166 FOX-HOUND, FOREST, AXD PRAIRIE. 



soon as they can to the country of their birth. By these I do 

 not of course mean the men of long standing and in possession 

 of lucrative situations, who feed upon the cake and ale of the 

 land, who receive more rupees per mensem than they can spend, 

 even with the aid of dinner parties many and big, of the mem- 

 sahib's frequent consignments of dresses from Paris, and of 

 thirty ravenous servants on the premises. They are great 

 potentates in the Presidency. But, alas ! how many people will 

 they find to do honour to their Collectorship or Commissioner- 

 ship (or even to understand the meaning of the terms) when, 

 with a liver that has increased in a steady ratio with the pension 

 due to their service, they give up the East that for them at least 

 was gorgeous, and attempt the disappointing process of assimi- 

 lating in their old age their tastes and habits to those of a new 

 and different world. 



Accordingly, as I have observed above, very few men on the 

 hills were in possession of horses purchased and maintained 

 solely for the pure and peaceful pursuit of hunting. The 

 military men had brought up their chargers, civilians the hacks 

 that carried them about their districts, and the coffee planters 

 what they termed their estate horses — though it is only fair to 

 add that the coffee estates appeared to require more horses than 

 were wanted for daily parade. Two chargers and their masters 

 had been induced to take service with the hunt, and the latter 

 rendered great and willing help to the cause. But neither a 

 hussar's nor a gunner's war horse can be expected to turn 

 hounds four days in a week, and that in a countiy where six 

 practised and well-mounted whips would not be too many ; the 

 two old kennel horses were on their last legs (these last being 

 by no means better than their first) ; and so it was often a 

 matter of difficulty to get the "hunt servants," as well as the 

 general public, turned out as often as desirable. 



But I am losing time, and must abbreviate as I go if I 

 would keep within bounds allotted. 



A Friday morning, 7.30 A.M. — one covert already drawn blank 

 (Porcupine Sholah, where many a hound has been pierced, 



