THE GOUK. 329 



a small herd wandered as far north as Hazaribagh, and in 

 1884 I saw the spoor of two or three enterprising animals, 

 which, leaving their homes in the forests and uplands on the 

 borders of Manbhoom and Singbhoom, had boldly traversed 

 the thickly-peopled district of Bankoorah, as far north as 

 Sonamoakhee, close to the banks of the Damooda river, 

 and then finding themselves quite out of place in that 

 well-cultivated neighbourhood, they had returned on their 

 tracks and disappeared without doing more mischief than 

 clearing off some fields of grain and frightening the 

 owners. 



The gour, or Indian bison as it is commonly called, though 

 not a bison at all, has, I think, become lately less rare in the 

 southern parts of Chota Nagpoor than it has been for many 

 years, due, it may be presumed, to the growing paucity of 

 European sportsmen since the days of the famous " Junglee " 

 (Colonel Ousely), whose exploits used to form not the least 

 interesting articles of the old yellow-covered " Sporting 

 Review " of thirty years ago. 



In the early years of the present century this noble 

 beast, probably the very first of all game animals, and as 

 superior to the American bison as the tiger is to the jaguar, 

 inhabited in some numbers the forest-clad uplands as far east 

 even as Bankoorah, as well as the steep sides of Parasnath 

 itself ; but now its eastern range is restricted to the Dalma 

 hill, which rises to an altitude of nearly two thousand feet, 

 forming the most noticeable feature of the southern parts of 

 Manbhoom, and said to be the permanent home of a few of 

 these lords of the woods. The gour still wanders freely 

 through the extensive forests of the tributary mehals, which, 

 with comparatively insignificant breaks, stretch away west- 

 wards to the Central Province ; but it has long ago deserted 

 the Kymore range, and the wooded banks of the upper Sone 

 river and its tributaries. I am told that it is common on the 

 lofty plateaux of Sirgooja, but of that I cannot speak from 

 personal experience. 



The gayal, the mithan, and the gouri-ghai of Assam, 



