VISIT BAGH DOOAR 439 



there was very good snipe-shooting, and the officers of the 

 Company shot a good number of tigers there by sitting up 

 over kills. Five miles from Govvhatty on the Beltolah road 

 was the best snipe ground, and we used to get lots of jungle- 

 fowl, pea-fowl, and a few florikan. At Myung wild game 

 abounded ; I have shot there at times tigers, rhinoceros, 

 buffaloes, deer, a few hares, lots of florikan, and now and then 

 had capital sport both with the black and kyah partridges. 



In January 1868, as I had to go down to Burpettah, I took 

 with me Bowie of the Police and Barry a tea-planter, and at 

 whose gardens I had put up in 1867. He knew the whole 

 country and could speak the language, which is a bastard sort 

 of Bengali. The Assistant-Commissioner had reported that 

 there were no less than five man-eating tigers preying on the 

 people about Baisah-ghat, so we went there by boat, having 

 sent on our kit and elephants well ahead. At this time of the 

 year the valley of the Brahmapootra is enveloped in a dense 

 fog, which only begins to clear about 9 or 10 a.m. We went 

 all night, but as our boatman was afraid of over-shooting our 

 destination he pulled up about 4 a.m. But of course no objects 

 were visible, and we allowed the boat to drift. When the fog 

 cleared we found we were a long way from Baisah-ghat, so the 

 crew were set to row again. We saw a buffalo on the bank, 

 and he walked into the river and lay down. We ceased rowing 

 and got within some 80 yards without disturbing him ; he 

 then stood up and we opened fire. In our first round all the 

 shots missed, but with my left barrel I caught him in the hip 

 and down he went. We jumped ashore and soon killed him, 

 and then found that it was a poor emaciated beast suffering 

 from an old wound, so it was a mercy putting him out of his 

 misery. We did not reach the ghat till 3 p.m. We halted 

 there that day and made inquiries about the tigers, but could 

 hear nothing certain about them, though their pugs were 

 plentiful enough. 



We had not enough elephants to carry all our impedimenta, 

 so had to hire coolies, and only those who have been forced 

 to adopt this mode of conveyance can imagine the amount of 

 trouble and bother there is in procuring coolies in Assam. 

 The Mouzadars, themselves Hindoos, will not impress their 



