TRACKERS 109 



Dubba, the trip occupying about six hours. We 

 anchored at the mouth of a khal facing the Bay 

 of Bengal, a lovely spot, and landed early. We 

 walked about the sand-hills and over an extensive 

 maidan, seeing a few cheetal and coming on one 

 or two stale tiger pugs. 



Not many men can tell the " age " of tiger pugs. 

 I have often been assured that the pugs were 

 " quite fresh," when they were obviously several 

 days old. Heavy dew will make a stale pug look 

 fresh and half-an-hour of sun will " bake " a fresh 

 one and make it look a week old. Wind will 

 " blur " a fresh pug in sand in a few minutes. 

 Constant study alone enables a man to "read" 

 a pug with any approach to accuracy. I revel in 

 studying pugs, tracking having always fascinated 

 me. I have dabbled in it ever since I was twelve 

 years old. I know it is heretical to say so, but I 

 do not consider the Indians to be first-class 

 trackers, not excepting even the jungli folk. I 

 give my opinion for what it is worth, but I do 

 not think the Indian tracker is comparable to a 

 really first-class Italian tracker of the Maremma. 



It was in the Pyrenees that I first became ac- 

 quainted with a neat shikar swindle, one which is 

 frequently indulged in by the Indian ryots. In 

 the Pyrenees it is a case of bear footprints, in 

 India of tiger pugs. In both countries the swindle 

 is eminently successful when practised on un- 

 suspecting and inexperienced Englishmen. The 

 method adopted is as follows: When a good clear 

 impression of a tiger's foot is found in stiff soil or 

 clay, a large clod is cut out and placed in the sun 

 till it is baked. An impression is then taken 



