Thus The Animals Are Constantly On
The "Qui Vive," And At The Report Of A Gun Every Herd Within
Hearing Starts Off For The Densest Jungles.
A native can now obtain a gun for thirty shillings; and with two
shillings' worth of ammunition, he starts on a hunting trip.
Five elephants, at a reward of seven shillings per tail, more
than pay the prime cost of his gun, to say nothing of the deer
and other game that he has bagged in the interim.
Some, although very few, of the natives are good sportsmen in a
potting way. They get close to their game, and usually bag it.
This is a terrible system for destroying, and the more so as it
is increasing. There is no rest for the animals; in the day-time
they are tracked up, and on moonlight nights the drinking-places
are watched, and an unremitting warfare is carried on. This is
sweeping both deer and buffalo from the country, and must
eventually almost annihilate them.
The Moormen are the best hunters, and they combine sport with
trade in such a manner that "all is fish that comes to their
net." Five or six good hunters start with twenty or thirty
bullocks and packs. Some of these are loaded with common cloths,
etc., to exchange with the village people for dried venison; but
the intention in taking so many bullocks is to bring borne the
spoils of their hunting trip - in fact, to "carry the bag." They
take about a dozen leaves of the talipot palm to form a tent, and
at night-time, the packs, being taken off the bullocks, are piled
like a pillar in the centre, and the talipot leaves are formed in
a circular roof above them.
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