ELEPHANT AND BISON. 
turned and bolted. I took a crack at the side of his head as 
he rushed through the bamboos, and another at his ear; both 
shots appeared to stagger him. I kept running and watching 
for a favourable turn of his head, but he never stopped and 
made for some open forest. In passing through the bamboos 
he or we had disturbed a bull bison, which ran across the 
elephant's path, who immediately charged him furiously, and 
Atley declared struck him with his tusks, which so alarmed 
the bison that he put on his best pace and soon outran the 
elephant, who continued to chase him for some minutes. I 
tried to run on but got so blown I was obliged to give it up. 
On the nth October, 1856, Michael and I started after 
an early breakfast to Pullikul on the chance of falling in with 
elephants. Pullikul means "child's stone." The karder 
women who love their lords come to it, and standing on a flat 
stone a few yards from the Pullikul, which is a round pro- 
jecting piece of rockj place a stone on their toes and attempt 
to pitch it on the rock ; if it happens to ali^^ht on the rock, 
the child will be a boy, if it hits and falls back, a girl, and if 
they fail to strike the rock at all the child will die at its birth. 
We wandered through the forest till nearly one o'clock with- 
out se?:ing anything but some tracks of bison and the quite 
fresh pug" of a tiger. 
It should be mentioned that at this time (1S56) the 
elephants were very numerous in Southern India, and had 
committed so many depredations in the cultivated districts 
that the Government had issued an order for all elephants 
to be killed, and offered a reward for each elephant, male 
or female; had this not been the case no feniales would 
have been shot. We had just sat down to tiffin when 
Atley pointed to the fresh track of an elephant; as soon as 
