30 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AND PRAIRIE. 



could do nothing but eat." It would be as untrue as un- 

 gracious to write this of the Madras hounds — they are not, and 

 cannot be, immaculate ; they have their vices and they have 

 their virtues, both being beautifully various. Of their vices 

 the last on the above list is perhaps the most prominent. But 

 then, if rope is cheap in India, hounds are not to be landed 

 in the country under ,£16 a couple ; and so an M. F. H. in the 

 gorgeous East can afford to part with nothing that can be 

 coaxed or carried to the covert side. Breeding and crossing 

 have been tried, but with little success; so the whole question 

 of supply resolves itself into — first, how long you can succeed 

 in keeping your hounds alive ; secondly, how often you can 

 afford to send home for more. 



But among those now before us there are many couple of 

 good appearance, and, as the event proves, several of sterling 

 performance. Many of the dogs are fine, upstanding hounds ; 

 and some of the ladies look quite neat enough to go over a 

 grass country. 



By six o'clock a field of about fifty strong has assembled in 

 readiness for the Prince's arrival, the master and two others 

 alone sporting the orthodox pink ; but the gay familiar colour 

 looks depressingly out of place when, as in these two instances, 

 surmounted by the necessary solar topi, without which the ride 

 home might be a journey to a sick bed. Even the fair sports- 

 women who have joined this early chase feel themselves (except 

 in one or two rash cases) obliged to submit to this unbecoming 

 headdress. Most of the men are arrayed in serviceable butcher- 

 boots, and anything that will tuck into them ; but variety is 

 here again the most palpable charm, as it is also in the matter 

 of steeds, which comprise Walers, Arabs, Persians, country- 

 breds, and nondescripts " of sorts " (as the term is hereabouts). 

 For the use of his Royal Highness and staff a number of troop 

 horses have been requisitioned, and, as cross-country work 

 forms a leading portion of a cavalry horse's education in India, 

 they may be considered as excellent mounts. 



Soon the brake containing the royal party dashes up at a 



