RIVAL BULLS 393 



elephants in the jungles along the banks of the Chaunggyi 

 stream, near Wapyudaung, and between that stream and the 

 village of Chaukhlebein. Indeed there are very few locali- 

 ties in the whole district where really good shooting of some 

 kind is not obtainable (see chapter on miscellaneous sport). 



I was moving along cautiously through some bamboo jungle 

 one morning early in September, accompanied by two of my 

 hunters, on the look-out for a solitary bull tsine whose tracks 

 we had picked up, when the sound of a bamboo shoot being 

 broken off warned me that some animal was close by. Moung 

 Hpe, who was always near me, now handed me my 8-bore, 

 and after instructing my men to remain where they were, I 

 picked my way along in the direction of the sound. The 

 ground, from recent heavy rain, was quite sodden ; I was 

 consequently enabled to pick out the tracks without any 

 difficulty, and move along myself quite noiselessly. Great 

 care had of course to be taken that I did not tread on a 

 rotten bamboo or twig, as the animal, whose sense of hearing 

 is very acute, would have made off at once. I had not gone 

 1 50 yards before I heard it feeding on bamboo shoots close 

 by, so near in fact was the animal that its breathing was 

 quite audible. There were numerous bamboo clumps and a 

 lot of undergrowth which impeded my view for some yards, 

 but I succeeded eventually in catching sight of the tsine, 

 a huge bull, standing in an open space, broadside on, some 

 twenty-five paces off. He was slowly munching away at a 

 young bamboo shoot which was dangling from his mouth. 



I was just about to fire, when another solitary bull appeared 

 upon the scene, round an adjoining clump, evidently a stranger 

 to the one I had just sighted. On catching sight of the new- 

 comer, the latter turned partially round, lowered his head 

 almost to the ground, stiffened himself all over, and pawed 

 the earth, breathing deeply through his nostrils the while as 

 if challenging the other bull to fight. The other animal acted 

 in a similar manner. I would have given worlds for a camera 

 at that moment, as I could have taken both animals together, 

 and it would have been a unique photograph. Unfortunately, 

 however, I did not possess one, never having gone in for 

 photography. The wind was luckily in my favour or else 



