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| Location: |
Asia - South Asia - India |
| Subject: |
Distribution |
| Species: |
Asian Rhino Species |
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Letter No. 47.
Rhmoceros: two kinds. — ^Backergunge Soonderbunds. — Resolve to kill a Rhinoceros, and
attempt to do so. Reach the ground in boats. Where to hit the animal. — ^The jungle.
— We are taken to a Rhinoceros and left alone. We kill him with a single bdl, and
fire at others. — Abundance of game in this country, but difficulty in the pursuit of it.
I WISH I had had more experience in shooting the rhinoceros, for it is stiU
to be got in Eastern Bengal by any one who has time and opportxmity,
though only in the distant outskirts of the province or almost on the sea-
shore. There are two kinds of rhinoceros in Bengal, R. indicus and R.
aondaicus. The first is the larger and is found where Mymensing joins
Assam, on the east of the Brahmapootra, and in Assam, and exists all along
the base of the Himalayan slopes to the north of Bungpore and Purneah;
but westward of Puueah it does not belong to the area of Eastern Bengal.
When I was appointed to that inferior sporting station Backergunge I
thought to myself that I might at any rate shoot a rhinoceros ; and I will tell
you how the deed was accomplished. I knew the animal abounded in the
Soonderbunds and was to be found all the way from the mouth of the Hoogly
to the mouth of the Megna; this is the chief habitat of the lesser rhino-
ceros. Occasionally one has been killed to the south of Tippera and in
Chittagong. The one now in the London Zoological Gardens was captured
when very young between Chittagong and Arracan, as it was crossing a muddy
river. The whole establishment of Government khedda elephants happened
to be on the march when news was brought that a little rhinoceros was in
difficulties in some mud, and with the aid of these elephants the animal was
taken alive and did well in captivity.
I found that no rhinoceros has ever been known near headquarters at
Backergunge, but that the Soonderbund folk and the English planters who
had taken up Soonderbund lands reported that they were plentiful between
their settlements and the shores of the Bay of Bengal, and I persuaded the
GO AtTER RHINOCEROSES. 189
judge to accompany me in a trip to the Bay. Budderuddeen was not with
me in those days^ nor any shikarry of any value to compare to him ; so I got
what information I could through the police^ who knew shikarries who used
to procure venison from the more southern tracts of mangrove and soondry
trees. At last I procured the services of two men who for good consideration
agreed to take us up to some rhinoceroses, but strongly advised us to confine
our attentions to spotted deer and jungle-fowl, as the rhinoceros was a fierce
beast, not to be stopped by a bullet.
The country for the sport was most peculiar, for the most part devoid of
any water that was not salt ; the greater part of the soil was covered by the
spring- tides : it was intersected by deep tidal nullahs with muddy banks. The
good ground was at least as far off as boats with relays of rowers could reach
in two nights' and a day^s row, not far from a village which had been esta-
blished by a colony of Arracanese Mughs, known as *^ Isla Foolzurree/'
We got a comfortable lai^e boat for ourselves and a commodious and f ast^
pulling boat for the attendants, to serve also as a cook*boat* We loaded both
boats with large jars of good water for drinking and cooking purposes, and
started down stream about 4.30 p.ic.^ rowing all night and taking advantage
of tides under the direction of the shikarries who knew the streams. We
soon left regular cultivation and well-populated regions and sailed and rowed
all day down streams thickly fringed with trees. Here and there we came
to marshy places covered with very high grass, and flags, and marsh-plants.
In these tigers, buffaloes, and rhinoceros were to be found occasionally;
crocodiles were very numerous, and lovely kingfishers of a kind I had never
seen before were common. On the second day we got to the rhinoceros
land.
All the way down the judge and I had discussed as to where a rhinoceros
should be hit. The judge had killed plenty near the Brahmapootra churs,
but off elephants, and he argued for aiming at the shoulder and the neigh-
bourhood of the heart. I declared that I would not fire if I could help it
save just behind the ear. We both thought that the hide of a rhinoceros
was proof against anything but a heavy bullet projected from a strong charge
of powder. I have since come to the conclusion that, during life at least,
the hide of a rhinoceros is not much more impenetrable than that of an old
uma bufialo. My battery carried bullets fourteen to the pound. The judge
had a heavy single rifle that carried a thing like a small cannon-ball, and
required a coolie to carry till the time for use arrived. We had no luck the
first afternoon, but saw spotted deer and plenty of tracks of both rhinoceros
and tigers. I shot a large crow with ball after we got to the boats, and this
rather raised our credit with the shikarries ; they were to scout for game
early next morning and we were to await their reports.
