AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
71 
and a Pariah dog, which last had the audacity to attack 
my English Pointer. 
A fine setter, belonging to my companion, had a nar- 
row escape this evening; he* swam into the Hoogly, to- 
wards some black object moving on the water, and which 
turned out to be a Hindoo corpse with a koomer, or bull- 
headed alligator feasting upon it. The dog turned tail 
immediately, like a very prudent general, readily acknow- 
ledging himself inferior to the enemy: but the koomer — 
the most savage and fearless of the crocodile kind — would 
not let him off so easily; but, leaving the black carrion, 
darted after poor Don without delay. Don was in a devil 
of a funk, and almost drowned himself through fright and 
conglomeration of ideas; and though he was close to the 
bank in a minute, and within ten paces of us, the alligator 
would undoubtedly have shortened his tail a few inches, 
if not his body also, had not S rapped away both bar- 
rels into the koomer' s eyes, and I joined him in the cour- 
teous salute. The alligator gave a whisk with his long jag- 
ged tail, and disappeared. Never was dog so happy as 
Don, or man as his master, for I think S gave more 
than a hundred rupees for the brute. 
Setters, pointers, terriers, and bull-dogs, are seldom 
worth their keep in Bengal. Game is too plentiful, 
and lies too well to require the aid of the two former, 
which seldom live long, or retain their noses. Terriers 
are useful as pets only, or for catching bandycoots. When 
or where bull-dogs are useful, I have never been able to 
discover. ' 
Shooting in India is pursued in three kinds of country 
— the jungles, either grass or underwood; the paddy, or 
rice field; and the fens, or rushy banks of rivers and nullas. 
For the first, a couple or two of stout active spaniels may 
be very serviceable; especially in the tangled coverts 
which human beaters cannot penetrate, but which are hol- 
low at. the roots of the bushes. The sportsman may fol- 
low the windings of the deer or buffalo tracks with his 
ears and gun at full cock; and, if his dogs are alert, and 
water not too distant, pea-fowl, jungle-fowl, and very pro- 
bably a wild buck, will reward a few hours toil. For the 
paddy-fields no dogs are required; a good double-barrel, 
plenty of dust shot, a bottle of brandy, straw hat, a sound 
liver, clear conscience, and a will ready made , fit him for 
the sport. After the rains, when the rice-grounds are 
partially overflowed, or still moist, the delightful recrea- 
tion of snipe-shooting is most advantageously pursued. 
The snipes throughout India are nearly as numerous as 
mosquitoes, fly lazily, and would, perhaps, be more shy, 
but for the danger which ever attends their destruction. 
If the snipe-shooter intends to fill his bag, he must start 
when the sun is hottest, trudge across the plains up to 
his middle in water, whilst his brains are addled by 
the solar heat. Few snipe-shots live through two seasons; 
but still ’tis sport — glorious sport! ! In the fens, and on 
banks of rivers — which are generally covered with masses 
of rush or grass, twelve and fourteen feet high — a well- 
trained spaniel may again be useful, especially if he is a 
good retriever. Every dog is glad enough to take the 
water in India; but they should not be allowed to indulge 
too often in a bath when heated, or it will speedily beget 
liver and canker in the ears. 
Coursing and antelope shooting are the only healthful 
sports to be enjoyed in India — which I have found to my 
cost — if we except, perhaps, those grand field days, which 
can be enjoyed but seldom, as they require extensive pre- 
parations, hosts of beaters, and a troop of elephants. Sin- 
gle sportsmen cannot venture to rouse the tiger, leopard, 
or wild buffalo, from their lairs in the heavy jungle. 
Jackals bite very hard, and not unfrequently spoil deli- 
cate gray-hounds, which have not been used to such rough 
treatment: the most savage and hard-mouthed dogs should 
therefore be preferred, if they are expected to run at 
every thing. Many men slip their gray-hounds after 
hares, foxes, and spotted deer only. I think that speedy 
lurchers would be found of great service; a brace of good 
ones would turn up a hyaena, an animal frequently encoun- 
tered W’hen beating for jackals in a jungle country. Many 
also, from fear of disheartening their dogs, never slip them 
at the large red antelopes, whose surprising speed and 
stoutness will beat most gray-hounds with the greatest 
ease. In the sands of the Mahanuddy, and on the flats 
bordering the Chilka Lake, these animals lose their supe- 
riority, by reason of their cloven hoofs sinking into the 
sand, whilst the spongy feet of the dogs buoy them up, 
like camels, on the surface. During the dry season, when 
the white sands of the river Mahanuddy lie exposed on 
either side the channel, to a great extent, we used to ride 
down the deer and antelopes with our horses alone, and 
transfix them, en passant, with hog-spears. 
Monday , 17/A. — This night, which happened to be a 
clear starlight one, but without a moon, S — — - and myself 
determined to sit up for the jackals, a sport by no means 
exhilarating to an old Indian, but from its novelty and 
singularity peculiarly adapted to freshmen, who are not 
afraid of the night air. 
I cannot imagine how we should get on in India with- 
out that useful animal the jackal: he is positively bread 
and cheese to sportsmen of all degrees; he is not, indeed, 
food for the body, but he is for the mind ; and is esteemed 
by fox-hunters, coursers, shots, and badger-baiters, alike! 
Nor must his universal services as a scavenger and de- 
vourer of the village filth be overlooked. We hunt him, 
