360 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



about 9 a.m. till 4 p.m., the hunter who had first said they were 

 fairly fresh began to hint that he thought he had made a 

 mistake, and that they had passed during the night at about 

 10 p.m., in which case the gaur, should he have been on the 

 move since that hour, would now be a long way off. After a 

 little hesitation I made up my mind to stick to the tracks and 

 follow them up, even though we should have to sleep in the 

 jungle. This can always be done, even though the tracks 

 should be a day or two old, and if the sportsman has good 

 trackers with him, he will ultimately if he is keen enough 

 come up with the animal he is following. 



The sportsman should always let his hunters and guides see 

 that he is not afraid to camp out in the jungle for a night with 

 them, even though he should have to go without a meal. 

 They are always in mortal dread of taking the sportsman 

 too far away from camp whilst in pursuit of an animal, in case 

 they are sworn at by the " thakin " or sahib, when he finds 

 especially after an unsuccessful hunt that he has some sixteen 

 or eighteen miles of country to cover before arriving at camp, 

 and that he will arrive there too late fora comfortable tub and 

 dinner. A sportsman, to be successful when big-game shooting, 

 must occasionally undergo discomforts of this kind, and sleep a 

 night in the jungle when necessary. In fact, if he cannot put 

 up with it now and again when it assures success, he is not 

 worthy of the name of sportsman, far less to follow up so 

 noble a prize as a solitary bull gaur. But let us go back to 

 the animal I was tracking up. 



At one spot, whilst nearing a dense patch of " kaing " or tall 

 elephant grass, we came on a burnt black stump of a tree some 

 5 or 6 feet high, at which the gaur had apparently shied and 

 been thoroughly startled. The deep impressions of its hoofs, 

 which were left on the ground, showed that it had dashed away 

 with long leaps ; mistaking, I have no doubt, in the uncertain 

 light of the early morning, the burnt stump for a human being. 

 The tracks then entered the adjacent patch of grass. 



I now became convinced from the tracks, and after an 

 examination of the animal's droppings, that he must have 

 passed about 9 a.m. that morning. It was now necessary to 

 be very careful, as it was very ticklish work, and almost an 



