GAME FOUND ON THE C OSS YAH HILLS 



491 



was never used ; a shorter and a rougher route being preferred 

 by Europeans and natives alike. There is now a capital road 

 from Gowhatty to Shillong ; I laid it out and commenced it, 

 but it was finished after my time. By the old route Burney- 

 hat was the first stage, Nongpoh the second ; it is 2700 feet 

 high. It is a wild place ; there were but a few huts about, 

 and very little cultivation. There was a fair sprinkling of 

 elephants, gaur, sambur, hog deer, barking deer, bears and 

 tigers and panthers about, but the jungle was very heavy 

 quite impenetrable in places. I shot a few sambur, hog deer, 

 muntjac, two bears, a panther, besides jungle fowl, derrick 

 pheasants and partridges, and saw lots of marks of bigger 

 game; a few gaur have been shot there. 



From Nongpoh the hills gradually rise, the jungle is more 

 open, and about half-way to Oomsling it ceases altogether, 

 being succeeded by open undulating hills covered with grass 

 about four feet high, with sholas or belts of trees in the ravines 

 along the water-courses. Many of the hills present a very park- 

 like appearance, and capital stalking can be had ; sambur and 

 bears and panthers are always plentiful, and now and then 

 elephants and gaur and tigers are to be found. From Oom- 

 sling the old path wound about amongst the hills, which are 

 nearly bare with the exception of a few stunted pine-trees 

 scattered about. There is the usual game to be found there, 

 but it is not plentiful. The Oomean is a pretty mountain 

 stream over which I threw a substantial bridge ; it joins the 

 Burneyhat stream, and the two fall into the Kullung near 

 Kookooriah. There are mahseer in it ; I caught a few, and 

 knew others caught too, but none above 6 Ibs., and those 

 principally with the fly. After crossing this river the ascent 

 of the true Cossyah hills commences, and Shillong, 5000 feet 

 high, is reached. 



There was another road via Ranee to Mooflong and thence 

 to Cherra. The hills commence a few miles beyond Moirapore ; 

 near there we shot and trapped in nets some serow, a most 

 unusual place to find them in, as the elevation was only 1700 

 feet. The first stage was Jyrung, where a tiger killed a valuable 

 pony of mine in the verandah. I had sent it on ahead, and 

 my people, thinking there was no danger, picketed it in the 



