THE TIGER. 303 



inches at the shoulder, should not be exceeded. A 

 smaller animal than eight feet two inches will be under- 

 sized for tiger-shooting purposes. A female makes the 

 best hunting elephant when she is really staunch with 

 game, as her paces and temper are generally better, and 

 she is not subject to the danger of becomino- "must" 

 and uncontrollable, as male elephants do periodically 

 after a certain age. But females are more uncertain 

 as to courage than males ; and it is a risk to buy the 

 former untried for shooting purposes. Most " muknas " 

 (tuskless males) can, I believe, be relied on to become 

 staunch with tigers when properly trained and entered ; 

 and, for my own part, if buying an entirely untried 

 elephant, I would always select a *' mukna." They are 

 generally more vigorous and better developed than 

 tuskers, though not usually so tall. A not improbable 

 explanation of this was given me by a wild inhabitant 

 of the forests to the east of the sources of the Narbada, 

 where wild elephants then existed in large numbers. 

 He said he had noticed that the young tuskers, after 

 their sharp little tusks began to prick the mother in the 

 process of sucking, were driven off by her and allowed 

 to shift for themselves, while females and muknas con- 

 tinued to be nourished by her until she got another 

 young one. 



After some trouble I bought the ten elephants I 

 wanted — eight of them muknas and two females. Their 



o 



average price was £150, the dearest being £200, and 

 the cheapest £100. The highest price I heard of being 

 obtained at the fair was £800 for a noble tusker, bought 

 for a Eaja in the Punjab. So far as I know, none of 

 them had ever seen a tiger ; but they all became ex- 

 cellent shikaris, except one large mukna in whom I 

 found I had been stuck with a regular man-killing 



