SHOOTING GAME DURING INUNDATIONS 473 



being full of milk our men filled two bottles with it. I just 

 tasted it ; it was very weak and very sweet. Going home- 

 wards, I saw a rhinoceros in the bed of a nullah on its back, 

 and with its feet in the air. Thinking it was one of our 

 wounded ones that had died, I called out to Jackson. No 

 sooner had I spoken, than up it jumped and came straight 

 at me ; for the first time the Muckna swerved a little, and 

 escaped being cut, and the second after the beast was Ivine- 



1 i o 



dead. 



We only shot one more rhinoceros this trip getting back 

 to Gowhatty on the fifteenth day. We killed a lot more 

 deer than I have enumerated, and also small game ; but I 

 have said enough to show what sport is to be had in parts of 

 Assam. 



Jackson having still a balance of fifteen days' leave, went 

 to Barry's garden, Kookooriah (which] I bought afterwards), 

 and bagged a rhinoceros with a horn 13 inches long, weighing 

 2j seers or 5 Ibs., besides deer and buffaloes. 



I will now describe killing game out of boats during inunda- 

 tions. I had to go down the road to ascertain the highest 

 water-marks, and reached Luckeepore after a very unpleasant 

 trip in July. 



The Rajah collected a lot of boats, and as the whole 

 country was under water, he asked me if I would like to see 

 one of their national modes of killing game. The Assamese 

 take only spears and dans. I took an old rifle. I did not 

 interfere with the sport as I was only a looker-on. These 

 boats are propelled by a dozen men ; they draw very little 

 water. We went along till we reached some small islets 

 covered with long grass. These were in reality only 

 knolls ; as we approached one of them our boatmen began 

 to yell, and three marsh deer and two hog deer plunged 

 into the water and commenced to swim for their lives, but 

 were speedily killed one after the other. We went on with 

 various luck until some eight or nine deer had been killed ; 

 we then had a chase after three buffaloes; but as we 

 passed the knoll out of which they had started, the old bull, 

 who had remained behind, charged us. We were only in 

 a depth of some two feet of water, which to him was no 



