190 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



ally to a sportsman. He and I commenced a careful 

 stalk, and after a long circuit I succeeded in getting 

 within seventy paces of the herd of deer. The ground 

 was undulating, and they were standing on the top of a 

 low ridge of hills. I dropped a buck with my two- 

 ounce rifle, and the herd immediately disappeared be- 

 hind the top of the hill. Taking one of my double- 

 barreled rifles, which Banda gave me, I ran to the top 

 of the hill as fast as I could, just in time to see the herd 

 going at a flying speed along a small valley at a long 

 distance. Another buck was separated from the herd 

 by about forty paces, and putting up the second sight 

 of my rifle, I took a shot at him ; to my delight he 

 plunged heavily upon the turf. I fired my remaining 

 barrel at the herd, but I must have missed, as none fell. 

 I immediately stepped the distance to the dead buck, 

 one hundred and eighty-seven paces. I had fired a little 

 too high, and had missed his body, but the ball had 

 struck him in the neck and broke his spine. A suc- 

 cessful flying shot at this distance has a very pretty 

 effect, and Banda was delighted. 



There were very few elephants at this season at the 

 Park, and the numberless " ticks" which swarmed in 

 the grass spoiled all the pleasure of shooting. 'These 

 little wretches, which are not larger than a small grain 

 of gunpowder, find their way to every part of the body, 

 and the irritation of their bites is indescribable. 

 Scratching is only adding fuel to fire ; there is no 

 certain prevention or relief from their attacks ; the best 

 thing that I know is cocoa-nut oil rubbed daily over the 

 whole Dody, but the remedy is almost as unpleasant as 

 the bite. Ceylon is, at all times, a frightful place for 

 vermin: in the dry weather we have ticks ; in the wet 



