A Tiger and Boar Fight.

Hastings Standard, Issue 202, 21 December 1896, Page 4

A Tiger and Boar Fight.

! There is 110 part of our Indian Em- | pi re where the conservative spirit, the divinity that dolh ledge a king, is : more pronounced than i;t Kajput.mn, ! or Rijasthan. the laud of chiefs. ' Though in olden days it was often the ■ strongest ana and wiil that. made the ! head of his clan, the Rajput has ! always held royal hlood in reverence, ! and, like other natives of India, is i content to let those in whose veins it Hows recline in the lap of luxury, and pursue any pleasures they like so long as they do not oppress the poor. Who has passed through .Jeypore without being struck by the city, with its broad streets and the beautiful gardens outside, in which stand the Albert Hall and Museum'? And then, after being primed with information as to the manner in which Indian art lias been encouraged, and what progress has taken place in developing irrigation, public works, xc., by a sudden transition to see quail, partridge, black buck, rams, boars, and I know not what, tilt at each other in single combat! It was an old-world picture brought out for a royal duke to see, and I dare say he enjoyed it more than many other saw 011 bis Indian tour. In the morning the Maharan, who represents tile cream of Rajput aristocracy, had provided a shot for his lordship, but the drive had only been productive of pig, and four boars laid low at fairly long ranges constituted the bag. In the evening the entertainment was of a very different character. Imagine a smooth, sandy floor, ten or twelve yards in diameter, sunk like a large bear-pit, with four or live trapdoors opening into it. the traps being lifted from above. This circular enclosure has walls sixteen or eighteen feet high, with a rail round the top for spectators to ban against as they look down. Outside, 011 a level with the iloor of the pit, is a place where pigs from the jungle are. fed every evening, and one of these, a boar standing hardy two feet high, was decoyed by feeds of grain through an open trap into the pit. The next move was to shove through another trap, down an inclined plane of planks, a tiger, nearly full grown, who had been caged for a year, and ceitainly showed 110 signs of bring savage. With drooping tad he lookul timidly round, and seemed anxious to back out the way he tame, but, the trap being closed, he slunk round hugging the wall, and seeking for another aperture. To put a little stingo into him two or three things were thrown at him, and presently the dummy figure of a man was let down with a llop almost on his head. He seized and made short work of it. iiy this time he had got away from the wall, and suddenly the little boar saw him, and without a moment's hesitation charged the big brute like a torpedo diving under a three-decker. He didn't mean to dive, but just as lie reached the tiger the latter quietly hopped over him as a girl over a skipping-rope, and the boar continued his charge for some paces, apparently nonplussed at not having hit something. Then, turning round, he charged again, with exactly the same result, the tiger showing 110 wish to touch the torpedo. After three ineffectual rushes of this kind the boar seemed to have learned a wrinkle, as the fourth time, while the tiger was quietly hopping over him, he jogged his tushes upward and struck ile, or rather blood, as a red streak on the ground quickly showed. Then the enraged one turned, and, seizing piggy-wiggy with his teeth by the scruff of the neck, shook him as a dog shakes a rat. I expected to see him lay open with his paw a whole side of bacon ; but, luckily for piggy, he didn't. As it was, when he laid the little boar down it looked as if all were over Presently, however, it appeared that the boar was only winded. He recovered his breath, and looked around dazed, as if inquiring what had happened. Then memory returned, and, shaking himself together, he made at the enemy again, more fiercely than ever. The tiger eluded the charge, and, full of admiration and compassion for the gallant little torpedo, the Lord Sahib asked the Maharana to end the unequal combat. Immediately one of the large traps was raised, and the tiger bolted through it, leaving the boar alone in the arena and thirsting for the fray. " Never again,'' quoth his lordship, " will I shoot a pig ; such pluck is inconceivable."