HOG-HUNTING. 78 



and go as straight as you can ! I once had a 

 description given me, by an old friend, of the best 

 man in his opinion to get safely over a particularly 

 nasty bit of ground we were talking about one 

 day. Quoth he : 



i Well, I should say the only man who had a 

 chance, a chance only, mind, of crossing that 

 ground after hog without coming to utter 

 grief, would be a drunken sailor on a blind 

 horse ! ' 



Do not attempt to guide your horse over such 

 ground. If he can see the holes and rocks, he 

 will, depend upon it, avoid them for his own sake. 

 If he cannot see them, ten to one you will not be 

 able to, at least, in time to be of any good to you ; 

 so there is nothing for it but to sit tight, give 

 your horse his head, and trust to Providence, and 

 try and assume, even if you do not feel it, an utter 

 indifference to any possible danger. 



Now a word about using your spear. In Bengal 

 the spear used is generally shorter than that used 

 in either the Bombay or Madras Presidencies, and 

 is weighted with a lump of lead at the butt end. 

 I have had no experience, or next to none, of hog- 

 hunting in Bengal, but when there I noticed the 

 spear was short, some six and a half feet, and was 

 always carried point downwards, the butt end 

 being weighted with lead, and was used differently 



