CHAPTER XVIII. 

 HUNTING IN INDIA. 



I. THE QUARRY. 



<; IN India," said the immortal Mr. Jorrocks, " they 

 hunt the jackall (sic) not at all a sportin' animal, I 

 should say, from the specimen in the Zoologicals." * 



In spite of the denunciation of so great a sporting 

 authority, I venture to enter a plea for the jackal as a 

 beast of chase. Moreover, as Surtees' immortal work 

 was published half a century ago the above quotation 

 proves that even then our Anglo- Indian predecessors 

 made the jackal take the place of Reynard of the land 

 of their birth. To this day the existence of the 

 Bombay Hunt, the Poona Hounds, and other regular 

 packs in the East, prove that the "jack " is considered 

 his not altogether unworthy representative. 



Not that it must be supposed that there are no 

 foxes in India. Two varieties of the species divide 

 the Indian peninsula. To the south it is the Indian 

 fox who holds sway, while, commencing on the 

 northern borders of Central India, the desert fox 

 replaces him in Scinde, the Punjaub, and the North- 

 West. In Ceylon, which I propose to include in my 

 chapter, though for brevity I have not done so in its 



* " Handley Cross," chap, vii., p. 67, original edition. 



