, 1897-11-08
SPORTS OF THE HiffDOOS.
Curious Amusements In the East With
BuryalOes. Rams and Ch.giahs.

Curious Amusements In the East Will
BuHalOes. Rams and CI.gtahs.
Racing and polo tennis and billiard
have become more congenial to the RI
jah and the nawab of today than tn
elaborate sports and pastimes tina
whiled away the long days of ais ances
tors. In some Of the Rajput states. how
ever, an effort is still made not to ALLOW
the ancient habits to fall wholly int
desuetude. OF all the great dynasties o
the continent the Rajputs boast TIL
proudest descent, and the origin of the
sovereign houses is hidden IN the mis-
of time. In Ulwur the maharaja, who
by his kindness of disposition ant
alertness of intelligence, gives the mos
hopeful promise of future fame, is still
a minor, and his territory is under the
immediate control of a capable officer
of the Indian government. No state il
RaJputana has a greater reputation fol
its breed of horses. 1t used in the old
days to be Il famous place for fights be.
tween wild beasts and birds, and
though the contests are now quite free
from all stain of cruelty the show is
carefully kept up.
One afternoon of my stay there l saw
in the palace grounds Il full exhibition
of the old kind. The princely mansion,
built in the old residency style, stands
in IL charming "compound," or park,
with exceptional surroundings, in that
it has before it a large eXpanse of real
turf, kept green by constant flooding.
that pleasantly sets off it's white walls
and its red sun blinds.
First of all there was a parade of the
show horses and ponies, Arab and coun
try bred. One by one, as in IL circus
they were put through their tricks and
PAGES by the superintendent of the sta.
blcs, Il fine old Mussulman, With red
whiskers, who had been all his life i'll
the service of the maharaja's family. A
big piebuld was particularly clever at
walking OH his hind legs and hopping
Oh three, holding up the near fore leg.
Afterward came a performing parrot
which. by II nice adjustment of weight,
was made to twist a loaded stick round
and round until l thought his neck
would be wrung off. Then followed some
more business on the sane lines
This was but the preliminary to the ex-
hibition of the afternoon, for, led along
the road, there marched two by two
buffaloes, rams, black buck and. in the
rear, a single cheetah. The last named
was purely for show. The Other sorts
not long ago had to fight out their bat
ties to the bitter end.
Now the horns are muffled and the
contest has become a game, which the
animals are as well drilled in as n band
of acrobats. Two rams, half black, half
white, are led to either side of the grass
plot and then let go at one another full
speed. With q terrific bang their heads
come together. You would think that
their skulls must lie broken, but instead
they rebound from the encounter not
Il penny The worse, and after Il few
such trials Of hardness they are led
quietly away. After them the black
bucks come to the front and wrestl
with their horns intcrlaccd until their
keepers think they have had enough IF
it. In like the old buffaloes
struggle and struggle, not able to do
more than the champion of the modern
ring with the gloves on. The cheetah
was not asked to display his proves,
but l was told that when some little
time before he was put on quarry he had
been so idle that he absolutely refused
to do his work. In some states, how
ever, cheetah hunts still take place, but
as the chcetah generally takes the
smaller buck no real interest makes up
for the cruelty of the sport. Cocks and
quails, with their fighting power gone,
followed IT," animals into the arena
The spurs OF the cocks We're carefully
covered, while the quails We're separat-
cd the moment they began to fight in
real earnest. As for the quails, for sheer
puSnacity and desperate courage, they
carry off the palm. 1t is true they had
u stimulant not given to the other fight
ers of the palace, for i'll their sanded
circle was placed a hen, for whose favor
they evidently believed they were con,
tending. How far their gallantry would
have carried them if they had been al
lowed to peck at one another's eyes in
real earnest ! know not, hut it is prob.
able that they would both have been
left for dead had not their keepers called
"time'' at the crucial moment. Nobody
can complain that the fighting aristoc.
racy of the Rajput race clings with
natural pride to its ancestral rastimes,
which are but ill supplanted by the alien
and borrowed amusements of our own
people. London Telegraph.