SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL 105 



term of years, the grass being cut over annually and sold 

 for thatching purposes. Sambhar could be found here. 



Many pleasant shoots did we have in the district and more 

 especially in the tracts of forest included on neighbouring 

 tea estates. Here our kindly hosts had no difficulties about 

 obtaining the necessary beaters from their own garden 

 coolies. The beats were systematically organized and often 

 resulted in good mixed bags being made, the evening game 

 card perhaps reading somewhat as follows : wild boar, 

 jungle fowl, sambhar, partridge, barking deer, civet-cat, 

 hyena, leopard, snipe, plover. Such a return was, I re- 

 member, made at one of the Christmas shoots. 



How jolly these Christmas shoots were, and how different 

 the conditions and surroundings to other parts of India. 

 Called in the dark we used to get into shooting kit with an 

 extra sweater, as it was chilly and damp, oh ! so damp, in 

 the early morning. Assembling in the dining-room (men 

 only, the ladies came out later after the sun was up, as there 

 was no reason for their risking malaria) we made a hearty 

 chota hazri or breakfast, whichever you liked to call it, 

 and then off with the first dawn with probably a two- to 

 three-mile walk to the first beat. Chilly outside with a 

 sopping wet penetrating mist, this part of the proceedings 

 was the one we least liked. It usually meant a certain 

 amount of floundering about on slippery mud roads or 

 narrow paths. When the sun was above the hill crests 

 this discomfort soon disappeared and the day with its 

 varying incidents was pure joy. 



One such day I remember as typical of many others. No 

 ladies were out, I forget why. There was to be some big 

 dinner or other tamasha in the evening and they had all 

 stayed at home to get things ready. We had varying 

 fortune in the morning. A civet-cat {Viverra zihetha) was 

 put up by the dogs, who as usual went wild over the beast. 

 The animal is not uncommon in these forests. It has a 

 greyish coat with black spots and stripes, the throat white 

 with a broad transverse black band, the tail being ringed 

 with black. The civet is about three feet long with thirteen 

 to twenty inches of tail. The drug called civet which has 

 a peculiar and most unpleasant odour, the cause of the 

 dogs going wild when they smelt it, comes from the sub- 

 caudal gland of the animal. The animal is a carnivorous 

 predatory cat destructive to poultry and game of all kinds. 



