The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1894-06-21
CRUEL SPORT IN INDIA.
Hunters Train the Panther to
Catch Deer.
Hindoos Care Nothing for Amusement I'm
less Accompanied by Physical Suffering
or Great Danger-Battle of Hands
and the Swinging Festival

that sport, to be appreciated by the
average mild Hindoo, must have some
thing cruel about it, either to man or
beast. 1t is to India, by the way, that
Europe and America owe polo, which
was introduced into British canton
ments by the Manipuris. Hindoos are
great cock fighters, says writer in the
San Francisco Chronicle. Large sums
of money are spent on these contests,
nor are the birds furnished with spurs
to make the combats still more san
| culinary. The cocks use only natures
weapons and the wounds inflicted are
severe enough to satisfy the Hindoo
craving for bloody spectacles. OF horse
racing the Hindoo is passionately fond;
and race will practically close all
business. The government printing
offices at Allahabad have on occasions
been closed because the compositors
abandoned their cases to see the races.
A steeplechase where there is every
possibility of some one being thrown
exerts wonderful fascination on the
people, who do not hesitate to call
themselves the greatest physical cow
ards in the world. Their hunting, too,
is of the cruel order. Panthers, or, as
they are called in India, cheetahs. are
trained to pursue deer and kill them.
There is no risk attaching to the hunt
ers, but there is great deal of danger
to the unfortunate shekari who trains
the ferocious beast. The panther is
blindfolded a leash is placed around
his middle, and he is thus. leo to the
plain where deer can be found, or to
where the deer have been driven by
swarm of heaters. The assemblage,
mounted upon elephants or horses or in
conveyances, keep respectful distance
from the cheetah, who is led into the
open and the hood quietly removed and
the leash slipped. The cheetah, when
furiously hungry, has been known to
turn upon his trainer as the Quickest
prey, and this is the supreme, the ago
nizing moment. The cheetah stands
straight, his forelegs stiffening and his
tail slowly moving. He purrs like
huge cat, looks angrily around him,
then, crouching, bounds after his prey.
The cheetah catches his victim and,
Selling it by the throat, buries his
fangs deeply, sucking in the blood
with greedy gasps. The trainer APP
proaches gently, so gently that his
football can scarcely be heard. The
cheetah is growing ominously. His
tail beats his sides in ferocious impa-
thence. Quietly the man steals toward
the crouching beast and slips the hood
over the eyes; then the leash is passed
around and all danger is averted
The head of the deer has to be sew
cred, still leaving in the cheetah's
mouth a goodly lump of bleeding
flesh. There is nothing very sports
manlike in this performance, but
there is a great deal of danger attach
ing to it, and that danger devolves
upon one man. There have been cases
where the panther has absolutely re-
fused to chase the deer, but has devot-
ed his entire time and attention to the
hunting party. Then the game was not
voted success.
| A villainouS amusement in India is
that called panjan. Itconsists in lock-
ing hands and seeing who can be made
to kneel. There is no fun in it, but
still it is assiduously cultivated and
hands are daily being broken in this
inane form of sport. Kite-hying is a
national affair and bets of the most ex-
traordinary magnitude are made as to
who shall cut his opponents string.
The swinging festival, or churruk
poojah, is another form of pleasure
which could only satisfy a race natu-
rally cruel. There is now good deal
of correspondence between the India
office and the government of Calcutta
with view of stopping this detest-
able sport. Hundreds of Europeans
visit the scene and leave UNNECESSARILY
! disguised, but the natives find much to
enjoy in it and beat their tom toms
and blow their pipes with great gusto
while the poor victims are swinging in
midair. This sport has some remote
connection with religious rite, and
the men who permit themselves to be
thus tortured are probably fulfilling
some hideous vow. Vows in India are
common, and no VOW can avail unless
its performance inflicts some dreadful
punishment upon the body. The affair
is thus managed: A devotee has hook
passed through the muscles of his back,
which hook is tied to the end of a
crosspole. This beam can be tilted for
the express purpose of having victims
fastened to it. After the man is Sc
curely dashed to the pole he is lifted
up into the air with his hands folded
on the chest and the body fairly hang
ing by the hooks. There is no other
support. The muscles of the back
alone hold him to the hook. The pole
is then rotated by pulling on the ropes
at the counterbalance end, its attach
ment on the vertical part permitting
of free rotation. This gentle amuse-
ment the Indian government intend to
abolish, but whether it will be done
without serious trouble is question.