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From the immense wealth of their noble owner, together with his love of hunting, it is only natural to imagine that every thing that is wanting to make fox-hounds efficient is to be found in the hunting establishment of the Duke of Buccleuch; at the same time it may be asserted, and to the benefit of others, that, by the excellent management of their excellent huntsman, no hounds perhaps in Great Britain are kept at a less charge than that at which the Duke of Buccleuch's are kept. All they wanted, when I hunted with them six years back, was a better country; but here is a compliment paid to his Grace as a master. The Duke of Buccleuch could hire the best house in one of the best of our countries, and, after the manner of Lord Plymouth, have his twenty-five hunters for his own riding; but he would think it a dereliction of his duty thus to act. He feels himself imperatively called upon to spend the greater part of his time, and consequently his money, in his own country.

That the Duke of Buccleuch's hunting country (his Dalkeith one especially) is not a good one, all who have seen it must admit; still a great set-off against such a drawback from the pleasures of the chase is the workmanlike manner in which his hounds are hun ted by Williamson, and whipped in by Hugh Brown. Take him for all in all, Williamson is not equalled-certainly not excelled-by more than two or three of our servant-huntsmen, and it is a great treat to an admirer of hunting, to see him in the field. Then his demeanour and language are of a superior order, and when he puts pen to paper, his description of a run, casts Xenophon into the shade. I will quote a passage from one of his epistles, because the sentiments expressed in it, are precisely my own, and have been put into print by me, many years back.

"It is astonishing," says he, in the concluding sentence of a description of a fine run," how one changes (i. e. in opinion), but if it is not because I am getting old, and in course slow, I often wonder how my opinion about hounds going fast, has changed. You well know that I never thought they could go fast enough; and now I am always thinking, if ever they go wrong, it is because they do not take enough of time to do it well. Not that I will ever advocate slowness, but I have got into the custom of never taking out more than sixteen couples, and, being in constant work and steady, nothing, I think, can excel the way in which they hang together, and the head they carry; and I believe in the end, they have performed their task sooner than when there is so much hurry, and when a check so often ends in confusion." I concur in every sentiment here expressed. I have long been of opinion, that hounds may be bred to go too fast, and also that most masters are over-hounded, if I may use such a term-and I see no reason why, since that of over-horsed is allowed. With respect to the first point, extreme speed, the reason given for the necessity for it is,

the encreased speed of hunting horses; but surely this is a reflection on the character of the modern sportsman. Did he ride an Eclipse, is that a reason for his riding over, instead of near to hounds? As regards the latter,-excess of hounds, it cannot fail to be detrimental to sport-construing the word sport, as it should be construed, not as implying a burst of thirteen minutes, at a racing pace, but a run of an hour, in which hunting and hard running are displayed by turns,-in which many interesting circumstances arise,-and in the course of which time, a fox is hunted, and not raced to death. It is this racing pace at which hounds now go, which accounts for the paucity of runs, and the number of bursts. There are men now alive who hunted in Leicestershire in Mr. Meynell's time, that is to say, in the last thirty years of the last century, and I have heard from the lips of several, either now alive, or lately dead, that the runs over that country, were to much greater extent than they have been for the last twenty years. We all know by our experience, that a fox, bullied as it were, at starting, is not only often induced to turn short back from the effect of sudden alarm, but, being afraid to make his point to any distant cover or earth, gets into the first drain or spout that will hide him.

The Duke of Buccleuch's country is abundantly stocked with foxes, which is proved by the fact of at least fifty brace being annually killed by his hounds in the Kelso and Dalkeith countries. And in one respect, Williamson goes the right way to keep up the stock. He draws the majority of his covers down wind, thus preventing the possibility of his foxes being caught napping, as too many are, when drawn for up wind. This is also liberal conduct in a huntsman, inasmuch as he gives his fox plenty of notice to get away, and consequently to bring his hounds to their noses sooner than if they went off close at his brush.

