GAVIAL SHOOTING OX THE JUMXA. 41 



very carefully. I also spent some time in learning to estimate dis- 

 tances accurately, which now became a matter of the first impor- 

 tance. 



The next day the fun began. As we rounded a bend in the 

 river, we saw far down the stream seven gavials, large and small, 

 lying at the lower end of a long, narrow sand-bar, which joined the 

 shore by a nan'ow strip at the upper end. We brought the boat 

 to the shore and moored it, then made a detour into the wheat 

 field to avoid being seen by our game. Just at the upper end of 

 the sand-bar I posted Carlo and three of the boatmen, teUing them 

 that when I fired they were to mn down the peuhisula, seize by 

 the tail the ' ghariyal ' I would shoot, and prevent it from getting 

 into the water. I told them that if they could catch the tad and 

 hang on, the reptile could not bite them and I would soon come up 

 and finish it. They promised to obey, but I saw they were ner- 

 vous, and I had my doubts as to the result. I went down through 

 the wheat field, keeping well out of sight until I arrived opposite the 

 largest gavial, and then crept softly up to the top of the bank. The 

 largest gavial was about ten feet in length, lying at the water's edge 

 broadside on, a beautiful specimen. Aiming to hit the vertebral 

 column I fii-ed at the neck, but the gavial plunged into the river 

 and I gave it up for lost. I signalled the men to stay where they 

 were, and waited for the gavials to come out again. And then 

 happened the strangest thing I ever saw in crocodde hunting. The 

 large gavial I fired at suddenly aj^peared at the top of the water 

 and actually rushed out upon the bank. He clanked his bony jaws 

 together and flung his head from side to side as if in great agony. 

 When he reached the bank I fii-ed a second time, and again he took 

 to the water, but soon appeared with his head held high up, snap- 

 ping and strugghng as though in the agonies of deatL He jDushed 

 up into the shallow water and gToaned three or four* times, like a 

 strong man in distress. It was the first time I ever heard such a 

 pure vocal tone from a crocodde. I fired a third shot, which seemed 

 to stiike the right spot, for the gavial's jaws flew open and it lay 

 quite stdl. The men now came running down, but before they 

 reached the scene of action the crocodile began to slowlv drag it- 

 self into the shallow water. They arrived in ample time to stop it, 

 but they stood in a shrinking group within three feet of the huge 

 reptile's tad, cowering back and afraid to touch it. As the gavial 

 slowly crept away I shouted to the men to encourage them, offering 

 a reward of two rupees if they would stop it, and I fairly stormed 



