CHAPTER XIII 



Indian antelope — Black buck the best known — Where found — Description 

 — Habits, etc. — Rifle recommended — The Indian gazelle — The gaizelle 

 or chinkara — Its peculiar call — The four-homed antelope — Flesh 

 uneatable — The XU Ghi — Meaning of the name — Ibex or wild goat 

 of Asia Minor — A stalk described — Rolling down a precipice — Ibex- 

 driving in Afghanistan — Posted to Sholapur — No big game — Pig- 

 sticking — The sport described — A comparison — A boar described — 

 Its formidable weapon — How used — Riding for first spear — Keen 

 competition — The pig-sticking spear — Spears used in Bombay and 

 Madras — The short spear of Bengal — Blades — ^Varieties in shape of 

 — Horses best suited for the sport — Cunning of the boar — Its ooozage 

 and determination — A formidable foe — Some rans described — ^The 

 secret of success — Full speed a necessity — A sport aui g<%eri» — I 

 lose a favourite terrier from hydrophobia — ^Two servants bitten — 

 Apparently none the worse— A tragic sequel — Both men die of hydro- 

 phobia — No clue as to how the dog was bitten — The danger of owning 

 pugnacious terriers — ^Village curs dangerous to fight with. 



Op the Indian antelope, of which I have any personal 

 knowledge, the one best known to all Indian sportsmen is 

 the black buck,* to be found practically all over India, 

 but more frequently in dry districts, where they frequent 

 1 ".rge open plains more or less devoid of v^etation. 



An old buck stands about two feet nine inches high. 

 His coat is black as pitch, in strong contrast with the pure 

 white markings on the belly, face, and throat. The skin 

 darkens with age and does not attain its maximum colour 

 till the animal is about eight years old. 



Tlie horns arc spiral, generally of equal length, and vary 



in size from nineteen to twenty-seven and a half inches. 



The females are smaller f h.ii> f ho tnale,of a light -fawn colour, 



ul carry no horns. 



i^k ^^ hlaek buck is gi< and generally found in 



IHkds of twenty or thirty . .ils, though on the plains 



of Gujerat I have seen as many as two hundred in a herd. 



Old bucks are very pugnacious and may frequently be 



M 



