Reminiscences of Jungly pur. 137 



The rane of hills lying to the north of Junglypur were 

 at one tirmthe home of many bison, but, what with the 

 unremittin attention of sportsmen, the insidious and 

 continual atacks of the poaching native, and the enclosing 

 of their hants within forest reserves, by which the jungles 

 are preseryd from the annual conflagrations so beneficial 

 to the gras and other food products of the wild bull, 

 these gran animals have dwindled in numbers till, to 

 prevent thir utter extermination, rules have been framed 

 to limit th< number allowed to be shot to two bulls per 

 annum. Tbse measures have, it is believed, been beneficial, 

 and althouh these unburnt, dry, grass-choked reserves can 

 never now upport more than a very limited number of 

 gaur, theirurther destruction has been stayed. 



Illustrat/e of " life's little ironies, " I was once out in 

 those hills,ibout half a day's ride from Cantonments, with 

 a friend wo had secured the permission, so difficult to 

 obtain, to soot one of the bison allowed that year, while 

 I was limitd to the sambur, bears, etc., which were con- 

 spicuous t their absence. My companion, after several 

 days' fruitjss labour in the search for his one bull, had 

 given it upn despair, and had joined forces with me to have 

 a final bea for sambar ere leaving the locality. As I sat 

 behind a t2e-trunk, near a tiny clearing on the hillside, 

 there came rashing of bamboos and lo ! a mighty bison. 



Climbim a knoll not fifty yards from where I sat, the 

 great bull merged on the open^ and paced solemnly along, 

 till he got iy wind and came to a sudden halt. I had now 

 despatchecmy orderly, who accompanied me, to swiftly 

 seek K aid bear him the news that his bull had at last 

 arrived an stopped the way, and only by a most painful 

 effort of se'-control restricted myself to " drawing beads" 

 on various ital portions of my vis-a-vis. 

 18 



