A Tiger and Boar Fight in Kajputana.

Manawatu Herald, 5 December 1896, Page 2

A Tiger and Boar Fight in Kajputana.

There is no part of our Indian Empire where the Conservative spirit, the divinity that doth hedge a king, is more pronounced than in Raj pu tana, or Rnjasthan, the land of chiefs. Though in olden days it was often the strongest arm and will that made the head of his clan, the Rajput has always held royal blood in reverence, and, like other natives of India, is content to let those in whose vaus it flows recline in the lap of luxury, and pursue any pleasured the like so iong as they do not op« press 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 H>ili and Museum ? And then, after being primed with information as to the manner in which Indian act has been encouraged, and what progress lias taken place iv developing imgaiion, public works &c, &c., by a sudden tradition to see quail, partridge black buck, rams, boars, and I know not what, tilt at eaoh other in#6ingje combat ! It waa an old-world picture brought out for a royal duke to see, and I dare say ha enjoyed it more than many other things he saw on his Indian tour. In the morning the Maharana, who represents the cream of Rajput aristocracy, had provided a shoot for his lordship, but the drive bad only been productive of pig, and four boars laid low at fairly long rangea 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 lour or five trap doors 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 lean against as they look down. Outside, on a level with the floor of the pit, is a place where pigs from the jungle are fed every evening, and one of these, a boar standing barely two feet high, was decoyed by feeds of grain through an open trap into the pit. Then the trap was closed, apparently without causing the boar the least uneasiness. 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 certainly showed no signs of being mage.' With drooping tail he looked timidly round, and seemed anxious to back out the way he came, 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 flop almost on his head. He seised and made short work of it. By 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-^ under a three-decker. He didn't mean to dive, but just as ha reached the tiger the latter quietly hopped over him as a girl over a skippingrope, and the boar continued his charge for some paces, apparently

nonplussed at not haying hit something. Then, turning round, he charged again with exactly the same result, the tiger showing no wish to touch the torpedo. After three ineffectual rashes 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 tusks upwards, and struck il«, or rather blood, as a red streak on the ground quickly ■bowed. 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. 1 •xpected to ccc him lay open with his paw a whole side of bacon ; but, luckily for piggy, he didn't. As it wai, 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 re~ turned, and, Shaking himself together, he made at the enemy again, more fiercely than ever. The tiger eluded the charge, and full oi admiration and compassion for the gallant little torpedo, the Lord Sahib asked the Mahauna 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 flhoot a pig ; snob pluck is inconceivable."