THE MAHADEO HILLS. 103 



half-a-dozen Korkus from the neighbouring hills, and news of 

 a herd of bison in the B&nganga Valley, behind and below the 

 high peak of Dhupgarh ; so I determined to have our grand 

 hunt in that place. Invitations were sent to all the Gond 

 and Korku chiefs in the neighbourhood, with their followers, 

 and every available man in the hills was sent for to beat. A 

 store of grain enough to feed them all was sent down to the 

 little hamlet at the bottom of the Rorighat pass, where the 

 beat was expected to end ; and one of the Puchmurree grog- 

 shops was taken bodily down to the same place to supply the 

 drinkables. 



In after days I spent many a long day in the chace of the 

 bison on these splendid hills ; and have also made the acquaint- 

 ance of the mountain bull in many other parts of the province. 

 Some account of his habits may, therefore, not be out of place 

 here, particularly as they are frequently a good deal misre- 

 presented. And first as to his name. The latest scientific 

 name for him is Gavceus Gaurus, but what he is to be called 

 in English is not so easily settled. Sportsmen have unani- 

 mously agreed to call him the " Indian Bison," which natu- 

 ralists object to, as he does not properly belong to the same 

 group of bovines as the bisons of Europe and America. They 

 would have us call him the Gaur, which appears to be his 

 vernacular name in the Nepalese forests. I would, however, 

 put in a plea for the retention, by sportsmen at least, of the 

 name " Indian Bison." In the first place it fully accomplishes 

 the object of all names in distinctly denoting the animal 

 meant. Ever since he became known to Europeans he has 

 been so called, and no other animal has ever shared the name. 

 Then his structural distinction from the true bisontine group 

 appears to consist chiefly, if not solely, in his having thirteen in- 

 stead of fourteen or fifteen pairs of ribs, and somewhat flattened 



