chap. xii. A JUNGLE TRIP. 349 



ground, We arrived at Nielgalla in the evening with- 

 out farther sport : here we killed a few couple of snipe 

 in the paddy-fields, which added to our dinner. 



Dec. 10. — Having beaten several miles of 

 country without seeing any signs of elephants, we came 

 unexpectedly upon a herd of wild buffaloes ; they were 

 standing in beautiful open ground, interspersed with 

 trees, about a hundred and ten paces from us. I gave 

 Palliser my heavy rifle, as he was very anxious to get 

 a pair of good horns, and with the pleasure of a specta- 

 tor I watched the sport. He made a good shot with 

 the four-ounce, and dropped the foremost buffalo ; the 

 herd galloped off but he broke the hind leg of another 

 buffalo with one of the No. 10 rifles, and, after a chase 

 of a couple of hundred yards, he came up with the 

 wounded beast, who could not extricate himself from 

 a deep gully of water, as he could not ascend the steep 

 bank on three legs. A few more shots settled him. 



We gave up all ideas of elephants for this day after 

 so much firing ; but, curious enough, just as we were 

 mounting our horses, we heard the roar of an elephant 

 in a jungle on the hillside about half a mile distant. 

 There was no mistaking the sound, and we were soon 

 at the spot. This jungle was very extensive, and the 

 rocky bed of a mountain-torrent divided it into two 

 portions ; on the right hand was fine open forest, and 

 on the left thorny chenar. The elephants were in the 

 open forest, close to the edge of the torrent. 



