THE ORIGIN OF POLO 323 



think a relation of the General Hills who was in Cabul 

 with Roberts. On my way up to Peshawar, in May 1863, 

 I stayed a few days with my brother at Cawnpore and 

 Mian Mir, and at each of those places I started the game, 

 having brought up sticks and balls for the purpose. Again, 

 in Peshawar, during 1863-64, polo or ' kangai,' as it was 

 then called, was played regularly after I had started it. 

 ' Polo ' is the Tibetan name of the game. I have played 

 at Skardo with the Tibetans ; they use a different stick 

 or club. The stick now used in India is the original 

 ' kangai ' stick. Bamboo balls were always used. As 

 many as seven played on a side, two generally keeping 

 goal. The ponies were 12-2, and the game was by no 

 means fast." 



The game as at first played in India differed greatly from 

 what is now known as polo. The rules of the game were 

 determined at a meeting of the Cachar Kangjai Club 

 (that is the Tibetan name of the game) held at Silchar on 

 1st January 1863. Rule 9 is as follows: "Any player 

 may interpose his horse before his antagonist's so as to 

 prevent his antagonist from reaching the ball, whether in 

 full career or at the slow pace, and this despite the im- 

 mediate neigbDourhood of the ball. Spurs and whips may 

 be freely used, but only on the rider's own horse : to beat an 

 adversary's horse is foul play." Rule 22 provides against 

 what to our notions seems a startling contingency: " It is 

 to be understood that no player shall be under the influence 

 of bhang-gouja or spirituous liquors." 



To anyone who has seen the present " galloping game " 

 played, the infringement of these rules would seem to 

 entail consequences too appalling to contemplate. Imagine 

 a wild Irishman, half-drunk with " bhang " or whisky, 

 dashing his pony in front of an opponent at full gallop, or 

 lashing his opponent's pony with his whip, to say nothing 

 of driving his spurs into the said pony. Polo under such 

 circumstances would be indeed a "dangerous game," a free 

 fight, and the result would be something like that which 

 ensued on a memorable occasion in Devonshire. 



During a sham fight a Captain Prettyjohn of the Devon- 

 shire Yeomanry was ordered to retreat before a charge 



