TALES OF ADVENTURE

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 24

TALES OF ADVENTURE

PIG-STICKING THRILLS.

BY E. H. N. GILL.

A chatty description, by nn enthusiast, of sonic eirltlng and humorous adventures and misadventures in connection with iiig-sticklng. "For real red hot rxcltement," he says, "ihere is no other sport to compare with it."

Tin- popular saying that all fishermen nrv Hare might bo applied, with a cerlain amount of justification, to every form of i-port where the margin for exaggeration is limited by the possibilities. Hut in ]iig-Bticking. so we ore led to believe, there is no limit to the possibilities. "Stop for nothing," is a pigstirking creed which every hair-brained enthusiast endeavours to exemplify. While some horses, however, give ample proof of the existence of that mysterious "(iftil leg." others are deplorably wanting in the ellieieilt use of four; not to mention the idiosyncrasies of their riders. Consequently, the popular ideal is a diffi-i-ult one to "live up to. for with the best intentions in the world many men stop not only against their wills, but against substances uncomfortably hard, and in positions delightfully incongruous. Many are the types of horses; but the ivpes of hogs are remarkably few. The "grand old gentleman" is a host in himself, and lives up to a reputation passed down to him through the ages— A pig- that will charge luce the Light Brigade, Is the bravest beast God ever made. Given n sense of humour, and an eye for the grotesque, there is a tremendous lot of fun and enjoyment to be derived from t he sport. The faultlesslyequipped beginner on a bucking brute of a horse is always a perpetual source of delight *o everyone, for his gyrations across country when ihe pig goes away are only to be compared for comic effect with the bowildered pompoeity of the old gentleman on a fat horse or the unparalleled optimism of those who hunt on superannuated hacks.. My mind travels back to a jolly little two-day affair when considerable excitement, and in certain quarters a great deal of alarm, wae furnished by a laudable attempt to photograph a real hunt. A pig was discovered, the iirst afternoon, lying out in the open quite near the camp; so three enthusiasts fourth took unto himself a camera. The armed themselves with spears, while a pig, as we discovered afterwards, had been speared before, and, knowing all that was coming to him, he started the battle by charging straight out at the nearest horse, which turned and fled ignominiously. The man with the camera was an Army officer of considerable experience, who had made a special study of frontal attacks and flanking movements, but if my readers can picture a very agitated horse pursued by an extremely angry pig. with a much-harassed though no less angry rider endeavouring to focus a clumsy camera somewhere in the vicinity of the small of his back, they will have a fair idea of,the humour of the situation. Picture also a fallen tree swarming with village humanity only just out of reach of a pig thirsting for blood, three horses galloping round and causing a commotion, much swearing and gesticulation, and the camera-man again manoeuvring , for position. Picture finally, in the midst of all this bedlam a terrified Hindu embracing with arms and legs a resilient bamboo, yelling blue murder, and invoking the gods for immediate deliverance from the unclean beast within striking distance of his nether regions. I am somewhat hazy now in regard to details, but the camera-man, I think, possessed a proficiency certificate for "language," and it is most regrettable that the camera did not have some sort of gramophone attachment, which might have registered a most unique record. At any rate, the officer later returned to headquarters fully convinced that his education nad been neglected, and to tactics known in polite language as a study carefully that phase of military "strategical retreat." Another never-to-be-forgotten hunt which lasted for three priceless days is stamped indelibly on my memory. Eight individuals were present. Two of them watched the fun from the back of an elephant, and a third, though, he carried a spear, had never seen a pig killed before, and was notout to do any serious hunting. A fourth was an enthusiastic amateur who had never been blooded, co that actually only five spears combined to make things lively for the mighty boar. The hunting the first morning was fast and furious. A patch of camelthorn and leafy undergrowth was literally alive with pigs, and eight good boars were accounted for inside of two hours —a result which most Teni Clubs of to-day would probably envy. Being quite satisfied with the day's bag the hon. secretary called a halt, and stumps were drawn till the following morning. All the runs were short but veryfierce, each boar fighting hard to the last. There were no accidents to speak of, but the hon. secretary created considerable amusement by biting the dust in two consecutive runs. He was also rendered poorer by the loss of a hoot which a boar, forgetting for the moment that he was provided with tushes, tore in halves with his teeth. The second morning operations were extiiuded over a larger area, and the spea;» did not return till quite late; but nevertheless six boars were accounted for. One animal fought like a tiger and kept four spears busy for upwards of an hour before giving up This was a big, heavy boar which was put up in a patch o"f grass. The neat riding him did not give him sufficient "law." with the result that as soon as he was speared he doubled back to the grass, and thenceforth refused (o leave it. Then the fun began! Riding in the pau-h was not easy, but it had to be accomplished foinehow; and the more the boar was harassed the more an"ry he became. Very soon he to charge everything at sight. Two coolies made the acquaintance of his tushes, ' und several horses had narrow escapes [■mall? the elephant became the object of his attention and fled before a (..rtermined charge, the driver rolling off like a pea off a sack, only to get up and run for his life as soon as he reached Mother Earth J'P i"' l /own the grass the hunt ngfid fast and fierce, coolies scattering dlrt f'™. Uμ sl'ikari cursing and

