362 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



ascertain by lighting a match whether the wind was in my 

 favour or not there was fortunately hardly a breath of air 

 stirring and everything round was as still as the grave, 

 except, perhaps, for the distant bark of a ghee or barking 

 deer, or the crow of a jungle cock as he strutted about with 

 his family in some bamboo jungle close by. Without wasting 

 any more time I stepped cautiously forward in a bent attitude, 

 my sense of sight and hearing stretched to their utmost 

 tension. I had not gone far before, in the gloom of the 

 jungle, I caught sight of the black body of the gaur standing 

 broadside on, motionless, except perhaps when he shook the 

 gadflies from his head or brushed them from his body with 

 his tail or horns, or perhaps an occasional stamp from a neat 

 yet mighty hoof. It was a grand sight, and one perhaps to 

 make a sportsman hesitate before bringing his death-dealing 

 tube to bear ; but, alas ! I was only human, and the feeling 

 to slay that feeling of exultation and triumph which 

 predominates in every sportsman on occasions like this, 

 especially after a hard day's walking under a broiling sun 

 overpowered me. 



The gaur was now in full view, and although there was 

 comparatively little cover between us in the way of dense 

 undergrowth, he was quite unconscious of my presence. I did 

 not wait any longer, but fired, aiming for the point of the 

 shoulder, the distance between us being about 30 yards. 

 The gaur, on receiving the shot, dashed straight off; but 

 turned, strange to relate, after going about 30 yards, and 

 bore straight down on me. It had not covered half the 

 distance that separated us, however, before it collapsed with 

 a tremendous crash into a clump of small trees, a little to one 

 side of me in front. I was standing behind a tree ready to 

 receive him, intending to give him a right and a left behind 

 the shoulder should he pass me at the charge. He was a 

 magnificent bull, standing 6 feet 6 inches at the shoulder, 

 measured correctly between uprights. From tip round the 

 curve to the base the horns measured 38 inches, 20 inches 

 in girth at the base, 19 inches tip to tip, 42 J inches widest 

 outside, and inside width 34 inches. After disembowelling 

 the gaur we returned to camp, using dry splinters of bamboo 



