6 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



almost everywhere in Bengal, and that is the disinclination of 

 the people to give information or assistance. The European 

 stranger, arriving among them in search of game, will elicit 

 next to nothing of a conclusive nature ; the villagers and herds- 

 men may even conceal the fact of tigers and panthers weekly 

 thinning their flocks and herds and causing them no small 

 losses ; and they will often be content to suffer thus rather than 

 give exact information or aid. The offer of ready and cheer- 

 ful assistance is most rare, but in this respect the Mahomedans 

 and the Bengalees in general of the Northern and Eastern 

 districts are better disposed than the Hindoos and the people 

 of the south and west of Bengal. Soft words and fair promises 

 will gain something, threats and strong language nothing, as 

 then they will almost deny a knowledge of their own names, 

 and pretend to, or actually fall into a state of utter imbecility. 

 This apathy apart, the villagers are, as a rule, singularly 

 ignorant of the habits and nature of wild beasts, distinguish- 

 ing with difficulty one from another, and seldom calling them 

 by their proper names ; thus, in many parts of Eastern 

 Bengal, the true country of " Bung," the word " siyal " (for 

 "srigal 5 ' in Sanscrit, commonly mispronounced as "hiyal") 

 does duty equally for the tiger, the panther, the civet and 

 fishing cats, the jackal, and the fox. 



Nor can the European sportsman, if unknown and not an 

 official of influence, rely on cheerful aid in the matter of sup- 

 plies for his camp from either the owner or the cultivators of 

 the land over which he proposes to shoot. Unless the visitor 

 be a man in power, the former, although perhaps wealthy, 

 still a mere boor, will offer no aid ; while the latter, through 

 their apathetic nature, will keep aloof. The village shop- 

 keeper will retail grain, salt, oil, and other commodities at 

 twenty-five per cent, over the market rates ; the fisherman 

 will sell his fish for double the usual tariff, and the herdsman 

 will part with milk at his own price ; but more than this 

 must not be expected. So long as the stranger shoots the 

 tigers and panthers which nightly prey on the village cattle, 

 and spears the boars which play havoc with the crops, the 



