302 SHOOTING. 



the water the iron ball will, in general, take effect." 

 Tiger-hunting, on horseback or on foot, is perhaps 

 the most perilous pursuit the sportsman can engage 

 in ; but as now chiefly conducted in India, it is not 

 a very dangerous sport. The sportsman, secure in 

 his castled howdah, cannot be surprised by ambus- 

 cade, and he has little to fear from the enraged 

 brute at bay ; but unless he be a clever horse- 

 man and adroit " pig-sticker," hog- hunting is 

 fraught with more danger. Comparing that sport 

 with tiger -hunting, Captain Mundy says, " To 

 the hog-hunting of Bengal, the palm of sporting 

 supremacy must certainly be adjudged. Few, who 

 have had opportunities of enjoying both in perfec- 

 tion, will balance between the tiger and the boar. 

 In the pursuit of the former shikkar, the sports- 

 man though there are certainly some casual risks 

 to heighten the interest and add to the excitement 

 feels himself, in his pride of place, ten feet above 

 the ground, comparatively secure ; and, should any 

 accident befall him, it is generally traceable to the 

 misconduct of the elephant, or the timidity of the 

 mahout, whose situation, poor devil ! with a furious 

 tiger before him, and a bad shot behind him, is any 

 thing but enviable. In the boar-hunt, on the con- 

 trary, the sportsman depends entirely on his own 

 adroitness. To have any chance of distinguishing 

 himself, he must have the seat and the judgment 

 of a fox-hunter, the eye of a falconer, the arm of 

 a lancer and above all, a horse fleet, active, bold, 

 and well-in-hand." * If the size of the game be 



* Sketches in India, by Captain Mundy. London, 1833. 



