146 DIARY OF A SPORTSMAN NATURALIST 



engenders such fatigue that one's powers are reduced to a 

 minimum just at the critical moment when it becomes 

 imperative that they should be at their maximum. Given 

 that one can obtain a few minutes' breather before action 

 is demanded, the tense excitement strings up the muscles 

 to the steadiness requisite to place a bullet properly and 

 stand ready for the subsequent developments. 



And this is the reason why a heavy rifle is a sine qua non. 

 One cannot be sure in thick jungle that one will be able to 

 place the bullet in a vital spot. But the shock of the high- 

 velocity, heavy rifle bullet, if the sportsman is fairly close 

 up, will almost certainly result in his eventually getting on 

 terms again with the wounded bison. This will never be 

 the case if a man uses a light rifle. The wounded animal 

 will go right away. In my salad days I learnt this inexorable 

 rule by much bitter experience and many miles of heart- 

 breaking tramps after wounded bison on which the light 

 rifle had made no more impression than would a pea-shooter. 



Anacondu soon returned and motioned me forward. I 

 had the greatest difficulty in worming my way through the 

 tangle, but we shortly reached a bamboo clump, the jungle 

 proving slightly thinner on the far side. Peering round I 

 soon made out portions of the bodies of several bison. The 

 animals were moving about leisurely, browsing on the 

 bamboo and other foliage. Gradually a head would come 

 into sight and disappear again as its owner moved along. 

 The minutes went by, but as yet I had seen no head worth 

 firing at and I began to get anxious. The shikari from 

 behind kept on touching me and signifying I should fire. 

 These men are all alike. They know we come out only to 

 bag a big head, but as soon as one gets into a herd in thick 

 jungle their nerves begin to get jumpy and they want one 

 to fire at the first animal the eyes light upon. 



Our present position was not ideal, I admit, for if the 

 bison winded us, as from their known and unknown positions 

 they might do at any moment, we stood a strong chance of 

 being charged over. I had been in at a charge of this 

 description once and I did not wish to repeat the experience.^ 

 At length I saw a mighty form loom out of the jungle and 

 he carried a fine head. I raised the rifle, but he disappeared 

 to reappear^again in a brief space, now nearly head on. I 

 fired at the front of the shoulder, not an ideal position to 



^ Vide Jiuigle Byways, p. 136, 