grase discussing the weather. aJid saying "Shoo!" to the boar ench time he ran past them, just as one would hunt away an offending fir. "Do you really think he would have come for us!" asked one of them afterwards. That the pig had charged the elephant a few minutes previously seemed to have no significance for this gentleman. This was the fifth bnar that morning, and so far the unblooded one had not been successful in getting a spear. Consequently it was arranged that the next boar ' should be his. Fortune favoured him; a nice black boar was located on the way back to camp. The hunt which followed was as exciting as it was short. The beginner was allowed while jumping a boar in low grass, had to pet well away with the boar in front, while the others, pullimj all they knew, brought up the rear in correct military fashion, each threatening the other with the most dire consequences if he attempted to bag the spear. Thu pig jinked once, twice, and then got it. A rousing cheer followed from behind, and with loud yells they dashed at the pig and reduced him to cold pork. The third morning only three spears were able to hunt, and accounted for a ; pig each. The beginner, having secured his spear the previous morning, was determined to demonstrate his ability as a pig-sticker on this occasion, and so rode the first pig to some purpose. Hβ was first on, and also first off, ior', in spite of a solemn warning to the contrary, he speared heavily as the pig wae crossing in front, hung on to the spear for all he was worth, and came a real crumpler over the pig: his horse coming right over on to its back. Fortunately, the rider fell clear and was none the worse for his experience; but ! beginner's luck was certainly favouriug him that morning. Pig-sticking has very rightly been characterised as '"the sport of kings." In a way this description is misleading, for the uninitiated may be led to the belief that the sport can only be enjoyed by those of princely incomes. This is quite wrong. Though not quite a pastime for the man of very limited means, it certainly offers opportunities to those who have a little cash to spare out of their none too princely incomes. For real red-hot excitement and indescribable thrills there is no other sport to compare with it. As an outdoor and nerve-steadying , pastime it stands absolutely alone. In daya gone by an enthusiast wrote the following lines: — Youth's dashing spirit, manhood's fire. Firm hand and eftgle eye, Must he acquire wbo would aspire To see the wild boar die. Whether he realised their true significance it is difficult to say; but they sum up as lucidly as possible the whole spirit of pigsticking. For the enthusiastic youngster the words are invaluable. He knows just what will be expected of him if he aspires to be amongst the first fighters. Outside the extensive forest areas of India the grass and tamarisk-fringed banks of the mighty Ganges 'would seem to be the natural home of the wild pig. Particular localities —such aa the famous Ganges Kadir —will go down to posterity ag the Mecca of all pig-stickers. But there are others, less famous though no less productive, which a favoured few seem to strike entirely by accident, and these almost invariably Afford the best fun. The writer is a resident of just one of these small outlandish stations; and exceedingly pleasant he has found it. Domestic quarrels are usually more in evidence than social amenities, but even so there is a good deal of humour. The most attractive part of life in this station is that even the ladies, ever since the incident related below, have taken a keen and intelligent interest in pig-sticking. A certain fair damsel, newly arrived in the station, declared her abhorrence of the sport in no uncertain terms, till one day ehe button-holed the hon. secretary of the Tent Club and inquired, quite sweetly: — "Tell mc, Mr. , don't the villagers object to you hunting and killing the poor pigs in this faehion?" On being assured that they rather welcomed the idea on account of the damage caused by the Baid pigs to their crops, she took the offensive in her beet manner. "But surely," she replied, "you cannot possibly derive any, sport whatsoever from chasing those wretchedly deformed and dilapidated village pigs round the countryside ? They must surely die of grief before you reach them." What the hon. secretary had to say about it afterwards does not concern the readers of this veracious chronicle. A dear old Indian subordinate, one of the very few who ever seemed to be genuinely interested in the writer's welfare, once expressed himself thus: — "Oh, please, sir, it is my humble request that you will no longer chase thes* most dangerous and spiteful animals on the back of a European horse. They will one day surely inflict damage." I thanked him for his kindly solicitude, but for the edification of those who, through no fault of theirs ma.y incline towards the ludicrous idea of chasing tame pigs, I might mention that the Indiii.i 'i ild boar is an animal not to be trifled with. My Indian friend did not exaggerate when he labelled the wild pig dangerous and spiteful. It is the one animal which will drink without the least fear of consequences at the same forest pool as the tigerj which is sufficient testimony to its bravery and courage. If anyone is inclined to be sceptical, let him get on to a horse, arm himself with a spear, and ride a boar pretty hard. He will soon be disillusioned. The biggest boars usually occur in the unrideuble forest areas, where they grow to great size and invariably die a natural death. In areas carefully preserved by the various Tent Clubs, however, boars are often speared up to thirty-four inches in height, and anything up to three hundred pounds in weight. Imagine the force of the impact when a man misses his spear and three hundred pounds of charging bone and muscle hits his horse end on! The effect is always kaleidoscopic— a. situation which might be better appreciated by the sporting world if * cine-

