00 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



military men in India. The danger that attends the sport 

 often gives rise to feats of valour, and in general these are 

 minutely recounted by the persons who perform them, par- 

 ticularly at the dinner that invariably succeeds a day's 

 hunting. It is not a little amusing to listen to conversation 

 of this kind. Every glass of beer that is drunk gives birth 

 to a narration of some new and extraordinary exploit. Every 

 round that the claret makes adds an inch to the length of 

 the tusks of all the hogs killed that day; and animals that 

 had been speared and eaten months before, start into life 

 again, charge their pursuers, rip up horses, and suddenly 

 acquire enormous dimensions. The Asiatic spirit of exag- 

 geration gets abroad; but every one listens to his com- 

 panion with the utmost urbanity, and affects to believe all 

 he hears, only that he may obtain the right of becoming 

 speaker in his turn, and of inflicting on his neighbours as 

 many extravagant and fictitious tales as they are in the 

 habit of inflicting upon himself." 



These few paragraphs condense as much general informa- 

 tion on the subject of hog-hunting as I have ever met with, 

 and corroborate the only opinion that I have ever found 

 entertained, which is, that, perhaps with the exception of fox- 

 hunting in England, it is the most delightful, noble, and 

 exciting of all sports either at home or abroad. 



I have omitted to mention one incident that occurred to 

 me near the village of Chinchorra (abode of thieves), and 

 noted as being the residence of some of the most desperate 

 bheels, or robbers, 'in the Marhatta country. Our tent was 

 pitched about a mile from the village, which, in fact, was 

 nothing but a collection of miserable hovels, and we had 

 scrupulously avoided sending to purchase provisions. The 



ponies were picketed, the servants fast asleep, and D n 



and I were lying stretched upon our bullock-trunk couches, 

 courting what repose an intensely hot night was likely to 



