HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



pack away on what promises to be a very fine stag. At the 

 sound of the horn, and the " Who-whoops " around the 

 slain, hounds come tumbling down anyhow through the 

 tangle beside the fall, five or six couple at least, and, hand- 

 ing his whip to one of the. field, the master quickly leads 

 them out into the open, a few hundred yards away. No 

 succulent reward from the carcase is distributed to the 

 pack, for he who would keep together a pack for elk 

 hunting should discourage the hunting of pig. It is un- 

 doubtedly, however, an exciting adjunct to the sport, and 

 if the master can afford a strong reserve of good hounds in 

 his kennels, there is no reason why he should not hunt the 

 boar. He is a queer-tempered beast, and has undoubted 

 courage. He will attack a human being with great fury, 

 even when surrounded by a pack of baying hounds, dashing 

 straight through them at his enemy, either holding the 

 noisy pack in contempt, or realising that the human being 

 who owns them is responsible for all his trouble and worry. 

 Upon one occasion a hunted boar left a game path, on 

 which he stood listening to the pack just topping the ridge 

 more than half a mile off, and attacked me with great 

 courage. I was in forest, with my seizer Zulu held 

 10 yards behind me by a cooly. The hunted boar trotted 

 down a game path to one of those open patches to be 

 found in every jungle, a place probably used as a midday 

 bivouac by elephants ; he stood on the far side of the small 

 clearing, broadside on to me, listening to the faint cry of 

 approaching hounds. His wicked little eyes glistened with 

 excitement, and as a matter of precaution I took a slow and 

 cautious step to one side, so as to place a pair of saplings, 

 standing in the centre of the clearing and about 20 feet 

 from where I stood, between the boar and myself. He 

 saw the movement, and in a second was upon me. He 



182 



