Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 2 (1898).djvu/208

176 the would-be critic of 'Land and Water' said "that was more than he could believe," I wonder what he would say to two having been killed by the same ball? I was not present, but knew all the sportsmen who were—when it was believed that, although Colonel Campbell fired two shots, they were at animals some way apart; whereas, when they went to examine the one that had fallen dead, they found another freshly killed lying alongside. It was an extraordinary fluke, of course, but I believe it occurred.

It is odd that this pachyderm should be found only in Malaya and the Tenasserim Provinces in Asia, and again in South America. There is very little difference in the two, the Asiatic being somewhat the larger. They inhabit the inmost recesses of the densest forests, and are nocturnal in their habits. They possess short and movable trunks, by which they convey their food into their mouths. They have no mane, and the general colour of the hair is black. There is a white patch on the back and rump, and the sides of the belly are also white. They are easily tamed, and become as familiar as a dog. They possess immense strength, and although they can force their way through any forest, they yet have regular tracks which they follow, and which lead to a considerable number of them being shot, as skikaries lie in wait for them. The hides are valuable, and the natives like the flesh. They, like Rhinoceroses, must have marshy land handy to retire to; they swim and dive well, and are harmless, unless wounded and cornered, when they show fight. At times the people imitate their cry, and as they approach kill them.

In the vast dooars lying at the foot of the Bhootan range I have often put up small sounders of what I took to be young porkers deprived of their parents, and having to shift for themselves; so I never molested them. But on one occasion I had to go into Bagh dooar, at the embouchure of the Manass River, late