REMINISCENCES OF THE OLD TE^T CLUB. 47 



the great number of riders during the last three days, and the 

 keen contest for spears, the casualties were excessive, our 

 President, among others, having one horse severely injured, 

 and a second killed, representing a loss of two horses hard to 

 be replaced for four thousand rupees. There were besides 

 ten or a dozen more or less cut up, and lastly, the spills were 

 unusually numerous through hard riding over broken ground, 

 happily without serious injury. 



We had among us in those days one of the best of fellows 

 and worst of riders in Bengal ; a man extremely fond of 

 horses and sport, hog-hunting in particular, who never missed 

 a meet of the Tent Club if he could help it, and who used to 

 take the field with four or five as fine horses as any out, 

 riding them solely by trust in Providence and a tight clutch 

 of the pommel of his saddle, turning up miraculously just 

 before the hunted boar gave up the ghost. Although he 

 rarely obtained a good spear, his quiet enjoyment of the 

 sport was intense, and his complete satisfaction with himself 

 and all the world at the end of a successful run, achieved 

 without a fall, was delightful to behold. 



The country hunted by the Tent Club was mainly that 

 between Calcutta and Diamond Harbour, with an occasional 

 visit to more distant localities. Bakra, on the Diamond 

 Harbour road, was a favourite meet, but in my time it was a 

 poor one ; hogs were by no means plentiful there, and the 

 riding was cramped, as much of it was over mulberry-fields 

 and through villages. I have known a long day's hunting to 

 result in the spearing of a couple of boars only, and the 

 fruitless chase of perhaps double that number, which ulti- 

 mately made good their escape among the thick bamboo and 

 cane jungles around the villages. On the whole, the sport 

 enjoyed by the Club over their own particular country ap- 

 peared to a Mofussilite like myself very indifferent, and the 

 eagerness and competition for first blood a little overstrained 

 and unwarrantable. 



The Christmas meet was generally attended by nearly 

 all the members, and by many guests brought by them. On 