matograph operator and gramophone could be made to function in collaboration. The Indian boar possesses in his sharp and carefully preserved tusks most formidable weapons of offence, with which he does great execution. The writer has personally witnessed a hoof ripped almost off, a man's thigh laid open from knee to groin, a tusk driven clean through a braes water bowl (which incidentally saved a man's life), and fourteen eeparate wounds inflicted on a man in a space of sixty seconds. On the authority of a famouß Kadir Cup aspirant 1 have it that a horse, all four fetlocks cut in the operation! This astounding feat sounds an exaggeration, but it is the pure, unadulterated truth. A boar, though so heavily built, has a surprising turn of speed. With a start of a hundred yards it takes a good horse the best part of half a mile to catch him. lie twists, turns, and jinks with an agility to which the finest polo pony makes but small approach. He does that to begin with; then, with eyes blazing with the fire of battle and blood, he charges home. Then comes the firm hand and eagle eye part of the programme—and it has to be efficiently done. The following may appear to the uninitiated somewhat irreconcilable, but the easiest pig to deal with, provided one knows one's job, is the fierce, heavy boar, which is out to fight from the very beginling; for the harder a pig cornea at a horse the greater the impact, and therefore the greater the penetration and striking energy of the spear. The light, fast-running pig which jinks, doubles back, and fades away from the levelled spear is the one which stretches a horse; and the only way to deal satisfactorily with this type is to gallop hard across his front at the right moment, timing the manoeuvre in such a way as to obviate the possibility of his coming suddenly across your front, or else something—possibly your head —will hit the ground very hard. A difficult pig to deal with is the one which keeps jinking in and out of a thorn fence. Not only does the continuous jumping from one side to the other tire a horse, but the difficulty of keeping the pig aiways in sight often gives rise to that awful feeling of helplessness which one experiences, when the pig gets home suddenly from the near side and cuts one's horse badly. So far as our country is concerned the "first spear" question is purely a secondary consideration. In most places it savours rather of a fetish, and is not uncommonly the cause of a good deal of misunderstanding and unpleasantness. To tickle a pig's hind quarters with a spear point is comparatively simple, but to manoeuvre for a position from which a deadly thrust can be delivered, or to dispatch as quickly as possible a wounded pig, is a different proposition altogether, and one which is rendered much more difficult if the members of a heat are charging madly around and continually getting in one another's way. From this point of view, therefore, two in a heat is ideal; three is tolera"ble, and four a nuisance. Next to two I should personally always prefer to hunt alone. Hunting alone, though it may appear somewhat selfish, has its special attractions. One thing in certain: one cannot afford to take unnecessary risks, for an angry boar is au ugly customer if he happens to find you suddenly deposited on your back. Having regard to these possibilities one ought to ride carefully, and concentrate as much as possible on the effective delivery of that first spear. Usually one