Chap, v.] THE WAXNY. 511 



natural causes — amongst wliicli was a storm, in 1802, 

 during wliicli the waters in the larger lakes were driven 

 so fimously on the bunds, that many of them gave 

 way ; and there being no one to repair the damage, it 

 spread so as almost to defy renovation by any means 

 at the command of the local communities. In addition 

 to these calamities, the lawless guerillas of Pandara 

 • formed themselves into troops of banditti, and after the 

 suppression of the rebellion infested the province from 

 sea to sea ; plundering tlie villages and solitary ham- 

 lets, and carrying away the inhabitants, particularly 

 the women and girls, to be sold as slaves witliin the 

 territory of the Kandyan king. 



Danger thus drove the remnant of the inhabitants 

 from the richer districts of the Wanny, to the poor and 

 sandy soil in the vicinity of the forts on the coast, where 

 they could carry on tillage, and dwell in comparative 

 security ; — and the central forests, thus abandoned to 

 solitude, became in a few years so infested and overrun 

 with elephants, that the efforts of the Government were 

 directed to their destruction, as cultivation, when the 

 people had courage to resume it, was rendered imprac- 

 ticable by their ravages. 



The mode of capturing elephants, by the inhabitants 

 of the Wanny, differs from that pursued in the Singha- 

 lese districts, and is effected by sinking concealed holes 

 in the paths frequented by the animals. On the top of 

 each hole a running noose is placed, the other end of 

 the rope being made fast to an adjoining tree ; and the 

 foot of the elephant, in sinking, gives play to a spring, 

 formed by a bough cautiously bent, which, in its recoil, 

 carries the noose high up on the leg, thus effectually 

 seciu"ing the captive.^ 



At Koolan-colom, where we slept, after riding eighteen 

 miles from Padivil, I was disturbed towards morninj]^ 

 in my tent by a disagreeable incident, not of unusual 



' Report on the State of the Wamty in 1807, by Geokge Tcenour, Esq. 



