PIG-STICKING 439 



some two or three hundred yards ahead of you, he turns 

 and viciously awaits your arrival ; when, by a sudden shy 

 or a fluke of your spear, your pony may get ripped up 

 and killed, or you may get thrown and end with an ugly 

 wound yourself, they say there is enough excitement 

 lent to the sport to place it easily at the head of eques- 

 trian pleasures. An old boar will often turn and face a 

 dozen pursuers, and will charge as furiously as any ani- 

 mal on four legs. I regret to say that I have never had 

 an opportunity to do any pig-sticking ; though, as I have 

 done boar- hunting with dogs in Silesia, I well know the 

 value of this distinctly noble beast. I have seen him 

 eviscerate half the dogs in a big pack and send the others 

 to the right-about in a tussle of less than sixty seconds, 

 and then stand his ground until the huntsmen gave him 

 the coup-de-grace. 



The sole inducement to raise a good horse in India is 

 that he may be sold into the army. There is practically 

 no sale for a draught -horse where bullocks do all the 

 work. The horses which draw the cabs in the large cities 

 are mostly from cast-off army stock, or army "culls." 

 The little runts are used in odd bamboo carts for passen- 

 ger conveyance all over India ; but by no chance do you 

 ever see a good and sizable horse in a native's hands, 

 unless he be a rich one or a powerful. Nor can it be said 

 that the Indian horse has any special gaits. If he drifts 

 into the army he acquires the trot and canter ; all other 

 gaits would be taboo. So long as he remains native 

 property, he ambles or racks, but in a rather inexpert 

 manner. The Indian is not enough of a horseman to cul- 

 tivate the gait. Even the donkeys are rarely ridden, and 

 as if to imitate their English rulers, under loads they as 

 often trot as amble. 



