New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1893-08-02
INDIAN PIG STICKING.
ONE MAN WHO SAYS 1T is THE
FINEST SPORT IN THE WORLD.

ONE MAN WHO SAYS IT. is THE.
FINEST SPORT IN THE WORLD.
How the Wild Bears of the Jungles of
India and Northern Africa Are Hunted
by Enthusiastic Sportsmen of Other
Countries-Plenty Of Danger.
As All ardent pig sticker may be for
given for advancing the opinion that it
is the finest sport in the world. By pig
sticking" Of course mean pig sticking
as it is practiced in India and in north
ern Africa and perhaps in some other
English colonies-viZ, riding down the
pig On horseback and dispatching him
with spears.
The Indian wild pig varies naturally
according to his home. The biggest
have ever seen wern in the Vindhya
mountains, where l used to shoot them
as food for my heaters. Sometimes they
were Of vast size, bigger, think, than
even their Ganges cousins.
A popularity of the wild pig is the
straightness of his tail as compared with
the curled appendage of his domestic
brother. From the top of his low fore
head to the end of his snout is almost a
perfectly straight line, and he has far
longer snout and jaw than the English
market pig. His skin is a kind of
blush gray and his bristles gray or
black, though sometimes an almost
brown pig is found. The wild pig will
never live far from water. He is hap
piest in the long grass, often 10 feet high,
that grows along the banks of the big
Indian rivers, and above all rejoices ir
'5ao, kind of evergreen brushwood
that is as common as the grass. He only
eats at night, and about 10 p. m. he sal
lies forth from cover and will go many
miles to find the succulent sugar cane or
other luxury, returning as a rule about
an hour before the first streaks of dawn.
Pig sticking begins usually about
Christmas week, when the giant vegeta-
ton of the rains has died down sufficient
ly to get at piggy, and the marshy
ground where he lives is firm enough for
horses, but it is not till the end of Feb
ruary that really good pig sticking be-
dryer and hotter till the June rains come.
and pig sticking instantly ceases.
At about a. NJ, after light break
fast, the sportsmen set out-usually ir
"tumtums"-to the meet, having sen:
their spears and horses on ahead over
night, together with the all important
mess tiffin basket, in which a huge block
Of and
ties and beer bottles figure largely. 1t
is rare to gather together more than 12
men. 1t may have been different in
olden times, but polo is a formidable
rival to pig sticking nowadays, and the
ordinary British subaltern can rarely af-
ford time and money for both. Indeed.
from my own experience, I should say
the average field was not above five, and
personally, l much prefer, except from
the social point of view, very few COM
panions.
The officer in command divides the
party, if large enough, into little sections
OF three, and each section separates from
the other and keeps together all day.
either at one end of the line or in the
middle. The coolies are usually about
so in number and form line, covering
about 200 yards of ground. Each is
armed. or should be, with a big stick,
and the end men carry flags, which can
be seen above the long grass and help to
keep the coolies in line. Behind them
marches on each wing one of the sh1-
kari's satellites, and in the center is the
shlkari himself on horseback, and these
officers, like sergeants, keep the line
straight, and exhort, often in language
more forcible than polite, the apathetic
coolies to strenuous exertions. The
sportsmen generally ride few yards in
advance of the line, unless, from the ma
ture of the covert, the pig is likely to
break back.
"A pig lies usually in kind of form
like a hare and will sometimes let a
man or horse almost tread on him be
fore moving, and being often covered
with mud or dust is very difficult to see
IN the grass and weeds. When, how
ever, he does jump up, he slips along at
an Incredible speed for the first 80 or 40
yards and then settles down to a very
fast gallop. have known boars at once
on being put up make straight for the
first man or horse they see before they
have been wounded or touched, and, as
all know, the tusk of the wild boar cuts
like razor, though luckily the wound
is usually healthy, clean cut-very diff
ferent from mauling by the fetid claws
OF tiger or leopard or the thrust of a
stag's horn.
Wherever a pig gets up one of the
sections go after it, and there are various
little rules as to how the pig should be
attacked and in what order. The most
important rule is never to drop your
spear, still less throw it at the pig, as
some beginners have been known to do.
Spears are weighted with lead at the
handle, and when dropped from the hand
in the long grass, the sharp end, being
the lighter, naturally sticks up, SO that
the next horseman or beaten may be
wounded. know of several horrible &C.
cidents that have happened in this way.
The man Who first draws blood gets
1.-The first spear" and is entitled to the