THE NAEBADA VALLEV. 71 



and powers of locomotion do not allow liini to approach ; 

 tlie rugged ground and thorny underwood prohibit his 

 succeeding; with the forest deer ; the ti^^er he likes not 

 the look of, and the -pig he may not touch ; so he 

 gets him into a bullock-cart, and is driven within a few 

 paces of an unsuspecting blue bull, whose carcase, when 

 shot and duly cut in the throat after the rules of his 

 faith, makes for him the beef which his soul loveth. 

 Awkward and inactive as he looks, however, the blue 

 bull, when fairly pushed to his speed, will give a good 

 horse as much as he can do to overhaul him. It is in 

 vain to attempt it in or near the jungle ; but if you can 

 succeed in getting at him when he has a mile or two to 

 go across the open plain, a real good run may be had 

 with the spear. I have never heard of a blue bull 

 attempting to charge when brought to bay, in which 

 respect, therefore, the sport of riding them is inferior to 

 pig-sticking. 



Such are the principal animals which form the 

 objects of the sportsman's pursuit in the open country. 

 As, however, in a state of nature, there never are 

 herbivorous creatures without their attendant carnivora 

 to form a check and counterbalance to them, so we find 

 various natural enemies attendant on the herds of 

 antelope and nilgae, whose acquaintance the sportsman 

 will occasionally make. The nilgae is a favourite prey 

 of the tiger and the panther. But it is in the low hills 

 where he retires during the day, rather than in the 

 plains where he feeds at night, that he meets these 

 relentless foes ; and the chief carnivorous creatures of 

 the open country are the hunting leopard,'^' the wolf,t 

 and the jackal .| 



* F. juhata. t C- pallvpes. | C. aureus. 



