290 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



for he informs us that " of all diversions which most certainly, 

 and I may say most speedily, sap the constitution, none can, 



in my mind, compare with snipe-shooting I could 



enumerate at least a hundred of my acquaintances who have 

 sacrificed the most vigorous health to this very destructive 

 sport, but who, strange to say, never could shake off the fatal 

 habitude of indulging in what they neither were nor could 

 be ignorant was destroying them by inches. Formerly it was 

 not considered sufficient to indulge in this reputed diversion 

 alone ; custom had joined to it the equally baneful practice 

 of drinking spirits in every mode of preparation." Captain 

 Williamson condemns thus, as " equally baneful," snipe- 

 shooting and intemperance ; perhaps in his days the mud and 

 quagmires of Bengal w r ere more " insalubrious" than they 

 are now ; certainly the spirits and beer were so, and there 

 was neither ice nor soda water to moderate thirst. Let the 

 above awful warning be taken to heart by those who, ne- 

 glecting their social and other duties in Calcutta, sally out in 

 twos and threes on highdays and holidays to seek the deadly 

 snipe in its fatal lair at Kanchrapara and parts adjacent ; 

 better far that, clad in black frock-coat and stove-pipe hat, 

 they follow the pursuit of giddy pleasure in a round of 

 morning calls ; or, arrayed in brilliant flannels, they take to 

 the milder and less hazardous recreation of hitting balls over 

 nets. 



If any man ever invent a perfect boot for snipe-shooting 

 in this country let hirn be written down a benefactor of his 

 kind ; assuredly he will not have lived in vain. I have tried 

 every sort without meeting with one that appeared quite 

 satisfactory. The ordinary lacing half-boot is good, but it 

 becomes stiff and hard after wetting, and if laced up tightly 

 in that condition, hurts the ankles ; the same pattern, made 

 of porpoise hide, is softer but is heavier ; the Elcho boot, or a 

 modification of it, whether of leather or tanned canvas, is 

 perhaps better. A boot of the last kind (made for me many 

 years by Watts and Co., of Calcutta) is, on the whole, the best 

 I have yet worn, without being perfect. Bootmakers not 



