when tracking a pig who had entered a field where all further trace of him was lost A gap in the hedge on the opposite side of the field suggested his probable line of exit. The gap was, therefore, closely examined, but without the discovery of a leaf or twig having been touched, much less of any footprint, till a Wagri puggee found a bit of wet mud about the size of a sixpence. The boar was known to have gone through an inundated sugar field about half-a-mile further back, and this little clot of mud must have stuck to his foot up to this point. Working on this clue, the onward track was soon re- gained, and successfully followed up to the boar's hiding- place. 6o CHAPTER X. PIGSTICKING SEASONS. 28. Weather and Crops. Pig like to live near to their water supply ; consequently, in the hot weather when all small pools and tanks are dried up, it is very evident that pig will be found in those jungles which are near water; crops being at that time of year few and far between, the pig have to go long distances for their nightly meal. In the "rains" (2.0., from July to October), high ground and the dry sides of ravines are much resorted to, but the ground sodden and undermined with water, and blind with a rank growth of vegetation, renders riding after pig dangerous, if not impossible, in most parts of the country. In the cold weather (November to February) the crops are high and thick, and the pig are more scattered about over the country, cover and water being plentiful everywhere. They lie up in warm corners, and often, especially on dull days, lie out in the crops all day. Indigo crops are almost always good resorts of pig in the cold weather, as are also grain and young barley. It is, of course, a difficult matter to follow a pig running in a crop, unless it is low enough to expose the pig's back. In this case tht crop is in favour of the pursuer ; as the boar cannot see where he is running to, he soon becomes bewildered, and only runs in a half-hearted sort of way, while his pursuer is able to see and follow his every move. PIGSTICKING SEASONS. 61 Sugar-cane, the favourite crop of all with the pig, is cut in February and March in Bengal, in December in the North-West Provinces, and in November and December in the Punjab. Barley, dhall, wheat, and grain are cut in February in Bengal, and a month later in the North-West Provinces and Punjab. Kana grass for thatching is cut in March. So when all the above points are taken into consider- ation it will be seen that the best season for pigsticking in Northern India is from February to July. C. Johnstone in his book on " Hog Hunting," pub- lished early in the century, says : " From March to June the weather is so extremely hot that hogs are seldom hunted on horseback. They are more frequently killed by being shot from the backs of elephants." (!) Now-a- days, the man " who shot a boar " would be classed in the same category with him " who shot the fox ; " and whether the present generation are " harder " than their fathers, or whether less beer-drinking and better head- coverings have fortified them against the effects of the sun, certain it is that the very months denounced by Johnstone are those which are now considered to be the best for sport. Of course, when hunting in such hot weather, the meet must take place in the very early morning, as it is then fairly cool for both horses, riders, and beaters, and moreover, the pig, having barely settled into their quarters for the day after their nocturnal rambles, are the more easily persuaded to get on the move again and leave the cover. 29. The following extract from the Log of the Muttra Tent Club, giving the summary for the years 1882-3-4, will show the comparative value of the different months of the year : 62 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. 1882. 1883. 1884. Total boar killed. January .... February 2 II 7 7 17 ii 25 28 9 53 46 April May June July August September October 3i 58 17 3 o 13 18 35 7 i 4 30 39 1 8 20 14 I 2 74 H5 70 30 15 6 November December 4 5 5 4 Total 133 iz8 117 428 PART II. WHAT YOU HAVE TO CONTEND WITH. ENJOYMENT is HEIGHTENED BY THE EXCITEMENT AND TRIUMPH OF SURMOUNTING OBSTACLES AND DANGERS. CHAPTER XI. POWERS OF THE PIG. 30. Craftiness. In the course of recent experi- ments by Professor Schwartz and others, to test the effect of alcohol on various animals, the savants came to the conclusion that as the pig was the least affected after most generous libations, his brain must be of a very peculiar consistency as well as very small in pro- portion to his size. If this is the case it may truly be said that in the matter of brains he goes in for quality and not quantity, for there can be no doubt that that little brain is ex- cessively full of craft. It may be that want of sensi- tiveness enables him to keep all his wits about him up to his last breath, even when he has been wounded to such an extent as would have laid any other animal low in a state of insensibility. And even in the worst dilemma a pig never loses his head. When he is first aroused by the distant sounds of the beaters approaching his haunt, he will proceed to the opposite end of the cover, and if he finds all quiet there and the coast apparently clear he will probably steal out at once and lob away across the open to some other jungle with that peculiar gait which at a distance makes him resemble (the simile is Mr. A. W. Cruickshank's) "a carpet bag tumbling along end over end." F 66 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. If the beaters come to his lair suddenly or silently he will try by lying close to escape notice, but if roused out he will probably make a dash for the line (which is generally only too ready to open out and let him through) and regain that portion of the cover which has already been beaten. When once he has been persuaded to evacuate a cover and take to the open, his plans are at once laid, and he will almost always strike a line for some other sanctuary although it may be distant some miles. 31. Speed of the Boar, The pace at which a boar can travel is to a stranger perhaps one of the most surprising points about him. Of course the actual speed and its duration depend to a great extent on the breed and condition of the pig, on the state of the ground, and on how he is being hunted ; but under general con- ditions a single rider will find it hard to exceed him in pace for the first three-quarters of a mile, and if he should try saving his horse in the first burst, merely using sufficient speed to keep the boar in view, he will find that when he wants to overhaul him the pig has got his second wind and is quite prepared to go on for miles at a steady hopping canter which will keep him comfort- ably in front of the hunter, and the run will resolve itself into a trial of endurance between the horse and the boar. In a run where three or four men are racing together for " first spear " the pig is hustled along faster than he wishes from the very first, and consequently though he will keep ahead of his pursuers for half or three-quarters of a mile his wind will last no farther and he is then soon overtaken. A young and fresh boar, making for a jungle only a POWERS OF THE PIG. 67 few hundred yards away, is capable of putting on a spurt which few horses could equal. 32. Cunning. When fairly started in his run across country for a distant sanctuary the boar will utilise every scrap of cover that lies anywhere near his route, such as bushes, nullahs, walls, sunk roads, etc. ; he will also take advantage of the best ground for making the pace over, by following footpaths through ploughed fields and ridges between irrigated crops ; and when- ever he gets the opportunity he will place any natural ob- stacle between himself and his pursuer, such as a ravine, canal, nullah, etc. He will sometimes make so wide a deviation from his direct line that the pursuer will almost think the pig has got out of his reckoning, till some thicket or other oppor- tunity of concealment comes in sight and accounts for the detour. Arrived at such a clump, he will endeavour either to get his wind, or very commonly to give his hunters the slip by plunging into the cover and then squatting sud- denly, leaving his pursuers to rush by hoping to catch him on the far side ; as soon as they are past, he steals out at the spot where he entered and quietly gallops back in the direction in which he has just come. In placing a natural obstacle between himself and his foes a pig will never hesitate to get over it himself. He will hurl himself into the deepest nullah at the risk of broken limbs, in spite of the fact that his legs and joints are very susceptible to injury. It is very common to find old boars with enlarged and ossified hocks and fetlock joints, resulting from such break-neck leaps. I have even seen a pig break its leg in the course of a run in the act of jumping down a small bank. In Kutch a few years back a boar, finding himself F 2 68 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. hard pressed, ran straight over a steep cliff 50 feet high, and picked himself up at the bottom and got away un- hurt over the plains below, in full view of his disgusted pursuers. There is a saying that a pig cannot swim, as in attempt- ing it he cuts his throat with his hoofs. I fear the action of the wild boar hardly bears out this statement, as he may often be seen swimming a canal or river on pleasure or on business bent, and when hard pressed near water it is the first method of escape he essays. In the Log of the Cawnpore Tent Club there is recorded a case of a pig taking to water in a deep pond when he had been badly speared. He thus kept his foes at a distance, and there seemed every prospect of their having to besiege him until his swimming powers failed, when a coolie, and let us here enshrine the fact that his name was Choodoo, swam in and tackled him, and eventually succeeded in drowning him. It is said that when swimming a boar cannot use his tushes, an accusation that has yet to be proved. 33- Jinking. When the boar in the course of the run finds he is becoming too closely pressed, he will keep an eye on his pursuer, and directly he sees the spear point being lowered in his direction in anticipation of a prod, he will "jink," or suddenly turn sharply to the right or left, almost divining at the moment to which hand the rider is least prepared to turn. In performing this trick he will often make a feint of jinking to one side, and will dart off in exactly the opposite direction in the next stride. In either case he generally manages to escape -the spear point for the time, and to throw his foremost pursuer a good many lengths to the bad. POWERS OF THE PIG. 69 A pig hard pressed will often make for a herd of cattle and try to keep in its midst during its blundering and stupid flight before the horsemen, hoping in this way to escape notice. I have been riding a boar who in his anxiety to lose his identity attempted to join a herd of water buffaloes, in which he would have been very hard to follow ; but luckily for me one old bull resented his intrusion and charged him head down. This unexpected reception so annoyed the old boar that, forgetting all about his original danger, he turned his attention to this new enemy, and I was the witness of two real good charges between them before he came to the conclusion that it was better to resume his course of flight. On another occasion I saw a boar join a herd of neelghai ; and once nearly lost one in the course of a run through his seeing and joining a sounder of fresh pig, in which he hoped to smuggle himself away ; but the foam on his jaws and his pounding gait and tail erect and rigid (for I had been riding him some distance) soon distinguished him from the rest, and I was able to single him out. When he saw his ruse was discovered his rage knew no bounds, and he came round at me at once, and was only killed after a good fight, in the course of which he cut my horse severely above the knee. In the above cases it was apparently no abject feeling of fear which prompted the pig to adopt this course, but rather an instinct of cunning and discretion which urged them to avoid unnecessary fighting, by availing them- selves of the means of escape offered, which means, when found inadequate, were at once abandoned for the more natural method of cool upstanding fighting. The Cawnpore Tent Club Log also gives a case in 70 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. which a hunted boar took refuge in a herd of rough- looking village pig, and with such success that for a short time one of the unfortunate tame porkers stood in imminent danger of his life, until his owner came rush- ing up with clasped hands to intercede for his favourite, and put the hunters on the track of the interloper. 34. Ferocity. I defy contradiction of the state- ment that the boar possesses the nastiest temper of any living animal. The moment he is put out by any little annoyance he is prone to resort at once to the use of his tushes, usually in an indiscriminate manner, " Being moved he strikes whate'er is in his way, And whom he strikes his cruel tushes slay " (very often). He will attack anything, from his youngest son to an elephant. When galloping after a sounder I have seen the boar running amongst his young family, pitching them right and left out of his way. It is, as a rule, very hard to get elephants, so knowing are they, to face a pig in the jungle. On one occasion a particularly staunch elephant was employed in beating a jungle, and on finding a pig she stood her ground, but was promptly attacked by the boar, and received such a severe cut in her leg that she could never be got to face one again. General McMaster and Major Moray Brown both relate instances of camels, whose very appearance suffices to scare most animals, being the victims of savage onslaughts by boars. At a grand field-day at Delhi, in the presence of all the foreign delegates, fh 1885, a boar suddenly appeared upon the scene and charged a Horse Artillery gun, effectually stopping it in its advance at a gallop by throwing down two of the POWERS OF THE PIG. 71 horses. The headquarter staff and the foreign officers were spectators of this deed, and hastened to sustain the credit of the Army by seizing lances from their orderlies and dashing off in pursuit of the boar, who was now cantering off to find more batteries on which to work his sweet will. The staff, however, were too quick for him, and, after a good run and fight, he fell a victim to their attentions, amidst a chorus of vivas, sacrts, and houplas. Colonel Bushman, the Deputy Adjutant-General, him- self a fanatical believer in " the queen of weapons," took the honours of the run. This is not the only occasion on which pig have appeared on the field of battle, for in the Franco-Prussian War numbers of them used to keep the outposts on the qui vive. In that campaign, Hans Breitmann, serving as a uhlan, observed the number of sows that were about in the Ardennes, and accounted for their presence in a somewhat original way : " And all dese schweinpig sauen Vot you see a running round Is a great metempsygosis Of the Frantsche" demi monde" It often happens that cattle and peasants are killed or badly hurt by boars whom they have unexpectedly dis- turbed enjoying their mid-day siesta in crops. It is a well ascertained fact that of all animals the boar does not fear to drink at the same pool with a tiger ; nay, a case is on record of his having taken his drink with a tiger on each side of him. Mr. Sterndale relates an authentic story of a tiger being killed by a boar, the tiger being young and lusty, not old and worn-out like the one who, according to the account in Phil Robinson's "Noah's Ark," was 72 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. killed by his own dinner the dinner being a playful but hard-headed sheep, who, when introduced into the tiger's cage, proceeded " to butt him so severely that he died." Mr. Inglis describes a pitched battle between a tiger and a boar, which he watched from a hiding hole near a pool, where the wild beasts came to water. " When the boar saw the tiger the latter roared. But (says Mr. Inglis) the old boar did not seem to mind the roar so very much as might have been anticipated. He actually repeated his " hoo ! hoo ! " only in a, if possible, more aggressive, insulting, and defiant manner. Nay more, such was his temerity that he actually advanced with a short sharp rush in direction of the striped intruder. Intently peering through the indistinct light, we eagerly watched the development of this strange rencontre. The tiger was now crouching low, crawling stealthily round and round the boar, who changed front with every movement of his lithe and sinewy adversary, keeping his determined head and sharp, deadly tusks ever facing his stealthy and treacherous foe. The bristles of the boar's back were up at a right angle from the strong spine. The wedged-shaped head poised on the strong neck and thick rampart of muscular shoulder was bent low, and the whole attitude of the body betokened full alertness and angry resoluteness. In their circlings the two brutes were now nearer to each other and nearer to us, and thus we could mark every movement with greater precision. The tiger was now growling and showing his teeth ; and all this, that takes such a time to tell, was but the work of a few short minutes. Crouching now still lower, till he seemed almost flat on the ground, and gathering his sinewy limbs beneath his lithe, lean body, he suddenly POWERS OF THE PIG. 73 startled the stillness with a loud roar, and quick as lightning sprang upon the boar. For a brief minute the struggle was thrilling in its intense excitement. With one swift, dexterous sweep of the strong, ready paw, the tiger fetched the boar a terrific slap right across the jaw, which made the strong beast reel ; but with a hoarse grunt of resolute defiance, with two or three sharp digs of the strong head and neck, and swift cutting blows of the cruel, gashing tusks, he seemed to make a hole or two in* the tiger's coat, marking it with more stripes than Nature had ever painted there ; and presently both com- batants were streaming with gore. The tremendous buffet of the sharp claws had torn flesh and skin away from off the boar's cheek and forehead, leaving a great ugly flap hanging over his face and half blinding him. The pig was now on his mettle. With another hoarse grunt, he made straight for the tiger, who very dexterously eluded the charge, and, lithe and quick as a cat after a mouse, doubled almost on itself, and alighted clean on the boar's back, inserting his teeth above the shoulders, tearing with his claws, and biting out great mouthfuls of flesh from the quivering carcase of his maddened antagonist. He seemed now to be having all the best of it, so much so that the boar discreetly stumbled and fell forward, whether by accident or design I know not, but the effect was to bring the tiger clean over his head sprawling clumsily on the ground. I almost shouted, " Aha, now you have him !" for the tables were turned. Getting his forefeet on the tiger's prostrate carcase, the boar now gave two or three short, ripping gashes with the strong white tusks, almost disembowelling his foe, and then exhausted seemingly by the effort, apparently giddy and sick, he staggered aside and lay down panting and 74 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. champing his tusks, but still defiant with his head to the foe. But the tiger, too, was sick yea, sick unto death. The blood-letting had been too much for him. And now thinking that it was time for the interference of a third party, I let the two mutually disabled combatants have the contents of both my barrels, and we had the satis- faction presently of seeing the struggling limbs grow still, and knew that both were ours. Captain Williamson also mentions instances of " fights occuring between tigers and boars in some of which both combatants have been killed." " And, being ireful, on the lion he'll venture." General Rice shot a boar whose " back was full of deep long furrows as if some one had dug the iron spikes of a large garden rake well down into his flesh and then dragged it out sideways." This was the work of a lion which the General succeeded in shooting the follow- ing day. On examination a dangerous rip from the boar's tush was found under the lion's elbow. The fact of finding himself hard pressed appears to annoy a boar very considerably, and he will then often charge any object he sees, whether it may be concerned in his pursuit or not. In one morning I have seen two different boars in the course of their runs charge at harmless cowherds who hap- pened to be standing near their line of flight. One man was cut, the other threw his only garment a la matador over the pig's head and hurled himself flat on the ground howling. Luckily for him the pig seized the rag to vent his rage upon, and lost his life while busy in tearing it to shreds. In the neighbourhood of the Saharunpore Stud Farm last year, Lord " Bill " Beresford was riding a boar, who, POWERS OF THE PIG. 75 finding the fields rather heavy, took to a road for better going. After rattling along this for some distance he found himself coming to one of the farm gates shut across the road a real formidable five-barred arrange- ment in stout timber. Without a moment's hesitation the boar put on extra steam and charged it with lowered head. The result was that he knocked away the lowest bar, and, catching the next one on his back, gave the gate such a heave upwards as to release the latch and open it for his pursuer. " Bill," however, was too close on to him to be benefited by this accident, for his horse was at that moment rising to clear it, and the gate swinging back just as he rose caught the horse as he descended and was smashed ; the horse and rider got a very nasty fall on the hard road, and the pig lived to fight some other day. It frequently occurs that a boar charges before he has been wounded or evn ridden. On one occasion in my experience, a sportsman, fresh from England, was sitting quietly on his mare outside the cover during a beat (of course taking no pains to conceal himself), looking with rather a contemptuous eye on all the preparations for killing a miserable pig, when an old boar looking out from the bushes spied him, and without thinking twice about it went straight for him. The sportsman gaily advanced at a canter to meet him in spite of all his companions' adjurations not to head him. The boar, however, had no intention himself of being headed, and putting on an extra spurt charged straight for the mare's forelegs and knocked them clean from under her ; the fall that followed was " imperial," and the sportsman, who had pitched on his head, only came to his senses some twenty minutes later, with quite fresh opinions about the Indian boar. 76 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Another time a boar, hearing the coolies beating through the jungle towards his haunt, looked out to see if the coast were clear for a bolt across the open. Nothing was to be seen except one native gentleman stepping along the high road nearly half a mile away. Still this was not to the boar's taste, so he went straight for the wretched man and gave him one gash that floored him with his thigh laid open, and then went on his way rejoicing. Major Gough (better known as " Goffy ") avers that a boar once charged him for three miles (more or less) ! He saw the brute come as a mere speck over the distant horizon, it came on and on nearer and nearer faster and faster, until it rushed right on his levelled spear ! Major Hogg writes, " I remember on one occasion the beaters paused on the brink of a large nullah covered with bushes and grass, and pointed out to me a dark object rather more than a hundred yards off which they said was a boar and which they were afraid of. On riding up to about sixty yards the boar sat up on its haunches like a dog, and when we were within thirty yaflds he charged as straight as an arrow and as hard as he could. He was, of course, checked by a spear, but owing to the thick cover we took half an hour to kill him, and not before he had ripped three horses. " On another occasion I was riding alone after a boar which had taken the beaters three hours to dislodge from a steep hill covered with jungle, who, when he found I was gaining on him, when I was still about fifty yards from him, stopped short, wheeled round, and charged. I speared him through the back and forced him on to his knees, but he broke my horse's off hind fetlock with his tusk. He then got one of the POWERS OF THE PIG. 77 Shikaris down and nearly killed him, ripping him in five places, and cutting an artery in his arm before I could get up and spear him on foot." 35. Use of tushes. One of the traits of the boar that usually strikes the beginner is his apparent ability to be at one moment some yards away and the next right under your horse ; and another, the power and accuracy with which, by a rapid twist of his head, he inflicts his murderous gash. This quickness and handiness with his tushes is learned and practised from his earliest youth, and is brought into use in his fights with rivals as he grows older. I have seen little " squeakers " having a set- to together, while their mothers, sisters, cousins, and aunts formed an admiring crowd to watch their quick rushes and rallies, just as one sees two boys pitted against each other in a match at lawn tennis to say nothing of a set-to with gloves on, or without. I had a young wild boar for some time living in my compound, and have spent many a half hour watching him jinking from, and charging at, an old tree stump with most active and untiring energy. On one occasion, when beating a cover, our coolies disturbed a regular prize-fight between two grown boars ; two large sounders, numbering in all thirty-seven pig, broke cover and came close past the copse in which the party was posted. Each sounder contained only one full- grown boar, and was evidently composed of his family and backers, etc. One of these two bore fresh signs of recent punishment, his head and shoulders being gashed and covered with blood, the other had only a few slight cuts and scratches, but his tushes were ominously covered with foam and blood. Many an aged solitary boar is found to be covered 78 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. with scars and old wounds mementos of his last struggles for supremacy in his family circle, when a younger and stronger rival had come to oust him from his position and his wives. Some people suppose that boars use their upper tushes in cutting an enemy ; this, however, is not the case ; the upper tushes are too blunt and thick for that purpose, and are merely protectors and sharpeners of the lower ones. Two instances in particular have come under my per- sonal observation which tend to show that the upper tushes are not dangerous. A very old boar with perfect upper tushes but with both lower ones broken off once got under my horse, and though he marked him with streaks of foam from his jaws, he did not inflict the slightest scratch on him. On the other hand, another old boar, who was afterwards found to have both his lower tushes in good condition, but one upper tush broken off and the other very blunted, was making his way across a field, filled with rage at having been already twice speared, when he espied two natives at work. One of these he charged, and throwing him down inflicted several severe gashes on him. The other man came to the assistance of his comrade and was in his turn sent flat on his back ; while in this position the boar lay on him to keep him down and proceeded to dig at his chest with his tushes ; the man managed to mitigate the effect of the cuts by seizing the boar's lower jaw with both hands and partially holding it from him till he was rescued ; but notwithstanding this, he was more or less badly cut in fifteen places. No more conclusive instance can be given of the boar's gashing abilities than that of the encounter which Colonel Kinloch, of the King's Royal Rifles, had PO WERS OF THE PIG. 79 with a truculent old monster. I will give the account in the Colonel's own words from his "Large Game Shooting in Northern India:" " Several of us were lounging about the mess tent late in the afternoon when we heard shouts of ' Jungli soor/ and, on looking out, saw a boar galloping through some shallow water about 300 yards from camp. Just then one of our men fired a charge of shot at him, which, of course, did him no harm, but only served to enrage him. " My horses were being groomed at the time, so that I shouted to a syce to saddle one, ran to my tent for a spear, and was in the saddle and in pursuit of the boar in little more than a minute. He was about three-quarters of a mile off, but I could plainly see him, and sent my horse along as hard as he could go. The pig was going leisurely, and I soon came up and made him quicken his pace. Just then he espied two wretched natives standing in the corn, and at once changed his course and charged them. They turned to run, but one was instantly knocked over. I was close behind, and the boar went on. I soon overtook him and gave three spears in quick succession, but in my hurry I had unfortunately brought a blunt