86 



RECREATION. 



powder was smokeless, stood still and 

 gave me a chance for another shot, 

 which did not follow the bad example 

 of the first, but hit my quarry in the 

 shoulder. Then, of course, the others 

 made off, leaving the wounded bull in 

 the next field, bleeding at the mouth. 

 Another shot finished him, when his 

 throat was cut. He was a beauty, 

 weighing at least 400 pounds. He 

 was left to the care of some of our 

 men, who cut him up and packed him 

 on another camel. 



Then we started after the remain- 

 der of the herd. They had gone a 

 mile before stopping and we had more 

 difficulty in getting up to them than 

 we had the first time. As we were 

 just getting in a good shooting posi- 

 tion, off they went half a mile farther. 

 At last we got close enough for me to 

 fire again. The bull shook, and I was 

 almost certain I had him ; but he 

 pulled himself together and started off 

 like a streak. Soon he left the other 

 2, so we followed him. Although he 

 was badly hit he still was equal to any 

 hedge he met, clearing it neatly. As 

 Mr. Ward was a resident of the coun- 

 try, he generally let me have first 

 shot, and a calling down if I missed. 

 We each hit the wounded bull once 

 more, and then lost track of him. 



It was midday and we were hot and 

 thirsty, so we stopped under a tree 

 and had a lunch. Then the camels 

 came up, together with our men, and 

 some other natives, who had been our 

 informants. As we sat there under 

 the tree, the natives in that vicinity 

 who had heard the shots, and who 

 only get a chance to see a sahib about 

 once a year, came up and sat down to 

 watch us. Just before leaving I 

 counted 75 of the curious people, sit- 

 ting round us in a circle, on their 

 haunches. 



One would suppose that with the 

 population of India there would be 

 little game. However, the Hindoos 

 are forbidden by their religion to kill 

 any animal. Often when they find a 

 scorpion in their houses they will 



carefully pick it up with a stick and 

 carry it into the fields. Naturally 

 they are vegetarians, except some of 

 the lower castes, who eat anything. 

 In consequence of the doctrines of 

 their religion, there are some who do 

 not like to see the sahibs kill the nil- 

 ghai ; but others, whose crops have 

 been damaged by the animals, are 

 willing they should be killed, and will 

 help to do it, by giving information, 

 etc. 



After we had finished our lunch, 

 and were thinking what was best to 

 be done next, a man came in with 

 news of the bull we had wounded. 

 However, when we arrived where he 

 had been seen, we found that some 

 rascally natives, of the anti-kill va- 

 riety, had chased him away. Reluc- 

 tantly we abandoned the chase, feeling 

 sorry to leave him to his fate so badly 

 wounded. 



Mounting the camels, we struck off 

 toward a neighboring village, where 

 orders had been left for something to 

 eat. At this village we had curried 

 chicken and rice, to eat with our fin- 

 gers, native fashion. We got these 

 eatables from some natives who had 

 been converted by the missionaries, 

 and who seemed to be in better cir- 

 cumstances and more intelligent than 

 the average villager. After resting, 

 we rode 10 miles back to Nadiad, 

 where we arrived after dark ; hungry, 

 tired, but happy. 



The camel is a fearful beast to ride ; 

 a continual jolt, jolt, jolt. The saddle 

 is made for 2, tandem fashion, with 

 the hump in the middle. The camel is 

 a pacer, and his steady jog for a 

 dozen miles causes the rider to be 

 aware that he has a pair of shoulders 

 and a back. 



The next day a hind quarter of the 

 blue bull was forwarded to Bombay, 

 and we went on to Umreth, a town 

 between Anand Junction and Godhra. 

 There we spent 2 days, and Mr. 

 Ward's turn came. He brought down 

 a fine young buck, full grown but not 

 yet turned dark in color. The buck 



