A CHAT ABOUT INDIAN WILD BEASTS. 173 
districts of Assam; and I believe are found also in the Yonza- 
leen, Arrakan, and Yomah ranges in Burma. 
In the primeval forests there does not seem to be any hostility 
between the Elephant, Rhinoceros, and Buffalo. I have seen 
all three feeding within a few yards of one another, and I have 
also seen Rhinoceros and Buffaloes lying down together in the 
same mud-hole. But the domesticated Elephants dread these 
beasts far more than they do any other, why has always been to 
mea puzzle. When disturbed a Rhinoceros makes a peculiarly 
squeaking noise; directly an Elephant hears this ninety-nine 
- times out of a hundred he seeks safety in flight. If the beast is 
quiet your steed will go up pretty close, but not if it utters its 
ery. If the ball is placed in the centre of the shield, rather low 
down over the shoulder, it penetrates the heart; if behind the 
shoulder the lungs are perforated. The beast makes off full pelt, 
uttering its squeak, but in a few minutes it falls down, and in its 
dying moments makes a noise which once heard can never be 
forgotten, and is a sure sign of approaching dissolution. A pecu- 
larity of this beast is, that whilst it remains in a locality it will 
deposit its ordure only on one spot, and visits it for that purpose 
once when it commences feeding at night, and again before 
leaving off soon after daybreak. Considering the great value put 
on the flesh, hide, and horn of the animal, I am astonished that 
any are left alive. Alla native shikarie has to do, is to dig a pit 
near this mound, and lie in wait until its usual visit, and then to 
pot it. 
_ The Assamese do not waste a morsel of the flesh. The shields 
over the shoulders are dried in the sun; the rest of the hide is 
cut into strips, roasted over a charcoal fire, and devoured by them 
much as is the crackling of a pig by most Kuropeans. The 
horn, useless as a trophy to British sportsmen, is greatly prized 
by them, and has a purely fictitious value; they will pay as much 
as forty-five rupees a seer (2 lb.) for them. They invert them, 
Store them in their namrghurs, place water in the cone at their 
base, and believe that it is an antidote to poison if partaken 
inwardly. Even the Maiwaries, strict vegetarians, have asked | 
me to bring them the dried tongues; they pulverise them, and 
partake of a little when they are ill, and believe that it is a 
sovereign remedy against all diseases. 
