The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-01-08

dense thickcts lined with swamps and in
tersected by tidal creeks, 1t is useless,
again, to hope for this sport in most Of
those districts which, as VIC learned re-
Gently from the literature Of the famine,
are more thiokly populated than Belgium
or Lancashire But where the forest Of
saul, sisson or other trees has beena good
deal cleared where the embankments
round diapidated tanks are still covered
with high grass where charming little
patches Of jungle, locally known by the
titles of null, cassia, benna, jao, hugla, pa
ii, and dozen others alternate with fields
Of millet, mustard and peas; where there
are two or three acres Of sugar-cane at no
great distance from some low range Of
hills to which the hogs can run for safety;
where erratic rivers either form huge isl
ands or long stretches Of alluvial deposit,
covered with water in the rains, but firm and
dry from November to May, inclusive /;
where there is plenty Of agricultural pro-
duce for the hog to uproot by night, and
yet enough Of cover, some three or four
feet in height, to conceal him in the day
time-these are the select spots to which
ardent and experienced men resort with n
sheaf of spears, a batch of Arab horses, a
line of some dozen elephants and staff of
beaters, tempted into the service by pro-
misses of liberal payment, and by some re-
lish for adventure.
There is good deal Of difference be-
tween the sport as practiced in the Bengal
Presidency and in those of Bombay and
Madras. In the former the spear is about
six feet and a-half feet in length and the
sportsman, grasping it about eighteen
inches from the top, which is heavily
weighted with lead, drives it neatly aud
sharply into the body of he animal. The
men of Madras and Bombay use a spear
of ten feet and more in length, and couch
it like lance. In our opinion, the sport
is pursued in the latter Presidency under
greater difficulties of locality, and there is
often more credit in bringing one hog to
bay above the Western Ghauts, after q
chase over broken and stony ground, where
nullahs have to be leaped and low ranges
of hills traversed, than there is in dispatch
ing three or four animals routed out in
succession from small patch of jungle
grass in the districts of Nuddea, Pubna
and Dacca, in Lower Bengal. But still
if the Prince of Wales or any other
traveller wishes to enjoy the sport of rid
ing to hog in perfection, we should advise
him to select, not SholapoIe or Bellary,
but the plains watered and occasionally
inundated by the Ganges where it is known
as the Podha or the banks of the Coral
the Jellinghi, and the Megna. There,
tents pitched in the morning are trans
formed before evening by intelligent Hin
doc and Mohammedan servants into resi-
dences which appear as if the owners had
been living in them for weeks, From ten
to twenty elephants are chained, each by
one leg, to magnificent trees on the edge
of the village deep tank, suited for the
daily bath Of these useful animals close at
hand. The scene at night is lit up by the
camp-fres Of the followers. The early or
autumnal crops have been cut and carried,
and the late or spring harvest will not be
ready for the sickle for another six weeks.
1t is by no means necessary, in the Indian
winter, that hunters should take the field
at day break, and return to their encamp-
ment at 10 or IL, tired and sunburnt.
Indeed, in the month Of January aud the
early part of February, the jungles can be
beaten throughout the day. The great
object is naturally to induce the boar to
break cover and take to the open ground
If the patch of grass, reed, or scrub be
small, this is easily effected. All that is
necessary is half a dozen elephants, with
twenty 'beaters on foot, uttering some Ash
attic cry which answers to "Hie, cock,
cock u and fine burst is the result. But
where the jungle is so large that the boar
can dodge the elephants or break back,
other expedients must be put in force.
Crackers and squibs are thrown into the
denser thickets; the line of elephants
must be made stronger and more compact;
drums are beaten, and mingle with the
yells and shouts of the footmen and, oc.
casionally, as last resource, some mild
sportsman, who prefers the gun to the
spear and the howdah to the saddle, is d.
rected, from his seat on an elephants
back, to dislodge the boar, when he can
get sight OF him, by charge Of No. Z
or 8 shot skillfully lodged just under the
tail. The boar is perfectly well aware that
a thick covert is generally his best secu-
rity, and the employment of the last ex-
pedient is the surest way of convincing
him to the contrary.
When the company is not large and the
animals are not very numerous, three or
four men will race together for the spear,
it being a universal rule that the honor
belongs to the man who draws first blood. y
The result depends on variety of con
siderations. The boar, driven out of one
patch, will endeavor to gain another cover
If the friendly shelter is about mile of
there is no reason to expect that the ami.
NAL will turn and charge, unless it be one
of an unusually savage nature. If the
second cover is two or three miles from
the first, and the beast is one Of average
cnuraoe and ferceness a charva NAV n,