248 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



hills or woods, each one beaten separately, while the sports- 

 men stand concealed as much as is possible, ready to receive a 

 bear, a panther, a deer, a hare, or a jungle-cock, as the case 

 may be. The drives, being of limited extent, can be properly 

 controlled, whereas grand " hunkwas " cannot be so, and half 

 the beaters employed shirk work, and, collecting in knots of 

 eight or ten, discuss village politics, while they pick and eat 

 berries, and throw in a howl now and then as their contribu- 

 tion towards the day's duties. Of such small beats I have 

 many pleasant memories happy days when both rifle and 

 smooth-bore took part, and the camp kitchen fires sparkled 

 and crackled briskly at their close under the choicest dishes, 

 composed of many varieties of game, flesh and fowl. On 

 one memorable occasion, when three or four of us formed a 

 shooting party of this kind along the Grand Trunk Koad 

 above Nimia-ghat, in the pleasant month of January, my 

 notes record some score or more of varieties of game in camp 

 at one and the same time ; viz., of venison (spotted and bark- 

 ing deer), hares, partridges (two kinds), pea and jungle-fowl, 

 spur-fowl, sand-grouse, snipe, quail (several sorts), plover, 

 wood-pigeons (two varieties), teal, and wild-duck of several 

 kinds ; all, too, in the best condition, as well as I could infer 

 from the words and deeds of my companions, but from no 

 personal experience, being one of those unhappy people who 

 cannot swallow game of any kind, any more than a sporting 

 clog can, however much he may set his mind on it. 



