THE TEAK REGION. 237 



that I had missed him clean the last time, and that he 

 had died just in the nick of time from the first shot 

 through the shoulders. 



By far the finest sport afforded by the sambar is 

 when he is regularly stalked in his native wilderness, 

 without either elephant or beaters. I will not waste a 

 word on so vile a practice as that of shooting him at 

 night, when he comes to the crops or drinking places. 

 None but a native shikari, or an European with equally 

 poaching proclivities, would ever think of such a thing. 

 To succeed in stalking, the camp must be pitched as 

 near as possible to where they have been ascertained to 

 resort at night to feed and drink. A party of the 

 aborigines of the place must be entertained to act as 

 scouts, people who thoroughly know the country and 

 the haunts and habits of the deer, and who are not 

 afraid to traverse any part of the jungles in the dark. 

 These must be sent out in couples long before daylight 

 to crown the most commanding hill tops in the neigh- 

 bourhood, with instructions to mark any sambar they 

 may see on the way from their feeding grounds to the 

 midday resting place. When deer are observed one 

 should remain to watch them, while the other hastens 

 with the news to some well-marked central point, 

 whither the sportsman himself must leisurely proceed, 

 starting half an hour or so before daybreak, accompanied 

 by one or two of the wild men. It is very likely he 

 may fall in with a deer himself by the way, and get a 

 stalk ; but if not some of the scouts are almost certain 

 to bring information in time to get at the deer before 

 they have lain down. This method of scouting also 

 succeeds well with bison in thin jungles where they are 

 sometimes found ; and I do not know any place where 



