MITHAN 301 



up. Your Mirri tracker takes the charge and is 

 dodging amongst the tree trunks (on no account 

 may he run back on you, for an end-on shot at a 

 charging bull, even at short range, is quite the worst). 

 As the bull crosses, you put a bullet into his shoulder 

 and haply drop him. This description of hunting 

 applies equally to bison (mithan) or buffalo, with the 

 difference, that as a rule a bison only charges when 

 he is too sick to run away, whereas a buffalo will some- 

 times charge when he or she is not hit at all. I was 

 riding along the edge of a chupra (glade) on an 

 elephant, the grass was unburnt and pretty high ; 

 suddenly, to my left, up jumped a fine bull mithan. 

 He stood for a moment about eighty yards off, and I 

 gave him one in the shoulder with my 12- bore 

 rifle. He swung round at getting the shot, and I 

 gave him another as he went ; he made off into the 

 forest; I saw he was pretty sick and would not go 

 far. I got off the elephant and laid the tracker on 

 where he had disappeared. We had not gone more 

 than a couple of hundred yards when my tracker 

 (ten yards ahead), bending low, half turned and 

 beckoned to me. I joined him, and he pointed ahead. 

 The jungle was thick and the dense shade of the 

 forest, after the bright light outside, made anything 

 like sight at a distance very bad. I peered ahead for 

 a moment, and just made out a black mass lying 

 down about fifty yards off ; but as for distinguishing 

 between head or tail I could not. However, whilst 

 I debated the bull was on his legs and out of sight 

 in no time. I got one bullet after him, as he went, 



