CHAPTER IX. 



Buffalo and Buffalo-hunting and Shooting Rapidly disappearing 

 Encounter with and Death of a Savage Bull Effects of Big and 

 Small-bore Rifles on Bulls A Long Run and a Disappointment 

 A Tough Customer A Neat Shot An Amphibious Boar. 



IT is not long ago, as time is measured by men of middle 

 age, that wild buffaloes were abundant in most districts of 

 Eastern and Southern Bengal; never, perhaps, in such vast 

 herds as in Assam, but still they were plentiful in Purneah, 

 Maldah, Dinagepoor, Julpigoree, Dacca, Furreedpoor, Noak- 

 holly, Backergunge, and the salt tracts of Midnapoor, Balasore 

 and Cuttak ; so plentiful, indeed, as not to be the object of 

 pursuit on elephants except on rare occasions and by " Grif- 

 fins ; " they were not, therefore, much molested nor fired upon 

 when roused in front of a line of elephants beating for tigers 

 or rhinoceros ; more, however, from being common than on 

 account of their gentle and harmless character. 



Where these animals formerly roamed over the " churs " 

 of the great rivers and the swampy plains of the interior in 

 herds of hundreds, a few individuals only now survive in 

 some of those localities, and not one in many others. There 

 exist still some small herds in Purneah, Maldah, Dinagepoor, 

 Julpigoree, and Backergunge; but, with rare exceptions, 

 they are degenerate descendants of the ancient herds of the 

 plains in respect of bulk and courage, and are often timid 

 creatures, which run at the distant sight of horsemen or of a 

 line of elephants. Where their predecessors slew their scores, 

 the young " Nimrods " of the present day must rest content 

 if they bring down one or two bulls, and may consider 



