Rhinoceros Shooting. 65 



downwards, I once put a ball right through a charging 

 beast ; it entered near the spine and made its exit 

 through the abdomen. I have shot two rhinoceros 

 right and left killing them with one ball each but 

 they were very close and inclined to fight, so gave 

 easy shots. Most elephants dread these animals very 

 much, and few will go close to them. If a ball 

 be placed in the centre of the shield over the shoulder, 

 rather low down, it penetrates the heart. If behind 

 the shoulder, the lungs are perforated, and the animal 

 subsides in a few moments. When thus shot it runs a 

 little way, then falls down, and in its dying moments 

 makes a peculiar noise which can be heard a long 

 way off, and once heard can never be forgotten. In 

 hostilities, Indian rhinoceros do not use the horn, but 

 their tusks, with which they can inflict fearful gashes. 

 In Burma, the most common rhinoceros is the double 

 horned, but two other species exist, yet are seldom 

 come across, as they inhabit morasses that may be 

 termed quagmires, over which a loaded elephant 

 cannot travel: In Assam, we have but two kinds 

 of this genus, the larger and the lesser. They are 

 exceedingly plentiful in the Terai, at the foot of 

 the Bhootaii and Himalaya ranges, and are also 

 found in the swamps along the base of the Cossyah 

 and G arrow Hills. Throughout the province there are 

 favourite localities, as well as in many of the 

 " churs " (islands) of the Brahmapootra river. The 

 larger Asiatic rhinoceros has only one horn, seldom 

 eighteen inches long, generally a good deal less. 

 This horn is said to be but a conglomeration of 

 hairs, and is liable to be detached through either 

 injury or disease, when another grows in its place. 



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