THE TERM : SPORT OF PRINCES 217 



It is absoluteh'^ forbidden by the laws of howdah shoot- 

 ing to fire when a tiger is on an elephant, as ten to one the 

 elephant would receive the bullet. Luckily a tiger, from 

 the great weight of his body, cannot spring off the ground 

 as a leopard can, or an ordinary cat, which latter can spring 

 ten or twelve times his own length from the ground, and 

 with ease ascend to the tops of trees. The tiger can only 

 ascend as far as he can reach with his forepaws, and has 

 scarcely ever been known to make good his spring on to 

 the top of a pad. I have seen the eight marks of the tiger's 

 claws on the top of my elephant's head, but that was 

 exceptionally high for one to spring. The mahout's 

 knees are quite safe under the elephant's ears, and the 

 howdah is well above the highest claw mark. An elephant 

 always curls up his trunk, which is his most sensitive 

 organ, close under his mouth when a tiger charges, and 

 so protects himself. It is very important in beating 

 out the long grass for all the elephants to be kept exactly 

 in line, and the rule is to fire only forward or straight 

 back, but never sideways from the howdah. These 

 cautions are duly given to the uninitiated, and our Chief 

 was very strict about the rules being observed most strin- 

 gently. The party in this case consisted mostly of old 

 hands, who all kept their places and obeyed the orders 

 received silently and promptly. The success of the drive 

 depends entirely on good management and perfect silence, 

 as otherwise the tiger invariably hears approaching 

 enemies, and will break back in the long grass if the line is 

 not perfect, and give no shot, or slink away if he hears 

 voices before the line gets near. Natives are placed on 

 trees at certain points which the line cannot command, 

 and are ordered if they see the tiger slinking away to 

 tap lightly on the tree-stem, which makes him turn in 

 the required direction. Care must also be taken to "go 



