THE NARBADA VALLEY. 77 



the two roll over and over together, and then the 

 gallant Tinker rose on the top of the wolf, his vice- 

 like jaws firmly fastened on his throat. At this point 

 of a combat he usually overpowered his antagonist 

 utterly, by using his immense weight and power of 

 limb to force him prostrate on the earth, the while 

 riving at the throat with a force that often scooped a 

 hollow in the earth under the scene of action. His efforts 

 were now directed to effect this favourite manoeuvre ; 

 but the wolf was too strong for him, and repeatedly 

 foiled the attempt. But the young hounds, who were 

 not at all without pluck, soon returned to his assistance, 

 and seizing the wolf by different hind-legs, made such 

 a spread-eagle of him, that Tinker had no difficulty in 

 holding him down while I dismounted and battered 

 in his skull with the hammer-head of my hunting- 

 whip. None of the three dogs had been bitten, Tinker 

 having got his jaws in chancery from the very first. 

 I am sure that the three, or even Tinker alone, would 

 have killed him in time without my assistance ; for 

 Tinker never let go a grip he had once secured, and 

 though not so large, was not much inferior to him in 

 strength. 



The catalogue of amusements offered to the sports- 

 man in the open plain would be incomplete without 

 a mention of the " mighty boar." He is to be found 

 almost everywhere — in the low jungle on the edge of 

 cultivation, and sometimes in the sugar-cane and other 

 tall crops ; and with a liberal expenditure of self and 

 horse may be ridden and speared in a good many places. 

 Generally, however, the country is highly unfavourable 

 to riding, the black soil of the plains being split up 

 into yawning cracks many feet in depth, or covered 



