BAG A GOOD TUSKER OVER 10 FT. IN HEIGHT 329 



and unlike the comparatively noiseless advance of the ele- 

 phants which I had previously encountered. As before, we 

 had just time to step out of his way, one on either side. 

 Instead of passing us he stood between us, in an undecided 

 manner, at a distance of about fifteen paces ; I immediately 

 covered his left temple, which was exposed, and fired, the 

 bullet taking effect in the brain and bringing him to the 

 ground with a dull thud. 



He was a magnificent beast, and measured at the shoulder 

 10 feet 6 inches. His tusks were not so large as I had 

 expected, the right one weighing 40 Ibs., and the left 25 Ibs., 

 total 65 Ibs. I mounted my pony and returned to camp 

 alone, feeling very ill, leaving my men to bring in the tusks, 

 together with the fore-feet, heart, and liver. 



My five transport ponies were sent out to the spot next 

 day early, and returned laden with the tusks and feet and as 

 much of the meat as could be packed on the saddles. The 

 delicacies already mentioned, such as the heart, liver, and 

 elephant's tail, were specially reserved for my own con- 

 sumption. 



I was quite incapacitated from doing any shooting for 

 several days, as apart from the fever I had contracted, my 

 " boy" or cook had been bowled over with jaundice and liver, 

 and I was consequently unable to get any good food, such 

 as soups, broths, egg-flips, custard, puddings, which were 

 necessities in the condition I was then in. For the next ten 

 days, however, I had to manage as best I could under the 

 circumstances, dieting and doctoring myself to the best of my 

 ability. The great secret of good health in the East, and 

 particularly in Burma, is to eat sparingly, and in the case 

 of the hunter over-eating is fatal. 



I shot my last tusker on New Year's Day, 1897, in the 

 Ondan valley, at the junction of the Ondan and Nakayin 

 streams, at the base of the Shwe-u-taung hill, having first 

 picked up his tracks in the jungle between the Mogok, Tha- 

 beitkyin road, and Ondan rice-fields, a locality some twenty 

 miles from the spot where I eventually succeeded in getting 

 him. 



My hunters on sighting the spoor pronounced it that of a 



