BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



the game and maintained, contrary to the generally received 

 opinion, that the Europeans would make a good fight of it. 



' The afternoon of Saturday, 1st January 1876, was fixed 

 for the match, and the noise of it having been bruited abroad, 

 at the appointed hour a vast concourse of people assembled 

 (on foot, on horseback, and in carriages), and whilst the players 

 were girding up their loins and their ponies' girths for the 

 coming contest, took up their places round the four sides of 

 the ground, forming a boundary line of living bodies more 

 distinguishable than the cut in the turf. The Prince arrived 

 with punctuality, and on taking up a prominent position in the 

 centre of the ground, surrounded by his staff and large party 

 from Government House, the rival champions cantered into 

 the lists. Imagine, if it is possible, the Eton and Harrow 

 match transported from Lord's to the Calcutta maidan, and 

 instead of 22 cricketers, 12 polo players the centre of attraction, 

 and you have the scene before you. 



' Calcutta was represented by Mr. W. L. Thomas (Captain), 

 Mr. G. E. Thomas, Mr. C. R. Hills, Mr. C. H. Moore, xAIr. G. Fox, 

 Captain D. A. J. Wallace, R.E. ; and Munipore by Bedam Sing, 

 (Captain), and five others, whose names I have been unable 

 to discover. I hear one was named Chai Tai Yar No Hazaree, 

 and no doubt the others were gentlemen of equally high degree, 

 and with names equally unspellable and unpronounceable. 

 The two sides formed a marked contrast. The fair-skinned 

 amateurs were clothed in white breeches and top boots, and 

 flannel racing jackets of the club colours, viz. white with a 

 broad scarlet sash crossing over the left and vmder the right 

 shoulder, and compared to their antagonists were the personi- 

 fication of elegance and agility, their attire being natty in the 

 extreme, and their ponies, on which they sat with ease and 

 grace peculiar to the European seat, being sleek and well- 

 groomed. The dusky professionals were clothed in a costume 

 striking to the European eye, from its originality of design, 

 unique though hardly picturesque. Their heads were muffled 

 up in dirty puggeries ; their bodies were covered with jackets 



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