CHAPTER XIV. 



Rhinoceros and Rhinoceros-shooting Three Distinct Varieties in Ben- 

 gal Their Disappearance from certain Localities in which they 

 were formerly plentiful Tracking Rhinoceros on the Back of an 

 Elephant Rhinoceros- shooting with a Line of Elephants Good 

 Sport Numerous about the Sources of the Monass Shooting 

 Rhinoceros in the " Soonderbuns " A Surprise on the March 

 Birds Attendant on Rhinoceros. 



THERE are three distinct varieties of rhinoceros to be found 

 within the limits of the Lower Provinces ; viz., the great 

 Indian (It. Indicus), the Soonderbun (E. Sondaicus), and the 

 two-horned or Malayan. Of these, the first is the largest and 

 best known, the second is almost as large, and the third is the 

 smallest and most rare, being found only in the Chittagong 

 Hill Tracts. I have heard of the JR. Indicus as having been 

 seen in the valley of the Langai River, in Sylhet, by elephant 

 catchers, and it is probable that it was common in that dis- 

 trict, as well as in Cachar, in which latter the jungles and 

 swamps were particularly suited to its habits and tastes. 

 There is a place called " Gaindamara " (rhinoceros-killed) in 

 Cachar, which as late as ten or a dozen years ago was in every 

 way adapted to this animal; but I never saw even the spoor of 

 one there or at any other place in Cachar, and conclude that 

 it disappeared from it altogether at least fifty years ago, 

 and migrated northwards long before the axe and the hoe of 

 the tea-planter converted its vast forests and morasses into 

 gardens. It is probable also that both the Indian and the 

 two-horned types formerly met in those wildernesses prior 

 to the English occupation. We know that in old times 

 Sylhet was a market for rhinoceros hides, from which were 



