SIR,

Of the donkey than bear,

I have been a good deal astonished at reading a letter in your last number signed "Witness," inasmuch as the writer has evidently not taken the trouble to make himself complete master of the subject on which he has thought proper to descant, and in his anxiety to expose what he so uncourteously and ungenerously has termed "deceit or error, wherever it is found connected with sporting subjects," lies under a mistake, and thereby only exposes himself. "Witness is quite right in saying "it was never intended to keep it a secret that this same horse Signal' was the horse 'Antelope; and if he had taken the trouble to refer to the account of the racers that was published in the Madras newspapers in the beginning of the year 1828, he would have observed the horse entered for his first race there, under the name of "Signal" (late Antelope).

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"Witness is likewise right in his statement as to whose property the horse was originally, and he is also quite correct in stating that "Antelope" was one of the many (and most of them have since proved themselves firstrate horses; to wit, Champion, Pyramus, &c.) "beaten by Captain Mansfield's horse Elfin, for the great Maiden Sweepstakes of 500 rupees" each P. P., eleven subscribers, at Poonah in December, 1826.

Ón the next paragraph of On "Witness's letter, wherein he

says, as to the second assertion little requires to be said, because a horse may be warranted sound and free from vice, and be neither the one or the other," I shall offer no remark, but treat it with the contempt such an insinuation deserves; and proceed to the concluding part of the paragraph, where he says, 66 one thing is certain, that unsoundness in one of his feet prevented Antelope from start

ing again that meeting at Poonah or in Bombay!"

If "

Witness," in his anxiety to discover the faults in others which he himself appears to possess, had taken the trouble to look over the account of the Poonah races for December, 1826, he would have observed that "Antelope" not only started on the second day of that meeting for a sweepstakes of 300 rupees, H. F., nine subscribers, for all Arab borses that had never won, weight for age, heats two miles; but that he won both heats with ease, beating some capital horses.

"Witness" confesses his ignorance regarding the horse's age, and therefore, to enlighten him, I will state that he was purchased out of Byramjee's stables in February, 1825, when between three and four years old, of an Arab dealer, well known by the nickname of "Cock-eyed Jaffier," and he was aged as a colt on the 10th October following, at Bombay, but did not start that year, as he unfortunately, while in training, met with an accident, by severely spraining his near fetlock joint, in consequence of the earth falling inside his shoe (which is an occurrence that frequently takes place on the Bombay training ground, or flats), and he had not quite recovered from the effects thereof when he went to Poonah in May, 1826.

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'Antelope" did not start after he won the sweepstakes at Poonah on the second day of the meeting, in 1826, either there or in Bombay, for he was lame in his off fore-foot when he came to the post for the second heat of that race; but he went to Madras in the month of August following, and on the 21st January, 1828,

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Signal-ized" himself by beating Mr. Fox's B. A. H. Houndsfoot, one mile and a half and a dis

tance, with 8st. 7lbs., in 3m. 15s. On the 26th of the same month he beat "Houndsfoot" again, two miles, with 8st. 7lbs. in 4m. 1s. ; and two days afterwards, on the 18th January, he beat Mr. Fox's B. A. H. "Wildblood," three miles, carrying 8st. 7lbs., in 6m. 15s., the last half mile of which he ran in 57s. He was a horse that did not require either whip or spur, and was lame the last two times he ran at Madras, where he was never beaten. His lameness was not attempted to be concealed after the meeting, as he was frequently seen, and it was well known that he had been repeatedly blistered previous to his embarkation for England, at the close of the year 1828.

His present owner has written out to this country to say that "Signal" has grown an inch and a half since his arrival in England; that he has shown him to several of the first noblemen and sportsmen in that country (mentioning their names), who have all justly applauded his symmetry and blood, and have promised to send some of their best mares to him, so that we may expect ere long to hear of some of his progeny having started for the Derby and Oaks, and where I trust they will be successful; for I will venture to affirm that there never has been a horse of finer shape for his inches, nor one of better temper and caste, combining as he did all the requisite qualities of a racer, viz. strength, speed, and bottom, yet sent from this country to England as a stallion.

