27 May 1815 Merut HG 2 Cover

27 May 1815

An entire letter sent by a Scottish officer named James MacAlpine, in the KRI, to his uncle, a surgeon in Calcutta. Good postal cancels and India manuscript marks. In the letter Macalpine describes a tiger hunt using horses and elephants - including how a tiger pulled an elephant i nto a ravine. Macalpine would have been involved in the Gorkha War (1814–1816), or the Anglo–Nepalese War, which was fought between the Kingdom of Nepal and the British East India Company. Some of the letter is cross-written. Other parts of the letter name army officers and discuss other subjects beside the Tiger hunt. Here is a transcription of the Tiger hunting part :'We went Tyger shooting. Our sport in this way was very good. Only I was very badly equipped for not having had an elephant for some time. In consequence another of the party and myself went out on horseback. Latterly however we sent our compliments to the Raja at Nagababack requesting an elephant and he lent us one while we were out. I was highly gratified with the sport, some of the Tygers shewed elegant fight. One of them, before he was fired upon, charged very fiercely & altho he was **** back two ( ) he charged a third time & seized hold of one of the hind leges of the elephant & actually dragged it into a ravine which was close by. The Gentleman (Captain Harper) who was on the Elephant was in imminent danger of losing his life. He is an old sportsman, and says he has never seen a fiercer Tyger.' One word lost where the seal was cut out. The regiment is not named in this letter nor is the officer's first name - those details were found in another letter which came with this one.