For hunting stags, tame stags were formerly used as decoys according
to the method described as follows: "We had about a dozen trained
stags, all males, with us. These, well acquainted with the object
for which they were sent forward, advanced at a gentle trot over
the open ground towards the skirt of the wood. They were observed
at once by the watchers of the herd, and the boldest of the wild
animals advanced to meet them. Whether the intention was to welcome
them peacefully or to do battle for their pasturage I cannot tell;
but in a few minutes the two parties were engaged in a furious
contest. Head to head, antlers to antlers, the tame deer and the
wild fought with great fury. Each of the tame animals, every one
of them large and formidable, was closely engaged in contest with a
wild adversary, standing chiefly on the defensive, not in any feigned
battle or mimicry of war but in a hard-fought combat. We now made our
appearance in the open ground on horseback, advancing towards the
scene of conflict. The deer on the skirts of the wood, seeing us,
took to flight; but those actually engaged maintained their ground
and continued the contest. In the meantime a party of native huntsmen,
sent for the purpose, gradually drew near to the wild stags, getting
in between them and the forest. What their object was we were not at
the time aware; in truth it was not one that we could have approved
or encouraged. They made their way into the rear of the wild stags,
which were still combating too fiercely to mind them; they approached
the animals, and with a skilful cut of their long knives the poor
warriors fell hamstrung. We felt pity for the noble animals as we
saw them fall helplessly on the ground, unable longer to continue
the contest and pushed down of course by the decoy-stags. Once down,
they were unable to rise again." [415]