Had your correspondent "Witness" been blessed with a "drop of the milk of human kindness' in his composition, he would have. been content with supposing that the paragraph which has appeared in the English Sporting Magazine

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regarding "Signal" had been written, like his own enviable production, under an erroneous impression, without attempting to impute to the gentleman who penned it, so readily and so unceremoniously as he has done, a wish to deceive the sporting community at home; but not satisfied with this, "Witness voluntarily forward to expose what he terms "deceit or error," without having previously taken the pains to ascertain the correctness of what he writes himself, and concludes his letter with these decisive words, "from this it will be seen that two out of the four assertions in this horse's character are grossly incorrect!! and likely to mislead the sporting world at home! If, therefore, you have any fellow-feeling with

our

brethren in England, the publication of this may not be without its effects! He should have added for "I am Sir Oracle,'

"And when I open my mouth let no dog bark!"

I have to apologize, Mr. Editor, for trespassing thus long upon the time and patience of your readers, but when I find an anonymous scribbler, or rather, I would say, a person under a feigned name, attempting to discuss a subject with which he proves himself but imperfectly acquainted, and bringing forward publicly, at full length, the names of two gentlemen now in India, without having had the civility to consult their wishes regarding it, or the politeness to apologize for so doing. I think it right that the public should be informed what reliance can be placed, in this instance, on his assertions.

I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
A late owner of "Signal," late
"ANTELOPE."

29th May, 1831.

SIR, The month of January, at no time very fatal to tigers, passed away this year with less than ordinary mischief, one solitary brute having fallen under the balls of our Candeish sportsmen; nor was February very much more productive of sport, the small number of seven being the sum total of this still early month of the season. March might have produced better things as the heat of the weather increased, but here again fortune was adverse, and after divers interruptions to sport, the small sum of five are all that flourished in the pages of my memorandum book. Thus by the first of April, leaving but two more months of the season, bag of thirteen tigers was all

that could be made from Adjunta to Boorhampoor and Boorhampoor to Shada, a distance which one glance at the map will show to be great.

April, however, had treasures in store; and on the 7th the ball was opened with a tigress and two cubs, the whole family falling easy victims to the united efforts of four elephants and their riders a field more numerous than the jungles of Candeish are often in the habit of seeing. Nor was this all. The intelligence sent in by the bheels was of the most satisfactory kind. It was now clear that the charm was broken, and that this day's success was merely the forerunner of splendid sport; our spirits rose with the anticipation

of future diversion, nor were we disappointed. But before I proceed to details it is necessary, to prevent any misunderstanding, that I should say a few words on the method pursued in Candeish in finding our game.

I think it was in my first letter on this sport that I spoke of the customary way of setting to work in these parts, and, as I thought at the time, at length sufficient to have made myself intelligible; but whether it is that this very length itself rendered the whole unintelligible, and that the explanatory notes obscured the passages (more than probable), I failed in toto, and was thereby the unintentional cause of misleading two Bengal sportsmen, who wandered through a tolerable portion of Candeish, not only without finding a tiger, but what is more, without even a remote chance of so doing!

The truth is, nothing can be done in these jungles without the assistance of bheels; the whole country abounding with cover, in fact, being one mass of jungle, one place is as likely as another; indeed, as experience has shown, the most unlikely places to look at produce a tiger, whilst often, very often, the most beautiful, thick, likely-looking jungle in the vicinity of tigers does not even show a footmark. To set about finding a tiger then on elephants, by beating the most likely looking places to the eye, is in fact to destroy every chance of sport, for the odds against finding at the time are immense; and the very tracks of the elephants are alone sufficient to frighten away any tiger which might be about, and which, if left alone, would probably have discovered himself by killing a bullock, or at any rate, with little patience, would be tracked into his den by bheels.

