80 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXVIII, 
probability is that he is only temporarily stunned, and will recover very quickly 
and slip into the water. In this case, put another bullet into him. He 
occasionally recovers so quickly, in spite of a second bullet that you are in- 
clined to believe that the second shot acts as a sort of counter irritant, and in 
some cases, though not usually, I think it doss. Once a wounded animal starts 
wriggling towards the water, my experience is that you may put as many bullets 
as you caninto him, but you won’t stop him reaching the water. I suppose 
the reason is that you have only time, at the most, for two more hurried shots 
and neither of them strikes within the deadly zone. 
If a heavy animal gets into the water after being harpooned, don’t try too 
hard to hold him by the harpoon cord. It is not m2ant to drag him ashore with. 
Rather let the harpoon go altogether ; when the animal gets into the water, its 
movements will soon shake the head clear of the shaft, the cord will unwind, and 
the shaft float to the top. Now follow up in your boat and keep your feet clear 
of the cord. Pull up the animal to the surface with the cord and get another 
harpoon into him, or another bullet or charge of shot. You will very seldom 
have to do this if you us9 a gocd rifle and are a decent shot. 
As soon as you have your animal killed, get your thick rope round his snout 
or head, according to class of animal, and pull him well away from the water’s 
edge, out of sight of it, if possible, as his carcase is apt to deter others from 
coming up in the same place. 
Now your chamars can get to work. Don’t stay behind with them. Leave 
two or three chamars, according to the size of the animal, to skin it, and take 
the rest on. You want as many men as possible with you, as it will take a 
dozen good men to pull a heavy animal up a steep bank. You will frequently 
have to get help from the people round about for this job. 
If shooting on a fairly narrow stream, say one varying from 50 to 120 yards 
across, you will generally shoot from across the river. If you hit an animal and 
stop him for a short time, though not long enough to harpoon him, don’t give 
him up as lost. Twice out of five times he will come up near your bank, just 
about opposite where you hit him, in about ten minutes or less. The water gets 
into his body from the bullet wound and interferes with his breathing. The 
larger the hole made the sooner he comes up. He will probably first rise some 
distance out, but have patience, he will probably come right into the bank. 
Keep under cover, and when he comes up, creep up as close as possible, he 
probably won’t be hard to approach fairly close to, and give him a bullet 
through the head. In a wide stream, he will probably come up a little lower | 
down on the same side as he was on when hit. 
Occasionally you will shoot an animal that is in the water, near the edge. If 
you have got in a deadly shot, he will probably struggle and lash about but will 
not leave the immediate vicinity. He will almost certainly turn on his back 
and his tail or legs will show above water. He will gradually sink-and the current 
will take him into deeper water. In this case, if you have not succeeded in har- 
pooning him first, get your boat up as quickly as possible, when your harpooner 
will feel all over the bottom of the river near where it sank, with the harpoon, 
When he finds it, if he does, he will endeavour to stick the harpoon into it. This 
done, you can pull him up with the harpoon. If it is in pretty deep water, he 
probably will not be able to get enough power into the stab to drive the harpoon 
into the animal, especially if it happens to be a short snouter’s back (his head, 
of course, is quite hopeless). In this case place the harpoon head, as well as you 
can judge, on the animal’s back, and then use your axe head as a hammer, and 
drive the harpoon in as if it was a pile. If a wounded animal turns upside down, 
it is usually quite safe to rush in and seize him by a hind leg or the tail. He 
has not enough life in him to do any damage. You must expect to lose a big per- 
centage of animals shot in the water, as they are usually near deep water, and 
unless found very quickly, the current carries them away. Never shoot at an 
