250 SPORT IN BENGAL. 



made shields to cover the warriors who fought in the plains 

 of Hindostan, Western and Central India ; and thus many a 

 hide which grew and toughened upon the bodies of these 

 monsters in Sylhet, Cachar, and Lower Assam, were after- 

 wards slashed and dented in the hand-to-hand encounters of 

 Rajpoots, Puthans, Moghuls, and Mahrathas, and may have 

 turned aside the arrows of Tartars and Bashkirs, and in days 

 of yore have been crushed beneath the sledge-hammer blows 

 of Cceur-de-Lion and his Paladins in Syria. The hides are 

 still valuable, and the horns are more so, fetching from 

 twenty to thirty rupees the pound in the bazaars, being 

 used by Hindoos in some ceremonies connected with the wor- 

 ship of idols, and by Chinese for far more useful purposes. 

 There are many superstitions attached to the horn of the 

 rhinoceros, and one is the virtue it possesses, when formed 

 into drinking vessels, of discovering poison in the contents. 



A story is told of a gentleman in Assam, having ascer- 

 tained the value put upon horns in this country, commission- 

 ing a brother at the Cape to send him a large consignment 

 for sale. In due course of time a quantity of the horns of the 

 black and white species was received, but, to the consignee's 

 surprise, could not be disposed of, although in every way 

 superior to the Indian article. It then transpired that, being 

 far finer and larger than any previously seen by them, the 

 intelligent Marwaree and Hindoo traders pronounced these 

 horns spurious and " Brummagem," and not at all the genuine 

 manufacture of nature ! Here is a hint for the enterprising 

 merchants of my native land, for which I hope they will duly 

 thank me in suitable form when the proper time arrives. 



The flesh also of this animal is highly esteemed by many 

 tribes, such as the " Mech," the " Koch," the " Rhubbah," and 

 others, who will follow the camp of the sportsman for days 

 together, and will even assist to transport his baggage with- 

 out hire if liberally provided with its flesh for food. Some 

 Hindoos, too, have a high opinion of its manifold virtues, but, 

 having tasted the meat, I have failed to discover a single one, 

 even a savouriness within reason. 



