558 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. VII I, 



exactly the same way, they would not face the little bit of open ; they 

 went a little way on it, then back they came and sat down close to 

 me (to consider I suppose) ; there was jungle all round the open, so 

 they might have cut across, but they appeared not to be able to see 

 that there was, which no doubt was the case, on the other side of the open 

 their sanctuary. I shot a she-bear and her cub, which was nearly as big 

 as his mother, but was still being suckled. Bears frequently take a lot of killing 

 on account of the difficulty in placing one's shot in a mass of fur ; I was rather 

 surprised at one I shot in the shoulder, breaking it, but not injuring any 

 internal organs, it was up on its hind legs facing me, it went off quick 

 enough, but did not go far before I heard it grizzling ; I went to the sound, about 

 200 yards, and found him lying down bemoaning his luck; he was off again as 

 soon as he saw me, but I knocked him over. My experience is that bears are 

 easily knocked over, but they very quickly recover sufficiently from a most 

 severe wound to get clear away. 



I made two small excursions into the buffalo country and saw a fair 

 number, but did not bag a bull ; I could not make out that there 

 was a bull in the small herds of six and under which I pursued ; if 

 there was a bull, he must have been quite young and with very small horns. A 

 buffalo which I killed was an object-lesson for those gentlemen who are 

 advocating small-bore rifles for big game ; I wounded it and had to follow up 

 in thick jungle with much foliage. I could never get a fair shoulder-shot, but 

 put four more bullets into its body without stopping it ; my sixth shot at 

 the root of the tail brought it down, and I finished it with a '500 Express behind 

 the horns ; all the other six shots were from an 8 bore with 6 drams powder ; 

 if I had not made the lucky shot ab the root of the tail, the buffalo might 

 have "eaten" more bullets ; all my shots were within less than 15 yards; I 

 kept coming on the buffalo amongst the thick foliage, and as it was off as soon 

 as it saw me, all my shots had to be snap, but, as I said before, they were all in 

 the body ; this shot behind the head I found a capital one for finishing off 

 wounded animals. I killed one of my garahs to put it out of its misery — it was 

 in an awful state — and a sambhur instantaneously with my Rook rifle with 

 this shot. 



As regards deer, I was woefully disappointed ; I only saw one sambhur, 

 male or female, and very few chital ; of the latter I saw three stags, but with 

 very poor horns ; discounting the grass and the foliage, I am sure they are 

 both remarkably scarce, I have beaten hills for the former, where the 

 natives said there were " bahut, bahut," without seeing anything ; I think the 

 cause of chital being scarce is the native shikari, as the part of Raipur I have 

 been in (south of Sambalpur road) has many villages and much cultivation, so 

 they really have not a chance ; in fact in a few years to come Raipur will 

 be played out as a shooting ground. New villages are constantly being settled. 

 As an instance I will take Sankra on the Sambalpur road ; a very few years 



