20 REMINISCENCES OF PIG-STICKING. 



From some cause or other only the following turned 

 up, viz, — Archie Hills, Lord William Beresford, Lawrie 

 Johnstone, J. Stocks, Captain the Honorable Harbord, 

 M. Ferguson, and R. Lyall. Besides the above seven, 

 the Nawab Bahadoor of Murshedabad came with five of 

 his brothers, among them Sultan Saheb, a straight rider 

 and a good man at a pig. 



After a satisfactory dinner and a rubber or two at 

 whist every one had to turn in by eleven o'clock. 



Six o'clock next morning saw us all ready and dressed, 

 Chota hazree being over a move was made. 



Our beating line for the day was to consist of fourteen 

 elephants and some eighty coolies, besides sundry tom- 

 toms and empty kerosine oil tins ; these latter for any 

 heavy bits of cover we might come across. Our plan 

 for the day was to go to the furthest end of the country 

 we wanted to beat, and work our way homeward and 

 finish with the patiales in the evening. I must give a 

 little explanation of what is meant by the patiales, as it 

 will be one of the main factors in My Reminiscences. 



The "patiale, " or rather the "patiales, " for there 

 were three of them, were bits of cover of very heavy 

 jungle, a kind of spear grass growing to a height of 

 eight to ten feet, and used by the villagers for their 

 betel plantations ; each of these covers was of about 

 twenty-five to thirty bigas. 



Two of the patiales were close to the village of Choa, 

 and about five hundred yards apart. On three sides it 

 was open country with a big maidan on the north, but 