spear, and I did not do him much harm. Each thrust was followed by a most determined and wicked charge which it took me all I knew to avoid. I had no spurs. We now reached a field of higher corn, and the boar, turning suddenly round, charged straight at my horse's chest. I had no time to get out of the way, and my horse was knocked off his legs, receiving a cut under the left knee. I was sent flying, but found myself on my feet in an instant, and had just time to lower my spear as the boar rushed at me. The spear glanced, and 80 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. I was at once thrown down and the pig immediately attacked me on the ground, digging at me most savagely. I knew that my only chance was to prevent him from getting his tusks into my stomach ; I therefore kept my left arm well to the front and let him rip at it while I seized him by the foreleg with the right hand and tried to throw him. He was too strong for me and kept on cutting me, so finding that I could not get rid of him, I resolved to try the dodge of shamming ; I therefore threw myself flat on my face and lay still, hoping the brute would leave me. However, he went on digging at me as viciously as ever, inflicting two severe cuts on my head. This would not do, so I jumped up, and grasping my spear with both hands, drove it with all my strength against his chest, but it would not penetrate, and I was again knocked down. " I now began to think matters were becoming serious when to my delight, I heard horses galloping. I shouted for help, and as they approached the boar left me. S., R., and S., then rode up, having by good luck come the right way, for they did not even know I was in front of them. I was scarlet from head to foot, and my clothes cut to ribbons. S. looked after me while the others went for a dhoolie. I was carried into camp and my wounds sewn up and dressed, a job which took nearly four hours ! I had received about fifty wounds, two in the head, two in the foot, and the others pretty equally distributed between them. The tendons of my left arm were injured, and I have never recovered perfect use oi that hand." Among the natives of India, it is a common super- stition that the cut from a boar is poisonous, and though the same idea was formerly prevalent in England, there seems to be nothing to justify it. POWERS OF THE PIG. 81 Vambery, when travelling in Central Asia (it is probably "Eastern Russia" by this time), was thrown by his horse in the midst of a sounder of pig. He was afterwards cordially congratulated by his native followers on having been fortunate enough to escape the tushes of the boar, as their effect would probably have been fatal, and had he gone to the next world " nedjis " or defiled, owing to being killed by an unclean beast, one hundred years of purgatory would not have sufficed to cleanse him ! In the majority of instances of a man on foot being attacked by a boar, he has received wounds in the thigh. In the case of horses the wounds, if not in the belly, are generally in the stifle or hock. Many horses when being ridden up to a wounded boar are apt to check their pace just when they are on him, and consequently give him a steadier object of attack ; many endeavour to strike at him with their forefeet and are very often severely cut about the fet- locks in so doing. I have known a horse gashed on two different occasions when trying this plan of attack ; and there is on record a case of a pony having its forefoot cut off in a similar encounter, and the hoof being left hanging by skin and a tendon only. Apparently with an idea of wounding in a more vital part a boar will often spring at the horse or rider. I have known of a horse standing 15*3 hands being badly cut on the wither in that way, and Matthew Day, of Dacca, had a horse wounded with a gash extending from the root of the tail to the point of the hip. Instances of the rider's boots being cut are common. Some herbivorous animals, such as the horse, camel, 82 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. etc., use their teeth in self-defence, while others, such as the elephant, deer, buffalo, etc., do not. The pig, in spite of having a good weapon in his tusk, may be classed among the former, for he will occasionally, without any apparent reason, take to biting instead of gashing at close quarters. Many cases have occurred of a hunter's foot or stirrup being seized and held by the pig in his mouth. Colonel Murdoch, R.H.A., has (unless he has by this time worn it out) a boot with a pig's tooth-mark clean through the sole. Colonel Eraser, in his " Life in India," describes how his syce lost two fingers by a bite from a pig. "Beetle," the fox terrier hero pictured at page 132, had one of his feet badly chawed by a boar, and from that day went about with a permanently enlarged foot. On one occasion, when riding a mulishly obstinate horse, I had succeeded in pinning a boar to the ground with a spear through his body ; he presently began to work himself up the spear towards the horse's forelegs. No jobbing or spurring would induce the horse to move, till the boar, much to my surprise, instead of cutting at it seized my steed's off fore in his mouth, and gave it a bite which made the horse hop with pain, and then retaliate with a tattoo by both forefeet on the boar's skull. The following extract from the lt Asian" gives an instance of a good boar disdaining to use his tushes : " The hog met me boldly (for the third time) and was again badly wounded ; another charge, and though badly hit, he managed to come in, and catching my foot in his mouth, hung on like a bull-dog, while the impetus of the horse dragged him several yards from the jungle. The pain of the bite was intense, and I really thought POWERS OF THE PIG. 83 for a moment that I had lost half my foot. There was, however, no time to examine how matters stood, for night was closing in fast ; we were close upon a heavy jungle, and every minute of breathing time allowed improved the chance of my antagonist ; so, at him again was the word, and this time either from a stumble my horse made in going up, or the imperfect light in the long grass, I missed him in the charge and he struck me between the boot top and the breeches, causing a very severe bruise, but strange to say without cutting my leg. In the next and last charge my spear struck the hog just above the shoulder, and going completely through the body, the gallant brute fell and died without a struggle For this novel mode of attack by biting I am unable to account, as the tushes now before me are sharp and perfect, and their size prove him to have been about the prime of hoghood. We must con- clude that the march of intellect has made a stride among the pigs, and that following the example of bipeds the males now adopt a mode of defence formerly peculiar to the weaker sex, employing the tongue instead of * tulwar ' (sword), teeth instead of tushes." 36. Gameness. The pluck of the pig is best shown when, disabled by wounds, and with power to run no further, he stops to fight every inch of his way to some cover, and on gaining it comes to bay. " The pluck of the bull-dog does not beat The pluck of the gallant boar." Any but a good spear seems to rouse him to fresh fury. He stands with feet planted wide apart and head lowered, his tushes clashing together, and his restless little bloodshot eyes watching every movement of his G 2 84 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. foes, till the nearer approach of one of them prompts him to rush forth and charge with an unexpected vigour and activity, after which he will trot back and take up his position afresh. Let a rider try to come up behind him, he will note the movement and be round on him in a twinkling. He never seems to lose head or heart, and throws himself on to the spears time after time with reckless gallantry, and even when being held off with a spear through his body he will endeavour by working himself up the shaft to get within cutting distance of the horse or the hunter. Wounds which would at least disable any other animal seem to affect the pig but little. Even with his skull splintered by a shot he has been known to charge with renewed vigour. The following incident, which I have ventured to extract from the Cawnpore Tent Club Log, will give an idea of the fighting spirit and gameness of the boar : "In the afternoon (2Oth June, 1874) we found another very fine pig a little beyond the Bumba, and Clifford, who was on the line, followed him across the canal and into some bushes about one and a-half mile below the Kejung Bridge. Here he took up his stand and we waited till the coolies came up, when, having bowled over three of them, head over heels, and established a funk among the rest he sneaked away and got across the road ere he was discovered. The whole field got away after him, but he succeeded in gaining a mango tope (grove) about one and a-half mile from the bushes, closely pressed by Fishbourne. After some little diffi- culty he was induced to break, but being too quickly followed by Fishbourne he turned and made back for the garden. Mitchell, who was just coming out, rode to POWERS OF THE PIG. 85 meet him, but missed his spear, and the pig passed between his horse's legs, and gave him rather a nasty cut, which would have been much worse had his tusk not happened to be broken. "The boar now lay down in some water, whence Clifford and Fishbourne invited his charges, the latter spearing him through the back, leaving the spear in, which, however, he quickly broke off against a tree, and immediately after, noticing Cruickshank a little way off he carefully stalked him and rolled him, horse and all, right over. The unfortunate mali (gardener) next came in the way and had a large piece of flesh cut out of his thigh, and two coolies and a woman were badly cut within a few seconds after. After these performances the boar went right through a village and gained nearly a mile start before anyone got away after him. About two miles from the garden he took up his position in a piece of sugar crop where he was finally killed by Fish- bourne after charging six or seven times and being speared every time" H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught was on one occasion faced by a very game boar, when hunting with the Delhi Tent Club. The pig had been started in a very difficult bit of country. Lord Downe was the first to come on terms with him, and as he did so the boar turned and rushed for him, and although smartly speared succeeded in inflicting a fearful gash in his horse's hock. Dr. Kavanagh coming up next was charged in his turn, and succeeded in checking the boar with a point in the head, but so deeply was the spear driven in that it was wrenched from his hand, and remained standing in the pig's skull. In spite of this encumbrance the old tusker again started to make good his retreat to the jungle, when the Duke 86 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. came up and speared with such effect that he gave up all further idea of flight, and having worked the spear out of his head, took to charging at his enemies. He pursued Dr. Kavanagh for some distance, and another of the party he unhorsed, and only after a good tussle was he killed on foot, the Duke of Connaught giving him his coup de grace. When utterly beat the boar will, as a rule, retreat into some thick bush, small ravine, or other sanctuary where he cannot be taken in rear or flank, and if possible out of reach of spears. From a position such as this it is very difficult to oust him. If his cover is inflammable it may be set fire to, but if not it will be necessary to attack him on foot, but in such a case it is well to remember that although he may struggle into his sanctuary apparently more than half dead, it is not, therefore, to be presumed that he is already done for ; often he will lie still for some time shamming to be dead, and quietly recover his wind, and will in time revive to a wonderful extent; on this account he should be ap- proached with caution by anyone dismounted. To' digress for a moment : talking of approaching cautiously when on foot reminds me of a case which happened in the Allahabad district, when after a long run over bad ground the boar got into a thicket, very done but still unwounded. As no beating or shouting had the desired effect of driving him forth he was ap- proached by the party on foot with every precaution, when to the surprise of the contestants for " first spear," it was found that the unfortunate (?) animal had already passed away to happier jungles having died of apoplexy or exhaustion. When hard pressed and beat a pig will take to almost POWERS OF THE PIG. 87 any kind of refuge, whether up a drain, down a well, or in a house. I have known three instances of pig doing this latter, and one was killed near Meerut, having taken his final stand in a grain dealer's shop. A good boar was once killed near Cawnpore who had gone to bay in a tank (pond). He fought the party of three spears for over fifteen minutes before he was finally despatched. He had cut one horse and two beaters severely. It is in this last stage of his hunt, when thus driven to bay, that the boar exhibits to the fullest that stubborn pluck and reckless fierceness which so characterise him and which deservedly raise him to the first place amongst animals of the chase. On such occasions, with sterner feelings roused, one cannot well feel pity, but a strong admiration seizes one for the plucky beast. " good to run and to fight, And who never says die till you've killed him outright." M. Levesque says "j'ai beaucoup frequente les sang- liers, et, parmi nos animaux sauvages, je n'en connais aucun que je trouve aussi estimable. C'est un brave, un chevalier sans peur et sans reproche, qui se bat courageusement jusqu'a la fin, et meurt comme un heros." 88 CHAPTER XII. THE WEAPONS 37. Long Spear. In addition to the natural pro- pensities of the boar himself, the use of a weapon that is not certain in its effects, and which brings hunter and hunted on more equal terms and at close quarters, is a further item of excitement in the sport of pigsticking. At all times and in all countries where pighunting has found followers, it has almost invariably been carried out with the aid of some form of spear. By the inhabitants of Ancient Britain, by those of Albania, Central Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, Algeria, by the Pathans of Biluchistan, and the Brinjaris of Hindustan, boar have been, or still are, run down on foot and killed with assist- ance of dogs and spears. As I have said, the idea of hunting the boar on horse- back was only introduced as a substitute for bearstick- ing some ninety years ago by English sportsmen quartered in India, and for a long time the old form of spear was adhered to a big, broad-bladecl head, set on to the thick end of a short, heavy, bamboo shaft. This weapon was thrown at the pig. Even so late as 1827 Johnson writes : "When hunting with a party I disapprove of jobbing the spear into the hog, that is spearing a hog and not quitting your hold of the spear. It is attended with considerable danger of dislocating the shoulder " (!) " and prevents all the rest THE WEAPONS. 89 of the party from participating in the sport, the horse and rider are more liable to be ripped ; and it requires no dexterity comparatively with throwing the spear, though more resolution and strength of arm ; and it is not considered a fair method of sport." Since then, however, the system thus decried has been generally adopted, and the spear has undergone great changes in weight and dimensions, to make it a weapon adapted for being retained in the hand under all circumstances. Two kinds of spear are used in India, the long or " underhand " spear, and the short or "jobbing" spear. The long spear is generally used in Southern and Western India, and in the Meerut, and one or two other clubs in Northern India. It consists of a light, tough bamboo shaft, from seven to eight feet long, with a small steel head, the whole weighing from two to three pounds. The shape of the head depends to a great extent on the fancy of the hunter. The spear is used "underhand," that is, it is grasped about two-thirds of the way back from the point, with knuckles turned downwards, thumb pointing along the shaft which is carried below the forearm with a free play of wrist, elbow, and shoulder. The advantages claimed for the long spear are that it is easy to use, that a pig, and particularly a "jinker," is more quickly reached with it, that a charging boar is held at a safe distance from the horse, and that the whole impetus of man and horse are given to the force of the blow. The disadvantages are said to be that it is unwieldy to carry among long grass, bushes, trees, etc., and that being easily diverted by stalks and twigs, etc., it is useless for spearing purposes in such places ; and owing to its length, and the manner in which it is held, it cannot be 90 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. used against a boar charging from behind or from a flank. 38. The Short Spear. The short or "jobbing" spear is generally used throughout Bengal and Upper India, and is thicker, heavier, and shorter than the long spear, being 6 feet 6 inches extreme measure, with a weight of lead on the butt, so designed that when the spear is grasped within 6 inches of the butt, it has a certain balance, and can be wielded from the elbow. Its weight is from two to four pounds, and it is used "overhand," that is, with the knuckles to the front, thumb upwards. Its advantages are that it can be better used among jungle, since its action is more perpendicular than that of the long spear, and, therefore, is not so liable to be interfered with by bushes, etc. ; that it can be carried without inconvenience through any jungle where a horse can go (the butt being held in the hand, and the shaft lying alongside the horse's body, pointing to the rear) ; that it brings the hunter into closer proximity with the boar, hence, allowing a better mark and a more exciting time ; that the stroke being a perpendicular one through the back is most deadly ; and that a boar charging from the right or right rear (the most usual direction of attack) is easily received. Its disadvantages are, that it requires more skill and strength on the part of the wielder, and also the use of a good horse ; that in the event of a fall it is more liable to wound the horse or rider; and that it allows a boar to come into too dangerous proximity to the horse, when being speared or when charging. 39- Comparative Merits of the two Spears. The comparative merits of the long and short spears THE WEAPONS. 91 have been and always are a subject of much discussion between " pigstickers " and " hoghunters." Mr. John Watson, A. Cruickshank, Lord W. Beresford, and Mr. N. Symons, pigstickers of the first flight, have all of them used both spears alike, and have given their verdict in favour of the short one. The first-named, perhaps the finest pigsticker ever seen in India, used as it were to " smash " the pig down with his powerful short weapon, and the last-named, even though hunting in a country (Bombay), where long spears are the rule, invariably uses the jobbing spear. Dr. Kavanagh, and some others who have used both, while recognising most of the good points of the short spear, condemn it on the ground of its letting the boar in so close as to be dangerous, and, therefore, unfair on the horse. I have, therefore, been at some pains to as- certain whether the percentage of horses cut by boars is larger in clubs where the short spear is used than where the long spear is general, but the results of the enquiry do not show any reliable difference between them. Apparently such accidents are compounded of so many other elements, such as nature of country, breed of pig, excellence or otherwise of both horses and riders, that no true comparison on this head can be drawn. As far as figures went (but "anything may be proved by figures"), the percentage was in favour of the short spear. Having myself had some experience of both spears, I have no hesitation in saying that, although the long spear is undoubtedly best for first spearing a running, and particularly a jinking, pig, and so bringing him sooner to terms, the short spear is undoubtedly the most handy, and the most deadly for receiving charges, and 92 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. for fighting in jungle or crops. When hunting by myself, I have carried a medium spear, using it " under- hand " at first to " bring the boar to," and changing to " overhand " for fighting and killing him. My favourite and most deadly spear measured only 5 feet 10 inches ; and the district I hunted in (Muttra) included almost every class of country to be met with in pigsticking centres, such as grass plains, bush, tiger grass, and tree jungles, nullahs, river beds, and stony hills. I cannot help thinking that the short spear, besides being the more fatal, is the more " sporting " ctf the two, and that two of the points alleged against it are actually in its favour. It is objected that more skill is required in its use, and that it allows the boar to come in too close to the horse; but to me it seems that these two points tend to fulfil the premises which go to constitute the sport : namely, the one gives scope for the practice of the individual proficiency of the hunter, while the other gives the quarry a better chance against his pursuer. However, the choice of spear to be adopted for general use by a Tent Club, is usually governed by local circumstances, such as proportion of jungly country to be met with, the character of the general breed of pig in that district, etc. Thus the short spear is used in coun- tries like Bengal, where long grass, jhao, thick crops, etc., are common, and where the boar turns to charge as soon as he is collared, without waiting to be pricked. Whereas in wide, open countries like Western India, where the pig trusts a good deal to his speed to take him out of danger, and where jungles are few and far between, the long spear is preferred, as being the better weapon with which to harass and bring him to bay. 40. Spear Heads. There are in existence spear THE WEAPONS. 93 heads of every variety of shape and temper that a sportsman's fancy can desire, but the beginner cannot go far wrong if he select one of the more ordinary kinds to begin with either the "Bayonet" shape (made by Wilkinson, of Pall Mall ; Thornhill, Bond Street; Hill, of the Haymarket ; or Rogers, of Bond Street), or those known as the " Bodraj," made in Aurungabad (Bombay), and obtainable all over India. The Bayonet head is a tapering three-edged spike, long, triangular in section, with blade 6 inches long and three- quarters oan inch width of side, socket and neck 6 inches, which, owing to its shape, slips easily into the flesh and between bones with comparatively little pressure, and can always be as easily withdrawn, and its point is solid and strong enough to pierce the bone of the shoulder-blade or skull. In selecting a head of this kind, the buyer should be careful to take only one whose blade and socket are made in one piece, and not connected at the neck by solder and a bolt up the inside. The Bodraj 'head is a flat oval blade tapering to a point, it is 4 inches long, three-quarters to I inch broad at the widest part, with a neck and socket of 4 inches long ; a projecting rib runs from point to socket along the centre of each side of the blade, standing about one-sixth of an inch, and sharpened along its back. This head is particularly adapted for use in Pigsticking Cup Competitions, as the channels along the bottom of the rib are apt to retain a certain amount of blood after inflicting a wound, which may often be a decisive proof in the case of a disputed first spear, while a smooth spear blade will frequently become so greased and re-greased in passing in and out again of the pig through his layer of skin fat, that it fails to retain even the drop of the blood of the 94 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. interior wound necessary for substantiating the claim to first spear. The main points to be insisted on in the selection of a spear head are that : The socket should be wide enough at its mouth to admit the bamboo shaft without necessi- tating its being trimmed or planed down, as a great portion of the toughness of the bamboo lies in its external skin. The neck connecting the socket to the blade should be strong and unbendable the whole head being made in one piece; those which are jointed and soldered together, or otherwise weak at the neck, are apt to bend or break off on contact with the boar's skull, or other hard bone. The blade itself should not only be of a shape that will ensure its easy entrance through skin and muscle and between the ribs, etc., combined with an ability to retain blood, but which will also enable it to be with- drawn again without risk of its being prevented from coming out between the ribs or through the original slit in the tough hide after having received a turn in the wound, and yet it should be of sufficient size to make a hole capable of admitting the socket into the wound, For this reason, wide or thin (not " narrow ") blades or those with shoulders to them, and especially the " diamond-shaped," should be avoided ; they may slip in easily enough between the bones if they happen to be held the right way, but half a turn of the wrist in the struggle will probably lock them against withdrawal by placing them athwart the openings by which they entered. The blade must also be of well-tempered steel, and have strength at the point to enable it to pierce bones and not to be bent or broken in the attempt. English made medium -tempered heads are the most THE WEAPONS. 95 satisfactory in the long run. An under-tempered blade, the usual result of the Indian artificer's work, becomes blunted after a few contacts with the boar's tough hide, and its point becomes turned into a hook on striking a bone ; while on the other hand an over-tempered blade, which the English maker is rather apt to recommend, is very liable to chip and break at the edges and point. On the whole then it is better, within bounds of course, to have a spear head rather under than over-tempered ; sufficiently tough to pierce a bone, and yet not so hardened as to be " chippy." A blade of this kind has also the advantage of being easy to sharpen with the roughest appliances, whereas a thoroughly hard piece of steel would require a regular grinding apparatus. 41. Spear Shafts. In selecting a shaft for a spear, a tough, springy, seasoned, male bamboo, with the knots close together, should be chosen. Its absolute straightness is not an indispensable point as ordinary curves can be rectified by the native carpenter, or by hanging the shaft with a 16 Ib. weight attached to it. For a short spear the bamboo should be thick at the butt and should taper rapidly towards the head, whereas for a long spear it should be light, straight, and of very gradual taper. Natives say that the bamboo for this purpose should be cut at night when the moon is new, but I will not advance this theory as one of my own ; though I will say that it is preferable to cut your bamboo at the end of the hot season, while the sap is chiefly in the roots. 42. Fitting the Head. In attaching the spear head, the thin end of the bamboo shaft should be fixed in the socket with glue after having been cut to such a length that the mouth of the socket fits on just where a 96 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. joint occurs, as extra strength of wood is thus obtained at the critical point. Then either the outside of the socket should be filed down to come flush with the wood, or else the latter should be "whipped "with waxed thread, or varnished string, for a few inches above the socket. In any case the object is to ensure no pro- jecting edge of the socket being left to catch under the pig's tough hide, which is apt to close very tightly round the shaft when the spear has passed into his body. Native carpenters are very liable to trim the bamboo down to fit the socket, or to level the edge of the socket to the surface of the shaft by a gradually decreasing coating of glue ; but both these methods are bad. The former weake'ns the shaft at the point where it requires to be particularly strong, and in the second case the glue usually cracks and breaks off, leaving the rim of the socket projecting to catch under the bones or skin of the wound. The point and edge of the spear head should be fre- quently looked to and kept quite sharp. They are very liable to become blunted from frequent contact with the tough hide, bones, etc., of the pig, and with the branches of jungle, and from being driven into the sand: many a man has been unable to substantiate his claim to first spear from carelessness in this respect where his spear, although fairly delivered, has been too blunt to pierce the tough hide opposed to it, " His brawny sides with hairy bristles armed Are better proof than thy spear point can enter." 97 CHAPTER XIII. DIFFICULTIES OF GROUND. 