242 GUN, RIFLE, AND HOUND. 



scent was quite normal. I should advise any 

 one who feels inclined to go in for hounds in India 

 to keep a sharp look-out among the natives' dogs. 

 Some very hound-like animals can be picked up, and 

 these crossed with the foxhound and then crossed back 

 again, should produce useful hounds that would stand 

 the climate well. 



After some preliminary exercise and drilling my 

 dog-boy to act as a whipper-in, I felt ready to try 

 a bye-day. Accordingly, on the 8th of October, I 

 proceeded to draw some patches of cotton within a 

 mile of my house. The cotton-fields are the best of 

 all coverts in the Indian plains. They are artificially 

 irrigated, and consequently the damp soil generally 

 carries a scent and enables hounds to get away on good 

 terms with their jack. Again, they are generally not 

 more than an acre or two in extent, which enables the 

 huntsman to see the jack break away. On this 

 occasion hounds found in a very small patch. The 

 cotton being usually about thirty inches high, it is a 

 very pretty sight to see hounds running in covert, the 

 waving sterns, and now and then a head, being 

 generally all that is to be seen. The jack slipped away 

 into an adjoining patch, and then into a nullah 

 (watercourse), and thus got away without being viewed. 

 Seeing the leading hounds carry a line out of the 

 cotton, I got out my horn, and was delighted to find 

 the pack very handy. They literally flew to the horn, 

 and settling down, raced across the open. In ten 

 minutes they ran into the jack, which was a half-grown 

 cub. I was delighted with this result, for many old 



