MISCELLANEOUS. 157 



a good bag by the end of the day. Firing as they do 

 at close quarters, after having taken all due precautions 

 for their safety, very few ever come to grief. But piggy 

 had his revenge at least in one instance. Four of these 

 shikarees had come out from Berhampur for a little bit 

 of sport, and they began operations at the patiale. It 

 was about the end of March, the cover had been a good 

 deal cut, some patches only remaining here and there. 

 Our hunters took their position long before daylight; at 

 dawn not seeing any pigs coming in the distance one 

 of them quietly got up and going round the corner saw 

 something black and fired. On going up, to his hor- 

 ror he saw that he had shot dead one of his companions. 

 Fearful of after consequences, or, perhaps, remorse of 

 conscience, our shikaree next went and blew out his own 

 brains. In this instance, at least, I think piggy had his 

 revenge. 



We hunted the patiale next day, and an old lame 

 boar who had been there for an age, fell to Lord Wil- 

 liam's spear. These pot i hunters, as I said before, are 

 the most destructive to pigs among the shikarees, as they 

 make a profession and livelihood of it: a big, fat boar or 

 sow fetching as much as ten or twelve rupees. 



After the pot-hunters come those whom I shall call 

 amateur shikarees — these do not make a profession of it, 

 but hunt for the excitement and fun of the thing, they 

 have regular battues, at times as many as fifty or sixty or 

 even one hundred joining in the hunt. Spears, guns, 

 stick, and weapons of every description are brought into 



