THE TIGEE 243 



exceeded. A smaller animal than eight feet two inches 

 will be undersized for tiger-shooting purposes. A female 

 makes the best himting elephant when she is really staunch 

 with game, as her paces and temper are generally better, 

 and she is not subject to the danger of becoming " must " 

 and uncontrollable, as male elephants do periodically 

 after a certain age. But females are more uncertain, as 

 to courage than r^ales ; and it is a risk to buy the former 

 untried for shooting purposes. Most " muknas " (tuskless 

 males) can, I beheve, be relied on to become staunch with 

 tigers when properly trained and entered ; and, for my own 

 part, if buying an entirely untried elephant, I would 

 always select a " mukna." They are generally more 

 vigorous and better developed than tuskers, though not 

 usually so tall. A not improbable explanation of this 

 was given me by a wild inhabitant of the forests to the 

 east of the sources of the Narbada, where wild elephants 

 then existed in large numbers. He said he had noticed 

 that the young tuskers, after their sharp little tusks began 

 to prick the mother in the process of sucking, were driven 

 off by her and allowed to shift for themselves, while females 

 and muknas continued to be nourished by her until she 

 got another young one. 



After some trouble I botight the ten elephants I wanted 

 — eight of them muknas and two females. Their average 

 price was £150, the dearest being £200, and the cheapest 

 £100. The highest price I heard of being obtained at the 

 fair was £800 for a noble tusker, bought for a Raja in the 

 Punjab. So far as I know, none of them had ever seen a 

 tiger; but they all becanie excellent shikaris, except one 

 large mukna in whom I found I had been stuck with a 

 regular man-kiUing brute. He was quite quiet at the fair, 

 having been probably kept drugged with opium; but on 

 the march down to Central India he broke out and killed a 

 man, and afterwards became quite uncontrollable. He 

 fetched his full price, however, for a native notable ; for he 

 was a very handsome animal, and a wealthy native is 

 rather proud of having an elephant that no one can go near, 

 chained up at his gateway for an ornament. 



All elephants intended to be used in hunting tigers 



