234 POSTSCRIPT. 



advance, I found him standing under a tree, on the branches of which he was browzing. I 

 was within forty-five yards before I could get a clear view of him, and then I found that he 

 was standing facing me. I aimed at his throat, and he dropped without a struggle. Another 

 bull, which I had not previously seen, now rushed forward a few paces and stood to gaze, 

 giving me a fair shot at his shoulder. He did not fall, but, on running after him I soon saw 

 him slowly and painfully crossing a ravine immediately below me, and a couple more shots 

 rolled him over dead. 



I sent off a man at once to bring the skinners and some breakfast, and went on in search 

 of the herd which we had previously seen. We arrived just in time to see the last of them 

 moving off, but half a mile farther on I again found them quietly feeding. I had to go some 

 way round in order to stalk them, and the wind was very shifty: and by the time I had reached 

 the place from which I expected to get a shot I found them all collected together on the top 

 of a narrow ridge along which I had come : they had evidently winded me, and were very 

 uneasy. Just beyond them the ridge ran up into a rocky knife-like edge, with a deep 

 precipice on each side ; along each side of the ridge ran a narrow path which, I supposed, 

 communicated with another path beyond the rocks. The Gaur, all huddled together, pre- 

 sently hurried along the left hand path : they were within a hundred yards ; but, as I could 

 not see a bull, I would not fire. As soon as they disappeared I ran after them, and found 

 that they had managed to scramble along a narrow shelving bank with barely footing for an 

 Ibex, above which, on the right hand side, the rocks rose perpendicularly, while below was 

 a sheer precipice at least a hundred feet deep. So bad was the path that I only followed it 

 for a few paces, and then returned and followed the path that led along the other side of the 

 ridge. About fifty yards farther on, this path ended abruptly at the edge of a deep precipice 

 and I stood for a minute or two wondering where the Gaur could possibly have gone to- 

 Presently I heard them clattering at the other side of the rocks, and on running back I 

 nearly met them ; the whole herd passing me within ten yards at the junction of the paths. 

 They did not seem to know what to do, and stood in a confused mass within a hundred 

 yards. There was no bull, so I would not fire, but amused myself by whistling to them, and 

 watching their consternation and indecision. It was like herding tame cattle. On examin- 

 ing the path along which the Gaur had gone and returned, I found that it was a cul de sac : 

 had I followed them along it, either I or the whole herd must have gone over the cliff: / 

 should probably have been the sufferer ! 



Leaving the scared herd, I went back to where the dead bulls lay, and having set the 

 skinners to work, I set out for my bivouac, which had been established by the only water that 

 was to be found on the hill. The men who came with the skinners had brought me news of 

 a solitary bull having been seen near the bivouac, and when within a mile of it, we saw a bull 

 standing under a large tree on the top of a hill some way to our left. It was now nearly one 

 o'clock and blazing hot, and it was unlikely that the bull would move for some time, so I 

 went on to the water to let my men quench their thirst. A muddy greenish puddle, much 

 trampled by animals, was all that we had to depend upon, and I had to keep a strict watch 

 over it to prevent my followers from still farther defiling it. 



