248 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTRAL INDIA. 



interior of the hills. Our yesterday's shooting had no doubt 

 cleared this part of the hills of all the bison, so we made 

 after these deer, watching them over the rising grounds and 

 then running close in behind them. At last we saw them 

 apparently halted for the day in a shady place. Two of them 

 appeared to have first-rate antlers, and we stalked round a 

 long way to get in on them from above, and without giving 

 them our wind. We blundered it, however, coming down at 

 the wrong point, and the herd broke a long way to our left 

 hand. T. fired into their backs as they struggled up the 

 opposite slope in a confused gang, but without apparent 

 effect ; and the last of them was disappearing over the brow 

 when I took a long shot at him with my single " express." It 

 was two hundred and fifty yards at the least, but I had often 

 before killed as far with this rifle, and down he dropped. 

 Crossing over, we found the stag lying dead ; but though it 

 was one of the two we had marked his antlers were very 

 inferior. Nothing is more deceptive than the apparent size of 

 smbar s horns while stalking : as they have all the same 

 number of points, the guide to size and quality afforded by 

 the branches of the red deer is here wanting. On examina- 

 tion we found this to be still another instance of the curious 

 occurrences before mentioned; for it wasT.'s ball after all that 

 had killed him, while mine had missed ! 



After this we made a long round through the hills looking for 

 bison, but without success ; and were descending towards the 

 camp by a long narrow spur of bare basalt, when we saw the 

 Skunk near the top of an isolated eminence rising out of the 

 valley violently signalling to us ; and soon after we were scan- 

 ning the proportions of a fine bull bison lying down on the 

 further side under the shade of a small tree. It was a very easy 

 stalk, and we crept in to about seventy yards in the grass. T. 