43. The Ground Itself. Another obstacle to the easy despatch of the boar is the nature and features of the ground itself. As a general rule the country in India is " trappy " and even where it is free and open it is generally as hard as iron. The legs of the Indian bred horses stand this ground in a marvellous degree, but an English horse almost invariably goes to pieces after a short experience of it. And not only is it heart- breaking for the rider to listen to the banging of his courser's hoofs on the unyielding surface, but it is also a bone-breaking matter if he gets a fall, for a tumble here is not like one in an English ploughed field. The trappy nature of the ground is due to the fre- quent occurrence of inexplicable holes and abysses, which as a rule give no sign of their existence till you are almost into them. A melon field, for instance, gives the " new chum " the idea of being merely a cultivated piece of ground lightly harrowed over, when in reality it is what our pre- sent day field-fortification-wise young officer would de- scribe as troups-de-loup lightly filled in with sand, such that when he tries to ride across it the ground gives way under him and drops him into a hole ; while the pig, of lighter weight, makes his way across it with all the rolling and tumbling motion of a festive porpoise. H 98 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. A melon bed serves only one useful purpose so far as I know, and that is to cure a fidgety horse of his rest- lessness. I saw one so used by Gopi Singh, the aide-de- camp of His Highness the Rana of Dholepore, in this wise. He was riding a jerky fidgeting horse, which, considering the heat of the morning, was, as the British soldier would describe it, " a regular treat." At last his patience came to an end, and he quietly remarked " I'll frighten the brute into keeping quiet." Taking him short by the head, he rammed him at a low fence surround- ing an open melon bed ; the horse cleared the fence but floundered heavily amongst the melons. Gopi seemed to land on his feet clear of the horse, with the reins in hand, and in a few seconds afterwards had got it on to its legs again, was in the saddle and back over the fence. The horse went like a sheep for the rest of the ride. These melon fields are generally to be found along the river beds of Upper India, and any one who would like to try them I would recommend to attend the Ganges Cup Meet, near Cawnpore, when his curiosity will be amply satisfied. Black " cotton " soil is a kind of ground which, under the power of the summer sun, bakes into the consistency of forged iron, and cracks up into fissures just wide enough to admit a horse's leg and deep enough to take one to the Antipodes. " Kimkur" pits, holes from which road-mending material is quarried, are of all shapes, sizes, and depths. They usually occur where least expected, and they give no warning of their existence by surrounding heaps of deblai, since all that is dug out of them is carted away. They vary from 8 to 30 feet wide and 4 to 10 feet deep. Nullahs are dry watercourses with broken and pre- DIFFICULTIES OF GROUND. 99 cipitous sides, sometimes of great depth and width, but they are often invisible till you are almost on the edge. They are generally crossed by goat tracks at intervals, but a hunted boar will disdain to turn aside to avail himself of these and consequently will often elude his pursuers in a network of nullahs by jumping down places impassable for horses. Wells are very common in the fields for irrigation purposes. Such a well is generally placed in the corner of a field where the corners of other fields adjoin, so that its water may be shared by all of them, and a mound of excavated earth about it marks its position ; but very often one finds a well in a most undesirable or unex- pected place, such as close under a fence, in the middle of a field, or in a jungle, and very often without any silt thrown up at its mouth. Canter down a narrow village lane bounded with high walls, with a friend on each side of you, and you will very likely find, as I have done, a well suddenly yawning under your very horse's forefeet. The moral therefore is, if you don't want to fall into a well, avoid corners of fields and mounds of earth, and don't be surprised to find your horse unexpectedly " throwing leps." Bullock Runs. In the larger wells of the North-West country, the water is drawn up in a huge leather bucket by a pair of bullocks with the aid of a pulley wheel erected over the mouth of the well. A sloping path is excavated for these bullocks to run down into as they haul up the bucket. This bullock " run " varies from 6 to 10 feet deep, width 10 to 14 feet, and length about 15 yards. Until you are close to it there is nothing to show in which direction this bullock run lies, as many wells H 2 ioo PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. have two or three of them extending in different direc- tions ; it is therefore advisable to give a wide berth to all wells whose presence is indicated by a mound and cross bars fitted with wheels. It is a very common thing for these bullock runs to be excavated alongside an ordi- nary field boundary wall, and in this position they form an excellent trap for the unwary sportsman approaching from the far side. The Rana of Dholepore and I have both experienced the " Oh ! what a surprise " sensation of finding a bullock run, complete with bullocks and man, etc., right under us as we lobbed over a low mud wall, but thanks to the readiness of our horses a nasty fall was in each case saved by a sharp "kick-off" from the top of the wall. My case also affords an instance of what one inexperienced in their ways may expect from natives. There were some half-dozen villagers sitting on the top of the well mound enjoying the view of the chase ; they saw me Doming straight for the nasty place and yet not a note or finger of warning was raised, they took it as consistent with the inscrutable madness of a white man that I should purposely select the worst place I could find to go at. Holes. It is not unusual to find in the flattest and most open ground small holes about 2 feet deep and as many in diameter. Their raison d'etre is not at first sight very obvious, but I believe them to be the "outcome of the " sheer cussedness " of the mild Hindoo. I can only suppose they are formed by men possessing tools but having no legitimate employment for them ; like a school-boy with a new knife, who brings it into use on every slightest pretext. I only know one thing that these holes are good for, and that is, to throw a horse down. f, wat DIFFICULTIES OF GROUND. 101 Rat Warrens. Sandy hillocks, especially in the neighbourhood of cornfields or villages, are generally rotten and honeycombed with rat holes. GoanchieS) or dried-up marsh, is a common and none the less unpleasant kind of ground frequently met with in pigsticking districts ; it consists of hard tussocks of grass roots, i or 2 feet in diameter and I to 3 feet high, lying about a foot or two apart. Sheet rock is only found occasionally in Upper India (e.g., Morar, Allahabad), but is quite common in the Bombay districts, Deccan and Nagpore, in fact the country lying between Poona and Sholapore, where most of the Poona Tent Club Meets are held, may be called one vast sheet rock interspersed with a few nullahs. Sheet rock, as its name implies, consists of huge flat slabs of rock, which, especially in their usual position sloping down a hillside and interspersed with holes and boulders, present to the stranger the idea of a country if not absolutely impassable to a horse, at least fatal to his legs. But the veteran pigsticker of this country, although his legs may be regular museums of old cuts, bruises, and ossifications, will make his way across it speedily and safely so long as his rider leaves it to him to slide here, and prop there, as he finds the case demands. Owing to the visibly dangerous nature of the ground falls are perhaps not quite so frequent here as in the more delusive going of holey grass or cotton soil, but it is only right to add, what the falls may lack in number they more than make up in quality. Other impediments to the mounted hunter making his way across country are to be found in woods, brush- wood, crops, grass, etc., already described in Chapter IX. 102 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. 44. Fences. Real fences are rare in India, as fields are merely divided from one another by a low bank of earth sufficient to hold the rainfall or irrigation water within their limits ; but here and there fences are made for the purpose of keeping cattle or wild animals off the more valuable crops. Walls. The commonest class of fence are the " mud " walls made of clay and dried by the sun. They stand from 2 to 4 feet high in the fields, but where protecting a garden or very valuable crop, such as opium or tobacco, they mount up to 6 and 7 feet, but even at this height they are not insurmountable to the hunted boar, who, if he cannot fly them will usually succeed in getting over with a scramble. EartJi banks, about 3^ feet high, with irrigation runnels along the top, are common in the fields ; as are also irrigation ditches about 3 feet wide and deep. These ditches are not, by themselves, very formidable, but they are often placed close alongside each other four or more together, and in this case form an unpleasant obstacle usually known as a " gridiron." It was over a country near Muttra abounding in this class of ditch that H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught won his maiden first spear in 1884. That same run was the more remarkable since it was the first ever watched by an English Princess watched, too, at some personal risk, by reason of her riding a strangely self-willed elephant. The following is the account given in the " Times " of this notable day: "At an early hour on the 22nd inst. a general start was made for the Aring jungles, distant 12 miles on the Deeg road, where elephants, horses, and beaters had been sent jit n Exciting Moment, DIFFICUL TIES OF GR O UND. 1 03 on the night before in readiness for a great day's pig- sticking. The first spear for the first pig fell, as was but right, to the Duke of Connaught, who had an exciting gallop of nearly four miles, mounted on the well-known Arab " Uncle G.," after one of the gamest pigs that ever crossed a country. There were more than nineteen spears out, and this, as pigstickers will understand, militated somewhat against the chance of a large bag. But the pigs that were killed afforded excellent sport. "The performances during the whole day were wit- nessed by the Duchess of Connaught, Lady Downe, and the ladies of the I3th Hussars, who, mounted on elephants, accompanied the beaters through the thick scrub jungles in which the pigs are found. Her Royal Highness, who was nearly six hours on an elephant, showed herself on this occasion to be insensible to fatigue, and thereby afforded gratifying proof that up to the present the Indian climate has done her no harm. On one occasion considerable alarm was caused by the elephant on which Her Royal Highness was seated with Lady Russell taking alarm, and making short rushes hither and thither in a very peculiar manner, and not to be controlled by his mahout. The Duchess and her companion were able to dismount and get on to another and quieter elephant before the eccentricities of the frightened beast became too decided to be dangerous. This, however, happened later in the day, when the conscience-stricken culprit had to be conducted home between two steady-going police- men of the same species." " Bumbas" and " Rajmahals " are small distributory irrigation canals branching out over the country from the main canals. They are usually kept above the level of the surrounding land by banks of from 4 to 6 feet 104 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. high and about 3 feet thick at the top. The width of water between the banks is usually from 6 to 12 feet and 4 feet deep. You please yourself as to whether you skip over this with a standing leap, or plunge through it. Mud walls or banks with a thick row of tiger grass growing along the top are common in many parts. The grass runs to a height of 8 to 10 feet, so you are not expected to clear it, but merely to charge through it with sufficient rise to clear the wall. 45. Rivers. If hard pressed in the neighbourhood of a river the boar will have no hesitation in plung- ing in and proceed with all speed to place it between himself and his pursuers. Most rivers, even the largest, are fordable in the dry season, but a native of the locality should always be got to lead the way across a ford as it may run in a most erratic direction. No two fords are alike, nor does a ford remain long the same. It does not at all follow because wheel marks lead down one bank into the water and out again directly opposite on the far bank that therefore the ford runs straight across the stream. I have known a ford having this appearance whose actual course was that of the letter Z, owing to the presence of two deep pools and a quicksand adjacent to it. In the spring, when the rivers are filled with snow water from the hills and in the early part of the rains it will often become necessary to swim your horse across a river. In this case it is a simple matter when boats are obtainable as the horse has merely to be towed across by his bridle or a rope held out on the down- stream side of the boat. If no boats are to be got the rider must swim his horse ; with a horse accustomed to swimming you have DIFFICULTIES OF GROUND. 105 nothing to do but take your stirrups up, hang on by the mane, lean well forward, and retain a light feeling of the snaffle, the bit rein being knotted and left hanging on the horse's neck. If the horse is unaccustomed to swim- ming this method of crossing becomes a more difficult matter. On first getting out of his depth the horse will become alarmed, and in endeavouring to keep his head above water will rear himself up and paw the water without making way, and in so doing is very liable to come over backwards ; it is, therefore, advis- able for the rider to slip off and swim alongside the horse, holding on to his mane ; the horse will soon settle down to swimming although with a great deal of blowing and unnecessary exertion at first. He will, however, require gentle guidance to his proper landing point, and no attempt should be made to regain his back in the water, as it may very probably roll him over. If, when swimming a rapid stream, you are carried past your intended landing place do not attempt to regain it by turning up-stream, but, on the contrary, turn down- stream and look out for another favourable point for landing lower down. For these reasons it is a good practice to teach one's pigstickers to swim rivers as part of their training ; it is excellent exercise for them and can easily be taught by towing them from a boat and gradually increasing the length of tow-line until they become confident and take a liking to the work, which they very readily do. While teaching the horse it would be as well for the rider also to practice the art of swimming with his mount if he is inexperienced in that line. Quicksands. The danger in all river beds, both wet io6 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. and dry, is the presence of quicksands which are often hard to detect until you are in them, when it is easy enough but rather late. Colonel Barras, in his delightful book " Our Indian Stations," thus gives his experiences of quicksands : " I was crossing the bottom of a wide nullah (ravine). It was a nice little piece of firm sand for the horse to pull himself together upon. The opposite ascent was not nearly so bad as it might have been and the boar had just gone up it by a nice little zigzag path worn by different animals who went that way. I had only to make haste and I might yet come up with the quarry crossing the next open space and so on, with other golden visions. * Bless me, what's this ? ' 1 mentally exclaimed, as I found myself apparently in bed with my nag on the top of me. Only a quicksand, which had sustained the weight of the hog but given way under me and the horse. There we lay wallowing in this treacherous pitfall, and for a time I and my spear were under the horse. I soon extricated myself and by directing the animal's plunges judiciously I got him also on terra firma" .... "Once, in following a native guide across a river bed, where the ground was of damp-looking sand, but hard and firm, with large stones and rocks plentifully scattered over its surface, I followed the man without hesitation, but had not gone many steps before I felt the crust give way under us. On this I spurred the horse, hoping that I might gain the opposite bank by the swiftness of a vigorous rush. I had better, however, have pursued the less spirited policy of at once reining back, for, as it was, the poor ' Pig ' (as my steed was called) bounded forward and sank helplessly into a terrible quicksand of the very worst sort. In a moment I found myself standing DIFFICULTIES OF GROUND. 107 on the ground, with the nag almost buried at my feet. In a few seconds he. had sunk so low that I could only just get at the girth-buckles under the flap of the saddle, which article I thought I might as well save since there seemed no hope for the animal itself. The struggles of the poor brute were quite painful to witness. Throwing himself into an upright rearing position, he would get his forelegs above the surface, but only to plunge them straight down again without making any progress what- ever. In the midst of this distressing scene my eye lighted on the rascal whose duty it was to have kept us out of such a plight. He was looking on at our agony with a pose of such unconcerned nonchalance, that I could not forbear rushing at and commencing to beat him. This apparently senseless and even reprehensible pro- ceeding turned out, as on a former occasion, already recorded, to be the proper course after all for, waking as it were from his lethargy, the delinquent deftly whipped the spear out of my hand and with it swiftly probed the quicksand in various directions to ascertain the shortest way out of it. In much less time than it takes to tell, solid land was found to exist a little to the left of the terrified and almost exhausted horse. Not more than five yards intervened between him and safety but would he be able to accomplish this immense journey ? I doubted it, for when I marked the prodigious efforts it cost him to rear and then plunge for- ward so as to gain only a few inches each time, it seemed impossible that his strength could hold out to traverse some fifteen feet. He succeeded eventually in extricating himself, but I shall never forget the miserable aspect that the poor brute presented as he stood beside me after emerging from the deadly and clinging embrace of the io8 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. quicksand. Never, after the severest race, have I seen an animal look so tucked up and shrunken. His very skin had a dead and wrinkled look, and it was cold and clammy to the touch." There is thus plenty to contend with apart from the pig or inadequate weapons. PART III. -*- ANIMAL ALLIES. ENJOYMENT FURTHER HEIGHTENED BY THE SPORTSMAN BENDING TO HIS WILL THAT OF OTHER ANIMALS. Ill CHAPTER XIV. HORSES. 46. Their Share in the Sport. The third con- dition that helps to make pigsticking the sport it is, is that the sportsman enjoys the power of controlling under his will the motions of his horse to aid him in the chase. The fact that at one moment the rider is trusting to the daring or agility of his horse, and at another the horse finds himself saved from an attack of the boar by some action of his rider establishes, after a few runs, a re- ciprocal feeling of esteem, and a mutual understanding between the two, which, while giving the man a truer pleasure, leads the horse to take a real delight in the sport. Mr. Saunders, in his excellent work called " Our Horses," gives the horse perhaps too little credit for courage. He says, truly enough, that " the horse is as nervous as a lady, timid as a partridge, and as simple as a child ;" that " ignorance and panic is the simple key to most of the romance we read and hear about the horse enjoying the battle, the chase, or the race/' But surely he must allow that in the finish of a close race it is not fear that makes a horse strain every muscle to put himself in front on the post, nor at any rate when in pigsticking he follows every twist and turn of the boar, and finally when the charge comes he springs to meet it with ears ii2 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. cocked, and limbs ready to carry his rider into and safely through the encounter. The attraction of most mounted pastimes, such as tent- pegging, polo, hunting, etc., would at least be seriously diminished were an attempt made to carry them out on foot ; and so too would pigsticking lose most of its merit. So its excellence does not wholly lie in the sport itself, but is completed by the camaraderie that is engendered between horse and rider. " No slave but a comrade staunch in this Is the horse, for he takes his share Not in peril alone but in feverish bliss, And in longing to do and dare." GORDON. In the hands of a bold rider the horse undoubtedly becomes similarly bold, and indeed in many instances the pupil ends by excelling its master in this respect, thanks to its want of such highly organised nerves, or of far-seeing discretion. But let a horse get into the hands of a half-hearted rider, and it is like letting a man " marry beneath him " he is sure to be dragged down to the level of his tyrant, even if he does not sink below it. The horse appears to recognise the fact that the man has the superior mind, and trusts itself to his guidance accordingly. It also has the power of recognising, almost as soon as the rider himself, when his heart is in his mouth. Consequently if, on approaching a difficulty, it finds that the rider is becoming frightened, it takes the alarm at once, to a more exaggerated extent, since it cannot see sufficient danger to warrant all the perturba- tion, and therefore suspects other dangers lying unseen. Perhaps some day, when Mr. Stuart Cumberland or THE HORSE. n 3 some other psychical student has developed the science of " muscle reading," we shall have revealed to us some- thing of the mutual relations that exist between the man and his mount. " There may be more links 'tween the horse and his rider Than ever your shallow philosophy guessed." One need only watch the behaviour of a seasoned pigsticker at the cover side to recognise the sporting spirit that fills his well his mind ; for people may say what they like about ^soul y but nothing can lead me to doubt but that the horse has at least a mind. Picture to yourself the brown Waler mare whose well- loved form is yet strongly painted in my memory ; there she goes on the way to cover, larking and playing about, imagining a boar in every bush, and snatching at her bit as if the hard-baked soil before her were nothing but an expanse of velvet turf. Thus she goes, jigging and squirming along, with a mischievous enjoyment of its effect on her rider, who, although possibly the hero of the previous night's mess table, is little better than the early worm at five o'clock on this hot-weather morning. Once posted outside the covert, her whole demeanour changes ; she restrains her ebullitions of gaiety, and as the distant cries of the beaters in the jungle strike her ear, she becomes motionless as a statue, while a slight tremor of her limbs and a quick eager glancing of the eye from point to point, betray her readiness for the fray. As a jackal hitches by with drooping brush, or a peacock scuttles in undignified haste across the open before the din of the beaters, her ears prick and her head goes up for a momentary scrutiny of the fugitive, and at once returns to its position of watchfulness. At I ii4 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. length a sudden quick throbbing of the heart, a jerk up of the head, with ears flung forward, warn the rider that a pig is afoot, and in a few moments more she is bounding away in pursuit almost regardless of her rider's wishes in the first mad rush of her joy. Her keen and evident determination to beat the other contestants for the " first spear " would almost lead one to think she was throwing every ounce of her energy into the opening burst did we not know from experience that she will still retain a small reserve in hand for the final rush up to the pig at the critical moment. A green pigsticker will tear along at best pace from start to finish, straining every power to be first in the race, until exhaustion compels it to drop back hope- lessly beat, while our seasoned hunter comes by at a steady untiring swing, with a reserve of " go " in hand to be applied at the proper moment to collar the pig with a fresh accession of activity. On a "jink," even were the reins lying loose on her neck (experto crede), she will fling herself round on to the boar's new line, endeavouring with all her power and strength to emulate his quick turn, and to bring herself quickly in the new direction. When the pig "shoots " himself (as only a pig can do) over a mud wall she follows, flying the fence clearly and with just sufficient impetus to carry her clear of any hidden ditch or danger on the far side. She is ever on the alert to clear an ugly hole, or ready to negotiate a yawning nullah by dropping into it and springing out again on the far side. I remember on one occasion when our pig, in running across an open grass plain, suddenly disappeared from view, and a few seconds later a wide and steep-sided THE HORSE. 115 kunkur hole lay under the mare's nose. Equally impos- sible for her to stop or to clear it, she took the sensible middle course of dropping into it, without attempting to leap out on the far side. She knew that the boar was unable to get out and had to be tackled there, and so our battle was fought out in the pit. When the time has arrived for fighting and receiving the charges of the boar, the mare goes at the work coolly and temperately, obedient to every indication of her rider's hand and leg, and yet exercising her own wits as well when an opportune turn or a sudden leap will take her clear of a mischievous rush of the foe. With such an animal ally as this success in the hog- hunting field is assured to the hunter. As in the hunt- ing field so it is in pigsticking ; nerve and eye for a country serve a man better than proficiency in horse- manship, but in neither case will they avail if the horse is not of the kind required for the work. This may appear at first sight a rather free assertion to make, but the more one studies the question in either field, the more plainly its truth becomes apparent. As a writer stated in the " Field " some time back : " Com- paratively few of the horses one sees close to the hounds are difficult to ride. For one instance, take the hunts- man ; he is generally in his place ; but for the most part he rides horses, as it is right he should, that require no particular horsemanship to get them along. One may be just a trifle rash, and another may want a dig with the spurs ; but no rider of average experience would be overtasked if he had the good luck to find his legs across them." And so it is with the large proportion of those who are to the fore in good runs after pig half the battle is the horse. I 2 u6 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. 47. Points of a Pigsticker. The chief desiderata in a " pigsticker " may be summarized thus : he should be quick rather than fast, quick to get on his legs, quick to turn, quick in bad ground ; he should be well bred, for here, as everywhere, "blood w/7/tell ;" he must be thoroughly handy, active, and game ;" small in stature, with good shoulders, legs, and feet. For ordi- nary pigsticking countries 14 hands to 14.3 is generally found to be the best size of horse, as being the most handy and safest in broken ground ; although in parts of Bengal, where open grass plains are met with, and ground is not so trappy, 15 hands to 15.2 is the favoured height, as the greater stride is advantageous here and greater weight to get through the heavy resistance of the grass. One well-known horse in Bengal stood nearly 17 hands. In addition to such physical points in a pigsticker, " Old Shekarry " demands the following moral qualities, bravery to take any jump, courage to face visible dangers, gameness to carry on to the bitter end in spite of physical distress. 