124 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



on the sketch. There, were moreover, numerous 

 bahris, or thickets of bamboo, and mango in which 

 pig would lie. The villagers were a timid race, and 

 gave us little assistance, though they were glad 

 enough for us to kill the pig ; but not a man of them 

 would go into or near the coverts excepting an 

 occasional herd-boy mounted on a buffalo. 



The country provided great sport and varied 

 going. Poached Egg was a dried-up jhil, covered 

 with elephant grass, and there was throughout its 

 area a succession of circular mounds from 18 inches 

 to 3 feet high, the whole representing innumerable 

 poached eggs in a plate two miles square. When 

 we first inspected it we thought that it would be 

 quite unrideable, but after our elephants had 

 traversed it for a week or so in every direction we 

 could ride it, though it was always extremely 

 difficult to kill a pig in. There was another very 

 bad bit of going between " dry nullah " and Kotal- 

 poor, with several blind nullahs about 5 feet deep. 

 In fact we only managed to kill one pig in " dry 

 nullah," and that was more by good luck than good 

 management, and thanks to numerous holloas from 

 the mahouts. "High Jhow " was unrideable, and 

 the elephants could not keep a line in it ; we had 

 to resort to a good deal of gunpowder to get the pig 

 to leave it. North of High Jhow, between the 

 Bukrah River and Khumgeerah, the jhow gradually 

 petered out, and this was the most deadly place 

 for pig. They did not usually spend the day there, 

 but there was sufficient cover there to induce them 

 to lie up when hustled out of the thicker coverts. 

 Their only chance of safety was to reach High Jhow 

 or cross the river into Poached Egg, where there 

 would soon be so many pig afoot, and the cover 