Next morning, after breakfast, one shikarry returned and said rhinoceros
had been found, and that the other shikarry was on the watch. We had
190 SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL.
to go some distance in small canoes^ and then we landed and had to walk
over a most extraordinary hard kind of ground. We marched under thick
green foliage and among trunks of fair- sized trees; but from the rery
wide-spreading roots of these trees there grew crops of stumps bigger than
ordinary carrots^ most difficult to travel among, and very trying to the ankles.
Here and there were dense thickets of grassy or shrubby underwood^ and
large patches of that huge crackling fern called ^' dinkybon /' the soil was
generally covered with an inch or two of mud^ and sometimes there were
patches of short turf. OeneraUy you could see under the trees for some
distance ; and if beaters could have been got^ deer might have been driven
past gunners posted in ambuscade.
After a very long trudge in this trying walking ground we came upon the
second shikarry^ and a council of war was held. We were each to take only
one attendant to carry a spare gun, and to go as silently as possible. I took
my most sporting chuprassy and two smooth-bores^ one by Sam Smith and
one by Joe Manton. The judge^ I think, had a double rifle and his man
carried the heavy single rifle before mentioned. After a little the shikarry
made signs to stop, and after a little reconnoitring he came back and pointed
to a patch of dinkybon, and whispered that there was a rhinoceros in it,
and that he would now make his salaam and climb up a tree, and leave the
rest to us. On this all the other natives declared that they must go up trees,
and they all salaamed and went up trees accordingly.
The judge and I agreed to go, one on one side and one on the other of
the patch, and to come together at the first call, for both of us knew that
two weapons might be required ; I went to the left and the judge to the
right. Peering about, presently I saw that something was moving in the
dry fern-bush, which was about ten feet high, so I stood by the trunk of a
tree about twenty-five yards from the fern, and put the Joe Manton gun
against the tree on full-cock, and held the Sam Smith ready. Soon I saw
a nose poked out, then the eye, and then the ear of a rhinoceros ; as soon
as this came out I let fly, and you can scarcely conceive the row which
followed — something between the roar of an elephant and the neigh of a
horse, but far stronger. The smoke hung, and as it passed I saw a rhino-
ceros standing, looking directly towards me. He stood a minute. I knew
it was no use to fire at his lowered head ; there is no vulnerable place there,
and the ball would have glanced. I called to the judge and said, " Here he
is in front, looking at me V' but I did not move from the trunk of the tree,
and I do not know if the rhinoceros distinctly made me out ; they are said to
have bad sight. The animal turned round, and as he did so I shot him high
in the shoulder and he bolted. I followed, but was instantly stopped, for
there lay a rhinoceros stone dead. There had been two in the bush, and my
ball behind the ear had killed the first. After the judge and I had made
sure that the beast was really dead, we went after the other. The blood had
ABUNDANCE OF GAME. ' 191
gushed *oat on the trees and was frothy; we argued that the ball had pene-
trated the lungs and would be mortal. After going a little way further we
considered that we should certainly lose ourselves, so we stopped and retraced
our steps to the dead rhinoceros^ and^ after much shouting, got our attendants
to come to us.
The next thing was to cut off the head and send it to the boats. This was
no easy task. I had an ordinary sheathed hunting-knife, and the judge had
a large pocket-knife ; but these were far too small for the purpose, and it
took us nearly an hour cutting, hacking, and twisting before the head was
got off. It was then tied with jungle creepers to a thick stick cu( for the
purpose, and sent off to the boats on the shoulders of two men.
We then spent some hours trying to get more rhinoceros. We saw, I
think, six ; but they were on the move, and either smelt or heard us, and we
never got near enough for deadly action. The judge, who was an excellent
shot, fired and wounded some animals ; but no good was done. The walking
was at times most difficult : the trees and foliage were characteristic of Soon-
derbund jungle, such as are to be found nowhere else in India proper ; tigers
and deer evidently abounded. It was impossible to stalk animals from a
distance — first, because the walking was difficult; secondly, because of the fern
which crackled as man or animal passed through it. I was transferred to
Noakholly soon afterwards, and never revisited these parts : but the judge
went again ; he could get no gentleman to accompany him, and had a few
natives with him. He put up a tiger and severely wounded it ; in searching
for this animal, a chuprassy came upon it and was killed. After this the
judge went no more. These places are said to be most unhealthy for
Europeans; fevers of the worst type are soon contracted, and the Soon-
derbunds are considered deadly if any stay is made in them.
