Oppian's lines too are very spirited:

"How firm the manag'd war-horse keeps his ground,
Nor breaks his order, though the trumpets sound;
With fearless eye the glitt'ring host surveys,
And glares directly at the helmets' blaze.
The master's word, the laws of war he knows,
And when to stop, and when to charge the foes."

The following noble images of swiftness from Nemesian and Virgil deserve to be recorded:

"In flight th' extended champion to consume."

"In flight to cross the meads."

"When in their flight the champion they have snatch'd,
No track is left behind."

In Pope we find the following:

"Th' impatient courser pants in every vein,
And, pawing, seems to beat the distant plain;
Hills, vales, and floods appear already cross'd,
And, ere he starts, a thousand steps are lost."

And Lucan carries out the same idea with spirit:

"So when this ring with joyful shouts rebounds,
With rage and pride th' imprison'd courser bounds;
He frets, he foams, he rends his idle rein,

Springs o'er the fence, and headlong seeks the plain."

Steeplechasing seems to increase every year in popularity. The original object was to test the merits of the hunters across the country; that has long since been given over, and racehorses are now as regularly trained to jump as they were in bygone years for flat courses. This is to be attributed to the love of gambling, which has increased awfully of late years, and now the odds on steeplechases are regularly advertised, and thousands of pounds change hands at all the great meetings. Whether the present system is an improvement upon the old we will not pause to inquire.

ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY C. B. SPALDING.

If excitement be the test by which to estimate the comparative merits of any sport, hog-hunting must rank before every other. Try it by another standard, its universal popularity, the enthusiasm of its followers, and the preference given to it in a country where the tiger even is less noticed than the boar, and it must be granted that there is some peculiar fascination in this noble sport. Men who have followed hounds at home, and shared in all the field-sports of Europe and Asia, talk of it with rapture; and such a scene of animation, of generous

rivalry, and true sporting feeling, as is exhibited at the great hunting meetings, surpasses anything I have ever met with elsewhere. One word in explanation of rivalry, lest I should mislead. Killing a boar is quite a secondary consideration to taking the first spear. This is the powerful incentive which causes the keen excitement of hog-hunting, while men are struggling, as if for life or death, to draw first blood. There must be an antagonist to conquer as well as a boar to overcome, and a true sportsman would scarcely value the fastest run, ending in a brilliant death, without an opponent to ride against him for the spear of honour. The slightest touch that stains his blade with one crimson drop is enough. He is said to have killed the hog; and the others who assist in despatching him, even he who gives the death blow to a furious boar at bay, claim no share in the honour, which belongs exclu- . sively to him who first drew blood. The influence of this feeling makes men ride with desperation beyond what the best contested steeple-chase, or the hardest struggle for the lead with hounds, generally exhibits.

Those who have never seen a wild boar could hardly credit his speed. Upon a dead plain, like a race-course, a fast Arab cannot overtake a lanky, outlying boar, with a start of fifty yards, in less than half a mile. Conceive, then, what such an animal can do across a country cut up by deep ravines, many not practicable except by an in and out jump. These the boar can cross much quicker than the cleverest horse can follow; and his bottom is so great, that unless you can press him hard enough to blow him, he will run for ever. Hog are generally found in the worst part of a difficult country, and they invariably select a line abounding in obstructions. Nullahs with blind banks, steep rocky decents, thorny jungles, which nearly tear the rider from his horse, and frequently nail his boots to his legs, are the usual variations of ground, which, even in its best parts, frequently resembles a plate covered with walnut shells. Over this country the game little Arab is pressed at his utmost speed, spurs clashing to get one more stride out of him-no holding-no craning-you may throw him down, but you must go your best, be the ground what it may. When the boar is overtaken after a long run, then comes the thrilling moment, if a man worth beating is at your haunches. The spear is perhaps quivering within an inch of the mark, and every nerve is strained to gain that inch, although, perhaps, your good honest horse has done his best, and answers only by a groan to every stroke of the spur. Your rival is coming up his horse's head reaches your knee-he creeps nearer, nearer-every thought is absorbed in one whirling, maddening feeling, the thirst of conquest. The two foaming Arabs are neck and neck, panting with fatigue, yet still struggling with the same spirit of rivalry as their riders. First one head is in front-then another. Oh, for one yard more, and the deed were done! Spears are lengthened to their utmost stretch-a blade disappears, is withdrawn, dimmed with blood-and the spear is won! If a boar is reached before he gets blown, he turns with great rapidity as soon as the leading horse is within a few paces of him, throwing him out, and making him lose much ground, even when well in hand, and turning readily. The second man then prepared to make his rush frequently takes the spear;

but it sometimes happens that half-a-dozen riders are thus baulked in succession, by a speedy hog, before the contest ends. By this time, being usually too much blown to run farther, the boar stands at bay, and charges every one who approaches. It is at this period of the chase that horses are apt to get ripped, without good management. Going slowly at the boar is very dangerous; for not only may a miss occasion an accident, but even if you spear him through the body he can run up the shaft, and tear the horse's entrails out. But with a steady, bold horse you have no right to expose him to any great danger. Go at the boar at a smart gallop, and, as he meets you, strike straight down while he is under your right stirrup, and whether you kill him dead or not, your speed will generally save you by wheeling off at the moment of delivering the spear.

Fox-hunting and hog-hunting have often been compared. I never could trace the resemblance. Can you compare a sport where you hunt and kill your game without the assistance of dogs to one in which they do both? Can you compare the wild, mad struggle for a mile or two, at the utmost pace of a fiery Arab, to the steady gallop of an hour or more with fox-hounds? Can you compare the chase of a boar, an animal that has frequently been known to kill a tiger, that stands at bay as soon as he gets blown, that fights to the last gasp, and displays more ferocity in his charge, and more determined courage in his last moments, than any other animal I have ever encountered, with that of the fox, which runs perhaps for twenty miles, and then dies, a poor broken-hearted devil, torn to pieces by a hundred jaws? No, no! the sports are totally different, and require very different qualities both in man and horse. The hog-hunter of the Deccan would be as much out of his element at Melton, as Dick Christian would find himself on the Poonah Hills, with a grey boar in front, rattling down one of the steep ravines, and a dozen men of the right sort laying into him at a killing pace, over ground were an English hunter would knock himself to pieces.

The favourite covers for hog are fields of sugar-cane, bauble jungles, date groves, and ravines upon the sides of hills. Those which feed on sugar-cane become too fat to run far; but the boars are extremely savage, always charging as soon as they are blown, whilst some refuse to run at all, standing at bay as soon as they are driven into the plain. The best hog, for speed and bottom, are those found on the hills; they are always in good wind from the distance they have to go daily in quest of food, and although hardly so pugnacious as their fat brethren of the plain, they afford better sport than any others. Hog are found nearly in the same way as tigers, by marking them down as they return from feeding, or by following up their trail to the cover where they repose during the day. They are very numerous in some parts of the country, and do extensive mischief to the grain, from which the natives are unable to drive them without the assistance of large parties. A hundred and fifty hog have been killed at one meeting, which lasted for twelve days-The Old Forest Ranger.