214 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



and it is with these you may often have to deal. 

 In all these negotiations the help of the Collector 

 and his tehsildars is once again necessary. 



I have not mentioned tehsildars before, and I 

 take the opportunity now of offering them my 

 tribute of praise. They are native officials in charge 

 of sub -districts under the Collector, and give all the 

 practical assistance needed in hunting. Only big 

 matters go to the Collector. I look back with 

 gratitude to the courteous, willing help I have always 

 had from them whether Mahommedan or Hindu. 



Do not disturb your covers more than you can 

 help in the breeding season. Never hunt a country 

 more than twice a year. Some countries are hunted 

 more often, but I always think they suffer in the 

 size of their pig. 



Your stock of pig depends on your success in 

 dealing with poachers and vermin, i.e. panther. 



Now for the poachers ; they are the devil. Nuts, 

 kagis, sansis, aherias, ruffians all, call them what 

 you will, for their generic names are as many as 

 the countries which they infest. Luckily these foul 

 depredators generally poach in retired spots. You 

 must burn their nets, destroy their snares, take away 

 their spears and kit, and convince them of the 

 entire unhealthiness of their surroundings. Your 

 arguments should be both personal and direct, and 

 should leave if possible an indelible impression. 

 You must exterminate these people by hook or 

 by crook. Use the utmost rigour of the law against 

 them. If your Collector is one of a new class un- 

 fortunately now occasionally met with, a spectacled 

 youth, the pick of his university, and " heir of all 

 the ages," full of sympathy with the native, but 

 with little working knowledge of him, you may not 



