The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1894-02-16
INDIAN PIG STICKING.
ONE MAN WHO SAYS 1T IS THE
FINEST SPORT IN THE WORLD.


India and Northern Africa Are Hunted
by Enthusiastic Spsrtsmen OF Other
countries-Pientyo of Danger.
AS an ardent pig sticker l may be for
given for advancing the opinion that it
Is the finest sport in the world. By "pig
sticking" l 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
nave ever seen were in the Vindhya
mountains, where ! used to shoot them
as food for my beaters. 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
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 in
"Jao," 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 dawI.
Pig sticking begins usually about
Christmas week, when the giant vegeta-
ton of the rains has died down sufficient
~ 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-
gins, and 1t improves as the weather geta
dryer and hotter till the June rains come.
snd pig sticking Instantly ceases.
At about o. m, after light break
fast, the sportsmen set out-usually ".
''tumtums"-to the meet, having sen;
their spears and horses on ahead over
night, together with the all important
mess tiffin basket, in which huge block
of ice and innumerable soda water bot
Ties and beer bottles figure largely. II
is rare to gather together more than II
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, | should say
the average lield was not above five, and
personally, 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
5O In number and form line, covering
about 200 yards Of ground. Each is
armed, or should be. with 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 shi-
hari's satellites, and in the center is the
lhikari himself on horseback, and these
't1lcers, like sergeants, keep the line
straight, and exhort, often in language
more forcible than polite, the apathetic
coolies to strenuous exertions. The
Iportsmen generally ride few yards in
advance of the line, unless, from the ma
ure of the covert, the pig is likely to
break back.
A pig lies usually in kind of form
ike hsre and will sometimes let a |
nah or horse almost tread on him be |
ore moving, and being often covered |
With mud or dust is very difficult to see |
n the grass and weeds. When, how
'ver, he does jump up, he slips along at
IN incredible speed for the first 80 or 40 |
ards and then settles down to a very
asst gallop. have known boars at once |
m being put up make straight for the
irst man or horse they see before they |
lave been wounded or touched, and, as
IL know, the tusk Of the wild boar cuts
Ike razor, though luckily the wound
usually healthy, clean cut-very diff
erent from mauling by the fetid claws
II tiger or leopard or the thrust Of o
tapg horn