48. The Ara&.The horse that best fulfils the qualifications of a pigsticker is undoubtedly the Arab. Standing rarely over 14.3, he is, as a general rule, well-bred, compact, quick and fairly fast, handy and game, with sound feet and legs, and of good con- stitution and great sagacity. His short stride stands him in good stead in the rough and trappy ground so generally met with in a pigsticking country ; and his healthy nature enables him to withstand the effects of climate and of " roughing it " in camp, better than any other breed of horse. His handsome form and kind courageous disposition invariably make him a favourite with his master, and, as before shown, a mutual THE HORSE. u 7 good-feeling once established between the rider and his mount tells its tale in the many crises incident to pig- sticking. The chief objections to an Arab are his high price, his frequent inability to jump and to carry weight, and his common failing of bad shoulders-. This latter is an unpardonable fault in a pigsticker ; far better, if you cannot get him good at both ends, to have a horse bad behind so long as he is good in front. The Arab is used almost entirely on the Bombay side of India, to the ex- clusion of other breeds, as he is most easily procured there, and his short stride and cat-like activity are peculiarly well adapted to that country. Of all horses used in pigsticking the Arab is undoubtedly the most popular, his many admirers agreeing with Captain Upton, who, in his "Arabia and Newmarket," affirms that the Arab is the direct descendant of those specimens of the equine race that were especially selected for salvation in the Ark. 49. The Waler. The Australian, or " Waler," is, compared with the Arab, faster, up to greater weight, and a superior fencer, but as a rule he is too big a horse for the work. He stands about 15.2, and is "fast" rather than " quick." In the bad and trappy ground common to all pigsticking localities his great stride rushes him into difficulties, and he is wanting in the compactness and handiness so requisite for following the turnings and jinks of the pig among boulders and bushes. In addition to these faults he is a delicate horse, and is liable, until he becomes thoroughly accli- matized, to feel the effects of camping out in the hot weather. Still, in spite of these failings, the Waler finds many ii8 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. friends among the pigsticking fraternity, and I venture to say none firmer than the writer. Were the average ground only more of a good open hunting country with fair fences, no other breed could touch him. In Lower Bengal he is in greatest favour, as he is most easily pro- cured there, and his speed and weight tell to some advantage on the plains and through the heavy grass and crops of that region. The English horse fails as a pigsticker for similar reasons, with the additional serious drawback that his feet and legs rarely stand the " 'ammer, 'ammer, 'ammer," on the hard-baked soil of the Indian plains. It is a common idea that the Waler breed is almost universally vicious in temper, but I scarcely think this is borne out by experience of the horse as he is now found in India. Of course there is vice to be met with here and there in the breed, but I do not think in any great quantity, although I will admit that where it does occur its quality is undeniable. Walers are imported in large numbers every year during the autumn, and, landed in Calcutta, command from 600 to 2,000 Rs. Government take a large number for remount pur- poses at an average price of 600 Rs. (SO/.), and obtain a good well-bred stamp of trooper for their money. 50. The Cape Horse. The Cape horse is not so commonly found in India now as formerly, otherwise it would probably be as popular among pigstickers as any breed in the world. There has been some talk lately of reviving the horse trade between South Africa and India, but if the matter is going to be left solely to the enterprise of the Natal and Transvaal colonists, I would not foretell any great advance in it, at least in THE HORSE. 119 the immediate future. There is good enough stock in the Cape country, and good ground on the higher plateaux, where pastures are rich and " horse sickness," the scourge of the lower plains, unknown. But some- how there is no great interest taken in the question, no desire to sell abroad, and no capital for starting opera- tions on an extended scale. In the Cape Colony itself Government has lately offered prizes up to 3,ooo/. to en- courage the production of a good class of horse, and it is to be hoped that a good stamp of sires, such as well- bred Norfolk trotters, will be imported for the purpose. The Cape horse is small and lightly built, but capable of a wonderful amount of work, and as a rule is handy, active, and game. His price in India varies from 25/. to 6o/. I was enabled to judge for myself of the powers of the Cape horse as a roadster not long ago when I made a trip of six hundred miles along the Natal frontier, riding on one horse and leading another carrying my kit. The marching averaged thirty-eight miles a day, and the horses were in no way any the worse for their work at the end of three weeks, in spite of the fact that a feed of corn and a good grooming were luxuries of only occasional occurrence. The late Tom Prender- gast, of Rajahmemdry, used to prefer Cape horses to any others for pigsticking, and always had a number of them, and all of them up to weight. 51. The Country-bred. The C.B. (country-bred) or indigenous horse of India is the most readily obtainable, and exists in almost every size and shape, and certainly in every colour, of the equine species. He has the great merit of being low priced as a rule, which is no small consideration when purchasing an animal about to be exposed to the dangers of bad ground, for- 120 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. midable boars, and an unhealthy climate. So long as the purchaser does not expect beauty or power for his money he will not be totally disappointed in the country- bred. With his narrow chest, slack loins, ewe neck, ;ind hammer head he is undeniably " a rum 'un " to look at, and as a "good 'un " to go his powers are inferior to those of other breeds. He is, nevertheless, quite good enough for ordinary pigsticking, especially if his owner has compensated the want of quality in his stable by quantity. Large native horse fairs are held annually at various places, under Government encouragement. At the larger of these it is not uncommon to see some 5POO or 6,000 horses collected for sale, and if he is satisfied to take them between 13.3 and 14.2 the sportsman will always be able to supply himself with mounts at a pretty low figure. Those above 14.2 are quickly bought up, at fairly big prices, as remounts for native cavalry regi- ments, while those under 13.3 command fabulous sums as polo ponies, but between I5/. and 3O/. (200 to 400 Rs.) ought to secure a good C.B. hunter of the above medium size. The Cabul horse often makes a good pigsticker, but as a general rule he is too heavy and slow, although reliable, plucky, and up to weight. For regular hunting, two or three days a week, four horses are required, and thus the class of horse bought is generally regulated by the state of the buyer's pocket ; in such case it will be seen that to a certain degree quan- tity rather than quality is required. More sport will be got with two fair country-breds than with one good Arab. A man to whom money is no great object will naturally complete his " string" with Arabs or small THE HORSE. 121 thoroughbred Walers ; but unfortunately this class of man is not the rule in India ; the general run of sports- men there being large in heart but small in purse ; so luckily, the fact that a medium quality of animal will ensure good sport, brings pigsticking within the reach of all. It has somewhere been truly said, " It is no excuse for a man to say he cannot afford a 1,500 Rs. Arab, when a 150 Rs. country-bred will see him through many a good run." For the price of one English hunter the sportsman in India can supply himself with three pigstickers, and for 5/. to 61. per mensem can keep that number well groomed and fed. The description of the beau ideal of a horse for pig- sticking is to be found in the " Oriental Sporting Magazine," for January, 1829. 52. Purchasing. In India when anyone has a horse or other property to dispose of he inserts an advertisement to that effect in the daily newspapers, giving full details as to nature, quality, and price. This system is carried out to a far greater extent in India than in England, and since the advertisement nearly always bears the name of the advertiser, fair and satis- factory sales as a rule result. Owing to the great dis- tances that lie between stations in that country a great proportion of the buying and selling transactions is carried on by post ; and thus a varied, and often amusing, correspondence comes to the man who has thus offered his belongings to the bids of the public. A short time back one seldom advertised a horse for sale without receiving by return of post a communication from some harmless old Anglo-Indian idiot, whose (Jilj) PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTIN&: hobby it was to ask a string of questions about every horse whose advertisement he saw ; viz., such questions as "Has he two white hind legs? Has he a white nose? Does he rear?" And other such odd questions as must in some instances have subjected him to a good deal of banter. I have before me a correspondence that took place be- tween a certain sporting surgeon-major and an equally sporting old lady. The doctor had advertised a horse for sale as " a dun S.B.G." (stud-bred gelding), " aged, good hack and pigsticker, and a fast trapper, believed sound ; price 200 Rs." The would-be Amazon imme- diately wrote : " Please state colour and sex of the horse you advertise, and tell me, is he perfectly free from tricks and vice in harness ? You say he is aged, what is his age? Is he a willing and free mover? Is he clean- skinned and healthy ? Has he any defects about his body ? Will there be any reduction in his price ? Will you give your word that he will suit (sic) ? And what about the railway fare who stands that ?" This catechism might have taken many an owner rather aback, but the doctor at once perceived the proper treatment to adopt, and replied as follows : " Madam, In reply to your letter of the 9th inst, I beg to state that my dun S.B. gelding (aged twenty years last grass) is in harness as docile as the sheep, but a fizzer under the saddle (see sketch). Barring an attack of 'Acaris scabiei' his skin is as spotless as that of the proverbial lamb, and as for health he does not know what dyspepsia is. His only defect is that his tail is set crooked. As regards his breed, he is by ' Will-o'-the- Wisp,' out of ' Brian Boriuhe.' For a horse of his sin- gular parts I could not think of accepting a reduction. THE HORSE. 123 Hoping to have the pleasure of sending him to you. I am, etc., etc." As the early spring is the season for going on leave to England or the " Hills," a large number of horses are then in the market, and are thus available to sportsmen, at fair prices, just at the beginning of the pigsticking season (March). They are hunted through the summer until a continuance of the rains puts an end to sport (August), and they are then rested till the end of the rains (October), which is coincident with the end of the leave season, arid commencement of the trooping season, when a good demand exists for horses among officers returning from leave and from England ; and thus the market is favourable to pigstickers, both in buying and selling. Another, more risky, way of finding a horse, is to apply to a native horse-dealer. These gentry travel from one station to another with small droves of horses and ponies, and are probably among the greatest black- guards still remaining unhung. But often, if they see that it is unmistakably to their interest to do so, they will procure a good horse, but it is somewhat out of their line, and they much prefer to do a good bit of horse-coping, in which they are quite at home, and perhaps without rivals in any country. 53. Making a Pigsticker. Having by one way or another supplied himself with three or four horses, the sportsman will devote himself to getting them into condition, and (particularly if they come raw from a native dealer) to educate them. For this purpose it is well worth while to keep up a small line of natural jumps somewhere in the neighbourhood of your dwelling. The majority of horses of this class are not easily got to 124 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. face a palpably artificial jump, but with small, natural fences they soon become active and confident, and develop a fondness for jumping. In addition to the foregoing instruction a few hours of quiet suppling and bending will amply repay the trouble, by forming the horse into a handy, as well as active and safe, hunter. Very few horses are perfectly docile when first re- ceived from the hands of natives, where they are fre- quently bullied (at a safe distance) by masters who at heart are afraid of them ; but if treated kindly and with evident fearlessness their feeling of nervous dislike of man soon gives way to a sense of confiding obedience. I have often found that liberal treatment exercises a powerful changing influence on such horses ; and if left with their stable bars down, free to go in and out to graze as they please, their temper becomes sweetened and their health and condition improve with wonderful rapidity. Ahorse with a naturally nasty disposition finds in pig- sticking a great number of opportunites of thwarting your wishes, such as by rushing through bad places, refusing to go up to the boar, etc., etc. ; but because your new mount hangs back from the pig on his first few runs, do not therefore give him up at once as a con- firmed refuser. Such a horse should be ridden on a line parallel to that of the boar in such a way that he forges past him on his near side, and then gradually closes on him from his left front ; the boar seeing this, will, as a rule, deviate from his exact line against the horse's off quarter, and so run on to the spear point that is awaiting him. When a few spears have been taken in this way the horse begins to take an interest in the work, and usually ends by expending his ill humours on the pig. THE HORSE, 125 A horse with a spice of bad temper in him is often, for this reason, the best and keenest pigsticker. A certain English mare well known in the Muttra hunt, had a sour vein in her temper which she vented entirely on the pig, doing her utmost to come up with and trample on him, and many a boar charging her from behind as had to retire worsted from the range of her heels, with the loss of tusks and the gain of more than one "lovely black eye." She might often be seen tearing about the "compound," loose, in pursuit of a small wild boar, a jungle foundling, who lived there. She followed his every "jink" or jump striving to get him under her forefeet, but luckily for himself the little monster was marvellously quick and active, and actually seemed to take a delight in being so keenly hunted. The object of having three or four horses at a meet is to enable the rider to change frequently to a fresh mount. It is a fatal mistake to try and get too much out of a horse in a morning, as towards the end of it he is sure to become more or less slack, and under this loss of energy is more liable to fall or to strain himself, and is of course not so well " in it " as fresher horses ; and, moreover, after one or two experiences of this kind he imbibes a distaste for the sport, and also soon " goes to pieces." Say that an average gallop after a boar takes three-quarters of a mile, and add to it the hacking to and waiting about at the jungle cover, plus a few false alarms and abortive starts after sows, etc., followed by the real gallop and its concomitant twistings, pullings up and spurts, etc., all at 97 in the shade, it will be seen that a horse must get quite as much as he cares for in, say, two runs ; and as on a good morning a sportsman may expect to be in for some six or seven runs it will 126 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. not be only to his horse's, but greatly also to his own, advantage to have a fresh one to change to after every other run or so. A rider thus provided will ride all the more comfort- ably and safely, and will, moreover, have by far the best chances of winning the first spears amongst men mounted on tired animals. With regard to these tired animals, too, a word in their cause might here not be out of place ; men are too apt in the excitement of the chase to forget the expenditure of vitality that is being made by their horse, when a little thoughtfulness and judicious attention might just put the requisite amount of life into him to withstand any bad effects of his exertions. Such attentions, I mean, as dismounting while standing about outside a cover, allowing the horse a good roll in the river, giving him a bottle of beer after a hard morn- ing's work, etc., etc., in addition to the ordinary cares of good stable management. In asserting that a horse imbibes a distaste for pig- sticking, I speak from an experience of horses that have changed from good hunters into apparent curs ; it is true that in many cases this only lasts for a short time, while in others it remains permanently. The latter case is generally the result of some particular instance of injury, such as a gash from the boar's tusk, the former being rather a consequence of overwork, or of being badly bitted, matters that are easily remedied by a few day's rest or a change of bridle, as the case demands. A writer in the " Oriental Sporting Magazine," states that " fresh Arabs, just made handy," are in his opinion the best pigstickers. " Old nags," he says, " are deuced apt to get devilish shy of Bengal 'pork.' I know a very sporting man who came down to Calcutta from a THE HORSE. 127 superb pigsticking country (in days when railways were undreamt of) for the purpose of swapping his horses on this very account, they had seen more hogs than they liked." I cannot think that that sportsman had tried the experiment of temporarily giving the horses a complete rest and change of employment. 54. Bitting and Saddling. With regard to the misfitting of the bit ; native servants have no idea of fitting a bit and much less of selecting one to suit the horse, consequently the grossest incongruities, not to say cruelties, are quite possible where the master does not invariably examine and fit his saddlery for himself. It often takes time to discover what class of bit suits the horse best, and at what height it should be hung in his mouth. Besides being useless and annoying to the horse, a badly fitting bit is often harmful to him by pro- ducing a sore in the corner of his mouth which at the beginning of the rains is very liable to develop into " bursati." A horse once afflicted with bursati sores is unsound. The sore from its position is very slow to heal and usually throws the horse out of work for some time, but I successfully managed two such cases by riding the horse in a common noseband without any bit in his mouth, merely buckling the reins to each side of the noseband. I afterwards took into use the " Carrago " noseband, in which I have ridden horses both pigsticking and hurdle-racing with greatest comfort to both parties. Whyte Melville (I think it is in " Riding Recollections ") says that in nine cases out of ten a fall is the result of misuse of the bit, which he therefore justly condemns as a dangerous instrument in unskilful or brutal hands. It would, therefore, have been interesting to hear his opinion of the noseband as a substitute, since it appears 128 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. to act equally well as an indicator of the rider's wishes, without causing pain or inconvenience to the horse, be it handled ever so roughly. For this reason I have found it a most valuable appendage to exercising-bridles in place of the bit, as it saves the horse's mouth from the jobbing and dragging that it is often liable to at the hands of a syce. The ordinary syce has no idea of fitting a saddle to a horse, and if such a job is left to him, you may con- fidently look for a sore back, or a fall from a shifting saddle. Unless prevented, a syce would appear to go out of his way to find you the oldest and rottenest girths for use out pigsticking ; and he never will leave the stirrup bars open, which is a point that should always be insisted upon; neglect of this precaution has been the cause of many a man being " dragged " after a fall. I witnessed a peculiar case of stirrup leathers coming easily off the bars when a man, in riding a pig through some bush jungle, tried to go between two small trees growing close together, the horse got through, but the rider was caught by both knees, and was held back while his mount passed from under him and let him drop to earth ; when landed, he had both stirrups still on his feet. I would, therefore, impress the necessity of carefully examining one's saddlery previous to mounting, and not trusting to one's syce. In saying this, I do not mean to infer that the syce is utterly without worth, for it very often happens that he takes a real personal liking for his horse ; and the average syce, if you pay him well and do not fine him, as some short-sighted owners do, is sure to work well at every detail that comes within his sphere of understanding ; but it must be remembered always that his sphere of understanding is very limited. THE HORSE. 129 It is not an uncommon practice to hog the manes of pigstickers, and there are several good reasons for it. The mane flying about often impedes the rider's view of the ground, or of the pig immediately in front of him ; the horse is cooler without it ; the syce having the tire- some job of cleaning it taken off his hands, can expend more work on the rest of the horse ; it is under the mane that the horse sweats most, and where a bad syce takes the least pains about cleaning him, and this place is, therefore, the usual nest and starting-place of skin disease. The tail should be allowed to grow long, as it is a great comfort to the horse when standing out in camp and pestered with flies. A string net thrown over him also serves the same good purpose. If there is no shade convenient, and the horse has to be picketed out in the sun, a pad should be made for his back ; this may be done by folding a blanket into a pad about two feet square, and fixing it on his back with the roller in such a way that it protects the spine from the rays of the sun, and also any brand marks that may lie near or under the saddle, which, when heated, are apt to peel off and originate sores. 55- Veterinary Notes. It has often happened that a horse has been badly cut when out pigsticking, when there was no veterinary surgeon at hand, and from want of proper treatment at first, the wound has assumed grave proportions, and has finally carried off, or blemished for life, a good horse. Considering the almost certain risk they run of having sooner or later a horse cut, and the ease with which the few practical methods of dealing with wounds may be mastered, it is strange that so few sportsmen take the K 130 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. trouble to learn beforehand what they ought to do in the case of a rip from a boar, etc. In the case of a clean cut flesh wound, the place should be bathed and all foreign matter cleaned out, and the lips of the wound brought together and bandaged, or, if necessary, pinned or stitched, with one or more sutures as may be required. Before commencing such an operation it is necessary to put a twitch on the horse. (The best twitch of all is made with a rope or cord some ten or twelve feet long. Make a small bowline loop at one end to fit round the lower jaw of the horse, with the knot at one side of the mouth ; pass the end over the poll, down the other side of the head through the loop, then up again over the poll and down the other side of the head, then pass it across the gums of the upper jaw, underneath the upper lip, and take it through between the cheek of the horse and the cheek-piece now formed by the rope, and retain the end in the hand. A pull on the rope will thus bring pressure to bear on the upper part of the upper gums of the horse a pressure that has a most commanding influence over him.) To pin a wound, a large pin is passed through both edges of the wound, a piece of twine or worsted is then wound alternately round the head and the point in figure of 8, to keep the edges together. To stitch a wound, a large, strong needle, threaded with silk, twine, or wire, is passed through both edges, the twine is then cut and the two ends tied together. When the wound is not clean cut, but is lacerated, pinning or stitching are not, as a rule, desirable. It is very important in such cases to take care that no matter becomes secreted in the low corners of the wound. THE HORSE. 131 The bleeding from a cut should be stopped by cold water application, or by making a pad of linen, or of materials at hand, such as raw cotton, etc. I have, on an emergency, used a lump of dough from which a syce was about to make his chupatties. In the case of an artery being cut (when the blood is bright red, and comes in jets) a tourniquet, or strong pressure, must be applied on the artery at some point on it between the wound and the heart. Thorns are very liable to get into horses' legs, and to cause swelling and lameness. Their position can often be detected by gently scratching the leg with the finger- nail ; if beyond reach of tweezers a poultice should be applied to draw them. Banana or plantain leaves are good for covering a poultice and keeping it moist ; in fact, they will, to a slight extent, act as a poultice them- selves on emergency. The feet and frogs are liable to injury by dhail and other stakes, etc. The injuring substance should be carefully removed, and the foot put into a poultice or hot water. A bucket or a nosebag filled with hot bran may be used for this purpose. For further details on veterinary and stable manage- ment in India, I confidently commend the reader to Captain H. Hayes' books, "Veterinary Notes for Horse Owners," and " Guide to Training and Horse Manage- ment in India." K 2 132 CHAPTER XV. DOGS. 56. Their Use for Pigsticking. Although dogs are not legitimately used as regular allies in the sport of pigsticking, it is often found advantageous to use them for the purpose of scenting out the whereabouts of pig in a thick jungle, and of inducing them to leave their retreat. Most of the Brinjaris and gipsy tribes, who live to a certain extent on the flesh of wild hogs, make use of dogs to help them in driving them into nets and snares placed ready in their favourite runs. The Shikaris of some of the Tent Clubs, notably the Delhi Club, are accustomed to use dogs in jungle with the line of beaters, and with very good effect. The dogs are pariahs of all shapes and breeds. In the pigsticking in Morocco the Moors use their dogs freely, both in the run as well as in the beat. This is a mistake in India, as dogs are very much in the way, and liable to trip up the horses and receive spear thrusts intended for the boar. When hunting by myself, I have often been accom- panied by a half-bred fox terrier named " Beetle," whose portrait is given at the head of this Chapter. During the ride to the pigsticking ground, " Beetle " usually rode on the front of the saddle, whence he com- manded a good view of the country, while he reserved Beeik." DOGS. 133 all his activity for the run and fight with the boar when viewed. On arrival at a thick crop, or other likely spot for pig, " Beetle " would skip lighHy down and proceed to search him out ; soon a sharp yap followed by a smothered growl, a startled grunt, and a crash through the cover would show that he had found the quarry and had started him with a judiciously applied nip of his sharp little jaws. Then in the run which followed, the little dog used to tail along after the hunt, and, straining every sense of sight and hearing as well as of smell to keep to the line, always managed to be in at the death, in time to hang on to the ear of a charging boar, or to apply himself to the back end of one who preferred sulking in a bush. He was, indeed, the hero of a hundred fights, and many are the entries similar to the following, in the Muttra Tent Club Log : " Started a big boar in an outlying patch of grass Before he was killed, he had severely cut " Mahomed Jan," Braith- waite's horse, Smithson's mare, " Beetle " (who was thought killed at one time), and three coolies." Poor " Beetle " survived these fights only to fall a victim to the change of climate at Natal, on the way home to England ; when in addition to a tattered ear, a drooping eyelid, and an enlarged foot, he bore the scars of twelve honourable wounds on his game little body- all received in open fight with the boar. PART IV. -*- HOW TO SUCCEED AS A PIG- STICKER. ENJOYMENT YET FURTHER HEIGHTENED BY THE SUCCESS OF INDIVIDUAL PROWESS. 