Tiger Shooting. 5 5 



alone, and asked me to allow the lad to accompany 

 him ; so telling them to put their "packs" down on a 

 knoll overlooking a clear, bright streamlet, and cutting- 

 branches and grass to cover over the sambur and pro- 

 tect the body from the vultures, which would other- 

 wise have swept down upon it, I let them start, then r 

 leaving the beaten path, about one hundred yards. 

 I sat down. I made myself as comfortable as I could, 

 choosing for my perch a projecting rock, with another 

 just a little below it on which I could rest my feet, my 

 gun and rifle being close at hand. It was just the 

 kind of jungle where one might expect to see "yit' r 

 and jungle fowl, who are very fond of scratching and 

 pecking about for ants and larvae near the banks of 

 mountain streams, especially when they are shaded, as 

 this one was, by a grass which much resembles young 

 bamboos. At my back was a small "bear" bush, 1 

 against the stem of which I leant my back, and on 

 either side of me the undergrowth was rather heavy, 

 but down to my front I could see very distinctly. I 

 did not think that even a hare could have gone by 

 without being observed. To pass the time I ate 

 some hard-boiled eggs, and drank some of Crabbie's 

 ginger-wine, for the day was sultry, not a breath of 

 air moving the atmosphere. Here I had been perched 

 for nearly an hour and was getting drowsy, when I 

 heard the musical laughter and voices of some 

 approaching Burmese girls. I thought they prob- 

 ably belonged to the village my people had gone to ? 

 and that the men were following ; yet they appeared 



1 This is a thorny, stunted tree and bears a fruit somewhat 

 resembling a small crab apple which are not bad eating if 

 thoroughly ripe. 



