114 



Great numbers of these deer are each season killed by Burmans ; 

 being mobbed with dogs ; half-bred greyhounds of which a great 

 deal of care is taken in Pegu, or by means of the bell and flame 

 decoy, to which they sometimes are attracted so near (I have been 

 assured by Burmans and Europeans who said they had seen them 

 thus killed) as to be cut down with knives or rather the long 

 handled swords used by the natives of Burmah, and from what I 

 have seen of the way animals are seduced to destruction by this 

 detestable mode of poaching, which I shall not attempt to describe, 



I see very little reason to doubt the correctness of the statement. 



" Low belling" evidently derived from the north country word 

 " Lowe" a flame, seems however to have been a crime pretty gene- 

 rally known to the poachers of all countries, and to have been 

 perhaps the most deadly of all the many villainous methods of 

 murdering game. 



In a rare old book I possess : " The experienced Fowler ; or, The 

 " Gentleman, Citizen and Countryman's pleasant and profitable 

 " Recreation" printed at the " Slue Bell" and at the " Ring" in 

 " LITTLE BRITAIN" in 1697, and written by the "Reader's" "Friend 

 " to Serve you" " J. S. Gent"* that quaint old poacher, not one 

 whit ashamed, gives most detailed instructions for this, among 

 other " Recreations in the Art of Fowling" which he says he lays 

 down " in so Easie and intelligible a manner as cannot but be 

 " agreeable to all persons who desire to be skilled in Experiments 



II inserted " not only from his" own Experiences but those oj the 

 " most Cunning and dexterous Proficients" 



Poaching is fast clearing off game all over India, and will 'ere 

 long injure British Burmah in like manner : so that it behoves 

 every one who has at heart any sportsman-like feeling of fair play 

 to hope, that game laws may soon be introduced into both coun- 

 tries. All the ideas, records and legends of the people of India 

 are in favor of the right of the governing power for the time 

 being to preserve game by laws far more stringent and arbitrary 

 than any we would issue. Game laws therefore would be received 

 by them without a murmur, and as the people themselves would 



* In 1697 this word probabl.y had a different signification somewhat differing 

 from that which it bears in 1869 VAG RAK T. 



