24 BIG-GAME SHOOTING IN UPPER BURMA 



which, all unconscious of your presence, is 

 lazily pulling down a branch here and there, 

 and ramming it into its capacious maw. It 

 is now a case of thus far and no farther with 

 your Burmans, who if not already up trees 

 will take to them on the very first note of alarm. 

 In any case, they have no intention of getting 

 closer. After all, they have brought you up 

 to the herd, and that is as much as you can 

 expect from the ordinary villager. You now 

 begin to creep in among the elephants, and 

 will have ample opportunity of recognising the 

 difficulty, not to say danger, of trying to find 

 a big tusker in thick cover with elephants all 

 round you, and invisible until you stumble on 

 a beast only a few yards distant. After getting 

 as far as you can, and failing to discover a big 

 tusker, you sneak out again, and try from 

 another point. It is exciting work, especially 

 if the herd is slowly feeding towards you. The 

 big tuskers are generally in rear of the herd, 

 in a little group all by themselves, with one or 

 two cows. I have, however, on several occasions 

 found them right in the middle of a herd sur- 

 rounded by females. A herd, if of any size, 

 is seldom united, but is split up into several 

 detachments, each of which must be separately 

 searched for a big tusker. Sooner or later, in 

 trying to avoid a young tusker or a cow, you 

 will, on rounding a bush or bamboo clump, 

 come suddenly almost on top of a cow with 



