ClIAP. IX. 
WILD-BOAR HUNT. 
145 
" Will you be good enough to lend us the giui ? " 
" Yes ; there it stands in the corner of the room." 
" Oh, but you must load it for us." 
"Very well, I will;" and I immediately loaded the 
gun with ball. "There ; but take care and don't shoot 
yourselves." There was now a long pause ; none had 
sufficient courage to take the gun, and a long consulta- 
tion was held between them. At length the spokesman 
came forward with great gravity, and told me they were 
afraid to fire it off, but that, if I would go with them and 
shoot the boar, I should have it to eat. This was cer- 
tainly no gTeat sacrifice on the part of the Buddhist 
priesthood, who do not, or at least should not, eat animal 
food. We now sallied forth in a body to fight the wild 
boars ; but the night was so dark that we could see 
nothing in the bamboo ravines, and perhaps the noise 
made by about thirty priests and servants warned the 
animals to retire to the brushwood higher up the hills. 
Be that as it may, Ave could neither see nor hear any- 
thing of them, and I confess I was rather glad than 
otherwise, as I thought there was a considerable chance 
of my shooting, by mistake, a priest instead of a wild boar. 
The priests have two modes of protecting their pro- 
perty from the ravages of these animals. Deep pits are 
dug on the hill-sides, and, as there are springs in almost 
all these places, the pits are scarcely finished before they 
are half full of water. The mouth of each pit is then 
covered over with a quantity of sticks, rubbish, and grass 
to attract the animal ; and no sooner does he begin to 
bore into it with his snout, than the whole gives way, 
and he is plunged, head foremost, into the pit, from 
VOL. I. XT 
