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THE GREAT INDIAN RHINOCEROS. 63 



The flesh is excellent, and cannot easily be distinguished from beef ; indeed it is better 

 than most beef that one sees in India. The tongue, which is very curiously formed, is parti- 

 cularly good. 



The following are the measurements of an old male which I shot, but larger specimens 

 are to be met with : — 



Height at withers 5 feet 9 inches or 17 hands 1 inch. 



Length from nose to root of tail 



Length of tail 



Girth 



Girth of forearm 



There are two ways in which Rhinoceros may be hunted ; one by quietly tracking up 

 the animal on a single Elephant until he is at last found in his lair, or perhaps standing quite 

 unconscious of danger — the other, by beating him out of jungle with a line of Elephants, the 

 guns being stationed at the points where he is most likely to break cover. In the latter case 

 it is necessary to have reliable men with the beaters, who can exercise authority and keep 

 them in order, for both Mahouts and Elephants have the greatest dread of the huge brute, 

 who appears to be much more formidable than he really is. When disturbed he makes a 

 tremendous noise crashing through the reeds, and grunting and snorting with steam engine 

 power, but unless driven to extremities by being hemmed into a corner, I believe that it is 

 but seldom that he will really charge home. I have not yet witnessed an instance of his 

 doing so. 



In April, 1878, I received an invitation from a friend, who had the command of many 

 Elephants in one of the best heavy-game shooting districts in Bengal, to join him in an 

 expedition against Buffalo and Rhinoceros. Of course I gladly accepted, and on arriving at 

 my friend's house I was pleased to find that our shooting party consisted of only three, the 

 very best number for such sport. Large shooting parties are very good fun, and probably 

 (though not always) more game may be bagged than with a smaller party ; but as far as the 

 actual sport is concerned, I infinitely prefer to have not more than two companions. 



When there are many guns out there is nearly always a lot of wild firing, and it is fre- 

 quently impossible to tell who has actually shot an animal. 



With three guns, and a manageable number of Elephants, the cream of sport may be 

 enjoyed, and each sportsman is independent and has his fair share of the shooting, without 

 being interfered with by, or interfering with, others. 



Our first day was blank as regarded the bag, although one Rhinoceros was wounded ; 

 much of our time being lost owing to an Elephant sticking in a quicksand, from which we had 

 the greatest difficulty in extricating her, after laboring hard for several hours. 



The second day we only shot Buffaloes, which inhabited the same jungles as the 

 Rhinoceros, so that we could never tell which animal would be likely to break covert in any 

 given beat, and it so happened that we several times found both together. 



Our third day's sport afforded an instance of this, and I succeeded in killing my first 



