HUNTING IN INDIA. 223 



not by any means odds on the dogs. Some sportsmen 

 take them out buck-shooting for use in such cases. 



Not long afterwards, a curious accident happened. 

 We had found three or four jackals together. The 

 hounds caught one, which cried wofully. Whereupon 

 another jackal appeared coming towards the " worry," 

 and not till I commenced to call the hounds off to 

 attack him did he take to his heels. I thought little 

 of it at the time, but I have since noticed a similar 

 incident mentioned in the papers as having occurred 

 with an Indian pack of foxhounds. Is it paternal or 

 filial affection that calls the second to aid the first ? 

 Or does he take the cries for those the jackal gives 

 vent to at night when he smells food, and which are 

 so well known to all dwellers in hot climates ? 



To sum up Indian coursing, the hounds required 

 must possess speed and courage. The English grey- 

 hound has the first, but not the second therefore ; a 

 cross is necessary. The usual cross is with a native 

 breed, of which there are one or two suitable. A cross 

 with a Scotch deerhound would, I think, not be amiss, 

 or better still, with the Australian kangaroo hound. 

 The jackal is not fairly matched against greyhounds 

 at all, the natural quarry of which in India is the 

 fox, which is useless for hunting purposes, whereas the 

 jackal will provide a good run with foxhounds. 



III. THE COLOMBO HOUNDS AND THE KANDY BEAGLES. 



The first meeting which was called together for the 

 purpose of starting a pack of hounds in Colombo took 



