Hog- hunting. 193 



Our captain, D., leads the way ; with him are E., F., 

 Gr. ; they are to precede us by half an hour and to 

 endeavour to cut off " sounders" of pigs returning to 

 their day retreat, from their feeding grounds on the 

 sea-shore, which are either in the wild indigo or in 

 long grass, to be found in the deserted beds of dry, 

 unused tanks. We, on the other hand, are to try and 

 cut off such swine as have been inland after grain, 

 and would return for their siesta to divers swamps 

 in the vicinity. Our party is unlucky, we see 

 nothing ; but D. and his comrades come across a 

 sounder, lay on, although it is still so dark that hard 

 riding is dangerous, and after a short spurt two boars 

 are numbered amidst the slain. They remain about a 

 mile to our left, we near the bund of a tank, into 

 which we send some fifty coolies to beat or drive out 

 the game. Our porcine friends have not settled down 

 in their miry beds, so at the first sound of torn toms, 

 cholera horns, and other discordant noises, six or 

 seven pigs break, and we are saluted with a cry 

 of " Pundaloo ! " (pigs), and see some dark objects 

 scampering over the plain. 



I had made the great mistake of keeping my best 

 horse rather too fresh, and although he bounded off 

 with the lead and maintained it easily until I had 

 separated the boar from the sounder, his eagerness 

 was such that he kept over-shooting the mark as the 

 hog "jinked" either to the right or left. This 

 enabled C., who was mounted on a strong, steady, 

 but somewhat slow Cape horse, to keep up with me. 

 A. and B. left us after the rest of the sounder. Had 

 the boar gone straight away I would have killed him 

 long before C. could have got near me ; but the un- 



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