LETTER XVI. ASSAM AND RHINOCEROS 



SIMLA, April y>th, 1911. 



WHEN I left England I made up my mind to shoot 

 at least one of every kind of the dangerous wild- 

 beast family in India. I was warned by those who 

 were conversant with India and its game that I 

 should almost certainly fail to carry out my 

 undertaking; but that there was every likelihood 

 that I should get soaked with malaria, not improb- 

 ably be hurt, and that I might, as a special favour, 

 get killed. 



My age and the great burden of my work, with 

 its consequential difficulty of absence from the seat 

 of government, added materially to the weight of 

 my self-imposed task. None the less, in two years 

 and a half I have managed to shoot, in some cases 

 alone and on foot, at least one, and in some cases 

 three or four specimens, of every kind of Indian 

 big game with one exception, that exception being 

 a rhinoceros. 



Just as " everyone " had told me it was out of 

 the question for a lame old man to get a bison, so 

 " everyone " assured me that it was even more out 

 of the question for the same to get a rhinoceros. 

 Having got a bison, I discounted the " out of the 

 question " contention and made up my mind to 

 shoot a rhinoceros. 



The said beast is getting very scarce in India. 



119 



