36 The Rifle and Hottnd in Ceylon. 



watering-places in England, it is overcrowded at 

 one season and deserted at another, the only perma- 

 nent residents being comprised in the commandant, the 

 officer in command of the detachment of troops, the 

 government agent, the doctor, the clergyman and our 

 own family. 



Dull enough ! some persons may exclaim ; and so it 

 would be to any but a sportsman : but the jungles teem 

 with large game, and Newera Ellia is in a central posi- 

 tion, as the best sporting country is only three days' 

 journey, or one hundred miles, distant. Thus, at any 

 time, the guns may be packed up, and, with tents and 

 baggage sent on some days in advance, a fortnight's or 

 a month's war may be carried on against the elephants 

 without much trouble. 



The turn-out for elk-hunting during the fashionable 

 season at Newera Ellia is sometimes peculiarly exciting. 

 The air is keen and frosty, the plains snow-white with 

 the crisp hoar frost, and even at the early hour of 6 A.M. 

 parties of ladies may be seen urging their horses round 

 the plain on their way to the appointed meet. Here 

 we are waiting with the anxious pack, perhaps bless- 

 ing some of our more sleepy friends for not turning out 

 a little earlier. Party after party arrives, including 

 many of the fair sex, and the rosy tips to all counten- 

 ances attest the quality of the cold even in Ceylon. 



There is something peculiarly inspiriting in' the early 

 hour of sunrise upon these mountains an indescribable 

 lightness in the atmosphere, owing to the great eleva- 

 tion, which takes a wonderful effect upon the spirits. 

 The horses and the hounds feel its influence in an 

 equal degree ; the former, who are perhaps of sober 

 character in the hot climate, now champ the bit and 



