CHAPTER III 



A CHEISTMAS MEET IN THE KARDIR COUNTRY 



MY next form of shikar was the annual Christmas 

 pig-sticking in the Ganges "kardir." This was 

 very handy to Meerut, many of the best meets 

 within thirty miles, so that with a properly laid 

 " dak " (relays of ponies), it was easy to ride out 

 to the meets of the Tent Club in an afternoon. 



Just a word as to that venerable institution, the 

 Tent Club. It was founded on its present lines 

 in the year 1866, and has continued ever since, 

 its one object being the pursuit of " the unclean 

 beast. " Its records have been kept continuously 

 since its formation, and the totals of boars killed 

 each season vary from one in 1878-79, when the 

 Afghan war drew off the sportsmen, to 110 in 

 1896-97, in which latter season we also speared 

 16 parah stags and a panther. Each decade shows 

 an increasing number of boars accounted for, and 

 this, notwitstanding the counter attractions, polo 

 principally, that have arisen. The Kardir Cup, 

 which is the great event of each season, is run 



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