INTRO D UCTOR Y xvii 



adventures to The Field and other sporting papers, until at 

 last an editor of The Field said somewhere, that if ever game 

 had existed in Burma it was no longer to be found. 



There is no royal road to sporting; to be successful you 

 must be plodding. In a new country learn the language and 

 conciliate the people ; and without a certain amount of health 

 and strength you cannot cope with the difficulties insepar- 

 able from searching for big game ; but adopt a few pre- 

 cautions, such as not sleeping on the ground, for which there 

 is no excuse. Get one of Edgington's trestle-cots ; ask for 

 my pattern, as it is an improvement on the old, with a large 

 waterproof cover, and two mosquito-curtains, one of fine 

 muslin, to be used as a precaution against sandflies, and 

 another of net for mosquitoes, together with a cork mattress 

 to put inside, and a pneumatic pillow. Avoid chills if wet 

 through, change or, if you can't, put on the thickest coat 

 you have. Wear flannel, be abstemious in your living, at 

 the same time, live well. If you have elephants, and are 

 accustomed to drink beer, take a supply with you ; a bottle 

 of Lager will hurt no man. If you cannot carry it about, 

 take whisky, and use it as a corrective to water; avoid 

 drinking water unless previously boiled. I here preach what 

 I never practised, for I have drunk water little better than 

 urine, from any pools or river, but it is not wise to do so. 

 But thirst is far more unendurable than hunger, and a man 

 with a parched throat does not consider what is good or bad. 

 Indeed, I believe half the talk indulged in now-a-days of 

 bacilli is nonsense. If they are so numerous as the learned 

 say now, I ought to have died years and years ago. Then 

 there are also to be considered the best seasons for sport, and 

 the localities where to find it ; these differ somewhat each 

 year ; the fires may have been earlier, and the rains also. 

 If so, the new grass will have sprung up and the game will 

 be leaving their strongholds in March ; but if the fires are 

 late and also the Chotabursat has been slight, the grass will 

 not be fit for grazing until May. I have been out more or 

 less every month, but to attempt to shoot during the height 

 of the monsoon is a misery in Lower Burma, and you get 

 very little owing to the nature of the jungles, which are so 



