Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/205

Rh districts of Assam; and I believe are found also in the Yonzaleen, Arrakan, and Yomah ranges in Burma.

In the primæval 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 me a 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 cry. 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 peculiarity 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. All a 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 Europeans. 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.