Thursday, July 30, 2009

Pig Sticker

Pig sticking, from The Graphic, 1891

“The loss of India would be final and fatal to us. It could not fail to be part of a process that would reduce us to the scale of a minor power”

WINSTON CHURCHILL

Smart man, Winston Churchill, and in that vein, I've been given some good advice on the hogs, namely: CHANGE METHOD. Forget rifles, bait, stalking, dogs, trucks etc. No, the ghosts of Cawnpore and The Mutiny suggest a different approach, horses and spears. Here's what Harper's, 1880, had to say about it:

"For pig-sticking there are two requisites in addition to the pig - a fast, steady horse, and a good hog spear."

Well said Harper's, simple and direct, quite unlike the useless Ro-Babble that pours out of Lambeth Palace. And with that in mind, good incentive to improve riding skills and learn spearmanship.

Off to the range tomorrow with a great deal of weaponry.

LSP

PS. Many thanks to Albert Rasch for pointing out the Horse/Spear/Hog/Raj connection; see his great blog for a neat post on breeding Razorbacks.


2 comments:

Albert A Rasch said...

I'll see if I can find the copy I have of a chapter taken out of a book from back in the day, on Pig Sticking in the Days of the British Raj. It really is a fascinating account.

Regards,
Albert

LSP said...

Would love to hear more - the British episode in India is an interesting thing. Unique, I think, in history. Perhaps (I hope) the U.S. can carry on the tradition - in our own way & time - but maybe I'm being sentimental!

Why did the "sun never set on the Empire"? Because God didn't trust the Brits...

LSP