But there is no doubt that between the northern parts of Backergunge and
the shores of the Bay of Bengal there spreads a country full of large game,
and where a sportsman, if he could retain his health and learn the localities
and plan out the proper methods for shooting, might obtain grand sport.
There are no elephants to be got ; there is no drinkable water; there are no
villages were supplies can be got ; there are no roads nor bridges, and ever-
recurring deep muddy tidal salt-streams. An enterprising sportsman, with a
good steam-launch, might perhaps be able to work the country ; but daring
my time I never heard that any Europeans had been able systematically or
effectively to hunt up any portion of it. Every now and then some such
short expedition as I made is undertaken, and occasionally some English
gentleman connected with the ownership of Soonderbund grants kills a few
tigers and rhinoceroses and deer ; but generally fever puts a stop to his ardour
for sport. The forests are, however, gradually disappearing before culti-
vation, in spite of the insalubrity of the soil, and villages are springing up,
and steamers go through the deep channels, and native craft through the
smaller streams.
192 SPORT IN EASTERN BENGAL.
I never heard anything more of the rhinoceros I wounded or those fired
into by the judge ; but immediately after I left the district the horn of a rhi*
noceros was offered for sale in the bazaar of Burrisawel^ the head station of the
district, and the judge had an opinion that this was the horn belonging to the
second animal of the two to which we had been taken by the shikarries.
This rhinoceros seems to be a harmless animal, feeding on branches of trees
and the rank succulent herbage of muddy swamps. It never appears to visit
cultivated places or to damage crops ; unless roused it has no murderous pro-^
pensity; it kills no other animal, and its size and thick hide protect it from
the tiger. The unhealthy climate of the Soonderbunds has prolonged its
existence to this date ; but ere long, as these salt and tidal lands are brought
under rice- and jute-cultivation, the animal will disappear. In the struggle
for existence it will not be able to fight the battle by adapting itself to change
even to the extent that tigers and hogs seem to do; these shift their
quarters, and constantly appear in new localities.
Letter No. 48.
Hhinoceros uu^cwi the jungles in which it is found near Assam. I never shot one..
Elephants much afraid of thenL — Bears. — ^A Badger. — ^Bears not numerous now in
Bengal. Large skulL The cries of the wounded. Courage. — Kill- three Bears. — Often
shot on foot in other parts of India, hut the jungles of Eastern Bengal not open enough
for that sport. Occasionally speared from horseback. — ^Bears tenacious of life. Vezy
numerous in Guttack. Destructive to sugar-canes. Feast on hees and honey.
The last letter referred to Rhinoceros sondaicus; but the Rhinoceros indicus,
generally referred to as the rhinoceros of Bengal sportsmen^ is a different and
a larger animal^ inhabiting extensive swamps and marshes^ where the grass is
the tallest and densest to be found, and where the jungle called in Mymensing
^' taradham '^ occupies large spaces of soft muddy soil, which I should think
would only suit heavy animals in the dry season. In these thick grass-
jungles no man on foot can make his way : he must either follow paths made
by elephants, buffaloes, and rhinoceros, or cut his way through them, or go
on elephants; and it is on elephants alone that the sport of rhinoceros-
shooting has been carried on in the regions of the Brahmapootra churs and
in the valleys of Assam, and in the Terai at the base of the Himalayas,
about Rungpore and Fumeah.
I went after a rhinoceros at times ; but neither in the neighbourhood of the
Brahmapootra nor in the north of Pumeah did I ever see one. If you can
accompany any sportsman who is acquainted with good rhinoceros-ground,
an^ have leisure and desire to kill these animals, you will have better luck.
RmNOOEKOS AND B£AllS. Id3
I neither knew the country nor Europeans nor natives in it, and contented
myself with hog-hunting and tiger-shooting ; I cannot therefore relate tales
of rhinoceros-slaughter in which I took part.