137 CHAPTER XVI. SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 57. India. To win success as a pigsticker it is as well in the first place to have something to guide you in selecting a good field for your efforts, and then to know how best to accommodate yourself to the neces- sarily altered circumstances of living. Therefore, before proceeding to describe the art of riding to pig, I propose to lay before my reader a few notes on the various pig- sticking localities, not only in India, but in other coun- tries as well where the sport has been tried ; and then to sketch out the usual arrangements made for living at those centres. Taking India itself first as being the country par ex- cellence for pigsticking, the following are the best districts for the sport. In Bengal Presidency there are Meerut, Cawnpore, Calcutta, Delhi, Muttra, Kurrachee, Lahore, Morar, Allahabad, Agra, etc. All these places have their pigsticking, or, as they are called, " Tent " Clubs, and also pig are to be found and are hunted- in many of the outlying districts where regular clubs do not exist. The Calcutta Tent Club is the oldest in Bengal, and has a famous record of sport. It was started in 1862, 138 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. and bears on its rolls the names of more eminent sports- men than any other club, from the late Lord Mayo downwards. The Meerut Club is the leading one of the whole of the northern part of India. It was started in 1865 by Messrs W. Forbes and Neale. Its foundation and that of the original " Hog Hunters' Cup " are thus recorded : " Translation of part of a Cuneiform Inscription found at Germ-ok-taza ; supposed to be a portion of the Book of Spawt : " And it came to pass in those days, that Fawben was a ruler in the land, and collected the taxes for the king and administered justice to the people. And a great cry arose throughout the land from Delhi even unto Foot, and the people came unto Fawben saying : ' We are mightily oppressed by the unclean beast, and our bellies cleave unto the ground through fear of him ; for he hath increased and multiplied exceedingly, and trampleth down our vineyards and devoureth our corn, and no man can stand before him ; come now and help us, or we shall die, we and our little ones.' And when Fawben heard this, he was sore troubled and called to Nil! the Scribe, and Nill the Scribe, having girded up his loins, came and stood and bowed down before Fawben. And Fawben said unto him, * Write now unto my young men, and say unto them : Why tarry ye in your tents whilst the unclean beast vexeth the land? Are your spears rusty or your horses lame ? Ye are called mighty hunters but your mothers know not that ye are out, and ye tarry amongst your womenfolk that they may cherish your poor feet. Give them now your garments and take ye theirs that they may come out and slay the unclean beast' And Nill the Scribe, wrote as Fawben SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 139 commanded him. Then great shame fell upon the young men, and they smote their breasts, and rent their garments, so that the tailors rejoiced, and they said among themselves, ' Woe to us because of this thing. Verily our faces are blackened this day.' And Fawben wrote again to the young men, saying, ' Come out now unto me, all ye that may, and bring your spears and your horses, even the best that ye have, and we will purge the land of the unclean beast, even the Soor, and slay him from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, that the people may have rest.' And when the young men heard this their hearts were glad, and they made haste to do as Fawben had said. And there gathered together a great company to Shirpur, from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, riding furiously upon one-horse chariots. Of the tribe of Topkhana came Adg that dwelleth upon the hill of ravens, the Hazligg and Robos the mighty rider, and JBish the son of the high priest ; and of the tribe of Hooza came Mulvil the clerk and Bedol that owned the swift horses, and Barrur the beloved of women, whose head is like the sun ; and Wuster the hairy man, and Dirzee and many others ; and Taffy the centurion of the spearmen, from the land where the people eat cheese roasted with fire ; Hamilt the treasurer and Saptum the wise judge. And some of the tribe of Buff, the men that are clothed in scarlet, all of them desirable young men. And Fawben erected tabernacles for the young men, and gave them to eat and to drink as much as they would, for they were exceeding thirsty. " And Fawben gathered a great multitude of the tribe of Hind, hewers of wood and drawers of water, and they took staves and of instruments music and smote the HO PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. bushes and shouted greatly, so that the heart of the un- clean beast became as water, and he fled before them. And the young men having bound prickles on to their feet, pursued the unclean beast and smote him in the hinder parts, and covered him with shame ; and they strove greatly with one another who should first smite him with the spear, and they slew many, riding valiantly. And divers of the unclean beasts being possessed with a devil, turned upon the young men and sought to rend them with their tusks, and wounded many of their horses grievously ; but for such the young men stayed not their hands, nor did they cease to smite them till they had destroyed them utterly. " And Barrur whose head is as the sun, smote one of the unclean beasts, and his spear was loosed from his hand and his horse fell upon the edge of the spear so that he died ; and men grieved greatly for the good horse and for the man, though the latter died not. u And as the young men returned from hunting, there come one to meet them, riding furiously, and when he came close to them they saw it was Nill the Scribe. And they asked him, * Whence comest thou?' And he answered, and said : ' I am come from riding the beast Behemoth in the land beyond Gusy, where I have slain many wild beasts, and now I am come to help ye cleanse the land of the unclean animal.' And they said to him, ' Go to ! Where now is thy brother scribe, he that rideth the horse that snappeth like a dragon?' And he made answer and said, ' Verily he could not come, but his heart is with you to-day.' And when the young men heard this, they were sorrowful and held their peace. " And Fawben made a feast for the young men and SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 141 said ' Ye have well done this day, come now, eat, drink, and be merry.' And he gave them to eat of bull's flesh, and kid, and savoury meat, and sweet herbs and spices, and provided them water of the brook Simkin, which is also called dry ; and they were exceeding thirsty. And after they had feasted, Fawben took a vessel of silver in his hand and stood up and said : ' Ye have done well this day, and have slain many of the unclean beasts, but there be many that remain to vex the land, so this cup shall be a sign to you, that ye shall not be sparing of your horses until ye have utterly destroyed the Soors.' And he gave the vessel of silver to Bedol, as a memorial, for his horse was very swift. " Then Bedol stood up and said : ' This honour that Fawben hath done me, I am not worthy of it ; is he not of the tribe of Brix?' and the young men shouted with one accord, ' Verily he is chief among the tribe of Brix/ and they danced and made merry before Fawben. And they continued this for three days, slaying the unclean animals by day, and making merry by night ; and whatsoever they desired to eat or to drink, that did Fawben give them ; and they were exceeding thirsty. All this did Fawben the collector of taxes do, by reason of his desire to cleanse the land." The remainder of the inscription is illegible. The above names may be translated as follows : Fawben, Mr. Forbes, C.S. (Collector). Nill, Mr. Neale, C.S. (Deputy Collector), Secretary of the Club. Adg of Hill of Ravens, Lieutenant Ravenhill, Adju- tant, A Brigade, R.H.A. Hazligg, Lieutenant Hazlerigg, R.H.A. Robos, Lieutenant B. Roberts, R.H.A. 142 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Bish, son of High Priest, Lieutenant Phillpotts, R.A., grandson of Bishop of Exeter. Mulvil, Mr. Melville. Barrur, Lieutenant Seymour Barrow, igth Hussars. Wuster, Lieutenant Webster, iQth Hussars. Dirzee, Lieutenant Taylor, iQth Hussars. Taffy, Lieutenant Welshman, I9th Hussars. Hamilt, Major Hamilton, District Paymaster. Saptum, Hon. Mr. Sapt, Judge. In addition to the above, General Travers, V.C., General Sir A. Hardinge, and Captain White, I5th Hussars, were distinguished members of the club. This club gives annually a Pigsticking Cup to be run for after pig with the long spear, called (from the country in which it is contested) the Kadir Cup, and also a steeple- chase cup for pigstickers called the " Hog Hunters' Cup." The Cawnpore Club was founded in 1869, and up till the last few years has had excellent sport Under its auspices the Ganges Cup has been instituted, an annual cup like the Kadir Cup, but for men using the short spear. It also gives a silver spear to the member who wins the greatest number of first spears in the season. Among its prominent members are Messrs. A. B. Chap- man, A. W. Cruickshank, John Watson, C. Knyvett, Fishbourne, Captain Hayes, Hon. G. Bryan, etc. The Allahabad Club was started in 1870 by Mr. J. C. Robertson and General Travers, V.C., and has always had a good record of sport. It had long before been known as a good country for pig, but until some hardish men came there it had been supposed to be unrideable. Its districts of Kyraghur, Puttra, the rocky hills south of Mejah, and Kohrar, are rough going, but favourite resorts SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 143 of a very game breed of pig. Among its best men were Major Jeffreys, Messrs. G. Spankie, C. Knyvett, A. W. Cruickshank, Colonel Prinsep, and " Parson " Adams, V.C. This club has been specially favoured by the practical support of the chief landowners of the district, notably Mir Muhut, Ali Bahadur, and Sirdar Luchman Singh. The Delhi Club started in 1870, and has an excellent sporting record, due in a large measure no doubt to the number and excellence of its hunt Shikaris. Dr. Kavanagh, A. M.S., Messrs. Lushington, Lynch, Bishop, Captains Tidy, Walford, and Jeffreys are some of its most successful members. In Behar and Chumparun and Tirhoot districts there is no regular club ; but the planters of the district are all sportsmen of the first water, such as Archie Hills, Jem M'Leod, Vincent, and other well- known men. They have occasional meets, at which strangers are received with something more than mere hospitality. The jungles are chiefly of grass, and are beaten out by coolies and elephants. In addition to the common big grey and black boar, and the small shaggy one, there is hereabouts a reddish kind, which has a peculiar way of making for the rider's leg when it charges. " Walers " are the best horses for these plain districts. In Berhampore there is no regular club, but the planters of the country meet frequently, chiefly in the cold weather for two cr three days, and generally manage to account for ten to fourteen boar among a dozen or so of them. The country is open, and the jungles are of tiger grass and null. There are many overgrown, ruined villages, which are favourite breeding- 144 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. places of the pig ; these are never disturbed, and con- sequently the supply of game is always up to the desired mark. Messrs. Hills, Fergusson, and Malcolm are the leading sportsmen. In Bombay Presidency and the Nizam of Hyderabad's dominions, are the famed Deccan Districts of Poona, Aurungabad, Hyderabad, Julna, Ellichpore, Sholapore, Nagpore, Ahmedabad, Ahmednuggur, etc. The Poona Tent Club was in its prime some thirty years ago, and numbered among its leaders General Holland, Colonel Harris, General Hogg of Siroor, and many other well- known spears ; but the march of civilisation has cut up its somewhat limited country with railways, etc., and driven out the pig. The " Nuggur " hunt at that time also held a high position, supported by such sportsmen as Sir F. Sowter, Messrs. Cameron, Rawlinson, etc. ; but its country has of late years been over improved, from a pigsticker's point of view. General Forster, with " Tom " Gibbon, and Oliver Probyn made the last good bag there many years ago (viz., eleven boar in the Katney Ghat). But there are, on the other hand, fresh tracts of country opened up in which good hunting can yet be had. Dr. Gaye, with one friend, lately killed no less than fourteen good boar (some of 35 inches, none less than 32 inches) on the Leena. The sportsmen of Sholapore have recently revived the old club, with every prospect of great success. The Ahmedabad Tent Club's books date back to 1857, and show a steadily increasing record of sport. Colonels Le Geyt, Pottinger, and Hancock won their spurs with this hunt, and Dr. Boustead will long be remembered for the exceptionally big boars he usually brought to bag. SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 145 In Madras there is not much pigsticking country. In Assam and Burmah, as in many other parts, pig is plentiful, but the ground impassable. On the Brah- mapootra the pig are abundant, in fairly open country, but as it consists for the most part of paddy fields, the ground is only passable in dry weather, and is then so hard, slippery, and fissured, that it is unrideable even to men like Colonel Pollok, accustomed to cotton soil. The churs of the Brahmapootra are favourite resorts of pig, and much good sport has been got among them. Expenses. In these days of cheap and rapid travel, India and its hunting grounds lie at no great expense or distance from the sportsman in England. Twenty days' journey will land him in Bombay, with a return ticket by P. and O. Line, extending over six months, for II5/. The railway fare thence to an up- country district would be from 3/. to io/. Cost of board, lodging, and servants about i6/. per month, and each horse's keep about I/, per month. Indian hotels are, as a rule, to be avoided, being dear and dirty. At all large stations there are good resi- dential clubs, and at small stations there are small government rest houses, or dak bungalows. Thus the actual expenses of travelling, living, and servants for five months (i.e., three and a half months of actual sport) would easily be covered by 2$o/. Besides the P. and O. line of steamers, there are several others, such as the British India, Austrian Lloyds, Compagnie Nationale de Navigation, Anchor, Hull, and Rubattino, the latter being recommended for cheapness. The best time to go out, as far as the sport itself is concerned, is March, returning in July (see table on p. 62, 29, Chapter X). This happily fits in well with L 146 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. sporting ties in England, since it comes between hunting and the autumn shooting. The selection beforehand of the district to which he intends to go for sport should be an important item in his preparations. Towards this end a concise account of the different Tent Clubs is given in the Appendix, but the sportsman should satisfy himself by writing to the secretary before he finally decides on any particular one. The sport of each club varies from year to year. If the sportsman has a friend in that part of India he will do well to instruct him to procure him the requisite number of horses by the date of his arrival. Boots and breeches, and all saddlery and spear heads should be taken out from England ; all other articles can be obtained just as well on the spot. 58. Africa. In North Africa pigsticking may be got in Morocco, round about Tangier. Sir Drummond Hay, the late British Resident, has done an immense amount on behalf of the sport, but it is feared that since his departure the protection he had obtained for the pig of the district will lapse. However, Messrs. Green, Herbert White, and Brookes, who are keen and successful sportsmen, will doubtless do a great deal towards keeping the sport up to the mark. The natives of the country, from the Sherif of Wazan downwards, are very keen, and therefore make excellent beaters, but the danger is that their keenness may lead them into shooting the pig as they used to do before Sir Drummond Hay obtained the right of preserving. The country is chiefly low scrub bush, and the boar are fast and plucky, and very large, one of 40 inches having been killed. Meets are held about once a month during the winter for three days at a time. SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 147 Forwood Brothers' steamers run to Tangier, and nu- merous lines run to Gibraltar, whence communication with Tangier is easy. A return ticket costs I5/. Good horses for the work can be hired on the spot or bought for 2O/. The sportsman should take his own spears. There is a good hotel, " Villa de France," kept by M. Beuzeaud, a local sportsman. Living, js. a day. North East Africa offers good pigsticking in the Somali country near Zaila. This is best reached from Aden. A place called Uhdhawadivi, some 25 miles from Zaila, is best for sport, and the country is open and pig plentiful and plucky. See "Field," i/th November, 1888. South Africa. In South Africa good sport was procurable a few years ago some 70 miles to the westward of Pretoria, in the Transvaal. Sir Arthur Cunynghame, an old hand at the game in India, com- pares the African sport most favourably with that of Asia. There are two kinds of pig to be met with in South Africa, viz., the Bush Hog (Cheiropotamus Africanus), called by the Dutch the Bosch Vark, and the Wart Hog, so called from the peculiar excrescences on the sides of his face. The wart hog stands nearly as high as the Indian pig, but is more hairy and of a lighter and redder colour. He has a shorter neck and heavier head. His upper tushes are larger than the lower, being about 9 inches long and very massive ; the lower tushes are much like those of the Indian boar but not so curved. Wart hogs are, however, very uncommon now in civilised parts, in fact I know only of one place where they still exist, a certain farm tract near Harri- smith, in the Orange Free State. In the interior wilds they are common enough, and a sportsman taking a L 2 148 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. horse and spear with him should have good sport, especially as they are to be met with out in the open by day. 59. Australia. Pig exist in some parts of Australia and New Zealand, but chiefly in unrideable country. There are parts of Australia, however, where pig can be found and ridden. The Hon. Harold Finch-Hatton, in his interesting book " Advance Australia ! " describes the sport he got in Queensland, by which it would appear that the pig there are quite as able to run and to fight as those of Ir dia, and the ground is apparently no less " interesting," being overgrown with long grass in which the trunks of fallen trees lie hid in large numbers. From his book I cannot help extracting the following strange adven- ture : " The author and his brother had ridden and killed a boar, when they discovered that Mr. Rice, the third man of their party, was missing. However, before long, a ' coolie ' from the ridges away to the right, about a quarter of a mile off, told us of his whereabouts. We set off, and when we came up we found Rice standing with a broken spear in his hand, examining the carcase of a still more enormous boar than the one my brother had killed. He had run him for about three-quarters of a mile, and in trying to spear him he had broken his spear, leaving only about 5 feet of the shaft. A little further on the boar had ' bailed up ' on the top of a ridge, and stood with his legs wide apart and the foam dropping from his huge tusks, and looking altogether such a discouraging sight that nothing would induce Rice's horse to go near him. Whereupon he coolly got off and grasping the remains of his spear walked SELECTION OP LOCALITIES. 149 straight at the boar without, as he afterwards said, the slightest notion of what either he or the animal was going to do. Of course the boar charged, and as the brute came at him Rice slung the spear at him with all his force and with infinite precision. It entered the animal's chest and he ran right on to it, driving it into his heart and falling dead on the spot. It was a most miraculous escape for Rice, for if he had not killed the boar it is pretty certain the boar would have killed him." Pighunting in New Zealand is described by Sir George Baden-Powell in his book " New Homes for the Old Country " : u The pig was found by the first settlers, in the beginning of this century, in large numbers and already wild in many parts of the country, although it had only been introduced by Captain Cook and the earlier navigators. It is, by many, believed to prey upon lambs and is therefore warred against. It is still very common, inhabiting the thick scrubs owing to the nature of the country, the pigs are only to be got at on foot. Two good dogs are used to find and bail him up ; and he is then put an end to by means of a strong dog kept in hand for the purpose, or by the use of spears, or by aid of gun or pistol The boars frequently have very formidable tushes and the sows bite severely." 60. Sandwich Islands. I am indebted to W. H. Purvis, Esq., of Kukuihaele, Hawaii, for the following account : " I have grand sport pigsticking in the island of Hawaii. We find pig in a rolling country, with good turf going, plenty of dead stumps, and trunks of trees destroyed by the cattle an entirely wild country. The pig are a wild breed, indigenous, but probably crossed 150 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. with tame pig. The boars are very heavy, short in the legs on the plains, but leaner and quicker up the moun- tains. No measurements have as yet been taken, but the approximate weight of a good boar is 400 Ibs. I have tushes of loj inches, but have seen them larger. The wild pig seldom visit plantations or cultivation. As a rule we go out three spears together, with a few natives mounted our method being to ride in a well-extended line of a quarter to half a mile across the country, until a boar is sighted, usually found asleep under a log or bank. All ride for him when started ; our endeavour is to head him off any sheltering bush in the neighbourhood. The spear we use is a bayonet or leaf head (from Toulon) on a male bamboo shaft (from India). I was the first to begin the sport 1881 but had no personal experience, and was greatly in need of a good book on the sport. We first used green coffee plant shafts, with heads made by the local blacksmith. An average day, out for a few hours, always gave two or three boars. I have got as many as 13 pig in a few hours, 7 to my own spear. I never got within striking distance without the pig charging. They are particularly fierce and cunning. Occasionally they charge before they are chased at all. On one occasion in trying to turn a sow for my fox terriers to come up to, she charged and seized my toe in her mouth, letting go only when the dogs attacked her in rear. We never take dogs out spearing as they get in the way of the horses. We do take them when we go pigshooting in the thick bush. My fox terrier * Mika,' great at pig, met his fate by one blow from a pig which cut his throat right through to the neck-bone, as cleanly as if cut with a razor. The horses we use, which are usually from 14 to 15 hands, are island bred of a race originally SELECTION OF LOCALITIES. 151 introduced by Vancouver, probably Mustangs crossed by good imported sires from Australia and America. The horses grow quite keen in the sport, one I used always with snaffle-bit now gets so excited on seeing a pig that I lose all control, his one endeavour being to come to close quarters. In old days, natives, taught originally by Spaniards from America, were great adepts at lassoing pig from horseback. In regard to season, one goes out pigsticking equally well all the year round. 61. North Mexico. Another form ofpighunting is practised in Northern Mexico, where good sport is to be had in riding after Peccary pig and roping (lassoing) them. In Germany, Belgium, Austria, Russia, Albania, and Switzerland, boar exist, but almost entirely in forests or unrideable country. The most likely places are in the neighbourhood of Creuznach, Wiesbaden, Coblentz, but no pigsticking proper has been carried out at these places as far as I am aware. 152 CHAPTER XVII. LIVING IN CAMP. 62. Camp Life. Every station near which pig are to be found has its Tent Club. This is an associa- tion of the sportsmen of the place for carrying out the preservation of the pig, and successful hunting. A Master and Committee are usually appointed to conduct the affairs of the club, the Master being also secretary and treasurer. The club possesses a mess tent, utensils, and servants, also a head Shikari with perhaps some assistants. Once a week a meet is held at a place appointed by the Master after consultation with the Shikaris. The mess is set up there and beaters engaged. The members send their own tents and horses, and make their own way out to the rendezvous on the evening previous to the hunt. The following rules are similar to those regulating most Tent Clubs : 1. The affairs of the club to be managed by a Com- mittee consisting of three members, including the Master, to be elected as vacancies occur. 2. The Committee are responsible for the general management of the club, and it is their duty to arrange for meets as often as sport can be procured. 3. The tent club book to be circulated among the members before every hunt. Thursday to be the club day. LIVING IN CAMP. 153 4. Any gentleman desirous of joining should send his name to the Master. 5. Members stating their intention of going out and not going to be charged expenses for that day at the discretion of the Committee. A member coming out without giving warning is liable to a fine of I R., at the discretion of the Committee. 6. For each meet, in the absence of the Master, the Committee shall appoint a member to transact the business for the day, and his arrangements, as regards placing the spears, the number to ride each pig, beating, etc., must be adhered to. He shall also be responsible for seeing the coolies paid. 7. A general meeting shall be held at the beginning and close of each hunting season for inspection of accounts, etc. 8. Beaters will be paid for by a charge (which will be settled by the Committee) against all members present ; but extra expenses, such as presents to men cut by pigs, etc., shall be paid by the fund. 9. Other tent clubs and regiments wishing to have a day in the tent club district may be entertained as the Committee may decide. If they are entertained as guests a general charge will be made against all the members of the> club for the expenses of the meet. 10. That no member of the tent club go out pig- sticking without sanction from the Committee, so that other members may join if they choose. The amount of entrance fee and subscription of course varies according to the size of club, distance and nature of covers, and extent of pig preserving done and renting of jungle. For the assistance of those intending to start or form 154 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. clubs a quotation of the subscriptions of a few existing clubs might be useful. In the Calcutta Club, three gold mohurs (48 Rs.) is the subscription for the season, the fund so raised pays the current expenses of the club, e.g., hire of elephants and beaters, pay of Shikaris, carriage of mess, etc. The cost of messing is divided among those who mess at each meet. In the Muttra Club a monthly subscription of 12 Rs. pays current expenses ; messing being divided among those present at each meet. In the Meerut Club there is an entrance fee of one gold mohur (16 Rs.),and a subscription of 20 Rs. for the season. With this the club pays for beaters, Shikaris, tents, carriages, tolls, use of dak bungalows, etc. Each member present at a meet pays 2 Rs. a day for food, also a share of the aggregate expense of wine and servants. In the Delhi Tent Club the entrance donations for hunting members are 5 Rs. ; subscription for hunting members 2 Rs. monthly ; non-hunting members I R. monthly ; non-resident members, monthly subscription I R. ; hunting members during off season I R. monthly. 