402 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



it, I remember the shock of the recoil nearly knocked me out 

 of the saddle. 



We had just come on a herd of tsine, which, however, had 

 winded us, and made off. Shortly afterwards, while tracking 

 up a solitary tsine, we came upon another old bull standing 

 stern on between two bamboo clumps, its head and shoulders 

 completely hidden from view and protected by one of 

 them. 



All three of us were mounted at the time, but so noiselessly 

 did we approach that we were unheard. I had just time to 

 lean over my saddle, take the 8-bore out of Moung Youk's 

 hands, giving him the Metford, and fire a hurried shot at 

 the animal's flanks. The bullet struck right enough, but the 

 shot entered too far back. The tsine, on receiving the shot, 

 dashed round a clump of bamboos, and disappeared into an 

 adjacent patch of grass before I could get in a second shot. 

 We took on the track and followed in his wake as quickly as 

 possible. After going about 250 yards, we came on him 

 standing in some tall grass. He heard us coming, however, 

 and making his exit on the other side entered another large 

 stretch of tall kaing grass, where we had very hard work to 

 stick to his trail, as there were numerous tracks of tsine 

 which had recently been in the vicinity. It was now neces- 

 sary to be careful, as, should we come on the wounded 

 animal, it would very likely be at close quarters. 



He was still a long way off, however, and it was not till 

 some three hours after that we came upon him lying down 

 under the shade of some bamboos. 



The wind being in our favour, I managed, under cover of 

 some shrubs, to work my way up till within 20 yards of 

 him. I was armed with a Lee-Metford, as I wanted to test 

 its efficiency as a sporting weapon. Aiming for the point of 

 its shoulder, I fired, the bullet used being a solid nickel-coated 

 one. The tsine struggled to its feet with difficulty. I had 

 reloaded in the meantime, and aiming again for the head, as 

 it was about to dash off, I pulled the trigger. The bullet 

 made the animal turn a complete somersault and roll over on 

 its side dead. He was a magnificent specimen, standing 

 1 6 hands and 3 inches at the shoulder. One horn was a 