The Duke of Buccleuch's country is not without its difficulties. There is much stain of sheep, and what is worse, lots of sheep dogs always on the look out for a fox, or any thing that may come in their way; and the frequent change of soil is also baffling to hounds. With these difficulties, however, Williamson contends with a master-hand, and I may be allowed to quote one passage alluding to him from my "Northern Tour." "His approach to his hounds, when at fault, pleased me much, he trots up to them with an anxious, but scrutinizing eye, and after a rapid glance at what they are doing, pulls up his horse to a stand, and with his hand raised in the air, calls to his field to stand still." He is not at all in a hurry, in fact I never saw him refuse to give his hounds a chance, so long as a chance remained.

In the Duke's own stud, I saw nineteen hunters, several of the best of which I had the honour to ride. No doubt some of these (old Alphabet for example, purchased of Lord Lichfield,) were laid in at a

high figure, whilst those ridden by Williamson and his men, although well suited to the country, having been selected with the cautious and scrutinizing eye of Williamson, were purchased at a low average, notwithstanding which, they were well adapted to the weights they had to carry-all light ones, and the country they had to cross.

There is every reason to believe that the Duke of Buccleuch, should his valuable life be spared, will one day or another be included in the list of those who have supported fox-hunting upon principle. That his Grace is fond of hunting, I am satisfied, but whether or not he sufficiently enters into the spirit of all that appertains to it, thereby adding to the numerous duties and cares his high station in society imposes upon him,-merely for the sake of the extra gratification of enjoying it with his own hounds, is more than I can take upon myself to determine. I should rather incline to the opinion, that he considers foxhunting, as I myself consider it,-to be one of the lion supporters of our crown, by fostering and promoting that manly spirit, and, when called for, that daring courage, which distinguishes the sons of Britain from all other nations of the world.

(To be continued.)

SPORTS ROUND CALCUTTA.

BY MASTER HARRY.

HAVING in a former number of N. S. M. given a description of the Calcutta races, I will now proceed to give a sketch of the various other field sports within the reach of the Ditchers (i. e. Indian cockneys), or sojourners within the ditch that encompasseth the City of Palaces."

Fox, or rather jackal-hunting, is carried to greater perfection here than in any other part of India, from the combined aids of a greater number of English residents, and a greater quantity of " loose cash," which, after all, is the true magician's wand. The kennel, situated a short way from Calcutta, on the banks of the Hoogly, is annually replenished by twenty or thirty couple of imported English fox-hounds, chiefly from the kennels of Messrs. Drax and Farquharson, and which arrive in India in sufficient time to get into some sort of condition before they take the field. After a season, which lasts about three months, viz., November, December, and January (the three coolest months in the year) such of the dogs as may still have survived the climate are sold, and sent up country to the provincial, or as they are called in Bengal, bobbery packs, for the purpose of breeding from; but it is rarely that even half a dozen are saved for this purpose, so fatal is the climate to their constitution. The meets take place generally about sixteen miles from the kennel, and the cover

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side must be reached before four o'clock in the morning, at nine o'clock the sun being unendurable. It is consequently necessary for "the Nimrod" to be up and in action at two. For my own part, I never went to bed on the night preceding a meet, but went direct from the messtable to the stable, and thence onwards. Fours-in-hand, tandems, buggies, and hacks, are all called into requisition, the former invariably carrying lighted lamps; and the road to cover presents a most singular appearance in consequence. There are few such things known as blank days, and I have frequently seen five jackals killed in a morning, When found, they go off at a rattling pace towards the first bamboo jungle that presents itself for their protection, and should the distance be short, "Jack" invariably saves his bacon, but when bottom is called into question, owing to the distance, he gets run into before the wished-for haven is reached. The longest run I ever saw, lasted eight minutes.

