This craze for out-of-the-way modes of locomotion would be incomplete if I failed to state that during the Calcutta Exhibition one of the native princes, to whom the representative of Messrs. Fowler and Co. showed a traction road engine, was so struck with it that he at once purchased it, and now uses it occasionally as a steam carriage in his palace grounds.
We had been promised a deer-hunt, and accordingly had to take an early breakfast next morning in order to reach the prairie in which these pretty creatures graze at daybreak, in the cool of the morning. When we came out of the bungalow we found what appeared like a monster circus troupe. In front of our verandah were carriages, horses, camels, elephants, bullock gharries, all harnessed or saddled, and in charge of some fifty or more attendants, all clad in the Maharajah’s livery. A note from His Highness explained that, being in doubt as to what mode of conveyance the ladies would prefer, he begged to send a “choice” for them to select from; but considering the distance we had to go, he would strongly recommend saddle horses, camels, or, better still, elephants.
For the sake of novelty some of the boys mounted the camels. I joined the ladies, and the drivers, having made the elephants kneel, placed ladders on their flanks. We thus got into the “howdah,” a most gorgeously-ornamented apartment, built so as to be securely fixed on the huge animal’s back. When we had taken our seats, the driver (who sits on the neck of the animal, using the back of its ears as stirrups) gave a peculiar cry, at which “Jumbo” gave a lurch which brought up his fore-paws to the ground, naturally throwing the howdah and its contents, at an incline of 45 degrees, towards the elephant’s tail. Before we could exactly realise the position, another “Dutt!” from our dusky driver caused the unwieldy brute to perform with his hind legs the same acrobatic trick he had just accomplished in front. The jerk was more powerful than pleasant, but we had now assumed for the time being a horizontal seat, and—though it was 16 or 18 feet from the ground, we felt pretty safe and comfortable. The jog-trot of the elephant is not unpleasant. We certainly had a marked advantage in point of comfort over the members of our party who had selected camels.
The jungle we traversed was very dense—in some instances really grand. Although thickly populated with tigers, leopards, and other small vermin, we did not see or hear any. At last the timber grew thinner, and we reached a large open plain, to leeward of which we halted.
A number of huntsmen had been sent the day before to scour the neighbourhood, and drive the deer gradually to this prairie, where they soon came, feeding and playing about, quite unconscious of impending danger.
At the space where we had halted we found awaiting our arrival the hunters with the cheetah chained on a small hand-cart, apparently asleep; a leather mask was fastened round the brute’s head, entirely covering its eyes.
When the herd of deer was quietly settled in the centre of the plain before us, two or three of the hunters crept cautiously through the herbage until quite near the game, when one held his hand above the grass; this being a signal that all was ready, the leather bandage was removed from one of the cheetahs. It sat up, gave a yawn, and one look to the plain. Its eyes at once dilated; a sniff, and, like an arrow, it shot across, in stupendous bounds, so rapid and so prodigious, that really the animal seemed ever on the wing. In much less time than it has taken me to describe it—indeed, with the deadly speed and accuracy of a shot—the panther had seized one of the deer by the throat and pinned it to the ground, where it would have torn it to shreds had not one of the scouts been ready to snatch it from its dangerous claws and fangs.
This operation, in my opinion, is the most dangerous part of this kind of sport. It needs, not only a good deal of pluck, but also some management. The hunter—a naked Indian—carries a wooden bowl, a sharp knife, and the leather mask of the cheetah. While the carnivorous, blood-thirsty animal holds its prey, a sharp cut across the deer’s throat causes the blood to flow into the bowl; dropping the knife, but firmly holding the bowl, the native grasps the panther by the back of the neck, and forcing it to relinquish the deer, thrusts its nose into the hot blood; the mask is deftly fixed on, the deer skinned, the entrails and fore-quarters put near the bowl, so that the cheetah may find enough feed to divert its attention from the removal of the hind quarters, which were brought to our halting place, whilst the next cheetah was brought forward for another “slaughter of the innocents.”
At the risk of again losing caste amongst sportsmen, I confess that while glad to have seen this deer-hunting once, I never wish to see it again. It is a pity to take such a mean advantage of a pretty, inoffensive creature, and bring to its resting place its deadly foe, to kill it without even a chance of escape. Fleet as the cheetah is, if it had neared the spot on the weather side, the deer would scent its approach, and then the longer leg would win the day.