92 HUNTING WITH THE KAEENS 



whom we met on the pilgrimage, and they were 

 appropriated with frank pleasure, and carried 

 with much ostentation. But Earn got no thanks 

 from me for his generosity. The natives fired at 

 every living thing which crossed our path, making 

 such a f usilade that hunting was simply out of the 

 question. When I took Earn to task he solemnly 

 assured me that the men would not dare venture 

 into the jungle without the guns ; and when I told 

 him I could get along better without both men and 

 guns he protested that the king would cut off his 

 head if he allowed the " distinguished foreign 

 hunter," who had been intrusted to his care, to ven- 

 ture unprotected into the jungle. So I proceeded 

 to take the law into my own hands by getting pos- 

 session of the small supply of caps and deliberately 

 exploding every one of then on Wan's gun, which 

 I borrowed for the purpose. Mutiny followed, 

 but none of the gun owners left I am sorry to 

 say— we had too much good grub. While we 

 stopped at the Karen village reports innumerable 

 came to us of game, especially of elephants, of 

 which the jungles were said to be full, as indeed 

 it seemed after we got started. Leaving the 

 little village at daybreak, we had not walked more 

 than a couple of hours before we found broad, 

 defined tracks, and later a wallowing pool. 

 Whether or not you are hunting elephant, it is a 



