82 FOREST LIFE AND SPORT IN INDIA 
has the advantage, as he does not hesitate to strike 
a foul blow by seizing his adversary’s tusks and 
breaking them off, and it is true that the tuskless 
males always seem to have a more massive head 
than those with tusks; but on this oceasion the 
tusker had evidently thrown his opponent, and then 
gored him to death, and I could only regret the loss 
of a unique opportunity of being an eyewitness of 
this battle of giants. 
From the high bank of the Sarda River, below 
Barmdeo, one looks on a lovely landscape ; the river 
is broken up into many narrow channels separated 
by shisham-clad islands, and a background is pro- 
vided by the hills of Nepal in the distance. The 
fishing here is good at the right season, and the 
water quite manageable with 150 yards of line; 
while the islands used to afford cover to deer, and 
even tigers, visitors from the forests on either 
side. 
I recall when in camp with Mr. Greig and his wife, 
our tents pitched on the bluff above the river, we 
proposed in a joking mood to take our tea on the 
island below, and catch a fish and shoot a tiger 
before nightfall, and actually carried out the pro- 
gramme. Mr. Greig was soon into a fifteen-pound 
mahseer, which he landed before tea, and later we 
mounted our elephants and wandered through the 
dense groves of trees. Shortly after I fired at a 
hog-deer that rushed behind my elephant, and the 
report woke a tiger, over whom the bullet must 
have passed. In the confusion that followed, the 
brute had covered 150 yards before the elephant 
was steadied and gave a chance to fire. He then 
