224 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
the hunters enter, and cut down the game with 
their swords. A party of English gentlemen that 
had just returned from a hunting-party of this 
description, when I last visited Martaban, in¬ 
formed me that a surprisingly small number 
escaped over the fence, and that about thirty 
were killed. Another mode of hunting them 
was described to me by the natives. The hunter, 
in this case, goes into the forest, in a dark night, 
with a torch in one hand, and his sword in the 
other. The deer, attracted by the light, are said 
to come up to it fearlessly, and are cut down 
without difficulty. No species of the antelope is 
found in the Burman territory, not even in the 
dry plains of the upper country, where their ap¬ 
pearance might have been looked for. Oxen and 
buffaloes are both of them natives of the Burman 
forests. The first are known by a distinct name 
(Saing) from the domesticated breed, but there is 
no good reason to believe that they differ speci¬ 
fically. Of the feline tribe, the royal tiger, the 
spotted leopard, and several species of cats, are 
numerous in the forests of Ava, especially in 
those of the southern provinces. It is remark¬ 
able, that none of the canine family, so frequent 
in the neighbouring country of Hindostan, are, 
so far as is known, to be found within the 
Burman dominions. There are neither wolves, 
jackals, foxes, nor hyenas; and this zoological 