63. Camp Equipment. Scores of books now exist on Indian sport which give with great completeness the best hints for camping in that country, I will, there- fore, only venture to give a few of the points that will be found useful by the pigsticker. Mr. Sanderson, in his book, says: " Roughing it when there is no necessity, and there seldom is, now-a-days, in India, is a mistake which only the inexperienced fall into. LIVING IN CAMP. 155 "A great principle in camping out to be borne in mind is that the sportsman should make himself and his followers as comfortable as possible. " Small tents rather than large. Night fires to wind- ward. Sleep 3 feet off the ground, and use mosquito curtains. Change wet clothes. Smoke in a mist as a preventive against fever." These hints, may, with advantage, be followed by every sportsman. Camping out can always, in India, be done with a certain amount of comfort, but particularly by pig- stickers, because, as a rule,' their sport takes them in rideable countries where bullock waggons (hackeries) can move, carrying their equipage. The secret of getting a great amount of willing work out of your servants in camp is to pay some attention to their comfort as well as your own and their wants in this respect are very small. A small shelter tent, an extra ekka (country pony cart) for their goods and chattels, and a trifling money allowance for every day spent in camp are quite sufficient to make a pigsticking expedition welcome to them. At the same time it does not pay by any means to pamper them. Mr. Sanderson recommends small tents ; that is be- cause small tents are easily carried, do not require an extra staff of men to pitch them, and when properly arranged are quite as cool and comfortable as large ones. Tents can be procured in India far better than in England. Cawnpore is the best place for getting them. A tent for a pigsticking camp must have a double fly or roof to keep out the sun ; in fact it is all the better to have a treble fly, or some blankets spread over the roof. 156 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. The " Cabul " is a very convenient little tent, measur- ing 6 feet by 8 feet interior floor space, weighing (with pegs and poles) 80 Ibs., price 75 Rs. The " Field Officer's Cabul " is a larger size of the same, measuring 12 feet by 12 feet, weighing from 120 to 160 Ibs. Price, 100 Rs. These tents can be fitted for hot weather work with a tattle or screen of damp khus grass in place of the door, and, having a ridge pole, can have a small punkah swung from it. The " Swiss Cottage " is the tent which I prefer to all others. It is 12 feet square, with a bath room attached, and a verandah in front, and eaves at the sides (useful for shelter of saddlery, etc.). Both side walls may be made of tatties with windows let in, and a good punkah can be swung from the ridge pole. This tent weighs 140 Ibs., and costs 180 Rs. A small thermantidote for pumping cool air into the tent is worth the outlay of 50 Rs. A folding arm-chair, camp table, bed, washhand-stand, tub, camp lamp, etc., are of course required. Should you be going into camp where there is no mess provided, leave the selection of cooking utensils, etc., to your cook. He knows best what he requires (wonderfully little, as a rule), and to attempt to fit him out with cooking pots after your own heart would prob- ably bring about similar results to those of the experi- ment of supplying coolies with wheelbarrows for making a railway : they filled their barrows, and then carried them on their heads as they had been accustomed to do with their baskets. 64. Clothes. With regard to clothes the follow- ing are usually worn : A well-fitted pith solar topee LIVING IN CAMP. 157 (and see that it is pith and not paper), with tapes to tie it on with. A Norfolk jacket of homespun or other light and cool texture, with a pad made to button on outside, as a protection for the whole of the spine from the sun ; have it fitted with button holes and buttons on both sides in front, so that it can be buttoned open, and held to the body by a waist-band, leaving your chest open to the air. The jacket should be* grey or other non-conspicuous colour in order not to catch the pig's eye ; in many clubs white coats are particularly forbidden on this account Spurs should be of the very shortest, because in riding through jungle, etc., one's feet are frequently caught and pulled round by bushes in such a way that the spurs, if long, are liable to score the horse, and long spurs are liable to trip one when tackling a boar on foot. A hunting knife, secured in its sheath by a spring, should hang behind the hip from your belt for self- defence in case of being left dismounted, without spear, in the presence of an angry boar. A policeman's whistle (audible two miles) is also a useful appendage for calling up coolies when you have killed, or are badly hurt, or for directing the line of beaters when to advance or when to halt in cover. Light cords and brown butcher boots. 65. Saddlery. Saddlery should be taken out from England. There is no worse economy than to buy cheap infe- rior saddlery, and good saddlery is not obtainable in India. Light hunting saddles with a narrower tree than that usual for an English horse. The ordinary double and single bridles, breastplates, etc. It is advisable to take 158 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. also spare girths and stirrup leathers, as well as English horse-brushes. All the best London saddlers now understand what kind of saddlery is required for India, but as far as my experience goes, none of them can beat Sowter, of the Haymarket. Good saddlery will always fetch its value when put up for sale in India. 66. Diversions in Camp. In the hot weather the hunting hours are from early dawn up till about nine o'clock in the morning, and in the evening from five till dark, the rest of the day being passed in your tent sketching, dozing, and reading, with occasional " goes " of claret cup, etc. If you prefer not to waste this time altogether, it is a good practice to take a few books and dictionary of any foreign language you may wish to be learning. A certain amount of work is also got through in the way of preserving heads, etc., of the pig killed that morning, but this is usually the work of Shikaris or a man taken out for the purpose. A rook rifle is a useful addition to your camp equipment. The evenings in camp are not, as a rule long, and they are made much shorter where there are men ready to make things lively with a song or two. The following are samples of what is popular in this line, and many more are to be found in the back numbers of the " Oriental Sporting Magazine." Non-musical men should remember that they are perfectly able to learn the words of a song, and that a recitation is far more acceptable than a badly sung song, and forms a pleasing variety in an evening's programme of music. Two popular songs begin as follows : LIVING IN CAMP. 159 " OVER THE VALLEY AND OVER THE LEVEL. A. W. Cruickshank. " Over the valley, over the level, Through the dak jungle, ride like the devil. Hark, forward ! A boar ! Away we go, Sit down and ride straight : Tally ho ! Chorus Over the valley, etc. " He's a true bred one none 'of your jinking, Straight across country, no time for thinking. There's water in front ! there's a boar as well ! So damn the nullah, and ride like hell. Chorus Over the valley, etc " " HERE'S TO THE BOAR. Air ' Bonnie Dundee.' " We've eaten our dinner, we've drunk to our fill, Our horses are bedded, the camp is all still ; We've just time for a pipe and to send the glass round, To-morrow, by dawn, we must be on our ground. Come, fill up your cup as full as you can, Come, fill up a bumper each pigsticking man, And drink to the boar, with his grizzled old jowl, * May we meet him to-morrow,' and ' Hell to his sowl.' Chorus Come, fill up your cup, etc. " The beaters are in and the parties are out, Our senses are tingling at every shout. Will the boar be a big one, or will he be small ? Will he break out to our side, or break not at all ? Stop ! the mare's ears are pricked ! what is it she sees ? A dusky form steals from the shade of the trees ; He stops, then away for the open he hies, Displaying his form to our gratified eyes. Chorus Come, fill up your cup, etc." 160 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. 67. Preserving Trophies. Voltaire says, " Le .corps d'un ennemi mort sent toujours bon," but he had had no experience of a pigsticker's camp. Once let a bad smell get a fair start and not only is it impossible to drive it out, but it is impossible to find where it originates. When the camp is being pitched a certain spot should be assigned for depositing the pig, when they are brought in, at some distance to leeward ; and stringent orders should be given against the pig or any portions of them being brought near the tents. Natives are very fond of hanging up junks of the meat in trees and bushes until it becomes " seasoned " and half cooked by the sun, and the natural consequence is a smell, which can only be described as awful. The uninitiated Englishman will come out of his tent with his handkerchief to his nose, and look everywhere but in the right place for the cause of it. Man is said to be avOpwiro? (" one who looks upwards "), but when he is looking for the cause of a smell, however " high " it may be, he invariably looks about low down for it. As soon as possible after the boar has been killed he should be " gralloched " and carried off to the appointed spot outside the camp. He will there be cut up ; his head going to the spearer, and his flesh distributed among those of the villagers, servants, and beaters who are not prevented by their caste from eating pork. Before removing the pig from the spot where he was slain he should be measured. Some people measure him when he is brought into camp, but such measurement is not reliable, as the muscles of the legs and shoulders will have been unduly stretched and stiffened in carrying him slung by the feet from a pole. LIVING IN CAMP. 161 To measure correctly lay the pig on his side, place one stick upright on the ground touching the withers and another at the heel where the horn joins the hair, and measure the distance between the two sticks in such a way that the measuring tape is not curved, and so lengthened by contact with the body. His length should be measured on the same principle. If it is desired to preserve the head to be set up, it should be cut off with a good long neck. The skin should then be slit down the centre and stripped off the skull, taking care not to injure the part round the eyes. The skull' can then be cleaned by a native, care being taken not to lose the lower jaw-bones. Wash the skin well in soap and water and split the lips and skin of the ears from the inside as far as you can ; removing as much meat from them as can be filled in afterwards with wool and not be detected from outside when the head is set up. Put the skin in a chattie, or large jar, of carbolic acid and water, until it is required to be set up. The skull should be boiled in water, this will bring off the flesh, etc., and will loosen the tushes. These should be taken out, well oiled and plugged with wax or grease, and refixed in the jaws. The skull should be attached to a wooden shield bracket by a wooden neck of proper length and inclina- tion. . The jaws should then be fixed with wire. The appearance of the head will be more effective if they are left open. Fill the eye cavities with putty and insert glass eyes. Roll wool or tow round the wooden neck and under the jaws, and model the muscles of the nose, face, gums, and tongue, in putty on the skull. M 1 62 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Take the skin out of the solution (where it may have been left with safety for six weeks) and soap it well with arsenical soap. Put wool in the ears. Draw the skin on to the skull and stitch up the slit. Tack the end of the neck on to the shield. Manipulate the whole into proper shape, and brush the bristles before the head becomes set and dry. To make arsenical soap mix into a paste with water : 5 drachms of camphor. 4 ozs. of arsenic. 4 ozs. of white soap. 1 2 ozs. of carb. potash. 4 ozs. of slaked lime. If it is only required to extract the tushes : chop out the jaws, and boil them till the tushes are loosened and come out readily. Natives are very apt to try to force them out and in so doing to break them. When taken out they should be plugged and coated with wax or grease, as they are apt to dry up and split into fragments in a few days in hot weather. In a damp climate they last perfectly well. Small tushes make good labels for decanters, having a silver plate attached to them and being hung round the neck of the bottle by a small silver chain. A pair of good upper tushes make a good stick or umbrella handle, or one single upper or lower tusk makes a good crutch handle for a stick. Briggs, of St. James's Street, thoroughly understands mounting them. Two large upper tushes may be made into a photo- graph frame with legs formed by two lower tushes. The Kadir Cup, 1883, is a plain silver cup with three double handles, a pair of big under tushes forming each handle. LIVING IN CAMP. 163 A dog collar can be made with a pair of large under tushes connected by silver hinge and hasp. Such a collar was worn by " Beetle" (see portrait, page 132). 68. Surgical Notes. Besides knowing how to cure heads, etc., it will often be found a most useful accomplishment to know how to cure yourself, or friend, or follower, in the event of accident or sudden illness. It is not till an accident happens (as it usually does when least expected, and with no professional assistance at hand), that one realises one's utter helplessness, and vainly reproaches oneself for never having devoted an hour or so to learning how to give " first aid " to sick or injured. Sunstrokes and heat apoplexy are possible, and dis- locations, fractures, sprains, contusions, concussions, and gashes, are frequent in the pigsticking field ; it is, there- fore, incumbent on a pigsticker to know how to deal with them pending the arrival of a doctor, and to be provided with a few necessary appliances for so doing. An important addition, therefore, to your camp equip- ment should be a book of "Ambulance" lectures and instructions, and a pocket case containing triangular bandage, tourniquet, antiseptic plaister, lint, ointment, needles, silk, tape, pins. There are several forms of suitable pocket cases in the market, notably the "Nyd," and the " St. John's Ambulance " cases. The following notes on the treatment of the more likely accidents might be copied into a pocket book if an ambulance book is not available : SUNSTROKE. Symptoms. Insensibility, headache, and dizziness. M 2 1 6 4 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Treatment. Raise head ; open clothing near neck ; cold water douche on head and neck ; no stimulants. HEAT APOPLEXY. Symptoms. Insensibility, stertorous breathing. Treatment. Raise head ; strip ; cover with wet sheet ; cold douche ; no stimulants. FRACTURE OF LIMB. Symptoms. Contortion, crepitation. Treatment. Straighten limb, bandage in extemporised splints ; if an arm, put in sling ; if a leg, bind to the other leg. Give weak stimulant. FRACTURE OF COLLAR BONE. Put pad in armpit, and bind arm to side. Weak stimulant. WOUNDS. Bleeding to be stopped. Blood from a vein comes dark coloured and with steady flow. Lay patient on his back. Apply cold water and pressure by bandage over the wound itself, that part of the body being raised. Blood from an artery comes bright red in jets. Find the artery at some point between the wound and the heart press it with thumb against the bone if possible. Apply tourniquet immediately above this point if the bleeding is checked by it. A tourniquet is extemporised by placing a round stone on the artery and fixing there with a hand- kerchief passed r6und the limb, knotted, and screwed tight with the aid of a stick through the loop. LIVING IN CAMP. 165 PUNCTURED WOUNDS. Stop up with cotton or linen and bandage tightly. LARGE CUTS. Should be pinned or stitched up (see page 130) as already described for horses. A stretcher may be extemporised, if no charpoy is handy, by laying two coats end to end, on their backs, on the ground ; turn the sleeves inside out ; pass two spear shafts through the sleeves, each shaft going down one sleeve of each coat ; button the coats across. Place the stretcher so formed alongside the patient for putting him in. The hand-books above mentioned contain all other necessary directions. 1 66 CHAPTER XVIII. RIDING TO PIG. 69. A good man to pig. As we have already pre- mised, an additional charm attaches to a sport in which emulation between individuals finds a place, and in which one man can prove himself better than another and has opportunities of excelling in the eyes of his fellows. Such rivalry is a special feature of pigsticking, where, during the early part of the run, the riders compete for the honours of "first spear," and later, when the boar is being fought, they have constant opportunities of showing their courage and adroitness. In excelling in pigsticking more credit is due to the man than to the horse, to a greater extent than is the case in other mounted sports, such as racing, steeple- chasing, polo, and even foxhunting. As we have before seen ( 46) a good horse is certainly an advantage and a comfort, but not a necessity. A good man on a raw country-bred galloway will beat a bad man on a 1,500 Rs. Arab. Some people lay down the theory that to be success- ful as a pigsticker you must be a light-weight, since pig- sticking is a species of catch-weight race, and adduce as proof of their doctrine that most of the pigsticking cups have been won by light or medium weights; but this does not altogether prove the case, since the class of 09 PL. fc u RIDING TO PIG. 167 horse used undoubtedly tells in these races for first blood, and men of light weight are able to ride the best of horses for the work, namely Arabs, while heavier men are obliged to try and hold up their respective Walers and country-breds in ground unsuited to them. In practice it will be found that what the light rider gains by lightness he loses in power a big considera- tion where so much turning and holding of the horse has to be done. It is, in fact, on this account that catch- weights are considered the fairest weights for the annual pigsticking competitions. Were proof required for this view of the question it would only be necessary to point to the successes of such heavy-weights as John Watson, Harry Reeves, and others. But the truth is, weight has very little to do with it ; the qualifications that make a "good man to pig" are concisely summarized by " Old Shekarry " as follows : " Strong nerves, good eye for a country, keen sight, firm seat, a light hand, and more especially a bold heart and cool head : and, add to these, judgment of pace, dexterity with the spear, and an inti- mate acquaintance with the habits and cunning of the boar? These points are the direct steps to the pinnacle of excellence in pigsticking. Many good men have a kind of natural instinctive foreknowledge of the pig's tactics, which, perfected by observation and experience, enables them in a run to keep their horses going well within their powers, and yet to get the best of every turn. They do not neces- sarily lie first in the earlier part of the run, but they are invariably the first to see and to seize the right oppor- tunity for spearing, and they do it with a dash that were it imitated by many others of the field would effectually 1 68 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. break the long continued spell of their unaccountable want of success. But a large proportion of men are cursed with want of dash which is fatal to success whether in the pigsticking field or in the cavalry battle-field, they see their opportunity but pause momentarily to con- sider, " Is it good enough now yes, I think so, but yet yes, here goes !" Too late ! " Here goes " should be the first guiding principle, and any other considerations should be gone into afterwards, like the Biluchi sentry's method of " challenging " he puts his bayonet through the intruder first, and then says, " Who comes there ? Advance and give the countersign." (A fact.) Outram is said to have possessed the powers of dis- cernment and prompt decision in war to an uncommon extent, and bringing the same dash to bear in the hog- hunting field he proved one of the best pigstickers in India. In 1823 at Rajkote, out of eighty-three boar killed, Outram was accredited with fifty, and the follow- ing year in Kattiawar, twenty-four out of thirty-nine fell to his spear. He even successfully extended his powers to tiger- sticking, in which field, with the exception of Colonel Skinner, he stands alone. Supposing then that the aspiring tyro at pigsticking considers he is qualified in the points already given, such as nerve, dash, a firm seat and a light hand (not a light seat and a firm hand, as some appear to read it), it only remains for him to study the pig's ways, and learn how best to adapt his skill to them. For this reason I venture in this chapter to give a few hints on riding to pig. 70. Waiting. The sentiment contained in the words of the sea song, \vhich says : RIDING TO PIG. 169 " Dear, dear, that stupid engineer Has got his work to learn." must frequently occur in rather more forcibly expressed terms to the Master and older sportsmen at a meet where a young hand appears with full resolution to cut some of them down in the run. From sheer ignorance and inexperience he commits all kinds of little faults which, trifling enough in themselves, may have large results in the matter of spoiling sport for all. Therefore, it will generally be wise in a beginner not to try to make his mark in his first run, but to hang back a bit and see how things are done by the older hands. When once you have been told off to a party you should remain with that party and not try to join any other unless specially asked to do so. The boar will never be induced to leave his cover if he suspects that an enemy is in wait for him outside, and therefore, after the beating has commenced there should be no moving about on the part of the " spears," no galloping up, a little late, to your party, etc. If by some accident you have to move from one station to another after the beat has begun, do not do so at a gallop, as it makes a good deal of noise and also is a signal that you are after a pig, but move at a trot, either inside the boundary of the cover, or else at a good distance away outside it, keeping as much as possible concealed from the watchful eyes of any pig who may happen to be looking out of the jungle. When a party has been assigned a post at which they are to wait for the appearance of a pig from the cover, their first care should be to effectually hide themselves, to keep their horses as still as possible, and to arrange for a good look out being kept on all points within ken i;o PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. of their post. The cover afforded by any bush, mound, ditch, or deep shade of a tree should be utilised, but in such a way that the hunter's view is not interrupted ; spears should be held in such a way that no glistening of their points shall catch the pig's eye ; and the horses must be kept perfectly quiet and motionless. It is a well-known fact among elephant hunters that so long as a man stands perfectly still an elephant cannot distinguish him even at a few yards distance. This is also the case with a pig ; but it must not, therefore, be supposed that he is dull of sight, for the slightest move- ment or sound will at once attract his attention, and excite his over suspicious nature. It is easy enough for the man to keep still, but the difficulty is to make the horse do so, and the pig quite recognises the horse as man's ally against himself and dislikes him accordingly. Nervous horses will twist about and paw the ground, thin-skinned horses will kick at the flies, and the quietest horses feel bound to keep their tails banging around ; these eccentricities must therefore be taken into con- sideration when trying to escape the notice of the pig in places where complete concealment is not obtainable. Fidgety horses should be placed between steady ones, whose placidity will as a rule communicate itself to them, all horses should be kept " head on " to the spot watched, so that their tails will be as little visible as pos- sible to the pig ; a fly net on the body, and a fringe or leafy twig suspended over the eyes, will alleviate the distress of thin-skinned horses. It very frequently happens that when a party of spears is posted near a spot which is known as the usual point of exit of pig from the cover, they all keep their eyes anxiously fixed on that point with a perfect disregard of RIDING TO PIG. 171 any other ; the consequence is that the very beast they are so anxiously awaiting may have slipped out a short distance further back, and be stealing away unseen over the plain behind them, or, what is a very common occur- rence, an old solitary boar dozing in an outlying bush a short distance outside the cover is aroused by the din of the beaters within the jungle, and proceeds to sneak off unnoticed by the party of spears near him who are steadily watching the whole length of the actual jungle side. The next episode after the party has concealed itself is one of the most exciting in the chase, namely, the appearance of the pig on the scene. There is an almost sickening feeling of suspense associated with his first " discovery " such as one feels when forming up to start for a race, or when thanking the Governor of the jail and Sheriffs previous to the bolt being drawn at one's execution. " Bushman " writing in the " Oriental Sporting Maga- zine," thus describes the sensation : " The intensity of feeling at such a moment as this is truly painful, the heart throbs in the throat and the hand all but refuses to hold the rein, and this agitation as powerfully affects your horse, his eye kindles, a tremor shakes his body, and his restlessness shows how eager he is to commence the fray." Dan Johnson, too, says that on these occa- sions he has " trembled all over as if he were in a cold fit of ague, which did not arise from fear but from ex- treme anxiety " to begin operations. At such an exciting moment, especially after having been waiting for the last half hour, with every sense of sight and hearing strained for a sign of the pig, a strong exercise of self control on the part of the hunter is demanded in order that the 172 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. fruit of his patience may not be rendered abortive by premature action. It is at this juncture then that, if there is a beginner in the party, he will make himself unpleasantly con- spicuous ; on the first sight of the boar he will gather up his reins, cram his hat down, and generally prepare for the coming struggle ; his horse thus roused will set the other horses shifting and moving, whereat the pig per- ceiving something suspicious in the wind, accepts the hint with a sort of nod of comprehension and trots back into cover with a firm determination not to turn out of it again in a hurry to face unknown dangers. The author's remarks in " Hunting" on the shyness of the fox in breaking cover apply equally well to the boar : " one small child will keep him from coming out, while a whole regiment of cavalry can't prevent his going back when he has come out, and is minded to return." Therefore the party of spears should remain perfectly motionless on the appearance of the pig and give him time to reconnoitre and make up his mind to venture forth ; this may take him a few seconds or it may take several minutes to do. There will be ample time after he has finally determined to take to the open and has passed the station of the party for cramming on your hats, drying your spear hand, aye, and of making your will too, if necessary, for you should not be in too great a hurry to start to ride. Better lose your boar over the horizon than chop him back into cover. In the case of a sounder of young pig and sows breaking cover the party should remain perfectly quiet even after they have passed, because in nine cases out of ten the old patriarch of the family is following them at RIDING TO PIG. 173 some distance behind as rear guard, or if he does not happen to be there, their apparently safe escape will often induce others hesitating at the edge of the jungle, to follow their example, and break cover. If the ground is perfectly open the party can wait till the boar has got his full distance and then start to gallop him, but if there are thin crops or bushes, etc., in which he might be lost sight of he should be quietly followed and kept in sight, at a walk only, for he will generally pause two or three times to listen before fully making up his mind where to run to. When he stops in this way the party should of course stop too, and in concealment if possible. If he should happen to see the party moving after him the latter should continue on the move apparently taking no notice of him and gradually circle away from his line. He will then often imagine that he has escaped their notice and will there- fore resume his flight. In any case it is no use attempt- ing to rush him as he will at once dart back for the cover whence he came. In the case of canal jungles it is particularly neces- sary to give the boar a long start, and by long start I mean half-a-mile at least. Knowing the interminable length of these jungles, pig are very loth to leave them, and consequently if they find themselves being pursued while they are still within what they consider reasonable distance of the cover they will shoot round on the instant, and make the running " all they know " back again, at a pace that in that short distance will keep them well ahead of any horse. Considering the delicacy, therefore, of this " waiting" phase of the chase, it is best for the beginner to let him- self be entirely guided by the leader of the party. In 174 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. every party there will generally be one more experienced than the rest who will, by tacit consent, be accepted as leader. He will direct the movements of the party in keeping the pig in sight, and when he sees him finally cantering off with a sufficient start he will give the word " Ride." Then let it be a case " extremum scabies occupet" " Ride ! for now the sounder breaks, Ride where'er the grey boar takes ; Bold and brave ones join the chase. Follow in the reckless race. Hurrah ! hurrah ! one bumper more, A bumper to the gallant boar ! " 71. Riding to Pig. The only golden rule for riding well and successfully at pigsticking is " ride straight." Mr. Nightingale's advice to beginners is worth remembering. "Ride straight," he says, "from first to last, keep your spear well forward and never say die ; " and Mr. Cruickshank, in his pigsticker's