36 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



The "gayal" or "mittin" is to be met with in the foot 

 hills of the Himalayas, and the forests of Chittagong and 

 the hill tracts. 



Elephant-shooting is now very properly forbidden alto- 

 gether in the Lower Provinces, in which considerable numbers 

 are caught annually. These animals are still very numerous 

 in Chittagong, the hill tracts, Hill Tipperah, in the forests 

 south of Cachar and Sylhet, in the Garo hills, in the Cuttack 

 tributary mehals, and in Singbhoom ; a few wander east- 

 ward as far as Manbhoom, and I have seen their tracks in 

 Hazaribagh, Midnapoor, and even in Bankoorah. About ten 

 or fifteen years ago there was a herd in the Santhal Per- 

 gunnahs, but I have not heard of more than one or two there 

 of late years. 



Rhinoceros-shooting can now be got only in Julpigoree 

 between December and July, March, April, and May being 

 the best months ; they are still to be seen in some numbers 

 in their favourite localities, and are very numerous in the 

 Soonderbuns also, where their pursuit hardly repays one for 

 the toil and disappointments incurred. They have disappeared 

 from Purneah and the neighbourhood of Rajmahal and Sikri- 

 gully, where they were plentiful fifty years ago. The Malayan 

 two-horned variety exists in small numbers in the forests of 

 the Chittagong hill tracts, and is said to wander as far north 

 as the southern limits of Cachar and Sylhet. 



Buffalo-shooting may be had almost all the year round, 

 but at its best in the cold and hot seasons. Buffaloes exist in 

 considerable numbers still in the Soonderbuns, in Backer- 

 gunge, in the woods and plains of the Cuttack and Balasore 

 sea-coast, and in lesser numbers in Purneah, Julpigoree, 

 Maldah, and Dinagepoor. They were very plentiful in 

 Noakholly, Furreedpoor, Dana, Jepore, Mymensingh, and 

 Hidgelee (Midnapoor) thirty years ago, when very good sport 

 was to be had both in riding them down on horseback and 

 stalking them on foot ; but they have almost totally dis- 

 appeared from these districts, nor are those now found any- 

 where in Bengal or Orissa to be compared for size and ferocity 



