1 86 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



rhinoceros, which he had shot, he said, not far off and where 

 there were many others. This was our slack season. I was 

 then employed in constructing the Coco lighthouse in the Bay 

 of Bengal, and during that monsoon I was at Haingye, a 

 large island at the entrance of the Bassein river. Having 

 nothing particular to do I agreed to go with him, but as every- 

 thing had to be carried by men not easy to procure I went 

 in very light marching order. I don't know what his idea of 

 a short distance was, but he took me at least fifty miles, by 

 short cuts, over mountains and down dales, until we were not 

 far from Cape Negrais. The guide and I marched ahead, 

 leaving the six porters to follow about a couple of miles in the 

 rear. The first day I killed a kakur, or barking deer, and 

 several yit the silver pheasant of the country, a beautiful 

 bird not only to look at, but also good for the table. 



We were much troubled with tree-leeches, gadflies, and 

 mosquitoes. As there was no village, we camped in a bamboo 

 forest, and fortunately it did not rain. The next day's march 

 was a very fatiguing one, but I saw a good deal of game. I 

 killed a bull gaur a,nd two pheasants, lost a cow gaur, and saw 

 others and a few sambur. It is a country not often traversed, 

 and the game, seldom disturbed, was comparatively tame. 

 On reaching a Karen village we halted, and sent the villagers 

 back for the deer. The following day we reached our destina- 

 tion, a valley between two high ranges with an extensive 

 swamp in the middle ; skirting this, the man pointed out 

 a mound composed of rhinoceros droppings, some three feet 

 high and several feet in diameter, and he assured me that 

 these beasts always deposit their ordure in the same spot 

 whilst living in the vicinity, which I afterwards ascertained to 

 be a fact. He also pointed out other similar mounds, but as 

 none were as fresh as the first, we determined to watch there 

 at night. Whilst two men were set to dig two pits, we went 

 across the valley and ascended the opposite range of hills. 

 We found their surface pretty flat and covered with grass 

 from three to five feet high, and there were many forms of 

 sambur about, and a few clumps of trees and bamboos. From 

 a patch of grass near some magnificent canes, a bull gaur 

 jumped up, ran about 20 yards, and then faced about. A 



