466 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



I went in chase, loading and firing, but could not gain an 

 inch on my quarry. All the thrashing in the world could 

 not induce the Muckna to go faster than its usual pace. 

 The dense jungle was only a hundred yards ahead, and once 

 in that I should never see the monster again. Just then 

 Jackson on a fast elephant hurried up, ran alongside, and 

 laid the rhinoceros dead. This was one of the largest 

 rhinoceros I ever shot. It length from snout to tip of tail 

 was 1 3 feet 4 inches ; height at shoulder, 6 feet 2 inches ; 

 length of horn, 13 inches. I went direct to the huts, but 

 Jackson shot on. He came across another giant and fired 

 seven shots into it, but it got into a tangled brake and there 

 he had to leave it. He arrived at camp at 4 p.m. We then 

 went to the Manass. Jackson caught the first fish; a 6-pounder; 

 I then caught three 19, 8, 25 Ibs. each. The mahouts that 

 went to bring in the head of the rhinoceros I had killed 

 came across a tiger eating a deer, but as it was all but dark 

 we put off going after it till the morning. We had pitched 

 our tents too close to the river ; the wind came down in a 

 tornado all night, and we had six inches of sand over us in 

 the morning, so moved further away this night breeze is 

 deadly. 



April 21. This morning, instead of going after the tiger, 

 Jackson persuaded me to search for his rhinoceros. He said 

 his mahout (a Gurkha) knew the place it went into; but 

 these jungles are so alike he could not find it, and we lost 

 some valuable time, so we had to give it up ; but seeing 

 fresh tracks we followed them up, and in passing through a 

 narrow belt of long grass Jackson saw a rhinoceros and fired 

 into him. The wounded one spun round and round, uttering 

 the usual grunting squeals, and I should say the noise was 

 echoed by some dozen others. I never heard such a pande- 

 monium in my life, and whilst the pachyderms were making 

 this noise not an elephant would go into the long grass, which 

 was very dense and high. Not wishing to get any of our 

 beasts cut, we waited until all this excitement should be 

 over ; we tried to burn the grass, but it was too wet with the 

 night's dew, so we sat down to breakfast under a tree. Before 

 we had half finished, a mahout said : " There is a rhinoceros 



