Indian Buffalo Spearing. 133 



shots and one in the neck sufficed ; the beast however 

 was not dead, but lay down. There is no trusting 

 to one of these treacherous brutes, even in articulo 

 mortis, for by a dying effort they have been known 

 to jump up and kill their foe, dropping dead the 

 next instant ! Thus we advanced carefully. When 

 within ten yards, I got a clear view of the back of his 

 head and fired. There was a quiver, the head fell 

 forward, the body turned over on its side, the out- 

 stretched legs idly beat the air, and a moment after 

 all was over. The terror of the neighbourhood had 

 at last joined the majority. We were disappointed in 

 his horns, as they measured barely eleven feet from 

 tip to tip, although in life they looked immense, 

 and we thought we had scored a record. Simson, 

 who probably has killed more boars off horseback 

 than anybody else in India, with perhaps the 

 exception of the late Col. Nightingale, has, in his 

 charming book of Sport in Eastern Bengal, vividly 

 described riding down and shooting buffaloes off 

 horseback, which, considering the nature of the ground 

 which had to be traversed, and the tenacity of life 

 possessed by these formidable and ferocious beasts, 

 was unquestionably most dangerous work. Yet some 

 fifty years ago, spearing buffaloes off horseback was 

 a favourite pastime. 



The late Dr. Chalmers gave a grand description of 

 such a hunt, in one of the old Indian sporting 

 reviews. I unfortunately have not got it by me, but 

 I remember that, after spearing a bull buffalo twice, 

 the gallant medico's horse stumbled and fell just as 

 the foe was charging. The bull tossed its assailant, 

 inflicting many wounds on him, and would doubtless 



