422 WILD SPORTS OF BURMA AND ASSAM 



enough to be photographed if I had had a camera. He was 

 not more than thirty paces off, and his tail was twitching all 

 the time with spasmodic jerks. Taking a hurried aim, I 

 banged off both barrels, threw down my gun, and ran like a 

 redshank for the tree up which the policeman was snugly 

 seated. The tiger charged straight ahead with a roar without 

 attempting to come after me, and disappeared in the thick 

 jungle. I then returned to the spot where the animal had 

 been, but except for a few deep scratches on the ground from 

 the tiger's claws 'and the buckshot, there were no marks to 

 show whether I had missed or not. 



I remember on one occasion sitting up over a buffalo that 

 had been killed by a tiger within 150 yards of a small village 

 situated on the banks of the Kin river, some 300 or 400 yards 

 from the village of Sagadaung, Momeik State* I had the 

 buffalo dragged to a suitable spot under a tree convenient 

 for erecting a machan, and staked it down there. The 

 machan was erected some 25 feet from the ground (8 or 10 

 feet too high). There was no time to alter it, as it was then 

 about 4.30 p.m., and the tiger might turn up at any moment ; 

 so, armed with a double smooth-bore loaded with 3 drams 

 of powder and spherical ball, I ascended the tree and sat 

 down on my perch. The erection or platform was very 

 badly constructed, and I had a very uncomfortable seat, 

 being obliged to sit down with my legs stretched out before 

 me. A rail had been constructed in front, on which I rested 

 my gun. My intention was to shoot the tiger if possible 

 through the head, for I did not mean to afterwards follow it 

 up on foot, through heavy cover, if only wounded. The village 

 being close at hand I expected all the different noises eman- 

 ating from it, women pounding rice, children crying, dogs 

 barking, and cattle lowing, would have tended to keep the 

 tiger away, so I did not anticipate its visit before dark. I 

 had not been seated half-an-hour, however, before the scream 

 of a startled jungle fowl warned me that something was on 

 foot. I was instantly on the qui vive, and before long I heard 

 all the " bulbuls " and other small birds chattering and twitter- 

 ing away in the bushes some 20 or 30 yards in my rear. 

 Presently the heavy tread of the tiger was heard, and on 



