Literature.

Literature .

REVIEW . The W-ihl Sports of India . BY CAPTAIN HENRY SIIA -KESPEAEE , Commandant Nagporc Irregular Force . Smith , Elder , and Co . Tins is a book with a purpose . Captain Shakespeare sets

out with an avowed policy , that of inculcating the duty of an attention to manly , ancl hazardous sport as being the best school to train the future warrior . And he puts this forward as a counteraction to the idle and vicious pursuits that too often beset the unwary youth , just fresh from school or college , when entering upon the military profession in our Indian possessions . He dwells forcibly on the

ennui produced on these young officers , who in general are only to glad to escape from the drudgery of lessons , and so have little taste for reading , by the idleness , and mischiefs that follow in the train of those who find themselves , for the first time , in the almost insupportable monotony of an Indian cantonment . Temptations , of every kind , are always too rife for such youths . They are , if not studiously

inclined , ready to rush to a gaming-table , ivhere they lose money and commence a series of moral degradation or they take to the indulgences ofthe wine-cup , and often are more besotted than the sepoys they command when intoxicated

by "bluing . Our author strenuously insists on the good results that must follow by a participation in such sports as null render them men of nerve , quick in resource , bracing their sinews , and making them daring and dexterous riders . He also contends for the benefit such a course of active enterprise will produce in their bodily health , and asserts , so long as the head is kept well covered during the heat ,

and stimulants are . avoided , no danger but a positive invigoration of the faculties , mental as well as plrysical , must ensue . As for the other dangers to ivhich the ardent sportsman is exposed , Captain Shakespear thinks them of small consequence and , certainly , as he speaks from twenty-five years experience hi such matters , he may be looked upon as a pretty safe guide , for although he tells us that he has had

bones broken thrice , when hunting , been Avounded by a panther , a boar , and also in action , he considers himself a hale , hearty man , and says he can ride his hundred miles a day , and without more than the ordinary fatigue attendant on a good ride after fox-hounds in this country . For these reasons , he advises , and strongly exhorts , all parents sending their sons to India to urgently impress , and if needs be , exact a promise , that they shall follow his example , and become enthusiastic shikarees .

The stories which Captain Shakcsjiearo tells of his " hairbreadth- ' scapes by flood and field" are , we must confess , not re-assuring to ourselves , for although , he says , the risk is but slight yet , ive think , many of our readers will agree with us , the very formidable bone-breaking alluded to above , is somewhat unpleasant to realise . Still , wo cannot but admit that of the evils attendant on an idle lassitude , they

are of minor consideration , and his advice is sensible and sound , when he says that a young man who has chosen the life of a soldier should cultivate soldierly qualities , such as endurance , nerve , keenness of wit and ready resource , as well as a calm poiver of looking danger steadily iu the face , and being prepared , at all times , to take advantage of his superior intelligence over tigers , wild boars , bears , and

elephants , and when to this cool courage ho adds the case ancl address of the perfect sportsman , though he rims a risk , yet it is vastly diminished in the manner in ivhich a cautious sldkaree lays his plans , and is a useful practice to inure him to the dangers to ivhich his chosen profession must , at some time or other expose him . Captain Shakespeare delihts more especiallin hog

g y , hunting . He considers the hog as a noble prey , for you obtain much more sport with him than any other Indian animal . Strange , as it may seem to us , the wild hog is a fleet animal , and will try the mettle of the best Arab horse in a race . Though he is dangerous in his attack , he does not turn savagely on you , if he should wound you . His courage is also indomitable , for when wounded , he will run

up the spear which has passed through his vitals , and attack both horse and rider . He is also difficult to kill , and , although he may be speared through and through , will run off with one , or more , spears sticking in him , and seems able to bear any number of spear-wounds , without giving in , and when he is exhausted , and , at last dies , he expires in magnanimous or sullen silence . Captain Shakespeare

tells us that the planning of a hog-hunt is an exercise , and dei * elopement of strategy and tactics so;—"At present we ivill suppose ourselves at the cover side , waiting for the final shout that is to dislodge the mighty boar from the last refuge to which he has betaken himself . Every novr and then he is sceu trotting sulkilat the head of the beatersShout of "Wuh

y . jata hai "— "There he goes" —are heard ; and a report from a pistol , denoting that he is fairly in the plain , thrills like an electric flash through every rider . "Waiting with spear in hand , for the word " Ride" each horseman now , ivithin the distance of a chance of the spear , starts into life .

" Now youngsters , if possible , be nofc too much excited ; ride in the wake of the old and wary hog-hunters , until the boar is viewed , and then , ivith hands down and heads up , lay into your hog , He goes quietly enough until you near him , and you are under the impression thut you are going to spear him at once , when suddenly he bounds away from you . Tivo or three times in the next quarter of a mile he does this ; when , turning rapidly to the right , before can wheel horse ivith him old friend with the

you your , your grizzled beard , cool as if he ivere sitting afc his cup of tea , takes the spear hand of you , and as he comes up to the boar , who half meets him in the charge , passes his spear through and through him . Quietly raising his weapon , he says in a whisper which you never forget , " First spear . " You would scarcely believe him , had you not seen the boar roll over behind his horse . Down with youngster 1 for woe betideif miss

your spear , , you the mighty beast this time , who , nowivounded and deeply incensed , rushes at the first horseman in his way . I will give you credit for nofc having missed the hog on this occasion : bufc the odds are that your spear is carried out of your hand , ancl sticks upright in the back of the savage foe . The boar is now at bay , be may , or may not , take four or five spears , perhaps a dozen , to kill him , and two or three horses may

be badly ivounded . Generally , however , before the third rider comes up , our old friend with the grizzly beard , having wheeled his horse , ivill have again faced the boar , and where his vast neck just mingles with his

spine" Sheathed his blade , and dropped him dead . " Over on his back the monster rolls , and dies without a groan—dies , as only a wild hog can die , in silence . In India , the famous hunts of the classical legends seem repeated by the moderns , and men may earn fame as heroes , like Hercules or Meleager , by delivering a

neighbourhood from some monster who lays waste the sugarcane , or some man-eating tiger , who is the acknowledged lord of the village , on which he levies his tribute of human bodies . " The Sahib won't be able to kill him , " whispers the terrified proprietor of the devastated field , when asked to point out a boar to the hunters ; " he is such a monster , wo are afraid to go near the place where he lives . " In

hunting and slaying man-eating tigers , Captain Shakespeare feels a kind of crusading enthusiasm . He says , " God has ordered us to destroy the wild beasts . " As an example of this feeling , he tells us that he passes by a village , where he hears of a pair of them , and at once " feels it to be a call . " His account of this expedition is highly interesting , ancl which we shall quote at length ,

summarising the detail previously placed before us . The village , alluded to , lay betiveen the mountains and a beautiful lake , to ivhich the animals of the forest came to di'ink ; and the inhabitants , with the exception of one family , had either been killed , or frightened away by the tigers . The last victim was the holy man of the temple . The rajah had hired native professional hunters , but they had been afraid

to meet the man-eaters , the story of ivhose ferocity and daring were almost incredible . Captain Shakespear had some difficulty in getting the natives to help him in his adventure , and in making a kind of covert , or screen , in ivhich to lie in ambush ancl shoot the tigers ; " for these mountain tigers keep such a look out from their high fastnesses that not a man can move in the jungle , or forest , except in the heat of the day , without their seeing ;