30 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



heavier than this on the mountains, but I have given 

 about the average weight. 



The habits of this animal are purely nocturnal. He 

 commences his wanderings at sunset, and retires to the 

 forest at break of day. He is seldom found in greater 

 numbers than two or three together, and is generally 

 alone. When brought to bay he fights to the last, and 

 charges man and hound indiscriminately, a choice hound 

 killed being often the price of victory. 



The country in which he is hunted is in the mountain- 

 ous districts of Ceylon. Situated at an elevation of 6300 

 feet above the sea is Newera Ellia, the sanatorium' of 

 the island. Here I have kept a pack and hunted elk 

 for some years, the delightful coolness of the tempera- 

 ture (seldom above 66 Fahr.) rendering the sport 

 doubly enjoyable. The principal .features of this 

 country being a series of wild marsh, plains, forests, tor- 

 rents, mountains and precipices, a peculiar hound is re- 

 quired for the sport. 



A pack of thorough-bred fox hounds would never 

 answer. They would pick up a cold scent and open 

 upon it before they were within a mile of their game. 

 Roused from his morning nap, the buck would snuff* 

 the breeze, and to the distant music give an attentive 

 ear, then shake the dew from his rough hide, and away 

 over rocks and torrents, down the steep mountain sides, 

 through pathless forests ; and woe then to the pack of 

 thorough-breds, whose persevering notes would soon be 

 echoed by the rocky steeps, far, far away from any 

 chance of return, lost in the trackless jungles and 

 ravines many miles from kennel, a prey to leopards 

 and starvation ! I have proved this by experience, 

 having brought a pack of splendid hounds from 



