15^ 



ANTELOPE HUNTING. 



excitement of the chase ; etiquette is thrown to 

 the winds on these occasions, for all are equally 

 sportsmen, and nothing but the game is thouglit 

 of, be that game what it may. In Upper Sindh 

 tigers are rarely seen on the left bank of the 

 river, but in the Hyderabad country they were 

 frequently met with, and many of the poor 

 beaters were their victims in the grand battues. 

 On his expedition to the Naira, the Meer 

 was absent about twenty days, and, I was 

 told, had fine sport, or rather committed great 

 slaughter amongst the antelopes. These bat- 

 tues are conducted in this wise : an enclosm^e 

 sufficiently high to prevent the antelope escap- 

 ing over it having been hedged in, to the 

 extent of five or six miles, in the form of a 

 triangle, open at the base, a great number of 

 villagers are assembled, who beat the country 

 for a considerable distance in the direction 

 of the enclosure, into which the antelopes are 

 driven in flocks. Horsemen then advance in 

 extended order, shouting and driving all before 

 them towards an opening at the smaller end 

 of the enclosure, where the Meer is stationed 

 in a Jcoodnee commanding the opening, when 

 numbers are shot dovm in attempting to escape, 

 and the rest are turned back by the fire of his 



