COL. ANSTRUTHER THOMSON 413 



shillings ; there must be room for twenty couple of 

 hounds. I wish they would make me a whip, but 

 only fellows in fifth form are. Give my love all round. 

 " Your most affectionate son, 



" J. St. C. Anstruther Thomson." 



An account of a leopard hunt by the Madras 

 Hounds : — 



1869. — " The Madras Hunt, which has long been 

 the best-supported establishment of the kind in India, 

 and is still a very flourishing institution, was started 

 early in the century, but had been allowed to expire 

 for want of funds about the year 1856. It was 

 re-established in 1862 by Mr. Dalyell, and during 

 his ten years' tenure of office there was no lack of 

 funds, the annual subscription list sometimes reaching 

 the good sum of ^1,500. This enabled him to put 

 the establishment on a thoroughly efficient basis as 

 a three day a week pack, and also to make a most 

 salutary change in the system of management. It 

 had always been usual to sell off the pack at the 

 close of the short Madras hunting season of four 

 months, and to purchase a fresh pack each year from 

 England ; but during Mr. Dalyell's mastership it 

 was arranged that the pack should also hunt the 

 Neilgherry hill country for a portion of the year, 

 and return to Madras in November. On these hills, 

 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, there is a 

 plateau of grass, about twenty-five miles square, very 

 similar in character to the downs at Brighton, but 

 more interspersed with small woodlands, which form 



