BURMESE KEENNESS FOR SPORT 359 



patience severely. The trackers, if not experienced and 

 trustworthy men, will often try to discourage and put the 

 sportsman off if they don't know him well, and think there is 

 the least likelihood of having a long tramp after an animal. He 

 should not be deterred by such hints as " Thakin thee kyi-ya 

 ah-haung tin de gane ma hmee hnine bu " (Sir, these tracks 

 are old, we will not come up with them to-day), or " Mochok 

 la b^i thakin, pyan thwa gya zo, yaku ma pyan yin sakan 

 gane nya ma yauk hnine bu kyi ya knepan, ma neh pyan 

 kaukhli me" (It is getting dark, sir, let us return; if we 

 do not return now we will not reach camp to-night ; we 

 can return to-morrow and take on the tracks again). 



There are very few natives who are keen sportsmen, and 

 they cannot understand our mania for big-game shooting 

 when we only collect the trophies and discard the meat ! A 

 Burman hunter, of course, takes to the pastime simply to make 

 a living, and naturally he goes about it in a business-like 

 way, and takes good care to do as little walking as possible. 

 Often, when out shooting during the day on his own account, 

 he will have a long snooze when the sun is at its hottest, and 

 only begins to think of business in the early morning and 

 evening. 



Three men accompanied me on this occasion, and it was 

 amusing to listen to their remarks en route as to the likelihood 

 of our coming up with the gaur before dark. Moung Hpe, 

 my favourite hunter, was not with me on this occasion, or 

 else there would have been none of this uncertainty. One 

 man would say to his comrade, for my benefit of course, 

 "Gane kyi ya ma ho pu tin de" (I do not think these 

 are to-day's tracks), or " Ah thit lo lo ahaung lo lo a hman 

 ma pyaw hnine ba nya gyi ta gaung gyaw thwa de tin de ;" 

 literally : " Sometimes they look like old tracks, sometimes 

 new, I cannot say for certain. I think they went last night 

 after I a.m." 



The sportsman, should he not have a really good tracker 

 with him, must trust a good deal to common sense and his 

 own experience of tracking, as to whether he should continue 

 taking on the tracks of an animal or not. 



In this case, after travelling on the tracks of the gaur from 