anthem, seconds the proposition with " Sit down and ride straight, ride like hell!" The author of a quaint pigsticking book of 1827 counsels the very opposite of what one would do now-a- days ; he says, " I would rather lose a hog or not deliver my spear than get a fall or my horse ripped. Unfor- tunately many hoghunters pay more attention to the hog and to the delivery of the spear than to themselves or their horses, and have many ruined which might have been saved by a little more attention to the latter, which also would prevent many falls. I do not consider that person the best sportsman who kills most hogs, but he who kills the greatest number with the least risk." Shooting driven pig from behind a safe rampart, as is RIDING TO PIG. 175 done in Russia, would probably have suited this sports- man. No, in riding to pig, you must keep shoving ahead, although riding at times as if to get a fall. " Keep your eye on the pig and not on the ground," was the stock of theory with which I was launched into the tide of pigsticking, and most useful advice I found it. Leave to your horse the duty of looking out for holes and negotiating obstacles, he will do it just as well without your aid as with, probably far better. All that you should do for him is to direct him and make him aware of any change of the pig's course or pace. The great thing is never to lose touch of your pig through thick or thin. The following sentiment culled from the " Asian " expresses the opinion of many a good pig- sticker : " I would rather see a man with no seat and no jiidgment at all, flying at his horse's ears at every little impediment, than see a fellow ' craning ' on every occasion, like a crow peeping down a marrow bone just as if he wanted to pick somebody's pocket on the other side." To keep touch with the pig does not necessarily mean follow exactly in his footsteps, as several lengths may often be gained by going more directly to him, and very often a piece of judicious riding to one side of his line will keep you close to him, and at the same time gradually head him away from some unfavourable ground or cover ; but in pointing out this fact, I would not have it thought for one moment that I advocate riding wide of the pig, that is, anticipating his line and riding, as it were, a " point to point " race with him. That would be " dodging," not hunting. Colonel Shakespeare says, with great truth, "Ride straight to the front, there is hardly any ground that a 176 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. hog crosses where your horse cannot follow. Blot the words ' impossible ' and ' impracticable ' out of your dictionary." The spirit of these instructions may with advantage be acted up to by the beginner as far as possible, but he must not expect the pig always to pick out an easy line for him. As Colonel Barras says, "There is nothing in hoghunting so fatally dangerous as to try and cut corners off when in bad ground. By so doing you do not know what you may come to ; whereas by accepting the boar, who knows his way, as a pilot, there will always be some sort of footing, which, though some- times leading the horse and his rider to destruction, is at all events a great deal better than being without any guiding principle whatever." That should be some comfort to the rider, as also the reflection that though certain well-known swine " rushed down a steep place into the sea" and failed to come up again, and more recently a hunted boar jumped a sheer cliff of fifty feet, such occurrences are more or less rare. In leaping obstacles, however, the boar is not so sure a guide as the hound is to the huntsman in England. What a hound gets over a horse can clear, but what a boar can clear a horse cannot always get over. From many instances I would take one in illustra- tion : A pig was running alongside a fence made of camel-thorn bushes banked up to a height of six feet ; on finding himself close pressed he suddenly bounded sideways clean over the hedge. The hunter on his part of course had to take a new fair run at the fence, and then carried away a goodly lump of it on his horse's chest and knees. Stones of the pig's jumping powers are innumerable, but perhaps the one that at first glance "takes the cake" RIDING TO PIG. 177 is that of the boar who jumped clean over his pursuer, horse and all, knocking off his helmet as he did so ! It may sound rather a " tall order," but it happened in this way : The boar was being close pressed in galloping along the bottom of a narrow nullah whose sides were steep and six feet high ; suddenly he made a desperate rush and scaled one bank, and on gaining the top he turned short round and leaped across the nullah over the head of his pursuer, who had just then arrived at that spot, topping his helmet as he went. A pig when driven out of his jungle haunt starts with the intention of making his way to some other hiding- place ; therefore the direction he goes in will be a guide to a hunter who knows the country of what will be the general course of his run. The details of it will vary according to ground and cover lying near it. When followed the boar will take advantage of every kind of feature that is likely to favour his escape, such as ravines, bushes, fences, crops, etc. When he does this every man of the party should remember that the death of the boar is the main object of the chase, and not merely the winning of first spear, and that therefore they should combine their efforts to keep the boar in sight, and so to press him that he has to abandon his temporary asylum and again take to the open. In nullahs one man should get down into the nullah, and ride along the bottom, while two others proceed along either bank. In crops and bushes or long grass if one man is able still to keep the pig in sight, the others should extend themselves in line on either side of him, and so be in a position to take up the pig's line should he jink clear of his original pursuer. N 1 78 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. When the hunted boar disappears into a thicket the hunters must be careful not to overshoot the line, but every endeavour should be made to keep the pig in sight in his attempts to hide. At a check of this kind the hunter should never let himself be satisfied that his pig is in a certain bush unless he can actually see him there, for the pig has a way of almost conjuring himself from one point to another ; and a sharp look out should therefore be kept both far and near against his making his escape. Especial notice should be taken of such signs as a small puff of dust flying up, birds being startled, goats or cows run- ning together and stopping to look at the intruder, men shouting in the distance, etc., etc. But because you see a native standing idle in a field do not therefore infer that no pig has passed near him, for natives often go "mooning" about without seeing anything, even in 'their immediate neighbourhood ; and often when they do see a pig close to them they will say nothing, imagining probably that the white sahibs want some other parti- cular pig or are hunting different game. I once saw a large sounder enter an indigo crop, where they looked like camping for the day. I therefore sent for the beaters to come and drive them out. While awaiting their arrival, I fell into conversation with the equivalent for an honest ploughboy who was tending the crops, and asked him whether he ever saw any pig about there. " Oh, yes," he said, " plenty of them, and they come not singly but in herds, like that lot that left the field just now." "Left it ? you mean came into it ?" said I. " No, they have gone out ; there they go," pointing to a string of dusky forms lobbing away in the distance, and I was luckily just in time to catch them ; but it had never RIDING TO PIG. 179 occurred to the rustic to warn me of their movement, until the fact suggested itself in the course of conver- sation. If, in the course of the run, you should lose sight of your pig, and from knowledge of the country you are aware of the existence of a pool of water in the neigh- bourhood, do not fail to give it a glance, as it is a very favourite practice of a tiring pig to make for water, where a bath and a drink have a magical effect in putting new life into him. Major H. says, " I have known several instances of hog hiding in water and even jumping down reservoirs. On one occasion, near Nusserabad, during a run a pariah dog joined in the chase. The boar jumped down a well, promptly fol- lowed by the dog. A rope was procured and lowered with a noose made in it with the intention of slipping it over the boar's head and so pulling him out. The dog, however, being decidedly cute, seized the rope in his teeth and was hauled up to the top of the well. As he ap- peared, a general laugh greeted him which so frightened him that he let go his hold and fell to the bottom. The rope was again lowered and he again seized it and was this time landed safely, and the pig was soon after hoisted out and was allowed to return unmolested to his jungle." 72. First Spear. On the word "Ride" being given by the leader of the party one of the most ex- citing phases of pigsticking ensues, viz., the race for first spear. Colonel Barras thus describes his first burst after a boar : " I well remember the feeling that convulsed me on this momentous occasion. As I tore through the thorny undergrowth I quite enjoyed being pierced by it, death I thought, in the enthusiasm of the moment, N 2 i8o PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. would be better than defeat. Such are the sensations of the more cold-blooded sportsman. The really ardent are quite unconscious of having any feelings whatever during the excitement of a run." Naturally under such excitement one is apt to pay little heed to the demands of politeness or etiquette, but at the same time certain rules have to be obeyed, if only from considerations of fair play and the prevention of accidents. Whatever may be winked at or allowed in other sports, fair riding is insisted on in pigsticking ; no jostling, crossing, or riding off; the man who has fairly got first up to the pig should not be interfered with till he has tried his stroke or the pig has jinked from him ; any riding with a view to making the pig jink from another man should be treated as unfair riding, as is done in the Calcutta Tent Club ; its rules say " No person is to jostle another or cross him within three lengths or pass him on his right side except at a dis- tance of three lengths while he is in pursuit of the hog ; nor is anyone to ride at the head of or across a hog in such a way as to cause him to jink his pursuers, under pain of incurring the above penalty (one dozen of cham- pagne). Infringement of this rule will disqualify the offender from claiming first spear." To one accustomed to polo the race for "first spear" offers continual temptations to practice the art of " riding off" or preventing his adversary from gaining his object, even though the rider has little chance of gaining it him- self, but this instinct must be kept in strictest subjection at pigsticking. As in foxhunting, so too in pigsticking, a man must be most careful to avoid riding on another's line, in such RIDING TO PIG. 181 proximity that he cannot draw clear in case of the leader falling. The consequences of all such collisions as the above are bad enough in ordinary riding, but in pigsticking their quality is enhanced by the fact that spears are added to the elements of catastrophe, and also the tushes of an unscrupulous boar. Many have been the accidents from carelessness in observing such rules, including the lamentable death of Mr. Startin of the loth Hussars, and it is therefore all the more necessary that a beginner should be most careful to carry them out. The race for first spear is a reproduction of a coursing match on a larger scale. The leading pursuers racing neck and neck, gradually outpacing the quarry till a sudden jink on the part of the latter throws one or both of them several lengths to the bad, and so they continue, first one leading and then the other, fo.llowing every turn of the hog until one or the other succeeds in getting within spear's length, and reaching out pricks the boar and so wins the honour of " first spear." To es- tablish the claim for a first spear the hunter must be able to show blood on his spear even though it be but one drop, but this system of " pricking " the boar is not commendable and should only be practised in a very close race or where it is desired to draw the pig on to fight ; if the rider has it all pretty well his own way, he can afford to wait until he is in a position to give a good spear, when he should deliver it with such determination and strength as will ensure a partial disablement of the boar and the safety of the horse in the encounter. From the foregoing one might be led to imagine that the man on the fastest horse should always win the 1 82 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. spear, but in practice this is not the case. In three out of five runs the spear will be taken by the best man, not the fastest horse. An experienced man on a slow horse will know when his case is hopeless as regards racing and coming first up to the pig, he will then pull in, collect his horse in hand, and look out for a jink to throw the leader out and to let him in again himself. Sometimes it happens that two men racing neck and neck will spear at the same moment, and in this case the run counts as a dead heat and honours and tushes are divided ; in a cup competition it counts as a dead heat and has to be run off again. A first spear is not allowed to count unless the boar is eventually killed, except in cup competitions, where a single spear, authenticated by a drop of blood, is sufficient to establish the claim of " first spear." Disputes will occasionally arise under this rule, as it often happens that a boar that has been wounded and then lost and given up in the early part of the day, is found again later on and hunted and killed. In such a case the honours go to the man who first speared him in the run which resulted in his death. In cup competi- tions a wounded boar is not run a second time owing to the danger of a difficulty in proving the second wound in the event of a dispute. The winner of the first spear should, except in cup competitions, continue to assist in compassing the death of his pig and not be tempted from it by other good chances of runs. The element of luck certainly enters considerably into success in winning a first spear, and this is often notice- able in a cup tie, where the best pigsticker in the party is put out by sheer ill luck, and the worst man wins. It RIDING TO PIG. 183 is a pity that pig and time are not sufficiently abundant for each competitor to be started by himself after a boar, so that he who accounted for his pig in the shortest time and best form be adjudged the winner. In opposition, I fear, to the views of a good many good sportsmen, I have always felt that a man should have killed a few pig single-handed before he can claim to have been fully " entered to pig." In the Nuggur Hunt among others it has been proposed that the killing of a boar single-handed should not count as a first spear. But again, on the other hand, there are many good pig- etickers who think with me that there is more to be learnt of practical pigsticking in one run in which the rider is left to his own resources, than in half-a-dozen in which he is assisted by three or four other riders. A man, knowing that he must rely on himself entirely to bring the run to a successful issue, learns to put forth all his powers in the chase, to watch for every turn of the pig more closely, to " nurse " him through thickets and " rush " him in the open, to wait a good opportunity for giving a real disabling " spear " instead of pricking and prodding ; to use his reasoning senses and woodcraft on the temporary disappearance of the pig, and to keep an eye on the surrounding country and take measures in good time to prevent the quarry gaining some intended refuge ; he learns, too, that to leave his spear standing in the pig means to lose him, and that to let the pig make good his charge at the horse does not pay. He misses, it is true, the excitement of the race for first spear, but this is compensated for by the enhanced excitement of the whole run, in which the odds are so much more in favour of the pig effecting his escape. Then at the end of the run, when you are fingering the 1 84 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. tushes of a boar you have just slain single-handed, your satisfaction is far greater than when you have, by the aid of a certain amount of luck, been able to prick the boar sooner than any of the two or three others who have then helped you to despatch him. But I don't want to undervalue the glory of the first spear, surrounded as it is with a halo of delightful excitement. An old sportsman writes, " I have ridden with another fellow for first spear and neither of us knew who the other was till after the pig was killed. The Duke of Wellington could not have felt happier after Waterloo than a man who has won a first spear from a hard-riding antagonist." On coming within what Mr. Bright would have called "a measurable distance " of the pig the leading rider should, as soon as possible, satisfy himself that the animal he is riding is a boar and not a sow. Even to an experienced man the general make and shape of the animal does not invariably serve as a true guide; a boar in certain condi- tions of emaciation or over sleekness, may have the distant appearance of a sow, it is, therefore, necessary on closer inspection to determine whether the hunted one is duly fitted with tushes and other signs ; but even in these particulars mistakes often occur ; barren sows have frequently tushes and tufts of hair on the belly. I have known one who, in addition to these, sported a pro- minent tuft of hair close below her tail which gave her so completely the appearance of a boar that her sex had not even been suspected till after she had been run and killed. When the rider has found out, without room for doubt, the sex of the pig he is hunting, he should signal the fact to the remainder of the party by preparing his spear for RIDING TO PIG. 185 action if it is a boar, or by raising his spear horizontally above his head if it is a sow. On this latter signal the rest of the party will pull up and save themselves and their horses from further useless galloping. 73- Spearing. As the rider begins to overhaul the pig he should ride a little on its left rear and not exactly on its line ; by so doing he will be able to watch the pig without having his view interfered with by the horse's head and mane, and his horse will not be annoyed and checked by stones, etc., kicked up in his face. In this position too he is better placed for inducing the pig if he is bent on jinking, to jink to the right, and not across the horse, to the left. This latter jink is most disadvantageous to the rider as it puts the pig on his harmless side, and on the side most difficult to turn the horse to. If, therefore, he wishes to maintain his pride of place the rider should watch for any sign of the pig's intention to jink, and when he sees him checking his stride, hitching up his quarters, shifting uneasily from side to side of his line, he should edge his horse a little to the left, the pig will then sheer off, probably reluctantly, to the right, where he is easily followed. Occasionally, especially if the pig be somewhat beat, it is advantageous to rush him with a sudden spurt, when he is seen to be preparing to jink, but for an un- practised hand this is a risky manoeuvre, as, if he is too late in spearing on the inevitable jink of the pig, the extra impetus he has taken will throw him so many more yards, or even lengths, off the new line. If armed with a long spear the rider should not lower the point to the level of the boar till the actual moment 1 86 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. for spearing has arrived, because the glitter of spear head gradually overtaking him will catch the pig's eye, and warn him that it is high time to jink. In spearing, aim should be taken well forward. In using the long spear it should not be prodded at the pig, but a quite even "point" should be aimed rather than thrust, and it will receive quite sufficient power from the impetus of man and horse. With the jobbing spear the arm should not be raised from the shoulder to deliver the stroke ; this should be given by a dropping motion from the elbow, the spear point being directed straight down into the withers or centre of the back. Except in reaching out for first spear, the spear should not be given into a running pig until the horse's fore- hand is level with him. The spear should then be driven into him quietly but with great determination, and a firm hold. The latter is a great point to observe as the shock of the encounter is apt to loosen the grasp of the spear, and the secret of keeping one's horse clear of the boar's tushes at this point of the chase is to keep the butt of the spear, with a strong hand, close to the body. The spear left standing in the body of the pig is, es- pecially in the case of short spear, a fresh weapon of offence to him ; as it sways from side to side it frightens the horse of any man coming up to the attack, and when the boar makes a rush at the horse's legs the leaded butt is playing havoc up above among the rider's front teeth. A certain officer of the Army Pay Department, skilled alike in the use of the sword, the spear, and the pen, advocates, as correct and practical, driving your spear in as far as possible, and then leaving it standing in the RIDING TO PIG. 187 pig's back as it marks his position in his attempts at flight or concealment in long grass, etc., and detains him when he gets among bushes, etc., so that you are enabled to take a second spear from your syce and polish him off. How the syce is to be on the spot at the critical moment with your second spear is not equally clearly shown. I had the good fortune later on to meet with this gentleman's Shikari who gave me further details of his system; from this man's account it appeared that the gallant sportsman commenced his attack on a boar by putting a -bullet into him first from a safe distance, in order to reduce his speed to a fairer pace for him (the "sportsman "). I will add one more quotation from our old friend, the anonymous author of " The Gentleman's Recreator," 1686 : " If you strike at him with your sword or boar- spear, strike not low, for then you will hit him on the snout ; which he little values, for he watcheth to take blows upon his tushes or thereabouts ; but lifting up your hand, strike right down, and have a special care of your horse ; for if you strike and hurt him so will he you if he can." 74. Carrying the Spear. The proper way to hold the spear when not using it is to grasp it with the right hand about the centre of the shaft in such a way that it points diagonally across the body with the head to the left front and high. Occasionally, that is when riding with a short spear through thick jungle, the butt may be held in the right hand with the shaft alongside the horse's body and head, pointing to the rear. But care must be observed in thus carrying the spear ; a case occurred lately in which a spear so held stuck into the off 1 88 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. hind leg of the horse, who was at the time going at a good speed ; and he turned a complete somersault and broke his neck. Sometimes one sees men carrying their spears up- right with the butt in a lance bucket on the off stirrup, and if you meet a stranger in riding boots and notice that the upper part of the toe of his right foot wears an unhealthy leaden hued patch, you may bet that the man is a pigsticker, the leaden butt of whose spear has often rested on his right toe. But the usual and best way is to carry it as above de- scribed, across the body. In this position it is most ready for action and least dangerous to one's friends when riding, and to oneself when falling. 75. Falling. It is idle to expect to go pig- sticking and not get falls. As the secretary of the Meerut Tent Club claims for his Kadir, so it is with most other pigsticking districts, " falls are here the rule, not the exception;" and by "falls"! would beg the reader to understand " good hoghunters' falls " as de- fined by the quaint pigsticking manual of 1827, which says, " Good hoghunters fall occasionally with their horses, but seldom, if ever, without them." Assheton Smith said that " no man could be called a good rider who did not know how to fall," and this remark is particularly true in the pigsticking field where the presence of a spear, an angry boar, and stone- hard ground combine to triple the dangers of a turn- over. Though falling has not been reduced to an acrobatic art, as one or two v/riters in the " Field " have lately tried to prove, still there is no doubt that many men fall far better than others, and this result may be attributed to their being blessed with cooler heads, I m * VI RIDING TO PIG. 189 greater activity, and more experience in that line than their less fortunate fellows. So, considering the extra dangers inherent in pig- sticking it would be well for the beginner to cultivate what art there is in falling, for all things are possible to the hoghunter who knows how to fall. The main thing is under all circumstances to keep hold of your reins, for three reasons : first, because it is at least a nuisance to be left horseless in the presence of an angry boar ; secondly, because it may sometimes save you from being dragged, if your foot catches in the stirrup : thirdly, because the act of hanging on to the reins often gives the body a cant up at the critical part of the pitch and so saves a broken collar bone, by land- ing you on your back or the back muscles of the shoulder. Next, care should be taken to have hold of the spear in the manner above described and not to let go until death doth you part. The spear so held cannot stick the holder and is not likely to stick his horse. Even when a fall can be foreseen with absolute certainty it is still best to keep hold of the spear and not to throw it away. 76. Throwing the Spear. A spear, especially if it be a short one, thrown away or dropped is a source of great danger to rider, horse, and companions, it appears to be invariably attracted, point first, to the nearest animate body, like a needle to a magnet, and if the rider is going at speed it seems to be endowed with a demon life which prompts it to follow him like the proverbial South African Mamba, " with leaps and with bounds." There have been very many horrible accidents due to sheer want of consideration or knowledge of this fact ; 190 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. and it is on this account that most Tent Clubs have inserted in their rules a clause to the effect that " on no account nor under any circumstances is a spear to be thrown." I once saw a man riding a pig which persisted in running parallel to him on his near side at about two or three yards distance ; being unable to make his horse turn properly he tried the effect of throwing his spear like a javelin, with the result that after missing the pig the spear rebounded off the ground and went into the horse above the outside of the stifle on the off side and came up with the point projecting near the hip. After a few frantic kicks the horse sent the spear flying some 20 feet into the air whence it came hurtling down, as the nigger would say, " not too far away," from another of the party who was at that moment coming up. The horse recovered, but ever afterwards seemed to connect his mishap with the presence of a pig and could never be induced to face one again. Two men were once racing neck and neck for first spear, when one of them in his excitement threw his spear at the pig over the near side of the horse. The spear missed the pig and turning on the ground impaled the other competitor's horse, entering at the girth, and coming out near the root of the tail. Colonel Newall records the incident of a spear being thrown which struck the boar's foot, rebounded, and severed the horse's windpipe ; and on another occasion a spear similarly thrown struck a stone and turned back on its own thrower, cutting him across the bridge of the nose and grazing his eyebrow. It is said that this sports- man was never seen to throw his spear after that occasion. In most clubs there is also a strict rule against using RIDING TO PIG. 191 the spear on the near side except in rare cases of abso- lute necessity for self defence. It is a dangerous and unpractical proceeding. 