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The long and the short, therefore, is, that if you want to kill tigers you must trust entirely to bheels, and when the tiger is tracked into cover, and surrounded by men on all sides, you are then to leave your tents. You thus hunt on a certainty, and disturb no country than what is absolutely requisite; and you may by these means kill, as has often been done, some four or five tigers within half a mile of each other. Go on the beating system, and instead of finding you'll frighten every soul of them away.

My Bengal friends not being aware of this, set to work at tanks, as they would have done in Bengal (where again bheels would be of no use, if I rightly understand the nature of the country), and consequently threw away every chance of success. By the time that they joined in with us at Shada, I suspect they must have begun to have had slight misgivings of the correctness of my former letters on this sport. Had they been less of real sportsmen than they are, their extraordinary ill-success would have made them set down the whole account as a -! I may add that it is true of all sports, that unless you know the method of setting to work, you may be in country surrounded by the very game you are in search of, and yet fail to find it; and of no kind is this maxim more true than of tiger hunting.

April 8th. In spite of the promise of sport held out by the bheels, we had very nearly to sit all day in the tents: fortune, however, stood our friend; the elephants had been sent to a certain spot, to which the bheels were to send intelligence and a horseman with them to convey it on to the tents. The bheels had failed, the tiger having moved ;

and the elephants had turned homewards, when a horsekeeper, who had made a short cut for home, came upon a brick-built well with a flight of steps leading into it. Being somewhat thirsty, he looked over the wall to see if there was water in it, when a sight presented itself that wellnigh frightened him out of his senses-a fine royal tiger was lying at full length on the dry chunam !

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It may be readily conceived that one second sufficed to make up his mind his legs never carried him so fast before, though to his mind not half fast enough. When he came in view of the elephants, they were immediately stopped, the horseman galloped to the tents, and about half an hour before sunset we were on the ground. Never did a story appear so unlikely as that of the unfortunate groom, never was truth so ill treated: no one had seen the tiger but himself, and he could not even find out the well again, such had been his state of alarm. Luckily, however, the bheels came up, and soon found it, and the tiger's tracks quite fresh, though they were again immediately lost. After some time they were found in a nullah, going into a small patch of high grass, through one side of which our elephants had passed, and through the other our horses; and just as our leading bheel was stepping up the bank and taking a precautionary look, he saw the tiger a few paces from him, staring him full in the face! Heaven, what a glorious feeling took place of the gloom on each man's heart. Khundoo's start back into the nullah showed us at once our game was at hand; and whilst our hearts were yet in our lips, a rush and a roar discovered our game. In vain he thought to conceal himself

again; the grass, though high, was too thin to avail him, and the shots came so thick about, that he went off at a gallop for the jungle. At the edge of the cover a ball brought him up, and in a few seconds more his fate was decided.

On the 9th we had a blank day, although the tracks were quite fresh: indeed, so thick was the thorn jungle, that a tiger might still have been there and passed over. On the 10th we found, but did not kill, one long shot being all that could be got. On the 11th we killed dead, in a charge, before a shot had been fired, a tiger, whose gallant attack promised excellent sport, and in returning to the bheels came right on another, which was lying in an open, wet nullah. So sudden and unexpected was the find, that an unsteady aim was all that could be taken. He went off at a gallop, and, though we worked hard all day, was not again seen.

On the 12th a tigress and two cubs were killed in a thick cover

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the edge of a watercourse, half-way between Shada and Sultanpoor; and on the 14th, in the same jungle which we had drawn blank on the 9th, found a tiger, tigress, and four fine cubs! Here indeed was enough work for a day, and it so happened that more than half of it was already gone; night at last stopped further proceeding, and gave two of the cubs a further lease of life, the other four having been handsomely disposed of, one after the other.

On the 17th changed ground to Perkassa on the Taptee, distant from our old encampment seven miles, and the same day disposed of a tiger and tigress.

On the 18th, no find, but an accident happened, which nearly put one of our best sportsmen out of the power of hunting for some