SHOLAGA TRACKERS. 203 



very boldly shut the door with a long bamboo, and by making a hole 

 through the wattle - and - dab wall Bommay Gouda got another shot and 

 killed this strangely-behaved tiger. There is no doubt that it was suffering 

 from some disease or hallucination which rendered it oblivious to what 

 was going on. It was described as being apparently stupefied. I have 

 known somewhat similar cases of wild animals being found in an uncon- 

 scious and incapable state in the jungles. 



Bommay Gouda had with him a good Sholaga tracker and his son by the 

 time I had pointed out the camping-ground, and we set out. The Sh51aga 

 reported bison as scarce, bears more so (owing to want of rain), but ele- 

 phants, he said, were numerous, and gave them trouble in guarding their 

 little plots of cultivation from their nocturnal visits. There seemed to be 

 little hope of sport except with elephants ; and as they were evidently very 

 destructive, I determined to put in force the clause of the prohibition against 

 shooting them, which provides for cases where they are a burden to the 

 cultivators, and I gave the word " Forward ! " to the delighted Bommay 

 Gouda. He had been an elephant- hunter in days gone by, and was 

 thoroughly imbued with the peculiar enthusiasm of the sport. He always 

 said, " Anay hycirU, dhord hydrU" (elephant-shooting is the sport for gentle- 

 men). So tremble, ye elephants, wherever ye are, for men are on your 

 tracks whose eyes would not miss the print of the tiniest deer. 



The Sholaga and his son, a lad of fourteen, led the way towards a dense 

 belt of jungle three miles distant, w^here they said the elephants were 

 generally to be found. I rode a pony until we got within a mile of the 

 place ; we then advanced cautiously. Presently, in crossing a sandy 

 nullah, the trackers pointed to the tracks of what appeared to me to be 

 about half-a-dozen elephants, but they explained that there were between 

 forty and fifty, and that the prints had been made early that morning. 

 In tracking, nothing is more difficult to a novice than to estimate with even 

 approximate accuracy the number of individuals in a herd of elephants. 

 Sometimes they travel in single file (when marching any distance), and the 

 uninitiated might be excused for believing that but a single elephant had 

 passed, where fifty would be nearer the number ; and, on the other hand, a 

 small herd wiU, by feeding for some time within a small area, often leave 

 signs which lead the inexperienced to suppose that a much larger number 

 has been there. Experienced trackers can tell pretty accurately at a glance 

 how many animals the herd contains. 



I always fortify myself with breakfast or luncheon before going into 

 action — one does not know when one may have an opportunity of getting 

 anything again that day; so whilst I was laying in some cold fowl and 