But numbers of other sportsmen and friends killed them yearly, and their
skulls were to be seen in the verandahs of many houses in Mymensing and
Dinagepore and Bungpore. From looking at these it was at once seen that
the brain took up only a small space in the huge bony head, and that bullets
in the head need not necessarily prove mortal. Well-directed shots, how-
ever, seemed easily to have pierced to the brain ; and from all I could learn
the chief thing in rhinoceros-shooting was to manage to get as close to
the animal as possible, and the only difficulty in doing this was the great
fear elephants had of approaching a rhinoceros at all. Sometimes these
animals are pugnacious, and when they charge the line of elephants the latter
animal, as a rule, takes to flight and cannot be brought to face the rhinoceros
at all. I have heard stories and seen pictures of elephants having been
knocked over by rhinoceroses ; still I never heard of any serious accident that
had occurred. An elephant that will fSnce a fighting rhinoceros is a most valuable
animal. Much depends on the mahout ; but elephants are curiously uncertain
in temper and courage. My best elephant had a great reputation for good
behaviour with rhinoceroses, and I killed scores of tigers from, her back ;
nevertheless, even with Sowdaugor, the pluckiest mahout I ever had, she
ran away — ^positively declined to be brought close up to a plucky rat : the
courageous little animal stuck out its fur, squeaked, and jumped towards the
pouderous elephant, which tucked up its trunk, screamed, backed away, and
could not be brought forwai*d, though I tried for quite a quarter of an hour
to force the elephant to dose quarters.
There was another animal belonging to the large game of Eastern Bengal
of which I killed comparatively few. This was the bear. Bears are not
found now in any of the districts of Eastern Bengal but Dacca, Mymensing,
Rungpore, and Pumeah; I never got true reports of any in Tippera or
Chittagong, and there are none between these districts and the Hoogly.
One morning, when I was at Comilla, in Tippera, news was brought of a
bear which had been marked into a patch of low grass. I got some elephants
and hastened to the spot, as I had never then met with a bear. The place
seemed most unlikely as a retreat for so large an animal. However, I beat it
up and turned out and killed a fine badger — ^an animal differing very little in
appearance from an English badger. This was the nearest approach to a bear
I ever met south of Dacca, and the only badger I ever knew killed in Bengal;
probably badgers are not unprocurable, but they are nocturnal in their habits
and not sought as game.
Bears at one time were numerous in the Bhowal forest in Dacca ; but their
numbers were very consid erably reduced by the time I became acquainted
with those jungles. I took some trouble about them at first; but they
o
104 SPORT m EASTERN BENGAL.
puzzled Budderuddeen. He never could harbour one^ or bring me really
good reports about them. As a rule they kill neither human beings nor
cattle^ and therefore^ even if seen, they were not reported to the Dacca
sportsmen. There were no dead carcases to keep them restricted to any
particular patches of jungle; they would wander about tree-jungles and
devour jungle-fruits and honey, chiefly in hard ground, where their footmarks^
which are unmistakable, left very poor tracks. Qenerally^ when I tried to
find them according to the reports of villagers I was disappointed ; and all
the bears I shot were put up unexpectedly when on the look-out for other
game.
But still I killed plenty of bears: some within twenty miles of Dacca;
some all along the banks of the Bunsee river ; many in the rosebush-jungles
of Mymensing; and some on the hills of Lower Assam, not far firom
the Brahmapootra. I have a skull beside me now; it is nearly fifteen
inches long. Few tiger-skulls are as long as this. The lower jaw is
deep; it is underhung, and the teeth weak as compared with a tiger's.
It is more of a vegetable-feeding animal, though carnivorous to some extent
also.
This large skull belonged to a Dacca bear. I was after a tiger, and had
some native sportsmen out with me, friends of a large landed proprietor^ who
was a Brahmin and of a sporting turn of mind. I had beaten up a great
number of detached jungles, and had sent the line forward towards another
beat, when I heard loud shouting and some shots, and hurried forward only just
in time to get a very long shot at a huge black bear rolling fast across a rice-
stubble field ; without stopping the elephant to take careful aim, I fired well
ahead, and luckily plugged the bear in the shoulder with a heavy Daw-Jacob
bullet, and he fell, uttering most wretched and human-like groans. These
lamentations make one feel like a murderer, and are a drawback to bear-
shooting. The termination of many a keenly-followed chase is often
mournful 1 What can be more cruel than the end of a stag-hunt with the
Devon and Somerset stag-hounds in Badgeworthy Water, after a two-hours'
run? The poor beast is hunted up and down, backwards and forwards, half-
drowning in the stream, with hounds tearing at him and merely torturing
him, till after long delay the huntsman gets the knife to his throat. The
hog-deer^ when chased on horseback, cries like a child or a hare before the
spear kills him ; and bears, both young and old, shock you and make you feel
ashamed almost as they expire. But the gallant boar fights till the last and
never utters a squeak.
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