has to manoeuvre patiently, and though this may have the effect of making one glow for competition purposes, one certainly feels that the kill, when accomplished, is purely the result of one's own endeavour; and there is a great deal of satisfaction in that. Besides, a fast-running boar hunted in this fashion takes a lot of killing; and to say that one is often "cooked" at the end of such a run is to put it mildly. I wonder how many of ray pig-stick-ing readers have experienced the weird sensation of jumping a hedge almost on to the pig's back? In country abounding in thorn fences it is not an unusual occurrence for a boar in full flight with a horse almost up alongside to go slap through a hedge as though it were paper. The horso goes over, but the boar, instead of turning right turns left—and there you are almost on the top of him It's a grand sensation, but of short duration, for no sooner has the horse struck ground than the boar is back through the hedge on the other side. It takes a good horse, with a good man up, to deal satisfactorily with such a situation. Most pig-stickers have had their queer fixes, some of them distinctly unpleasant recollections, I was once bucked by a refractory horse almost on to a pig's back, and I did not find it at all nice— the atmosphere was curiously unfriendly. On another occasion a friend and I found a lone monster in a patch of grass. He was very sulky at iir&t, but finally cent a native skywards and then went away across country. We followed in hot pursuit. After charging both horses in turn, and receiving two spears, he eventually sought refuge under a haystack, from which he refused to budge. I dismounted to tackle him on foot, but soon found myself on my back. Then followed a struggle which seemed to mc to last for a, considerable time, and in regard to which I still harbour painful recollections. A monster head with white gleaming tushes looks down on mc from the wall as I write, a memento of a memorable occasion. I prefer now to sit and watch operations from the comparative security of a saddle, and let others do the dismounting. If one hunts at all regularly, a certain amount of grief is inevitable, but this is precisely what lends the sport its flavour. If I might venture to express an opinion, I would suggest that a few really good tosses, six legs in the air for preference, are wonderful medicine, not only for giving the beginner more confidence, but also for steadying the nerves of a really wild horse. Speaking from personal experience, I have always found the "slow* , tosses infinitely more painful than the "fast" ones. In the first instance one invariably falls awkwardly, sometimes with the horse on top; while in the second one flies through space, turns gracefully in the air, and strikes earth with his* nether regions, quite clear of the horse. We always keep an honourable record of tosses. There is no stigma attaching to the procedure at pig-sticking: for lie who never takes a toss, never rides for one. These, then, are some of the thrills of pig-sticking—thrills which are much better appreciated when actually ex]*rienced. The sport has a wonderful attraction for those wbo have partaken of the pleasures it has to offer: and what is more, like love and the measles, one does not get over its effects while young. Even in later years ono longs for the magic sound of galloping hoofs and the pleasant swish of grass against one's knees ac the boar goes away inthe distance.