SNIPE GROUNDS 29 



I was Executive Engineer for five years at Tongho, our then 

 frontier station. We had as many as 80 Government elephants 

 in the Pheel Khana, and as these had to go considerable 

 distances for their daily charah, the surrounding country, soon 

 after the rainy season set in, became a mass of pitfalls, 

 rendering the ground almost impossible for horse or foot to go 

 over. 



As I had elephants of my own I could always go about, 

 and more often than not took one or two men with me. One 

 day I was out alone, and had visited the best snipe grounds 

 within a radius of five miles without scarcely seeing a bird. 

 I sat down on a bund, and whilst deploring the bad prospect 

 before me I noticed a small herd of buffalo going along in 

 single file. They passed me, crossed a shallow sheet of 

 water, and entered a forest. Where buffaloes go to graze 

 there is sure to be some marshy spot ; I brightened up a bit, 

 and followed. I thought I knew every inch of the country, 

 and never dreamt of there being a marsh in the midst of a 

 forest, but within a couple of miles I came upon a quin or 

 clearance in the forest ; it was about two miles long, and 

 perhaps three-quarters of a mile broad. In this the buffaloes 

 commenced to feed. I put my elephant into it, and up rose 

 a wisp of some dozen snipe and lit again close by. I was off 

 my steed in no time, and better sport I never had. I had just 

 got out my first breech-loader, a pin-fire by Westley Richards, 

 and not expecting much sport had not brought very many 

 cartridges with me. The birds lay well, and pitched again 

 within fifty yards. The walking was easy it was evident it 

 had never been shot over before, and in a very short time, and 

 before I had gone over half the marsh, I had expended all my 

 cartridges and had 39 \ couple of birds to show. Within a 

 few days afterwards I took Lloyd, the Deputy Commissioner, 

 with me. We began to shoot about eleven, and left off at four, 

 with a short interval in the afternoon for lunch and rest. Lloyd 

 had then 36^ couple of birds, and I had 36 couple. Going home- 

 wards on the elephants, two snipe got up, and I bagged them 

 both with a right and left. The truth is, I lived so much on 

 elephant-back in those days, and for years afterwards, that I 

 could shoot almost as well off one as I could on foot. 



