NOTES ON THE THAMIN OR BROW-ANTLERED DEER. 329 



young are pretty little creatures, and their coats frequently have white 

 spots running through them, hut these soon disappear. The hot wea- 

 ther is, undoubtedly, the correct time to shoot the Thamin, at least in 

 Lower Burma, as the stags are all out of velvet in the early part 

 of March. April and May are also good months, but a trifle warm ; 

 during the heat of the day a temperature of 109° Fahr. in the 

 shade may be expected. Stags may be killed as late as the end of 

 August, but to my mind there is no sport in these parts once 

 the rain sets in. Early morning and the evening are the best times 

 to find them. The best plan is to make head-quarters at, or rather 

 near, a fishery, taking every precaution to have your shed or tent put 

 up well to windward, otherwise you expose yourself to " olfactory 

 inferno " and intense bodily discomfort, as the Burmans go in for 

 making " Ngapi " at these places, which is with them a favourite 

 and highly-esteemed condiment. Describing it in simple lan- 

 guage, I should say that it consisted of small fish in the very last 

 stages of putrefaction, with a minimum quantity of salt sprinkled 

 over it. 



Water is a serious difficulty, as arrangements must be made to obtain 

 a daily supply for cooking, &c, but for drinking purposes soda water 

 should be carried. A large sola hat and a back protector will afford 

 much comfort to the sportsman. Having attended to these details, two 

 comfortable courses are open, viz., to take a high bullock-cart, which 

 enables him, when standing up, to see over the grass in many places and 

 so get a view of a kwin with his glasses. (These kwins are well known 

 to certain men.) If he happens to be fortunate enough to see a good 

 stag, he can easily jump out and stalk it. It is also advisable to 

 steer for a tree, old pagoda, or any other point of vantage where- 

 by he can obtain a view of the country. The other plan 

 is to get an elephant, which is perhaps the better method, as a 

 more extensive view may be obtained than from a cart ; moreover, 

 it has this advantage that when returning to camp very close snap 

 shots may be taken while passing through the long grass. Tha- 

 min are not much alarmed by the sight and smell of an elephant, 

 as two or three herds of wild ones visit these plains each rainy season. 

 I do not think that shots can often be obtained from a cart, but I 

 cannot speak from experience on this point. 



