BISON. 137 



trail, which was crossed by more tracks farther on, and we 

 soon saw one browsing on the young shoots of a bamboo 

 some sixty yards distant. I could not see any more of the 

 beeves, but, from the size and dark colour, this appeared to 

 l)e a bull, and, getting a nice broadside shot, I fired. 

 Although severely wounded it galloped off, but we came 

 upon it lying down in a dense mass of creepers about a 

 quarter of a mile further on. It rose again, and, receiving 

 two more shots, collapsed close by, and another bullet 

 finished it. Much to my disappointment it turned out to 

 be a cow, but a very fine one. As a rule one seldom gets 

 a clear shot at bison ; in the majority of cases the bullet 

 has to penetrate many small intervening twigs which are 

 liable to deflect it from its course, and in many parts of 

 the forest the gloom is great, and a want of contrast 

 between the foresight and dark hide of the animal adds to 

 the difficulty of putting the bullet in the right spot ; much 

 of the following-up work is due to these causes. During 

 the latter part of this performance, a small herd of three 

 cows and a bull kept snorting and stampeding at intervals 

 about 100 yards to our left; these we followed for two 

 hours, but the bull never gave me a chance, so, as it was 

 now getting on in the afternoon, and we were a long way 

 from home, I told the cooly to show us the way back. He 

 started up a steep hill, and, after an hour's walk, said 

 he had lost the way, and did not know where we were. 

 The sun was obscured by clouds, so he climbed a tree to 

 reconnoitre, but failed to recognise any of the surrounding 

 hills. During the day we got occasional glimpses of the 

 sun, and I knew the bungalow lay to the north-east, and 

 by feeling the trunks of the trees we worked in this 

 direction till dark. There was nothing to be done but to 

 lie down for the night. The jungle was swarming with 



