DANGEROUS- GAME HUNTING WITH DOGS. 379 



escape from its yapping pursuers. It thus affords a good run on foot, and 

 always winds up with a fierce resistance. We found a powerful bull-terrier 

 was generally required to finish a chase. The Mgdos is generally found in 

 thickets in close proximity to villages, where it preys upon fowls. One 

 of the largest I have killed was slain in a drain in the town of Chittasonjir, 

 after a prolonged subterranean conflict with a redoubtable bull-terrier I 

 possessed at that time. The same dog killed another hdgdos, single-handed, 

 in the culvert under the steps of the dak bungalow in Chittagong. 



A few English sportsmen keep spaniels, but it is seldom that dogs used 

 only with the gun can be turned to account in India. Scent is generally 

 bad, and there are neither facilities for training young dogs, nor sufficient 

 practice for old ones. In snipe or quail shooting native attendants are 

 handier than dogs, and consequently a spaniel or terrier that will bring a 

 duck out of a weedy tank is generally the Indian sportsman's only canine 

 auxiliary in the field. 



Previous to the time when my duties led to my living entirely in the 

 jungles, I always kept one or two good bull-terriers for encounters with 

 jackals, wild cats, &c. On the few occasions when I had the chance of using 

 these dogs at formidable beasts they so distinguished themselves as to im- 

 press me witli a high opinion of their prowess, and of their ability to over- 

 come larger animals than might be thought possible ; and I conceived the 

 idea of setting up half-a-dozen couples of really stanch dogs, with which and 

 a knife only, to kill bears, panthers, leopards, &c. It has not been until 

 lately, however, that I have been in a position to carry out my idea ; but since 

 I have lived almost wholly in the jungles, I have had opportunities of gain- 

 ing some knowledge of what can be done in dangerous-game hunting with 

 the aid of dogs. It is only to a few sportsmen, chiefly those who happen 

 to be forest-officers or planters, to whom my experiences are likely to be 

 of service. But in the hope that those in a position to try the sport 

 for themselves may find them of some little use, I propose to record what 

 I have myself learnt. I also believe that the general reader who has a 

 taste for such subjects as form the theme of my book will feel an interest 

 in reading of instances of courage shown by that infinitely more courage- 

 ous animal than all the wild beasts of Asia and Africa together, the only 

 creature in the world that fears no animate or inanimate object — the British 

 bull-dog. 



The hunting of large and dangerous game with dogs may be managed 

 in two ways : either with a pack merely to find and bay the animal wherever 

 it goes, sufficiently discreet to keep out of its reach until the sportsman 

 comes up with his rifle ; or with dogs that will seize any beast at once and 



