one to shoot them but himself. I remember the wailing
lament of a Nepaul officer with whom I was out shooting, when I
happened to fire at and wound one of the protected beasts. It was in
Nepaul, among a cluster of low woody hills, with a brawling stream
dashing through the precipitous channel worn out of the rocky,
boulder-covered dell. The rhinoceros was up the hill slightly above
me, and we were beating up for a tiger that we had seen go ahead of
the line.

In my eagerness to bag a 'rhino' I quite forgot the interdict, and
fired an Express bullet into the shoulder of the animal, as he stood
broadside on, staring stupidly at me. He staggered, and made as if he
would charge down the hill. The old 'Major Capt[=a]n,' as they called our
sporting host, was shouting out to me not to fire. The _mahouts_ and
beaters were petrified with horror at my presumption. I fancy they
expected an immediate order for my decapitation, or for my ears to be
cut off at the very least, but feeling I might as well be 'in for a
pound as for a penny,' I fired again, and tumbled the huge brute over,
with a bullet through the skull behind the ear. The old officer was
horror-stricken, and would allow no one to go near the animal. He
would not even let me get down to measure it, being terrified lest the
affair should reach the ears of his formidable lord and ruler, that he
hurried us off from the scene of my transgression as quickly as he
could.

The old Major Capt[=a]n was a curious character. The government of
Nepaul is purely military. All executive and judicial functions are
carried on by military officers. After serving a certain time in the
army, they get rewarded for good service by being appointed to the
executive charge of a district. So far as I could make out, they seem
to farm the revenue much as is done in Turkey. They must send in
so much to the Treasury, and anything over they keep for themselves.
Their administration of justice is rough and ready. Fines, corporal
punishment, and in the case of heinous crimes, mutilation and death are
their penalties. There is a tax of _kind_ on all produce, and licenses
to cut timber bring in a large revenue. A protective tariff is levied on
all goods or produce passing the frontier from British territory, and no
European is allowed to travel in the country, or to settle and trade
there. In the lower valleys there are magnificent stretches of land
suitable for indigo, tea, rice, and other crops. The