Beavan, R.C., 1865. The rhinoceros in Bhotan (Rhinoceros indicus, Cuv). Intellectual Observer 6: 170-174
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| Location: |
Asia - South Asia - India |
| Subject: |
Distribution - Records |
| Species: |
Indian Rhino |
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Bhotan, one of the localities in which it is found, is a large independent state on the north-east frontier of Bengal, most of it a terra incognita to Europeans, owing to the strictly exclusive Indo-Chinese policy exercised by its rulers.
The author was for some months stationed at the little out of the way village of Julpigorie, an outpost on this frontier, and situated on the banks of the river Teesta, which, after leaving the Sikkim Himalaya, forms the boundary between the British district of Rungpore, and the country of the Bhotanese.
By gentle means, i. e., occasional requests, invariably accompanied by sundry bottles of rum or other spirit, the Soubah or head man of the district immediately opposite the station was frequently wheedled into granting permission to a few officers of the native regiment stationed there to cross the frontier into his territory for a day's shooting ; but as the leave thus obtained expired at nightfall, it being contrary to the laws of the land for an Englishman to pass the night in their domain, the distance one could penetrate into the interior was necessarily limited to twenty or thirty miles. Within this radius, however, during the hot weather, when water was scarce, plenty of game was to be found, and the officers of the -th Bengal Native Infantry were not slow to avail themselves of these advantages.
Three of us started one fine morning in May, the hottest month in these parts, with eight elephants as beaters, making, with those that carried us, eleven in all. We had to proceed a few miles up the river Teesta before it could be forded, for though in many places apparently shallow, the quicksand which frequently occur rendered this preliminary operation dangerous in the extreme for elephants. At last fairly across, we enter a dry, grassy-looking country, with occasional patches of cultivation, and here and there a few huts are clustered together under the shadow of a clump of bamboos or plantains.
After this delay, as the day was far spent, we determined to beat back homewards, and by great good luck, in a small patch of reeds near a swamp, came across a herd of from seven to eight rhinoceroses. R., who happened to be near them when they broke cover, fired right and left, and to our intense astonishment, down dropped two of the huge beasts. Had we not seen it ourselves, it would have appeared a veritable Munchausen's tale, for it is a well-known fact that one of these animals will frequently carry off ten or twenty heavy bullets in its body without ceremony.
In the whole course of the experience of our veteran leader; Colonel M., such a thing had before never been done; but here was the fact, in both the animals the bullets had pierced the vertebrae of the neck, and R.'s feat was, as may well be supposed, the theme for conversation for many a day after.
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The rhinoceros in Bhotan (Rhinoceros indicus, Cuv)
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