It is not at all uncommon to put up" instead of a jackal, a jungle cat, or pariah dog, and "it's all game that comes to our net," for away go the hounds, perfectly as well satisfied (and the field also) as if it were a veritable reynard. As for horses, every specimen of the genus equus is called into play, from the two hundred guinea English hunter, to the humble tattoo pony, the latter frequently seeing as much of the run as the former. I remember taking out on one occasion, before I was able to keep a nag of my own, a sixteen hands two-yearold colt, that never had saddle on its back, and which was lent me on condition I would cross it. I got sixteen falls at fences,-was in at the death of five jackals, and got off without a bruise. There is no place but India, where the blood is always boiling, that a person would do such a fool-hardy thing.

Now and then a fox breaks cover, but they are soon killed. They are of the most diminutive species-about the size of an English hare, but perfect foxes in appearance. To wind up, although there are many little occurrences in an Indian field, which would shock the ears and eyes of an English fox-hunter, yet for want of better, I can promise him a capital day's sport,—at least, speaking of a year or so ago, when I returned from Calcutta, and when the hounds were under the able management of Mr. Hickey, and Warren Frith, and I have no reason to believe they have since changed hands. The kennel expenses, in fact the whole expenses, are paid by subscription-and the huntsmen and whippers-in (all gentlemen), allowed two horses each from the fund.

And now we come to snipe-shooting. It is necessary to go but a very short distance from Calcutta, to enjoy this delicious and dangerous sport to perfection,-its pleasures, are certainly all a matter of taste,—but its dangers are undeniable, the sportsman being obliged to toil through the

heat of the day, wading up to the middle, in cold water and mud, with the head and body exposed to a sun that would cook a beefsteak in ten minutes; consequently one is kept in such a continual state of thirst, that the brandy bottle has no rest, and no quantity of spirit takes effect in intoxicating a man under such circumstances. The old stagers take cold tea only, but having tried it once, and fainted four times during the day in conseqnence of the want of stimulus that brandy possesses over tea water, I never tried it twice. A person seldom goes snipeshooting singly, but with two or three others, at a gun shot distance apart, the intervening space filled up by beaters (dogs being never used), they proceed "in line" over innumerable paddy (rice) fields, dealing death and destruction all around. The snipes literally swarm. With a brother officer, I have more than once brought in above ninety couple, after six hours' work, and wound up the evening with snipe curry, and a rattling fever. I got into a scrape during my first snipe-shooting expedition, which was well nigh terminating awkwardly to myself, had I been alone, it might have been fatal. A brother officer and myself, attended by two niggers, had spent the greater part of the morning after the snipes, when I ventured into a likely looking place, in which, unluckily, was tethered a cow. Now whether the said cow had a suspicion that I was trespassing, or had a design upon her life, I know not, but she took such a decided dislike to me, that having at last managed to snap her cord, at me she came, full tilt, and so suddenly, that my gun was touching her forehead, when I pulled in self-defence, and my load of snipe-shot luckily, and quite by chance, entered her eye, and we were in an instant all rolling together on the ground, the cow defunct, and myself exceedingly astonished, and the stock of the gun snapped in two. In two minutes afterwards, a yell from a crowd of upwards of two hundred Hindoos advancing, made me reflect that I had killed a "sacred animal," and suggested to me the consolatory reflection, that niggers were often addicted to the titfor-tat principle. I bound up the stock of my gun as well as I could, and soon found myself left alone with G- — to fight it out, my servants having joined the enemy.

Having charged with ball over the snipe shot, we commenced a retreat on the most improved principles of Torrens, and after two hours of intense anxiety, and not a few bruises from missiles hurled against us, we gained the village, the crowd having increased to about a thousand. Our buggy having been put up here, we got our nag in as quick as we could, and with difficulty made a start. We were, however, waylaid, and to the fiery vicious temper of the mare in harness, I believe we owe our lives, for the niggers finding it no sinecure catching the mare by the head, made a rush at the buggy, and two or three had the delight of feeling its weight over their ribs, whilst

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