406 THE HOG. 



discourage the beaters, who thence get into groups, and, 

 though they continue their vociferation, act so timorously, as 

 to render it expedient to withdraw them for the purpose of 

 trying a fresh cover. It is very common to see ploughs at 

 work at the very edge of the canes where the villagers are 

 beating for Hogs ; and, as the bullocks employed are ex- 

 tremely skittish and wild, it rarely happens but, on the Hog's 

 debut, they take fright and run off with the plough, which is 

 often broken to pieces. The ploughman, alarmed equally 

 with his cattle, also takes to flight, as do all the peasants 

 who may see the bristling animal galloping from his haunt." ' 

 Mr Johnston, in his Indian Field-sports, gives us spirited 

 accounts of the danger and excitation of this kind of chase. 

 " It is difficult," says he, " to imagine or express the anxiety a 

 keen sportsman feels when sitting on his horse near a sugar- 

 cane, hearing the beaters calling out burrah suer (a large 

 Boar), and perhaps at the same instant hearing his grunt, 

 and the crashing of the cane, as he dashes on before them 

 through it, expecting every moment to see him come out. I 

 have often been thus situated, and have trembled all over as 

 if I were in a fit of ague, which did not arise from fear, but 

 from extreme anxiety, which went off the moment the Hog 

 made his appearance. When a Hog has proceeded to what 

 is considered a sufficient distance from a cane, the nearest 

 hunter should follow at a good rate, and, when he is off about 

 a quarter of a mile, should put his horse out at full speed, 

 pressing him as much as possible, observing minutely his 

 motions. If he slacken his pace suddenly, he is probably 

 waiting for an opportunity of making a desperate charge at 

 the horse, and if he be in wind, it would be hazardous to 

 withstand his charge ; but if the hunter is determined to push 

 on and spear him, which is often necessary near a heavy 

 cover, by understanding and observing his manoeuvres, he 

 will be prepared for the charge. If the country is open and 



* Williamson's Oriental Field-Sports. 



