138 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



which is ineradicable. These animals browse on the 

 young shoots of the bamboo, and graze on such grasses 

 as they can find, but come down to the plains after 

 the annual fires for the sake of the new growth. 

 During the heat of the day, they retire to the deep 

 forests, or if the gad flies are very troublesome, 

 they force their way into some heavy grass and lie in 

 it, to avoid their tormentors. The wind being favour- 

 able, they are not difficult to approach on an elephant, 

 because they are so accustomed to seeing and hearing 

 the wild ones moving about them in the jungles which 

 are their joint homes. I never saw one charge an 

 elephant, but have heard of its doing so when wounded 

 and hard pressed, but many sportsmen when following 

 them on foot have been killed ; and occasionally 

 they " run amuck." I will here relate an instance. 

 By some accident, I fancy, the beasts had mis- 

 calculated the distance from one forest to another 

 where they were bound, for at daybreak they found 

 themselves close to an Assamese village, and the 

 villagers, as is their custom for purposes of nature, 

 were scattered about the plains, so the gaurs " ran 

 amuck," probably more in fright than with any other 

 intent, killed several people, and one man (who was 

 then alive in the Goalparah dispensary) escaped 

 with scarcely a whole bone in his body. That they 

 do miscalculate distances and localities is proved by the 

 fact of a wandering gaur having taken up his posi- 

 tion in some jungle at the foot of Goalparah Hill, 

 around which were numerous villages and houses, at 

 least twenty miles from his usual habitat ! He was 

 there killed by a police officer, to the wonder of the 

 inhabitants, who had never seen such an animal. 



