NATIVE HUNTERS 277 



A good " mokso " tracker or hunter, who knows every foot 

 of the country thoroughly, can tell you almost to a certainty, 

 on coming across the trail of a solitary bull or herd of animals 

 in the open, what particular patch of jungle or cover the animals 

 are leading for. Fresh signs, such as the bark scraped off a 

 root by an animal's hoof, exposing the white wood with the 

 juice oozing out before the bruises have turned yellow from 

 exposure to the air, smoking ordure, steaming urine, with the 

 froth and bubbles en evidence, freshly- cropped grass, a muddy 

 pool, an animal's resting-place where the ground and grass is 

 still warm, and where the odour of the animals still pervades 

 the surrounding atmosphere, these and many other tokens 

 are all distinct indications, which are quite intelligible to the 

 experienced sportsman, of the near vicinity of an animal. To 

 become proficient in the art of tracking and stalking an 

 animal is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult of all the 

 arts of woodcraft, and no European sportsman can ever 

 become an adept at it unless he is a close observer of nature, 

 and has spent a good many years of his life in the wilds 

 and jungles, far from social and political strifes, with only his 

 guns, dogs, and hunters as his companions. 



Burman hunters and trackers are to be found in nearly 

 every district of Upper Burma where game is at all plentiful. 

 The best method of getting at them is by invoking the aid of 

 a myook or (a myauk, as he is sometimes called by strangers, 

 in Burmese means a monkey) a subordinate magistrate, or a 

 thugyi, the head-man of a village, as previously mentioned 

 in this chapter. Many of the myooks speak English, but 

 through the medium of an interpreter all difficulties would be 

 removed. It is difficult to fix on a rate of pay for your men ; 

 they have not as yet, thank heaven, been spoilt by the 

 sporting millionaires of England and our cousins across the 

 water. As a rule, 12 annas per diem and his food, with 

 perhaps an occasional coat or a blanket thrown in, and the 

 right to dispose of the meat of all the animals shot, is sufficient. 

 A present of Rs.5 or Rs.io should, however, invariably be 

 given on the close of a successful shoot, if the sportsman 

 finds his shikarie has been working hard and doing his duty 

 faithfully. Two hunters or trackers, the qualities being 



