THE TEAK KEGION. 263 



greatly shielded by the enormous development of the 

 shoulder and dorsal ridge. He sprang up and plunged 

 away across our front, swerving round towards us in a 

 fashion that made the Bheels take to their heels. On 

 receiving my shots, however, he turned again ; and, exe- 

 cuting a most extraordinary series of plunges, with his 

 head between his fore-legs and hind-quarters and tail in 

 the air, disappeared down a small ravine. We were soon 

 up, and followed along the side. I was rather ahead, 

 and found him lying very sick in the bottom of the 

 hollow. When he perceived me he staggered up and 

 shook his horns in a threatening manner ; but it was all 

 up with the poor brute, and a shot in the neck rolled 

 him over finally on his back. I think if our yesterday's 

 bull had been as viciously inclined as this fellow, we 

 might have had more of it than we bargained for on 

 that narrow ledge. 



We had to return next day to the station, and bid 

 adieu to these singular hills. The hot season was fairly 

 on, when no one can long endure the exertion of hunting 

 on foot the sambar and bison in hilly country. My 

 readers will probably think I have described to them 

 but poor sport compared to what they have often read 

 of before. It is so easy to throw in half-a-dozen bull 

 bison in a day's sport by a stroke of a pen, that the 

 temptation to meet the wishes of the reader is difficult 

 to resist. I have, however, stuck to the exact facts of a 

 by no means heavy bag, on purpose to give a more 

 accurate idea of what such shooting really means — 

 namely, very hard work and much exposure for an 

 average of certainly not more than one head of game a 

 day, and often much less. One of the hardest workers 

 and best shots I ever knew, who had only time for a few 



