WILD CATTLE. 1,7 



both sides of the mound, two bulls dropped to the right and 



of my bk: rifle, shot through and through behind the 

 shoulders at short range, and two others earned away mortal 

 wounds from the second, a lighter weapon ; meanwhile P. had 

 dispatched a cow with two bullets, and wounded another. 



The sensation of being in the very midst of a mob of 

 such savage and powerful beasts was exhilarating, both from 

 the novelty of our situation and its dangerous exposure to 

 the attacks of wounded and partially disabled animals, which, 

 incapable of following the herd, might turn upon us ; true, 

 there was that coign of vantage, the mound, but it was not 

 sufficiently steep or lofty to afford absolute security, and it 



fortunate therefore that we had no occasion to test its 

 value. Had my comrade been armed with as heavy rifles as 

 mine wore, one or two more would have been slain. Our 

 morning's bag consisted of five bulls and two cows ; two of 

 the former and one cow being shot in the covert into which 



had retired, and the rest at our ambuscade and on the 

 plain in the subsequent pursuit on foot of the wounded. 



There was good butiklo shooting in "churs" Sidhee and 

 Boodhoo, in the Noakholly district, before they were cleared 

 of the tamarisk and tree jungles in which stalking was quite 

 practicable in the dry seasons. These jungles gave cover to 



: numbers of buncoes, and swarmed with wild hog; and 



also sheltered some herds of wild cattle, fine handsome 

 beasts with sleek hides of black, purple, chestnut and white; 

 much larger than the tame cattle of the district, they were 

 as hawks and as fleet as deer. As a rule, they 

 did not associate with the bufl&does, but giaied apart in herds 

 :y to fifty, under the leadership of the most power- 

 ful bulls, keeping close under cover during the day, and 

 coming out to graze in the open about sunset, to return again 

 i or sunrise. 



These animals are the descendants of certain tame cattle, 



carried off the island of Hatia by the great storm wave 



Nvept over it in 1827 or 1828, drowning in the course 



of an hour or two some twenty thousand inhabitants. The 



N 



