i2 4 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



For good shooting and for comfort, everything depends on 

 the height of the seat from the floor the edge should just fit 

 into the bend of the knee : if less and the elephant jolts 

 suddenly forward, the rider is apt to go backwards ; if higher 

 the constant friction against the back of the thighs is very 

 annoying and apt to throw a man forward ; but if of the 

 height I have mentioned you feel firm, the body sways 

 to and fro, and you feel at home and able to shoot 

 here, there, and everywhere. Until you feel at home in a 

 howdah on an elephant's back and can do without holding on 

 to the sides, you will never make good shooting. Four guns 

 in a howdah are ample, two on each side of your seat, where 

 racks are fitted just large enough for the butt-end of your 

 stocks ; these racks had better be lined with felt to prevent 

 rattling. In the fore-part there is a bar with notches for the 

 barrels ; these should be lined, or the polish will soon be taken 

 off the gun. In a box, also lined, your cartridges should be 

 arranged ; in a scrimmage there is no time to pick out 

 cartridges it is best therefore to have your weapons of the 

 same bore, with perhaps the exception of an Express, whose 

 cartridges cannot be mistaken for any others. There should 

 be a lid to let down to keep off dew or rain. The less noise, 

 other than the unavoidable one the elephants make in going 

 through the long grass, the better ; most of the game in 

 Burma and Assam are accustomed to hearing and seeing the 

 elephants moving about, but if they hear the rattling of gun- 

 barrels or of plates, etc., they soon know there is something 

 uncanny approaching, and make tracks. 



Take a light zephyr waterproof coat to put on if heavy rain 

 sets in. The best protection overhead is a large native 

 umbrella with a long handle ; on either side, between your 

 gun-stocks, drill two holes, one on the seat and the other 

 in the floor ; by opening the umbrella and inserting it on one 

 side or the other according to the sun's inclination, you will 

 have shade, which is only required when going over large 

 tracts where there is no game expected. When not wanted, 

 take the umbrella out of the holes, fold it up, and put it head- 

 downwards on the floor, the handle sticking out behind the 

 back of the howdah, and it will not be the least in the way. 



