THE GAUR 79 



shikari, whether Indian or Burman, taking 

 about three drams of indifferent powder, and 

 carrying either a charge of slugs or a shapeless 

 bullet formed from hammered wire or any other 

 metal that comes handy, will realise the amount 

 of penetration such a weapon is likely to possess 

 on an animal whose hide alone is over an inch 

 thick. I could quote several instances of bison 

 having given trouble when fired at with worthless 

 weapons ; but I do not want to labour the point, 

 so will merely mention one. Years ago, an 

 officer in the regiment with which the writer 

 was then serving sallied forth to shoot bison, 

 armed, if you please, with a '450 express black- 

 powder rifle and hollow bullets. He got up to 

 a solitary bull and, what is more, succeeded in 

 killing it, but not before he had put fifteen bullets 

 into it, and the bison had charged him over 

 and over again. He told me that the time he 

 spent dodging the bull round and round a thick 

 tree nearly turned his hair grey. The officer in 

 question was a splendid shot, and the last man 

 in the world to exaggerate. He said the beast 

 seemed to mind the shots no more than if they 

 had been peas, in spite of nearly every one being 

 in the right place. After being wounded several 

 times, the bull stood in the open, and at every 

 shot charged down on the sportsman, pulling 

 up a few yards beyond him, and charging back 

 as he was again fired at. This officer was an 



