PIG-STICKING IN BENGAL 139 



a record for Bengal. Among sportsmen of a 

 later date, C. B. Gregson, Granny Mills, G. Coxon, 

 Elliot, and Chalmers Hills, and A. E. Staley, I.C.S., 

 have all, for various reasons, had to give up the 

 sport. " Judge " M'Donell, who has now crossed 

 the " Big Divide," was easily the best horseman 

 of the lot, and as good a spear as any. To see him 

 take quite an unmade horse alongside a pig and give 

 a good spear to boot was a liberal education in 

 itself. Billy Barker, as his friends can testify, is 

 still with us. 



Pig-sticking in Lower Bengal commences as a 

 rule with the inland villages in early November. 

 Khor (thatching grass), patials, wild plum, mustard, 

 and village jungle being sure finds for pig during 

 that month and December. Perhaps the favourite 

 cover at this time of the year is sugar-cane, where 

 pig find food and harbourage at one and the same 

 time. 



From January to March, when the crops are cut, 

 pig may be found lying out in barley, wheat, and 

 oats, which all afford excellent cover and provender. 

 Hunting a pig through oats, with nothing to guide 

 one but the ripple, as he moves through the crop, 

 is no easy matter even in company, far less alone ; 

 he has only to jink or squat to throw out his pursuers 

 for the time being, perhaps to charge in from some 

 unexpected quarter or from close under one's horse. 



I have often seen a seasoned horse, brave as a 

 lion in the open, show unmistakable signs of nerves 

 when hunting in this cover, the swishing of the crops 

 probably suggesting hidden foes. I have not in- 

 cluded Arhar, or Raha, as it is called in Behar, 

 under this category, as no sane man would consider 

 it fair to risk his horse in such cover, where, owing 



