326 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



that solitaires, when disturbed from a certain cover they have 

 been in the habit of frequenting, invariably return to it again. 

 But let me go back to the elephant whose track we had 

 discovered. My hunters positively asserted, this time from 

 the formation of the footprints, that the owner was really a 

 tusker. We had not been following the trail long, before 

 sounds from a neighbouring bamboo cover informed us that 

 the elephant was close by. After ascertaining in the usual 

 manner whether the wind was in our favour, I moved forward 

 cautiously with the 8-bore, followed by Moung Yauk, another 

 favourite hunter of mine who was armed with my 12-bore. 

 Both weapons were loaded with solid, hardened, conical bullets, 

 driven in the case of the 8-bore by 10 drams of powder, and 

 in that of the 12-bore by 6 drams. 



After picking our way carefully through some rather thick 

 undergrowth we came into more open bamboo forest, where, 

 to my utter astonishment, five tusker elephants instead of the 

 one I had expected to see came into view walking along 

 slowly in single file, broadside on, at a distance of about 35 

 yards, apparently heading for an adjacent cane-brake, where 

 I have no doubt they intended resting during the heat of the 

 day. Picking out the leading elephant, the largest tusker, 

 which, from a side view, appeared to have only one tusk, I 

 fired, aiming for the heart. The elephant on receiving the 

 bullet charged straight ahead, and crashed into dense cover, 

 some 50 yards further on, when all sounds ceased. The 

 other four tuskers, none of which carried large tusks, wheeled 

 round and came bobbing along, in full charge, straight down 

 upon us. It was rather a startling spectacle, and for the 

 moment I felt very much inclined to get out of the way as 

 quickly as possible. Moung Yauk, at this critical juncture, 

 seemed very undecided what to do, and looked as if he would 

 like to clamber up into the branches of the tree behind which 

 we had taken our stand. The tree was not by any means 

 one of massive girth, and could easily have been knocked 

 down by a butt from an elephant's forehead. After warning 

 Moung Yauk to stand firm and be ready with the 12-bore 

 should I require it, I aimed for the forehead of the nearest 

 elephant, which was by this time some fifteen paces off, and 