77. Receiving a Charge. When once the boar has been wounded all hands should combine to kill him, using every effort and affording all possible mutual and unselfish assistance to prevent his escape. Apart from the cruelty of letting him get away to die a linger- ing and painful death in a case where he is mortally wounded, it is a question of common safety if the wound is not fatal, since a boar that has been thus stricken generally takes to a life of solitude, and becomes soured and ferocious, attacking any living man or animal that may come across his path. But to kill so hardy and courageous a beast is not always as easy as it looks on paper, and the beginner must not expect to bring about this result without a fight for it ; a fight which, it is true, will give greater satisfaction to the winner than any other kind of duel. " There's bliss in the scholar's love, my boys, In wine and golden store, my boys, But the joys of the whole do not thrill the soul Like the rush of the charging boar, my boys." In riding a boar that has felt the spear the hunter must be on the alert to receive a charge from him at any moment. On finding himself being pressed too closely, the boar will suddenly edge away from his pursuer glancing at him over his shoulder and collecting himself for his charge ; the next moment he will whip suddenly round and with ears pricked, eyes gleaming, and lips curling back from his yellow tushes will hurl himself headlong at the horse. The spear point must at this 192 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. moment be dropped to meet him well forward in the neck, if firmly held the opposed impetus of horse and hog will drive it home, and a strong " shove off," as if the spear were a punting pole, and a firm closing of the right leg to the horse's side should bring all safely clear. The horse should on no account be pulled up to receive a charge, but at the same time he should be kept well in hand and under easy control. The old pigsticking manual I have quoted gives the following instructions with regard to dealing with a wounded boar : " A wounded boar," it says, " is a very formidable thing and it is often much better to let him escape than to run the risk of being made a cripple." This would appear to be strange advice from a pig- sticker, but on reading his experiences a little later on such procedure would in his own case at any rate, be fully justified. With a party of friends he had succeeded in wounding a boar and bringing it to bay, and he thus describes the remainder of the encounter, a description which for simple and unqualified self condemnation of a company of would-be pigstickers, I venture to think " takes the cake." " The horse I rode would not go near him, and when I was at a considerable distance off he charged another horse with such ferocity that mine (sic) reared and plunged in such a violent manner as to throw me off ; two or tJiree of the otJiers were dismounted nearly at the same time, and although there were many horses present that had long been accustomed to the sport not one of them would stand his charge. He fairly drove the whole party off the field, and gently trotted into the grass jungle, foaming and grinding his tusheSj which it was impossible to follow him in or to drive him from." (!) RIDING TO PIG. 193 It rarely happens that a horse is cut when moving fast, although I have known such a case, where a valuable Arab, galloping alongside the boar, received a sudden and fatal side cut in the belly, which severed the main gut in two places ; but as a rule horses are never severely cut when moving fast, owing to the fact that the boar has not time to make good his aim. The usual point of the boar's attack when running parallel to or close to the horse is the shoulder or fore- legs, and if the rider miss his stroke just before the moment of contact such a charge is very apt to pitch the horse heavily on to its head a performance that the rider, as a rule, is not slow to imitate ; but on the other hand, it is the charge that is most easily met by the rider, and the effects of a spear well aimed at this juncture are generally very deadly. A boar charging from the off side at a right angle to the horse's forehand gives an opening for a most effective and fatal spear, though a somewhat difficult one to carry out with the short spear. As he comes on you must lean well down, and, the moment he is within reach, lunge it into him low down in the body just behind the elbow, the effect will be to roll him clean over with a mortal wound through the lungs ; if, as is also likely, you miss him, the effect will probably be that your horse comes head over heels and you awake, some days later, to find yourself recovering from a concussed brain and various minor fractures and contusions. Experto crede. Indeed, within four months in 1884, five such falls took place with similar results, one of them unfortunately terminating fatally. Colonel James, C.B., was killed, a few years back, in the Befhampore district in a similar encounter, and, O 194 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. curiously enough, Mr. W. L. Thomas afterwards met with another such fall, happily unattended with fatal results, on almost the same spot. Mr. A. W. Cruick- shank very nearly ended his mortal days and practically ended his pigsticking days (to the great satisfaction of the porcine tribe in general) by being similarly thrown down by a boar. A charge on the part of the boar on the horse's broad- side is somewhat less dangerous to the rider than one directed against the forelegs, but if carried home is often fatal to the horse, as his entrails lie near enough to the skin to be deeply cut into by the boar's tusk ; or, if the boar is a little late in his attack, it takes effect on the hock or stifle, and on account of its nearness to a joint such a wound is often most difficult to heal. A very favourite direction of attack for the boar is from the right rear. He attains this position by inclining off his line to the right when being pressed and then suddenly stop- ping, allows his pursuer to rush past, when he instantly reverses the conditions of the chase and becomes himself the pursuer. In the latter kinds of attack the rider, if armed with a long spear is comparatively helpless, whereas with the short spear he is able to receive them as easily as any other, and this constitutes one of the main advantages of the short over the long spear. If it should happen that you get a fall and find your- self separated from both horse and spear in the presence of an angry boar it is best to lie still and " sham dead " till he moves away. Instances are very rare of a boat- attacking an insensible man, indeed the only authentic case I can find is that of Colonel Reddy, who was attacked while insensible and so severely mauled that RIDING TO PIG. 195 it became necessary to amputate one arm, and the other hand had a hole through it for the remainder of his days. Colonel Kinloch's shamming dead, as related in 35, was not quite a success as a ruse, but the boar had commenced his attack on him while he yet showed every sign of being a very live foe. In view of such a predicament, the sportsman should always carry a good hunting knife attached to the back of his belt. 78. Pigsticking in Crops. Any charge that takes place in open ground may be confidently met by a man who has had practice in the use of the spear, but it is when fighting wounded boar in crops or among bushes, etc., that the majority of accidents occur to horses, as in this case they are moving more or less slowly, and are being watched by their enemy, who is hidden from the eyes of both rider and horse. For instance, in a dhall crop, the favourite refuge of a wounded pig, it may almost be reckoned as waste of good horseflesh to carry on the fight where everything is so entirely in the boar's favour ; he has a good view of the horse's legs and belly between the long thin stems of the plant, while he is protected from the hunter's view and spear by the thick overhead covering of foliage. In ordinary crops where it is equally thick for the hunted as for the hunter the latter must be possessed of quickness to " pounce " where a movement of the foliage betrays the presence of the enemy, and of adroitness in the use of his spear in any way that the circumstances of the moment may demand. This fighting with the boar in thick crops is often decried as unfair on the horse, and is therefore in many hunts not practised. I had been pigsticking for nearly O 2 196 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. two years before I discovered that it was perfectly feasible, and formed a delightful addition to the usual charms of pigsticking, without half the danger attri- buted to it. Hunting and righting a pig in thick crops naturally requires the hunter to be particularly sharp and quick with his eyes and spear, and would therefore find favour with " true men of spirit," and when once it has come to be regularly practised by them, it prolongs their all-too-short pigsticking season until well into the rainy season, since their sport is not stopped by the general up-shooting of the crops. 79. A Hacking on Foot. The retreat of the wounded boar into a crop is only too often made the excuse for pulling up and for setting the coolies at him, and for the transgression of two unwritten laws of sport viz., that one should never send an assistant where one would not go oneself ; and secondly, that the sportsman should himself carry through what he has begun. Of course as often as not the boar may take refuge and come to bay in a place inaccessible or disadvantageous to a horse, and in this case the sportsman must proceed to tackle him on foot. This chapter of the chase is natu- rally the most exciting to the hunter, since it is fraught with more personal danger than any other. Williamson, writing on this subject early in this century, says : " It is an act of madness which many young sportsmen practice, but which gives way either in deference to the severe admonition of rips and bites, or to that cooler mode of acting resulting from experience," but as he also wrote the following in the same book, his remarks may safely be considered somewhat out of date : " I think I might safely wager that no native of Bengal nor any European resident there would undertake such a piece of rashness as to go out shooting wild elephants." RIDING TO PIG. 197 "Cossack," Field, I ;th November, 1888, thus describes his attacking a boar on foot : "Throwing the reins to Abdullah, I walked towards the boar, holding my spear at the charge as I advanced, Abdullah the while encouragingly crying out to me, ' Khabardar, sahib ! Khabardar ! bara khirab janwar !' (' Take care, sahib a very wicked animal '). The boar watched my approach, and, as I drew near him, up he rose, and giving a savage grunt, charged straight for me. His great head seemed to entirely cover his chest, and I saw that it was practically impossible for me to spear him in front ; for if I should attempt to do so, I felt sure my spear would only strike his head, be knocked up, and he would be in at me. To await his charge until he should almost reach me, and then to spring aside and spear him as he rushed by, was, I thought, my best and almost sole chance; but I half feared that, being in heavy riding boots and tired from my hard ride, I should scarcely be quick enough. Long as it may seem in description, there was hardly time in reality for thinking or hesitating. In another moment the boar was on me. I took my chance, and stood his charge, as it seemed to me, almost up to the point of my spear, and then, jumping quickly aside ran the spear well home into his ribs on the left flank. There was a charm and novelty about the situation that one could not fail to appreciate. My great desire to make a close acquaintance with the African wart hog was now granted far more fully than I ever dreamt of, and I gazed with the deepest interest at this formidable- looking beast, now fixed on the other end of my spear at its great tushes, and the large, unsightly fleshy protuberances on its hideous face, which struck me at the time as being as absurdly grotesque as it was ferocious 198 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. and diabolical. There we stood, the boar and I, in this interesting situation for some moments he at one end of the spear,eyeing me mostviciously out of his fierce,wicked little eyes ; I at the other, lost in admiration of his big tushes and general appearance, and wondering how I was to win against such an ugly-looking customer. Indeed, I felt by no means confident of coming off best in the en- counter. However, the points were in my favour, and I determined to keep them. I was far too tired to run the risk of withdrawing the spear for another thrust, for I felt I could not be quick enough at such close quarters, and so decided to wait and see what the boar meant to do. At first, doubtless exhausted from its hard run and the blood that he had lost from his last wound, he stood quite still, making no struggle to get off the spear point, and seemed to be meditating on his next move, looking at me in a ' tone of voice ' as if to say ' Wait till I do get at you ! ' He did not keep me waiting long, and soon commenced a furious attack, at one time pressing furiously against the spear in his efforts to reach me, at another struggling and writhing to get off the spear-head, champing and grind- ing his tushes, and foaming from the mouth in his rage, whilst I hung on like grim death to the other end of the spear, and endeavoured to bury its head deeper in the boar's side. In this, however, I was by no means successful ; the spear-head, having apparently struck against the ribs, refused to penetrate deeper. During the struggle the shaft of the spear, although a strong bamboo would bend at times in a highly unpleasant manner, and I began to fear that the possibility of its breaking was not improbable. And so the fight went on for several minutes, till at length, feeling my strength come back to me, I thought it was now my turn to take the initiative, and, RIDING TO PIG. 199 during a pause in the boar's struggles, I rapidly with- drew the spear, and ere the boar could run in at me, had driven it again into his side in a more vital place. It was quite enough I had won. The gallant old boar, taking his death-wound without a sound, rolled over on his side and with another rapid thrust I put the brave beast out of his pain." In attacking on foot it is always desirable that two or three should advance together to the encounter, as the pig in charging would by sheer weight send a single in- dividual flying, even though his spear had gone through him. I have known cases where a boar has charged three men advancing shoulder to shoulder against him, and although all their spears took effect he has floored them all simultaneously. The great thing is to keep the spear point low, so a.s to enter his chest below the jaw. If it is held too high it is liable to glance harmlessly off his hard head or back, whereas even if it missed his chest and fell below him, the shaft wedged against the ground would still be some sort of a check to 'his onward rush. To carry out successfully a dismounted attack requires a great amount of activity and mutual " backing up " on the part of the spearmen, of whom there should not be less than three. In his "Camp Notes," Frank Boyle thus paints an encounter on foot with a boar : " By day I have faced him ; the sun's rays sprinkle his dismal head ; his small eyes burn with spite upon me, and seem verily to laugh with triumphant malice. See, see, the rigid bristles of the neck tremble and heave in an agony of rage ; the big teeth snap : their foam squirts in your face. He has 200 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. gathered breath. He comes ! Now grasp your spear tight, bend to earth and pray, for rarely in this life doth one face deadlier risk than the charge of a black eastern boar. That scream ! That ponderous rush ! A sudden weight dashes you to the earth, while the sun-flecked trees spin round, and the bamboos tear your flesh. You leap up ! You dash the blood drops from your face. Hurrah ! The boar lies prone with the good lance buried in his heart-! Rejoice, comrade, that neither you nor I have as yet felt that deadly sickness of a pulse- beat's length which comes over the doomed Shikari as his spear point glides along the leathery shoulder of his foe. For him there is no help in the cruel sunny forest. Too many tragedies the flowers see, too many sudden fates, too many cries of agony they hear. The birds will twitter and the gemmed flies dance though a man's body lies underneath the trees." 80. Pigsticking Rules. A few extracts from the rules of one or two of the leading Tent Clubs would perhaps give the novice more concisely the chief points of discipline of the sport. Nuggur aud Deccan Hunts. 1. The Master always to be obeyed. 2. Silence at the jungle side. No moving after being once posted. 3. No followers or spare horses to be allowed at the cover side. 6. Any one taking first spear is, if possible, to follow up his pig until it is killed. 9. Any rider jostling another or carrying his spear improperly, to be fined one gold mohur (16 Rs.) ii. Any member shooting a pig to be expelled the club. RIDING TO PIG. 201 Cawnpore and Delhi Clubs. 2. Throwing the spear is strictly prohibited. 3. No first spear can be claimed unless blood is shown. 4. A spear delivered on the near side will not be allowed to count unless the pig charges. 5. A spear given to an undisturbed pig, standing or lying, will not count for " first spear." 6. Every member taking a " first spear " must remain with his pig till it is despatched ; should he be absent at the death the tushes belong to the second spear, unless the absence was caused by accident. 7. Should a slightly wounded pig escape and during the day be again found and killed, the tushes belong to the first spear of the second finding. 8. In a run it must be remembered that the bag is the first object, the taking of first spear secondary to it, and no jostling, crossing or unfair riding will be allowed. When the rider is fairly over a pig he must be allowed his chance, and the others must wait on him for a turn. Any unfair riding will cause forfeiture of claim to first spear. 9. No member of one party may start after a pig which another party is riding, unless called on to assist. 10. All questions of disputed "first spears'* to be settled by the majority of those present. Where no decision can be arrived at the tushes are to be divided. 11. Members ar* particularly requested not to wear white. 8 1. Competitions. If a pigsticker is desirous of proving his ability he has the opportunity of doing so in the annual pigsticking contests which take place in Bengal and Bombay. In Bengal Presidency three cups are run for 202 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. annually, one at Meerut, one at Muttra, and one at Cawnpore. In Bombay the Bheema Cup is run for. The general system of these cups is as follows : Members of Tent Clubs can enter one or two horses on payment of an entrance fee. On a given date (usually in April) the competitors assemble at the ap- pointed place, and find a camp ready pitched for them. They are divided by lot into parties of four. Each party is accompanied by an umpire. On finding a pig the umpire gives the word to " ride," sees that the run is fairly ridden, and notes the winner of the first spear. The winners of these first ties are then again made into parties of three, and run off ties in the same way until a final party of three or four run off the tie for the cup. The whole competition usually taking three or four days to get through. The arrangements made for the comfort of com- petitors and the assurance of good sport are usually very complete, and detailed rules are laid down for their guidance in the competitions which are strictly and im- partially adhered to. 82. Kadir Cup. The Cup given by the Meerut Tent Club is called the " Kadir Cup," after the Kadir or river-bed country in which it is competed for. The contest first took place after pig in 1874. Previous to that date it had been merely a point to point race over a pigsticking country, and called the " Forbes Cup," in honour of the founder and President of the Club. In 1870 the name of the Cup was changed to the " Forbes Kadir Cup," and the competitors had to ride with spears in their hands. With reference to the race for the Cup in 1873 a newspaper of the time spoke as follows : RIDING TO PIG. 203 " One very noticeable feature in this year's race was that the General Commanding the Meerut Division (Lieutenant-General Travers, V.C.), steered his own horse (" Pericles ") over four miles of a blind country and at racing pace. Why should we notice this incident ? Because he invariably sends along his 'quads' much straighter than many a younger hand, and we sincerely hope that his successor, whoever he may be, will follow his example, and be as staunch after the 'abomination.'" The writer at the time little thought that his wish would be so fully gratified as it was in the following year when Major-General Hon. A. Hardinge, General Travers' successor, rode " Favonius " to second place in the Hog Hunter's Cup. Since then the late General Sir Herbert McPherson and H.R.H. the Duke of Con- naught have, while Generals Commanding the Meerut Division, made their mark as pigstickers. In 1874 the conditions of the cup competition were changed, it became the " Kadir Cup " and was run after pig, with the long spear. In addition to the " Kadir Cup," the Meerut Tent Club give another annual cup called the " Hog Hunter's Cup." This is a steeplechase on a made course for bond fide pigstickers. The following is the list of winners of the Kadir Cup : Date. Owner. Horse. No. of 1 starters. ?] 1869 || 1 1870 Mr. Biddulph Capt. Ravenhill, R.H.A. Capt. Ravenhill, R.H.A. Capt. Philips, 4th Hussars Capt. Studdy g.a.h. Sheikh b.w.g. Ranger b.w.g. V.C g.a.h. Jurham g.a.g. Cato 204 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Date. Owner. Horse. No. of starters 1874 Capt. White, 1 5th Hussars g.a.h. Mo, g.a.h. 24 Hindoo, left in final tie 1875 Mr. Jeffreys, R.A b.a.h. Bobby 17 1876 Capt. White, 1 5th Hussars b.a.h. Joe .... 15 1877 Capt. St. Quintin, loth g.a.h. Vivian 27 Hussars 1878 MajorGrant,4th Hussars b.w.n.Kate Kearney 32 1879! No cup on account of i88oj Afghan War. 1881 Mr. Grenfell, loth ch.a.b. Maidan .... 24 Hussars 1882 Hon. G. Bryan, loth g.a.h. Grey Dawn 37 Hussars 1883 Capt. Baden-Powell, I3th ch.c.b. Patience .... 54 Hussars 1884 Maj. Keir, R.H.A b.c.b. John o' Gaunt 38 1885 Maharaj Rana Dholeoore b.a.h. Red Prince 39 1886 Mr. J. Rees .... * .... ch.c.b.g. Jack 50 1887 Ten contests, in which seven Arabs, one Waler, and two country - breds won. 83. Ganges Cup. The " Ganges Cup," value about 500 Rs., is given annually by the Cawnpore Tent Club. The following are its conditions : " Any one entering a horse must be a subscriber to the Cawnpore Tent Club for the current season. Catch- weights. Owners up. Any owner unable to ride must put up a weight not less than his own, provided that in no case shall any owner be compelled to put up more than fourteen stone. Spears not to exceed 6J feet in length, and to be used over hand. " To be run for about the first week in April. The exact date will be notified hereafter. The contesting spears to be divided by lot into parties of not more than four. RIDING TO PIG. 205 " The parties will, as far as possible, be so arranged that any owner entering two horses will be able to ride them both. With this object every owner entering more than one horse must declare before the parties are drawn which is his first, second, etc., horse. " The parties to be started by an umpire, who will ac- company them. The takers of the first spear in each party to contest for the final spear and cup. It is not necessary for the first spear that the pig be killed. No spear delivered on the near side to count. " Any dispute arising about first spear to be left to the decision of the Committee, as to whether the course be run again or not. The Committee reserve to themselves the power of excluding any horse. " First entry, one gold mohur. " Second entry, up to and including the day before the race, two gold mohurs." The following are the winners of the Ganges Cup : Date. Owner. Horse. 1875 Mr. W. C. Wyllie b.a.h. Uriah the Hittite. 1876 Mr. A. W. Cruickshank b.a.h. The Moor. 1877 1878 Hon. C. Cavendish, loth Huss. Mr. C. F. Knyvett b.w.g. Fop. g.cb.g. Wild Tommy. 1879 Mr. G. T. Spankie b.w.m. Princess. 1880 Hon. G. Bryan, loth Hussars g.a.h. Uncle G. 1881 Capt. Longbourne, 6th Regt g.a.h. Barsac. 1882 Hon. G. Bryan, loth Hussars g.a.h. Uncle G. 1883 Maharaj Rana Dholepore ch.a.h. Red Prince. 1884 Capt. K. M'Laren, I3th Hussars b.w.m. Kate. 1885 Not run. 1886 Sirdar Indurbir Sing b.w.m. Hagarene. 1887 (No meeting owing to too dense jungle). Eleven contests, in which six Arabs, four Walers, one country- bred were winners. 206 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. 84. The other Ctips. The " Bheema Cup" was given annually by the Poona Tent Club, to be contested with long spear. It has unfortunately not been contested the last year or two on account of scarcity of pig, opposition of landowners, and want of countenance generally. The following were the rules under which it was conducted : 1. Catch-weights, owners up. In the event of an owner having two horses in one heat or being disabled he may put up a rider, who must be a member of the Poona Hunt, and of not less weight than himself. 2. Contesting spears to be divided into parties of four, and the takers of first spear of each party to contend for final spear and cup. Spears not to exceed 8 feet in length. 3. To take first spear it is not necessary that the hog should be killed, but blood must be drawn. 4. Spears to be delivered on the off side only, un- less by a left-handed man, who must declare before starting. 5. An umpire will accompany each party, who will, if possible, settle all disputes, but who can, if in doubt, submit the point to the Hunt Committee. 6. Any rider making a frivolous objection, or claiming first spear when the claim thereto cannot be substantiated, will be fined one dozen of champagne. 7. Foul riding is not allowed. Intentional collision between riders or horses constitutes foul riding, and conviction thereof will disqualify. 8. To avoid an owner having two or more horses in one heat (except the final), each owner will on entering name his horses as first, second, or third. The first will RIDING TO PIG. 207 be drawn with the horses of those who have one entry. The second horses will be divided into heats, and the third and fourth be made up into heats according to numbers. The following are the winners of the Bheema Cup : Date. Winner. Horse. No. of starters. 1881 1882 1883 1884 Capt. Hore Mr. Marriott, Poona Horse Mr. N. Symons Mr. J. L. Symons ... b.a.h. Butterfly .... b.a.h. Mercury .... g.a.h. Woodpigeon b.w.g. Kestrel 28 35 22 .3 Four contests, in which three Arabs and one Waler were winners. THE GUJERAT CUP. The Gujerat Cup was started in 1885, on the dis- continuance of the Bheema Cup. Date. Winner. Horse. No. of starters. 1885 Mr. N. Symons .... g.a.h. Woodpigeon 18 1886 1887 THE MUTTRA CUP Was started in 1885, when the Ganges Cup fell through. Date. Winner. Horse. No. of starters. 1885 Major Lockhart, R.H.A. b.a.h. Poacher 4i 1886 Maharaja Rana Dholepore ch.a.h. Red Prince, b.a.h. Hussan Ab- 27 dul, tie 1887 2o8 PIGSTICKING OR HOGHUNTING. Thus, in all the cup competitions, of the twenty-eight winners, nineteen have been Arabs, six Walers, and three country-bred. With these suggestive records I conclude this my account of the "premier sport of India " a sport at once proving and preserving our rightful claim to superiority as a dominant race, and also providing us with our best cavalry school. I will only add the French opinion of M. Donatien, who writes of this " chasse a course " : " L'homme le mieux prepare pour cette chase est un matelot gris sur un cheval aveugle." Let him try ! '' APPENDIX. 210 PIGSTICKING OR APPENDIX. LIST Club. Secretary. Spear. Founded. Bengal. Agra Capt. Rose, Border Regiment Short Allahabad .... Major Jeffreys, Brigade-Major Short 1870 Calcutta F. Carlisle, Esq. Short 1862 Cawnpore ... B. Chapman, Esq Short 1869 Delhi A. M. Kavanagh, Surgeon- Major, A.M.S. Long 1870 Lahore F. O. Le Marchand, Esq Both 1881 Meerut J. Keir, Esq., R.H.A Long 1865 Muttra Capt. Dimond, 3rd D.G Short 1882 : Morar K. Stewart Davison, Esq., 4th B. Cav. Short 1882 Bombay. Ahmedabad W. St. J. Richardson, Esq., 23rd B.L.I. Long 1857 Poona A. C. Gaye, Surgeon-Major, A.M.S. Long Sholapore .... J. Holland, Esq Long 1882 HOGHUNTING. OF TENT CLUBS. 211 Nature of country and jungle. Average number of boar killec Remarks. per season. Open and flat Grass, nullahs, bushes, crops Flat, cotton soil. Jhow and grass, rocky hills 50 till 1878 Since then 2 Largest number killed in one season was 31 in 1884. Heavy grass 30 Meets are few. At a 3 days' meet in 1884 39 were killed, 12 of which were killed in one day. Flat and open. Bed of Ganges. Grass, jhow, and canal banks 56 Largest number in one season, 101 in 1875. Bed of river, open, flat. Grass, jhow, canal, and 70 crops Flat going, with buffalo holes. Kana grass and forest rukh lands 40 Largest number in one season, 50 in 1882. Kadir country. Grass, jhow, reeds, and canal 3 Largest number in one season, 93 in 1877. Open, flat. Grass, jhow, canals, and nullahs 137 Largest number, 177 in 1884. Cotton soil. Grass and bush jungles 42 Largest number in one season, 53 in 1884. Open, sandy. Grass, crops 33 21 killed at one meet in 1884. Open, sheet rock. Grass, sugar crops, nullahs, and hills 60 Open, flat. Grass, nul- lahs, bush, and crops fa