328 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTEAL INDIA 



being broad and platter-like, to support him on soft ground ; 

 while those of the bison, who has to pick his way among 

 rocks, are wonderfully small for his size, as neat and game- 

 Uke and Kttle larger than those of the sambar deer. The 

 buffalo is also much less intolerant of man and his works 

 than the bison, invading the rice cultivation, and often 

 defying aU attempts to drive him from the neighbourhood 

 of villages. They are altogether very defiant of man, and, 

 unlike the bison, will generally permit a close approach 

 without any concealment, where they have not been much 

 molested, trusting apparently to their formidable aspect 

 to secure the retreat of the invader, which is usually suc- 

 cessful. If the attack be followed up, however, they almost 

 always make ofi at last, and are then not so easily got at 

 again. The favourite resorts of the buffalo are on the 

 s£rts of the lower sal forests, where they run out into the 

 open plain, and between them and the rice cultivation of 

 these regions, in the great open, swampy plains, where 

 long rank grass affords the sort of cover they hke. 



Our first introduction to the wild buffalo in this trip 

 was near the high-road between Rai'pur and Sambalpur, 

 when B., who had the shot (in stalking a herd together we 

 always arranged by turns who should have the first shot), 

 killed a cow. We followed the herd a long way, and 

 wounded another, but coidd not bag. For a long time 

 after this we were employed in the forests, and though we 

 saw a few, never had time to hunt them, until, near the 

 Mahanadi river, we came out on a cultivated plain, of 

 which a large bull and four cows had completely taken 

 possession, devastating the rice, and charging indiscrimi- 

 nately at aU who approached. A Baboo from the nearest 

 pohce station had come out a little while before to rid the 

 place of the invader, but contented himself with firing 

 away all his ammunition at half a mile's distance from the 

 top of a house, and the buU remained monarch of all he 

 surveyed. We had scarcely entered on the plains when 

 the owner of the ruined rice-fields pointed out his enemy, 

 looming out against the horizon as large as an elephant, and 

 we at once made preparations for the attack. The place 

 was as level and open as a billiard-table, so we had to rely 



