Arizona silver belt., 1894-01-13
INDIAN PIG STICKING.
ONE MAN WHO SAYS IT IS TIRE
 FINEST SPORT IN THE WORLD.

India and Northern Africa Arc uuntod
 by Enthusiastic sportsmon of Other
 Countries Plenty of Danger
 As m ardent pig sticler may be for. 1 given for advancing the opinion that it | Is the finest sport in the world By ''pig
 sticking" l of course mean pig sticking
 as 1t is practiced in India and in north
 eIn Africa and perhaps in some other
 English colonies--yiz. riding down the
 pig on horseback and dispatching him
 with spears
 The Indian wild pig varies naturally
 according to his home. The biggest l
 have ever seen were in the Yindhya ! mountains, where used to shoot them
 us food for my beaters. Sometimes they
 were of vast size, bigger, think. than
 even their Ganges cousins.
 A peculiarity Of the wild pig is the straightness of his tail as compared with the curled appeRdage of his domestic
 brother From the top of bis low fore
 head to the end of his snout is almost a 1 perfectly straight line, and he has far
 longer snout and jaw than the English
 market pig. His skin is kind of
 bluish gray and his bristles gray or black, though sometimes an almost brown pig is found The wild pig will
 never 1.-Two far from water. He Is hap
 piest in tho long grass, often l2 feet high,
 that grows along the banks of tho big
 Indian rivers, and above all rejoices in
 '1ao kind of evergreen brushweod
 that is as common IS the grass. He only
 eats at night, and about 10 ?. n. be sal
 lies forth from cover and will go many
 miles to find the succulent sugar cane or other luxury, returning as a rule about ar hour before the first streals 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 til tho end of Feb ruary that really good pig sticking be- gins, and 1t improves as the weather gets dryer and hotter till the June rains cunie. and pig sticking instantly ceases.
 At about a. m.. after a light break fast, the sportsmen set ont--usually i,
 'tumtams to the meet, having s5..t their spears and horses on ahead over night, together with tho all iln,.ortgut neas t.lia basket, ia winch a huge block of ice and ianamcrabla soda water bot ties and beer bottles figure largely. it is rare to gather together moro than l2 men, It may have been different ip olden times, but polo is a for1uida ablc rival 10 pig sticking nowadays, and thc ordinary british suhaltern can rarely af- ford time and money for both. Indeed. rom my ot'l experience. I should say the average field was not above five. and personally, much prefer. except floia the social point of view, very few com. panioEs
 The officer in command dsidea tLe party, fl large onopgh, into little sestio .,g of three, and oieh section separat s rom the other and keeps together .ii dav either at ono end of the line, Or in tbe middle The coolies are :.sually abopt 5Q in number and lrria line. yering about 300 yards of ground Each i5 armed, or should bo. with a liz stick. and the end n.al carry flags, which caa oe seen nRose une long grass and help to keep tho e dies in Inc. Behind aem marches on each wing enc of the shi. kaI1 satellites, and iu the center is tl,e slnF Ari hlInself on horseback, ard these officers, lilc scrggants. keep inc line straight and exhort, often in languagc more forcible thau polite, the apathctic cooles to strenuous excrtioas. The sportgmen generally rido few wards ip advance cf the lino, unless, from tho na. turo Of the covert. the pig t likely to break back.
 X pig lies usually in a kind of form like Q haro and will sometimes let a man or Ecrso almost tread oa him be fore moving, and being often covered with taud CT dust is very difficult to sec in the grass aad weeds. When. how. ever, he does jump up, he slips along at an incredible speed for tho first % or 10 yards end then settles down to q very fast gallop. lhaye known boars at oneo ! oa being r''t , nal'e r'raisht fer tie ! frat nan cg horae they 500 before they have been wounded or touched. and. as | all know, the tush of the wild boar cuts hke 3 -azor though luckily the wouDd | is usually healthy, clean Cut-very diF. | ferent from 3 maaling by the fetid claws of 2 tiger CT leopard or the thrust of a i stag's lom.
 " hereyer 2 pig gets up one of the sections go Gftcrit, and thcroaro various little rules ia to how the pig should be and in what order. Tho rao5t important rule is never Co 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, aud when dropped from the hand in the long grass, the sharp end, being the lighter, naturally sticks up, so that | the next horseman or beater may be wounded. 1 know of several horrible ac. cidents that have happened in this way.
 The man who first draws blood gets "the first spear" and is entitled to the carcass. The body is given to tho coolies to eat, and the head is taken homo bythe sportsman to adorn his bun galow hall, or the tushes are taken ont and made into some lnickknacl,. Of course he is in honor bound to help fairly kill as well as prick his foe but it s the second horsenan, riding perhaps 'our lengths behind him, who has the most dangerous part to play. A pig when wounded rarely pursues his for. ner course, and the leader often loses ouch with him, while his follower has Q bear the full brunt of terrific charge. t is fatal to receive boars charge at a walk or trot. One cannot go too fast lot straight at the pig, but at a slight { lngle Co him as he charges. In Bombay a long spear is used, and he boar is stuck by an "underhand" hrust. In eastern Bengal q jabbing pear is used and is more deadly think.