the town had ever even seen the game played, so the work and expense all
fell on myself. I was lucky to find a capital piece of ground close to
the town, absolutely level and well grassed. After measuring and laying
off, with a plough I ran furrows for boundary lines, stuck in the
goalposts, filled up the dog-holes, etc., and there we were. At first
only three or four men came forward, out of mere curiosity perhaps.
After expounding the game and the rules, etc., as well as possible we
started in to play. The game soon "caught on," and in a little while a
number more joined, nearly all cattlemen and cowpunchers. They became
keen and enthusiastic, too keen sometimes, for in their excitement they
disregarded the rules. The horses, being cow-ponies, were of course as
keen and as green as the players, and the game became a most dangerous
one to take part in. Still we kept on, no one was very badly hurt, and
we had lots of glorious gallops--fast games in fact.

The word "polo" is derived from Tibetan pulu, meaning a knot of willow
wood. In Cachar, and also at Amarillo, we used bamboo-root balls. The
game originated in Persia, passed to Tibet, and thence to the
Munipoories, and from the Munipoories the English learnt it. The first
polo club ever organized was the Cachar Kangjai Club, founded in 1863.
It may be remarked here that, hard as the riding is in polo, in my
opinion it does not demand nearly such good riding as does the "cutting"
of young steers. In polo your own eye is on the ball, and when another
player or yourself hits it you know where to look for it, and rule your
horse accordingly. In "cutting," on the other hand, your horse, if a
good one, does nearly all the work; just show it the animal you want to
take out and he will keep his eye on it and get it out of the herd
without much guidance. But there is this great difference: you never can
tell what a steer is going to do! You may be racing or "jumping" him out
of the herd when he will suddenly flash round before you have time to
think and break back again. Herein your horse is quicker than yourself,
knowing apparently instinctively the intention of the rollicky
youngster, so that both steer and your mount have wheeled before you are
prepared for it. You must therefore try to be always prepared, sit very
tight, and profit by past experiences. It is very hard work and, as said
before, needs better horsemanship than polo. To watch, or better still
to ride, a first-