34 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



In the " Soonderbuns" between the mouths of the Hooghly 

 and Megna rivers, tigers, deer, wild hog, rhinoceros, and 

 buffalo are abundant, and probably are increasing, since com- 

 paratively few are ever shot, and the decrease in the forest 

 area is so slow as to be unlikely to affect the numbers of its 

 wild denizens. Spotted deer may there be seen in herds ; 

 but their pursuit by stalking is rendered extremely difficult 

 by the nature of the thickets, and is more than ordinarily 

 dangerous by the tigers, which also abound, having the re- 

 putation of being the most fearless and the most confirmed 

 man-hunters and man-eaters of any in India. Nor is it 

 possible to follow sport in the " Soonderbuns " on the backs of 

 elephants, which can neither penetrate the tree jungle, nor 

 cross the endless streams which intersect it at every turn, and 

 are as deep with salt water at flood time as they are with 

 bottomless mud at ebb. 



The localities, then, where good sport with big game may 

 be enjoyed are by no means numerous, and are yearly shrink- 

 ing, but happily some still remain in Bengal, and those may 

 now be indicated, together with the best times for paying 

 them visits with a view to sport. 



Hog-hunting may be said to commence in December, as 

 soon as the rice crops have been harvested, but it comes in a 

 little earlier on the " churs " or islets, and along the banks 

 of the great rivers. This sport is still good in the districts of 

 Pubna, Moorshedabad, Purneah, and Rungpoor, and may be 

 enjoyed in Nudiga, Jepore, Furreedpoor, Mymensingh, Tip- 

 perah, Noakholly, Maldah,the twenty -four Pergunnahs, Midna- 

 poor, and Champarun, districts once famous for the excellence 

 of their hog-hunting, but no longer such as they once were, 

 owing to the gradual conversion of grass-covered plains into 

 rice fields. When the monsoon rains flood the country, the 

 hog hunter in Bengal may hang up his spears for six months, 

 for in some parts of Purneah alone can it be attempted in the 

 rainy season. Coursing begins and ends about the same 

 dates as hog-hunting ; it is still good in a few districts, Nudiga, 

 Pubna, Mymensingh, Rungpoor, Purneah, and Maldah, in 



