96 HUNTING WITH THE KARENS 



nearly straight and terminating usually in a simple 

 fork. The sambar is quite the largest of the 

 Oriental group, and a fine deer it is, of powerful 

 build, standing nearly five feet in height at the 

 shoulder in the hills where it is most abundant. 

 At the other side of the world, in Argentine and in 

 Chili, South America, I found another deer, locally 

 known as the huemul, which carries antlers quite 

 similar to those of the sambar. 



There are some parts of the Malay Peninsula 

 where the Sakais kill the muntjac, and even the 

 sambar, w T ith poisoned darts from their blow gun ; 

 but none of these Oriental peoples are hunters of 

 deer except by the method of watching from a 

 platform erected near a drinking hole in the dry 

 season. During the rainy season no attempt is 

 made to get deer, and therefore they know nothing 

 whatever of the science of hunting. Truth to tell, 

 hunting craft, wood craft, is of little service in 

 these dense Par Eastern jungles, because there is 

 no such thing as following game up wind except 

 by chance, or of calculating its probable range and 

 crossing upon it, or nine times out of ten of cir- 

 cumventing it in any legitimate manner. If ever 

 the hunter gets the game at a disadvantage it is 

 entirely luck ; for there is no other way of hunting 

 in these dense jungles than by following tracks 

 wherever they may lead. Thus it will happen that 



