THE GAUR 77 



up after a quarter of an hour's interval, to 

 allow the wound to take effect, the bull will 

 generally be found dead a few hundred yards 

 farther on, or lying down too stiff to move. 

 Except when shooting elephants, it is always 

 advisable to give any wounded beast time to 

 lie down and get stiff before following it up, so 

 long, that is, as it cannot be kept in sight. 

 Inexperienced natives, whether Burmans or 

 others, generally want to rush excitedly after a 

 wounded animal, with the result that they either 

 blunder into a trap, or start the beast off, when 

 he may go for miles and eventually escape. 



In the old days men went out after bison 

 armed very often with what was then known as 

 a fowling-piece, in other words, an ordinary 

 smooth-bore gun. This they loaded with an 

 extra charge of black powder, which never 

 exceeded six drams, and frequently contained 

 only four. The bullet was of more or less 

 hardened lead. With such ineffective weapons 

 no wonder many of them got charged. The 

 bull had to be followed up again and again until 

 at last he succumbed to sheer lead-poisoning. 



On separate occasions two old Burman 

 hunters showed the writer scars of wounds 

 received from charging bison, either of which 

 would probably have killed a European. Both 

 men had been charged from behind. One was 

 caught in the posterior, the animal's horn having 



