GOOD HUNTING COUNTRIES. 167 



firearms of his days. Major Leveson, ("the old shikarry,") 

 altogether omits buffalo-hunting from his two volumes of 

 " Sport in Many Lands," although he treats of the pursuit of 

 almost every game bird and beast in the wide world. 



There are reasons therefore for supposing that the pur- 

 suit of this very tough customer, on foot or mounted, was not 

 much indulged in by our predecessors fifty to a hundred 

 years ago ; accounted for mainly, it may be presumed, by the 

 excessively heavy and extensive coverts of those times, and 

 the deep and broad marshes which then were everywhere 

 common; though the comparatively weak guns and rifles 

 might have something to do with the unpopularity of 

 the sport. 



There was splendid hunting ground on the " churs " of 

 the Megna and Brahmapootra rivers ; around the vast 

 "jheels" and marshes in the districts of Nudiya, Jessore, 

 Purneah, Maldah, Pubnah, and some others ; as also where - 

 ever the manufacture of salt was carried on for Government, 

 such tracts being much favoured by wild buffaloes, as well 

 as by wild hog and deer : the country is still good for 

 hunting, but the game has disappeared. 



The stalking of these doughty champions used to afford 

 us excellent sport in Noakholly, and in the low coverts 

 bordering the salt creeks in Hidgelee and Balasore, where 

 they were very numerous and savage, but nowhere in such 

 immense herds as in Assam. Although game was abundant 

 enough in those tracts, its pursuit was impeded by endless 

 small tidal creeks, which could be crossed only with the 

 utmost difficulty at low water, by casting boughs of trees and 

 bundles of grass upon their muddy beds, and not at all at 

 high-water, in consequence of their being infested by croco- 

 diles of the most dangerous kind. In addition to the above 

 drawbacks, these jungles were full of thorns, short sharp 

 stumps, and mud-holes, which combined to make them as 

 disagreeable and fatiguing to the stalker as any of which I 

 have had experience out of the " Soonderbuns." Lastly, 

 when in pursuit of spotted deer, we were frequently com- 



