4 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



abodes of the jungle tribe, known as Kols, who inhabit 

 these hills. They are a fine race of hunters these men, 

 absolutely fearless and entirely trustworthy ; but in other 

 respects indolent and thriftless, content to earn sufficient 

 to keep them in rice and the material they require for their 

 scanty garments. The men pass the rest of their time 

 roaming the forests and in cock-fighting, a pastime they 

 are passionately fond of. In fact, it is as difficult to get 

 them away from an inter-village cock-fight where the stakes 

 are annas and pice, as it was to stop our far more aristo- 

 cratic grandfathers wagering sovereigns over similar events 

 in this country. 



The forest-clad hills upon which I gazed with delight 

 (I had but a year's service to my credit at the time) formed 

 part of a great Government Reserve — a reserve at that 

 time practically untouched by man, the home of the 

 elephant, bison, sambhar, spotted deer, tiger, leopard and 

 bear, and many other animals of interest to the sportsman 

 and naturalist. It was as fine a hunting-ground as the heart 

 of the hunter could desire. And it was on sport that I was 

 bent that keen, sharp, exhilarating December morning, one 

 of the finest sports in India or elsewhere — bison-tracking 

 on foot. 



In those days it would have been difficult to find a finer 

 tract of country for this purpose in the whole of India. The 

 great forest stretched untouched and unbroken for league 

 upon league, the Government Reserves joining on to vast 

 areas of forest in neighbouring Native States. Although 

 the Reserve had been under the management of the Forest 

 Department for some years, the forests had not been 

 worked for timber to any extent, and were in their primeval 

 condition. In other words, in that condition in which they 

 had afforded an asylum par excellence for centuries past, 

 and still did, to the elephant and shy bison. For both 

 these animals require great stretches of undisturbed forest 

 to live in — in fact, they can only exist in a wild state under 

 such conditions. 



The Indian gaur or bison {Bos gaurus), as it is always 

 termed, has no affinity with the true species. It is far 

 superior to the American bison, being much larger and 

 heavier. When wounded and turned to bay, it is reputed 

 amongst sportsmen to be far more dangerous than either 

 the tiger or elephant. 



