THE GANGES STAG. 83 



THE GANGES STAG. 



IN THE COLLECTION OF EARL DARNLEY, COBHAM HALL, KENT. 



The deer are in general an active tribe, inhabiting principally wild and woody regions, and are to be 

 found not only in almost all the temperate, but also the torrid climates of the world. The stag, of 

 which our drawing is a correct likeness, was bred in France, and sent over to this country as a 

 present to Lord Darnley. It is supposed to have been originally of an Indian breed, as its name 

 implies ; others assert that the epithet of Ganges is applied to it on account of its extraordinary size 

 when compared with that of the common stag. Its general characteristics are long, cylindrical, 

 ramified horn's, inclining rather backwards, and slender sharp-brow antlers. The colour of the animal 

 is generally a reddish brown, with some black about the face, and a black list down the hind part 

 of the neck and below the shoulders. The hinder haunches are beautifully spotted like the roebuck, 

 to which animal it bears a general resemblance. This stag appears to have a fine eye, an acute smell, 

 and an excellent ear. He is a simple, and yet a curious and crafty animal. When hissed or called to 

 at a distance, he stops short and looks steadfastly, and with a kind of admiration, at the objects which 

 present themselves, and if they have neither arms nor dogs, he moves on unconcernedly and without 

 flying. In general he is less afraid of men than of dogs, and is never suspicious, nor uses any arts of 

 concealment, but in proportion to the disturbances he has received. He eats slowly, and is rather dainty 

 in his aliment ; after his stomach is full, he lies down and ruminates at leisure, but which appears to 

 be performed with less facility than by the ox. It is only by violent shakes or hiccups that the stag can 

 make his food rise from his first stomach, owing to the length and direction of the passage through 

 which the aliment passes. The neck of the ox is short and straight, but that of the stag is long and 

 arched, and therefore greater efforts are necessary to raise the food. These efforts are made by a kind 

 of hiccup, the movement of which is apparent, and continues during the time of rumination. The 

 stag, during the rutting season, bellows in a frightful manner ; he is then so transported that nothing 

 disturbs nor terrifies him ; he is, therefore, easily surprised. Being loaded with fat, he cannot keep 

 long before the dogs ; but he is dangerous when at bay, and attacks the dogs with the greatest fury. 



There is scarcely a country in which some species of the deer are not to be found, from the rein- 

 deer of the Laplander to the more beautiful but less useful stag of Ceylon. In the latter country 

 the-method of hunting the stag is very particular. The huntsmen go out in the night, and only two 

 usually go together, one of whom carries upon his head an earthen vessel, in which there is some fire 

 burning and flaming; the ingredients are generally small sticks cut into pieces and common resin. Of 

 this the other man carries a supply about him to replenish the pot when the fire grows low. The person 

 who has the fire upon his head, carries in one hand a staff, on which there are fixed eight bells, and the 

 larger these are the better. The man goes first into the woods, and the other follows closely behind 

 with a spear in his hand. As soon as the stag hears the noise of the bells, he turns towards the place 

 whence the sound comes, and seeing the fire, he eagerly runs up to it, and stands gazing at a small 

 distance ; the second man has then nothing to do but to kill him with the spear. Not only deer, but 

 even elks and hares are thus taken, for they gaze at the fire and never see the men. The profits of 

 this sort of hunting are very large and the danger trifling ; for although the woods abound with tigers, 

 elephants, and wild-boars, the huntsmen are in no danger from them while the fire burns for they all 

 run away from it. 



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