IN THE PACIFIC. 221 



admirably suited to the climate, and the work 

 he had to perform. The hounds were the most 

 nondescript pack I ever saw; there were two 

 English fox-hounds, who seemed rather ashamed 

 at being seen in such company, a greyhound, 

 a bull-terrier, and half a dozen mongrels, some 

 with curly tails, some with stumpy tails, and 

 one with no tail at all. However, as their 

 worthy owner assured me, although they were 

 not much to look at, they were devils to go ! 

 and he guaranteed them to hunt anything from 

 a tiger to a cat. 



Our first beat was one of the savannahs, or 

 large open plain, a few miles distant from the 

 city. The guns being posted, the hounds were 

 turned into a wood near at hand. "We were all 

 on the tiptoe of expectation, when a frightful 

 din commenced, the old native shouting, and 

 the dogs giving tongue : presently a deer 

 bounded out, close to where my coxswain was 

 placed, pursued by the greyhound, the bull-dog, 

 and the rest in succession. Ricketts being 

 merely placed as a stop, had no gun ; so he 



