322 WILD SPORTS Of BURMA AND ASSAM 



from behind ; this quickened his pace considerably. We 

 followed as quickly as possible, being guided by the breaking 

 and cracking of bamboos and branches, never for one moment 

 expecting to see him, at any rate for the next ten or fifteen 

 miles, but what was our surprise to come up with him 

 suddenly standing broadside on, on a rather thickly wooded 

 knoll. I immediately gave him a right and left behind the 

 shoulder, and Moung Hpe, who was armed with my single '303, 

 also gave him a shot in the same place, but the brute moved 

 off. I was unable to make out at the time whether the 

 elephant possessed tusks or not, as its head was hidden from 

 view behind some foliage. It being by now late in the even- 

 ing, it was decided, very much against my wish, to relinquish 

 the chase till next day. I was not by any means keen on 

 continuing the pursuit, as I was under the impression that it 

 was a muckna, but as the poor beast had been badly wounded 

 I determined to follow it up, and if possible put it out of its 

 misery. 



We took on the tracks again at an early hour next 

 morning. It was a weary trudge, through one bamboo cover 

 into another, till I felt as if bamboo jungle, trees, earth, stones, 

 streams, and elephant tracks had been indelibly photographed 

 on my brain. We kept steadily on the trail for some hours, 

 an occasional drop of blood, the size of a threepenny piece, 

 showing here and there at intervals. After marching from 

 6 a.m. till 9 a.m., the tracks led us through some rice and 

 maize cultivations, to which the elephant had helped himself 

 liberally. The cultivators, an old Burman and his wife, who 

 appeared rather concerned about the destruction of their crops, 

 informed us that they had heard the animal pass about 2 a.m. 

 that morning. After refreshing ourselves with the milk of 

 some fresh cocoa-nuts, which the owners of the cultivation 

 hospitably offered us, we pushed steadily on, having an occa- 

 sional difficulty where the tracks passed over dry, hard, stony 

 ground ; Moung Hpe was, however, indefatigable, and was never 

 really at a loss. We only halted once for about half-an-hour 

 for something to eat, my own breakfast consisting of cold 

 gaur tongue, chicken, a few biscuits, figs, and prunes, washed 

 down with water from a neighbouring stream. 



