1 88 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



Unfortunately, as I singled out the boar of the sounder, 

 and S. took after another, there was no rivalry and 

 no fight for first spear, but both killed after sharp 

 encounters. We then shifted to another patch of 

 long grass. This was full of hogs, yet they would not 

 break, but by driving them in the contrary direction, 

 we got a few to face the open. I had the legs of S., 

 but he took a spear from me cleverly, by waiting by 

 my quarter, and on a pig "jinking," he drove in his 

 persuaders and met him with a thrust through the 

 shoulder. I had four hard runs that day. 



In the evening the Rajah invited us to go to 

 another nautch. Not if we knew it unless the 

 performers were of the right sex, and of that we 

 wanted ocular demonstration. So six of the 

 youngest and best-looking girls were sent over for 

 our inspection. I recognised three at once as old 

 acquaintances from Condapilly ; the others were 

 known to be residents of Bezwada. Having given 

 each of them a douceur, we attended the nautch ; but 

 a native dance is very stupid, for it is the same thing 

 over and over again, so is monotonous to a degree, 

 and were it not that the so-called dancers (a better 

 term would be extortionists) are generally good-looking 

 and remarkably well made, I don't think many men 

 would care to see the performance more than once. 

 When these girls are ornamented and dressed up to 

 within an inch of their lives, they look well, but the 

 songs they chant are shrill and ear-splitting. Of course 

 they pretend to be very modest, almost as much so as 

 Clementina Clemens, the Yankee girl, who would not 

 walk in the garden because potatoes had eyes, and she 

 did not wear drawers ! 



