IN BURMAH 339 



a shot without being detected by him are slight. If 

 riding an elephant, you can, of course, take liberties. 



In the more open jungle it is, of course, a different 

 matter. Elephants appear to spend their leisure time 

 in the heat of the day drowsing in the shade and 

 leaning against trees. In forest where the under- 

 growth affords cover without being too dense, I have 

 crept within thirty or forty yards of them many times. 



One of the most charming jungle sights I ever 

 saw was late one afternoon up in these hills. We had 

 chosen the camping-place for the night in a choung, 

 one of the half-dry sandy watercourses which intersect 

 the hills in all directions, legacies of the south-west 

 monsoon and its torrential rains, and with one 

 Karen I was strolling along another of these courses 

 some distance from the camp, hoping to pick up a 

 couple of pigeons, a jungle fowl, or whatever might 

 offer itself as a change from venison. The Karen, 

 who was a pace or two in front seeking a path among 

 a mass of boulders, at a bend in the choung suddenly 

 collapsed, and shrank as deftly as a land crab into 

 a convenient crevice, imploring caution with both 

 hands. Sixty or seventy yards away, on the margin 

 of the still water, stood a cow elephant with a calf 

 ten hands high at most : she had clearly brought her 

 baby for an evening tub, and he would not " get in." 

 What little wind there was blew from the elephants, 

 so I knelt down and watched the pair. 



The old elephant began by taking a step or two 

 into the shallow, drew up water and gave herself 

 a shower-bath ; a fair sprinkling went over the 



