HOG HUNTERS' HALL 123 



There were no casualties en route, and this I 

 attribute partly to the painstaking care of the 

 Indian railways, whose officials I have always found 

 most courteous and capable, provided that one does 

 not try to hustle or browbeat them ; and partly to 

 the fact that the syces were all placed under the 

 orders of Shoeing - Smith Norman of the 10th 

 Hussars, who accompanied us throughout the trip. 



On Sunday, March 27, we arrived at Forbesganj, 

 the terminus of a narrow-gauge railway, at 2 o'clock 

 on a hot afternoon. Here we found elephants for 

 our kit and hacks for ourselves. After a good meal 

 in Mr. Duff's hospitable bungalow, where we were 

 royally received, and heard many tales of the 

 ferocity and size of the local boar, we hacked out 

 to our camp, which we found just as it was getting 

 dark. 



The next day we spent in reconnaissance, and 

 naming various places for future reference (see 

 sketch opposite). Our hunting ground lay some 

 twenty miles south of the Nepaulese foot-hills. 

 Formerly it was under indigo, but it is now let to 

 natives to cultivate ; the chief crop seems to be 

 rice, but in March, of course, there were nothing 

 but the stubbles as an indication of what the crops 

 had been. 



Some years previous to our trip the Kosi River, 

 which runs from north to south, some twenty miles 

 east of the Bukrah River, had overflown its banks. 

 A great flood had forced its way into the Bukrah 

 River, and covered the country with silt. Between 

 Hare Corner and the south edge of Poached Egg 

 Jhil a very thick growth of nurkul grass had sprung 

 up, and this formed the main covert for the pig. 

 There were also several nice jhow coverts as shown 



