The Four-ounce again. ff 



tance was so immense, and yet the ball had passed clean 

 through the animal's body. 



It was of course a chance shot, and, even with this 

 acknowledgment, it must appear rather like the " mar- 

 vellous" to a stranger ; that is my misfortune, not my 

 fault. I certainly never made such a shot before or 

 since ; it was a sheer lucky hit, say at 600 yards ; and 

 the wonderful power of the rifle was thus displayed in 

 the ball perforating the large body of the buffalo at this 

 range. This shot was made with a round ball, not a 

 cone. The round belted ball for this heavy two-grooved 

 rifle weighs three ounces. The conical ball weighs a 

 little more than four ounces. 



While describing the long shots performed by this 

 particular rifle, I cannot help recounting a curious 

 chance with a large rogue elephant in Topari tank. 

 This tank or lake is, like most others in Ceylon, the 

 result of immense labor in past ages. Valleys were 

 closed in by immense dams of solid masonry, which, 

 checking the course of the rivers, formed lakes of many 

 miles in extent. These were used as reservoirs for the 

 water required for the irrigation of rice lands. The 

 population who effected these extensive works have 

 long since passed away ; their fate is involved in mys- 

 tery. The records of their ancient cities still exist, but 

 we have no account of their destruction. The ruins of 

 one of these cities, Pollanarua, are within half a mile 

 of the village of Topari, and the waters of the adjacent 

 lake are still confined by a dam of two miles in length, 

 composed of solid masonry. When the lake is full it 

 is about eight miles in circumference. 



I had only just arrived at the village, and my horse- 

 keeper had taken the horse to drink at the lake, when 

 7* 



