124 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



necessity for strict order and discipline, where only one solitary 

 gun represented the offensive capacity of the line. 



The ordinary method of tiger-shooting with a long line of 

 elephants comprises five or six guns placed at intervals. I dislike 

 this style of sport, as it engenders wild and inaccurate firing. 

 Every person wishes to secure a chance, therefore no opportunity 

 is lost, and wherever the grass is seen to move, a bullet is directed 

 at the spot. If only one gun is present, extreme caution and good 

 management are necessary to ensure the death of a tiger, and the 

 result of twenty-five days' shooting on the churs of the Brahma- 

 putra was highly satisfactory, as during that period eight tigers 

 and three leopards only were moved, and every one was bagged ; 

 thus nothing whatever escaped. 



I always make a point of allowing the Government reward as 

 a bonus, without any deductions for buffalo baits or beaters, and 

 this amount I divide among the shikaris and mahouts according 

 to my estimation of their merits ; this gives them an additional 

 interest in the proceedings. We were now thoroughly organised, 

 and, if the tigers had been in the numbers that existed some years 

 ago, we should have made a more than ordinary bag. The diffi- 

 culty of managing so long a line of elephants with a tiger on foot, 

 and only one gun, was shortly made apparent. 



One of our baits had been killed, and the body had been 

 dragged into about twelve acres of wild rose. This bush produces 

 a blossom rather larger than the common dog-rose of English 

 hedges, and equally lovely. Although it is armed with a certain 

 amount of thorns, it is not to be compared with the British variety 

 as a formidable barrier, but, as it delights in swamp hollows, it 

 grows into the densest foliage, about 18 feet high, and forms an 

 impenetrable screen of tangled and matted vegetation. No human 

 being could force his way through a network of wild rose, there- 

 fore it forms a desirable retreat for all wild animals, who can 

 penetrate beneath it, and enjoy the protection of cool shade, and 

 undisturbed seclusion. 



In an open grass country it may be readily imagined that tigers 

 would be certain to resort to such inviting covert, where they 

 would be secure from all intrusion, and to which cavernous density 

 they could drag and conceal their prey. 



Upon arrival about three miles from camp at this isolated 

 patch of rose jungle, I felt sure that the tiger must be within. 

 There was a similar but rather smaller area of wild rose about f 

 mile distant, and it was highly probable that should the tiger be 

 disturbed, it might slink away, break covert at the extreme end, 



