312 BIG GAME SHOOTING 



served, they are increasing rather than diminishing in 

 numbers. A certain number are taken yearly by the 

 " Keddah " for domestication, and only what are 

 called proscribed elephants, i.e. those who have gone 

 rogue, and therefore dangerous and destructive, are 

 allowed to be shot. 



In the rainy season the tiger-grass, as it is called, 

 grows into impenetrable masses in the swamps and 

 open spaces of the jungle. This remains standing 

 until the following spring, when it becomes dry 

 enough to burn. About March or April, according 

 to season, the annual burning begins. This is done 

 by the inhabitants of the Terai to allow the young 

 grass to grow for grazing purposes, and by sports- 

 men, so that when the said grass is burnt, patches 

 only remain here and there, and can be beaten out 

 by elephants. Before the grass is burned there is no 

 chance of identifying game and bringing it to book. 



The usual mode of hunting in the Terai is by 

 working a line of twenty elephants or so through the 

 covert. Men are useless for this purpose, as the 

 grass stands eight or ten feet high, and it would be 

 impossible to work a line properly, besides which, if 

 a wounded tiger is about, a beater or two would 

 certainly be killed. 



The first thing to be done by a hunting party is 

 to get " khubber " news of a tiger. For this purpose 

 shikaris, who are excellent trackers, leave the camp 

 at dawn and draw the most likely places until they 

 come across the " pugs " or tracks of a tiger. It is 

 their business to follow these tracks home that is to 



