274 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



end of July to September elephants, gaur, wild cattle, sambur, 

 barking deer, pig, etc. may usually (at all hours of the day) be 

 found in shady bamboo forests feeding on the young succulent 

 shoots. All the above animals are then very easily approached, 

 as the ground has by then been thoroughly saturated, and 

 there never is, as a rule, any undergrowth in bamboo forests 

 at any time to impede one's movements and alarm game. 

 An animal often gives indication of its presence in bamboo 

 jungle when it is feeding on the tender shoots, and should 

 you be standing anywhere within 200 or 300 yards of where 

 it is feeding, the snapping off of a shoot is quite audible and 

 distinct from any other noise. The sportsman is then enabled 

 to make for the spot at once as quietly and quickly as he 

 can, after having, of course, first tested the wind to see whether 

 it is in his favour or not, as a gaur, tsine, or elephant will 

 wind a man at a distance of from 300 to 400 yards, and of 

 course make off. The easiest way to test the wind is by 

 lighting a match and then blowing it out ; the direction taken 

 by the smoke, however slight a current of air there is, at 

 once indicating whether the wind is in your favour or not. 



Hunters, gun-bearers, and trackers are to be found in every 

 district in Upper Burma. The best way for a new-comer to 

 obtain their services is as follows : 



He should first of all write a polite letter to the head of 

 the district, a Civil servant known as a deputy commissioner, 

 and inform him that he wishes to shoot in the said district, 

 and ask whether there is any objection to his doing so, and if 

 he would kindly assist him in obtaining transport, hunters, 

 trackers, etc. 



The Deputy Commissioner, or District Magistrate as he is 

 sometimes called, will usually depute one of his subordinates, 

 a Burman " myook " (minor magistrate or " thugyi," head- 

 man of a village), to do the needful. It would perhaps be 

 wise at the same time, if the sportsman wishes to shoot 

 elephants, to ascertain where these animals have been 

 destroying plantain or banana crops, and damaging paddy 

 or rice fields, in which case, a permit to shoot them will also 

 be required from the Deputy Commissioner, as the shooting 

 of elephants has now, as in India, been prohibited. It would 



