DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5833#0169
148
SCENES IN INDIA.
laam to the Rajah, and retired amid the loud accla-
mations of the spectators.
His Highness informed us that this man had killed
several tigers in a similar manner; and that, although
upon one or two occasions he had been severely
scratched, he had never been seriously wounded. The
Coorgs, moreover, are known often to attack this ter-
rible animal in the jungles with their heavy, sharp
knives, and with almost unfailing success. Upon the
present occasion, nothing could exceed the cool, cau-
tious, and calculating precision with which the reso-
lute Hindoo went through his dangerous performance.
In order to vary the sports, several men were intro-
duced into the arena, armed with sticks in the form of
a crescent, tapering towards one end like a Scotch
mull, and loaded at the other with iron. They are
from twenty-six to thirty inches long at the largest
extremity, and about as thick as a child's wrist. By
persons accustomed to the use of this instrument it
is thrown with astonishing dexterity, as was proved
upon the present occasion. A frame, nearly two feet
square, containing a flat surface of clay, four inches
thick, was placed at a distance of forty-five yards from
the spot where the man stood who was to throw. In
the centre of this frame was stuck a circular piece of
iron, about the size of a cheese-plate. The first who
threw the stick was a short Hindoo, with a robust,
muscular frame, of more strength than symmetry.
Fixing his eye intently upon the object which it was
his aim to strike, his left foot being forward and his.
body slightly curved, with a rapid evolution of the arm
he discharged the loaded wood. It whizzed through the
SCENES IN INDIA.
laam to the Rajah, and retired amid the loud accla-
mations of the spectators.
His Highness informed us that this man had killed
several tigers in a similar manner; and that, although
upon one or two occasions he had been severely
scratched, he had never been seriously wounded. The
Coorgs, moreover, are known often to attack this ter-
rible animal in the jungles with their heavy, sharp
knives, and with almost unfailing success. Upon the
present occasion, nothing could exceed the cool, cau-
tious, and calculating precision with which the reso-
lute Hindoo went through his dangerous performance.
In order to vary the sports, several men were intro-
duced into the arena, armed with sticks in the form of
a crescent, tapering towards one end like a Scotch
mull, and loaded at the other with iron. They are
from twenty-six to thirty inches long at the largest
extremity, and about as thick as a child's wrist. By
persons accustomed to the use of this instrument it
is thrown with astonishing dexterity, as was proved
upon the present occasion. A frame, nearly two feet
square, containing a flat surface of clay, four inches
thick, was placed at a distance of forty-five yards from
the spot where the man stood who was to throw. In
the centre of this frame was stuck a circular piece of
iron, about the size of a cheese-plate. The first who
threw the stick was a short Hindoo, with a robust,
muscular frame, of more strength than symmetry.
Fixing his eye intently upon the object which it was
his aim to strike, his left foot being forward and his.
body slightly curved, with a rapid evolution of the arm
he discharged the loaded wood. It whizzed through the