THE BANTING 87 



a shady clump. A tsaing prefers rising ground, 

 preferably a knoll, where he can see all round 

 him and get the wind from every quarter. 

 Here I would digress for a moment to say that 

 tsaing found in the bamboo jungles of the hills 

 are much more easily stalked than when in the 

 indaing forests of the dry and intermediate 

 zones ; that is to say, in places where the rainfall 

 may vary from twenty-five inches (in the dry 

 zone) to seventy or more outside this belt. 

 Bamboo jungle invariably grows in hilly country 

 at any elevation from 500 to 3000 feet above 

 sea-level, and often higher, and is more or 

 less dependent on a heavy rainfall. Indaing 

 forest, on the contrary, is generally met with 

 in the plains — occasionally in the dry belt, 

 but more frequently in the intermediate zone. 

 In bamboo jungle the tsaing depends on thick 

 cover for security. The low hills consist for 

 the most part of a succession of ridges which 

 merge into one another, and are generally 

 more or less open at the top, with streams 

 running at the foot. Isolated knolls are rarely 

 found. The tsaing therefore selects as a rest- 

 ing-place either the side of a hill, or thick 

 cover at the foot, on rising ground. The dense 

 foliage protects him from view, but frequently 

 affords the same advantage to the hunter. 

 The nature of the soil under foot is soft, leaving 

 good imprints of the tracks, and the dried 



