THE INDIAN WILD BOAR. 69 



No animal exceeds the Pig in ferocity, nor equals him in courage and determination 

 Once roused, nothing will stop him ; he will boldly charge the largest Elephant who may 

 have disturbed him, without further provocation ; or, if desperately wounded, he will 

 receive spear after spear without flinching, rushing fearlessly at every horse or man whom 

 he can see, utterly reckless of the wounds he receives, and fighting gallantly, until at last 

 he sinks from a mortal thrust. This gameness, added to considerable speed, has made him 

 much sought after, as affording the most exciting and delightful sport in the world, when 

 legitimately hunted with horse and spear. 



Pig-sticking (for in these days it would be pedantic to call it Hog-hunting) is, I think, 

 generally allowed by those who have thoroughly joined in it, to possess all the requisites 

 of real sport in an unequalled degree ; and in no other species of hunting is the animal 

 pursued treated with such fairness. With two or three horsemen after him, an old Boar 

 can, and often does, make a good fight of it, and the wounds are not always all his. In 

 Pig-sticking many sports are combined ; racing, steeple-chasing, hunting, and (is it not a 

 sport ?) fighting. I think no one would ever forget the day when he first experienced the 

 delightful sensation of taking first spear. 



This glorious sport has often been written about by abler pens than mine, and by men 

 with a hundred times more experience ; so I shall not presume to lay down rules, nor to 

 give my own views on horses and riding ; but will merely quote Colonel Shakespear 

 with regard to the latter, and record my opinion that it is not necessary to have very 

 expensive horses in order to enjoy this sport. Of course, with equal riders the best horse 

 will have the best chance of the spear, and among a large field of first-class horses a slow 

 screw would probably see little of the run ; still among ordinary horses, a man very in- 

 differently mounted will find that he can see a good deal of the fun, and that his turn for 

 ' first spear ' will frequently come round, if he will only ride his best. If you have lots of 

 money, buy the best horses you can find ; but don't stay at home and give as your reason 

 "that you can't afford to give 1,500 rupees for an Arab up to weight." Besides, unless you 

 are very rich, you will probably not enjoy your sport so much, if you are riding on a " lot 

 of money." 



But with regard to riding, Colonel Shakespear says, " Ride to the front, there is hardly 

 any ground that a Hog crosses where your horse cannot follow. Blot the words impossible 

 and impracticable out of your dictionary." 



I suppose there are many more falls, in proportion, out Pig-sticking, than there are 

 across a stiff hunting country in England. This arises from the ' blind ' nature of the 

 ground ridden over, and the pace at which it is necessary to go, giving no time to pick one's 

 away. 



In the ' Khadir ' or old valley of the Ganges, for instance, the ground consists of level 

 plains covered with grass and intersected with deep nullahs or ravines, some dry, others full 

 of water ; with deep but invisible ditches ; holes varying in size from pits large enough to 

 swallow up horse and rider, to others just big enough to admit a horse's leg ; hidden stumps, 

 and tangled bushes of 'j'hdo ;' and over this one has to gallop at racing pace. What 



