It was also thought that by sleeping in mosquito curtains, and not exposing oneself to the air before dawn or after sunset, it was possible to remain more or less immune. But I have no doubt that, though the constitutions of certain individuals, usually men of dark complexion and spare habit, are much less subject to fever than others, and though the continued use of small doses of quinine tends to weaken if not to keep off attacks of fever, yet no amount of precaution against mosquito bites will ever make it possible for Europeans or natives to live in the Terai during the rainy season without suffering from fever. The amount of illness and mortality which prevailed in all the districts at the foot of the hills, known as the Dooars, when they were first opened up by tea planters, was very serious, both among Europeans and among the coolies, who were mostly immigrants from Bengal.
Our first beat for rhinoceros took place on the other side of the Tista river, which was about a hundred yards wide and at that season was just fordable for elephants. It was very interesting to see how the smaller elephants took advantage of the breakwater formed by the larger ones and packed themselves together just below them in order to avoid the force of the rapid current. The water was almost over the backs of the smaller animals, which would have been washed off their feet if alone, but, feeling every step of the way carefully, all crossed safely.
We then formed a line of elephants at intervals of fifteen to twenty yards in the long grass and reeds which covered the country, and beat it with the flanking elephants rather in advance. There were a good many swamp-deer, but we found it very difficult to hit them, when shooting for the first time from the howdah of a moving elephant, and we only got one.
Later we beat a dry watercourse, 400 yards wide, which was full of dense reeds, so tall that even when standing up in the howdah one could hardly see the next elephant. In these reeds the rhinoceros lay and slept during the day, having regular runs along which they passed without being seen from above. Once or twice there was a rush, and if the elephant was quick enough to follow it up, and the reeds were not too dense, one got a snap shot, but I cannot say that the sport was very successful, or that it is, under such conditions, a sport that attracts me. Once a rhinoceros charged and struck one of the elephants with his horn, causing a regular stampede, and it was very difficult to get them into line again. We also found that a much better knowledge of the ground than any of our party possessed was necessary to beat it successfully for tigers, and the jemadar of the mahouts, on whom we had to depend a good deal, was not very keen about the job in the absence of his own chief, who was unable to join the party as we expected.
The chief interest of this kind of shooting, to me, consists in watching the behaviour and character of the different elephants. It was very curious to watch the way in which the elephants, at the word of command, bend and break down the branches and smaller trees which overhang their path, so as to let the howdah pass under them. They do not, however, seem to be able to break anything really large, and are particularly careful not to disturb any trees on which bees’ nests are fixed.
After another day’s hunting of the same character, in which a deer and
4
