114 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE. 



three Chetties, one of whom is the keenest tracker I have yet seen. 

 About 2 P.M., we struck the fresh trail of a soUtary bull bison, 

 worthy game for the most fastidious sportsman. Followed the trail 

 rapidly for some time, when suddenly, with a loud snort and a crash, 

 the old bull started up and went tearing off through the jungle. 

 Instantly we were after him, swiftly but silently, haK running and 

 half walking. If one man lost the trail, another found it again in 

 less than a minute, and on we went. We crossed a little ravine and 

 clambered up the opposite bank, every one keenly on the alert. 

 On gaining the top of the hill, the foremost Chetty suddenly 

 crouched down, moved back a little, and motioned me to the front. 

 I hurried to his side, and there, about eighty j-ards distant, was our 

 old bison, quietly walking away from us at a slight angle. It was a 

 desperate chance, but I dared not lose it. Waiting a moment until 

 he turned a trifle to pass a certain clump of bushes, I aimed at his 

 flank so that my ball would range forwai'd into his heart-region, 

 and fired my No. 10. He sank upon his knees, but got up du'ectly, 

 ran straight on, and disapj)eared in a thicket. Reloading as I ran, 

 we were soon at the spot where he was struck .and saw his blood 

 upon the grass. I hurried along his trail, but before I had gone 

 a hundred yards he rushed out of a bamboo thicket and ran be- 

 fore me along the edge of a deep ra\ine. As he dashed along I 

 fired a ball into his shoulders. He staggered, lost his balance, and 

 fell, crashing and tearing down through the voung bamboos, rolled 

 comjDletely over, and with a mighty bellow landed on his back, with 

 legs in air, at the very bottom of the nullah. Finding that he was 

 breathing freely, I fu-ed a bullet from my Maynard quite into his 

 heart, which saved the noble animal at least some minutes of suffer- 



ing. 



But what a time we had measuring and skinning him ! He 

 could not possibly have fallen in a worse situation than upon his 

 back in the bottom of that narrow ravine. Although not of the 

 largest size, he was still a very fine bison, his vertical height at the 

 shoulders being five feet eight and one-half inches, while his horns 

 were sixteen inches in circumference at the base. As this was but 

 the beginning of my experience with the Indian bison, I will defer 

 all observations upon the animal and its habits until we have had 

 a more extended acquaintance with it upon the AnimaUai HiUs. 



Two days later I shot another bull bison, and some Chetties 

 shot for me a fine brown flj-ing-squirrel {Pteromys petaurista), and 

 another langur (Semnopithecus). "WTiile out hunting that day we 



