CHAPTER VII 



FOUR DAYS 



SOME of the finest sport in India with the rifle is 

 to be had in tracking and shooting the wild 

 buffalo and the gaur, or bison. To have any 

 chance of success, you must be at the place where 

 you hope to find tracks at the first streak of dawn ; 

 and this involves getting up in the dark, and, 

 unless you have an elephant to ride, a long and 

 uncomfortable walk in the darkness ; but, if 

 Fortune is kind, the sport well repays you for 

 your exertions. 



Gaur are still plentiful in Mysore and Travan- 

 core, and are to be found in fair numbers in some 

 districts in the Central Provinces and Chota 

 Nagpur, but the heads appear to fall off progres- 

 sively as you go northwards, the best heads 

 being obtainable in Mysore and Travancore, 

 while the heads in Chota Nagpur are inferior 

 to those obtainable in the Satpura Ranges and 

 other places in the Central Provinces. 



Wild buffaloes are numerous in Assam and 

 carry enormous horns, but the cover there is 

 dense and the animals are, as I understand, 

 usually shot from elephants. The element of 

 danger, which gives zest to big-game shooting, 

 and the pleasure of tracking and stalking the 



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