IN THE JUNGLE 3 



Some of the rest - houses were almost hotels in 

 comfort. One of the best known was that at Bentota, 

 half-way between Galle — then the mail-steamer port 

 — and Colombo. It was celebrated for its oysters, 

 and people used to go there to revel in oyster-curry. 

 Prawn-curry, "the" Ceylon dish, is, to my mind, 

 better, but both are, with reason, suspected of being 

 dangerous food at times. Why one oyster should 

 cause dysentery more than another it is hard to say, 

 and medical science has so far failed to prove, though 

 a suggestion has been made as to the state of the 

 moon, and, consequently, of the tide. Another rest- 

 house connected in my mind with oysters was that of 

 Welligama, a dozen or more miles east of Galle. In 

 the bay there were islets covered with oysters, and 

 there we used to sit and devour dozens, which a 

 native knocked off the rocks and opened for us. 



I have, however, taken the reader a long way from 

 the Watuwa rest-house. Though not, as I have said, 

 in the jungle, it was at any rate sufficiently countrified 

 in its surroundings to afford a pleasant change from 

 the capital. I and a friend of like tastes made several 

 expeditions from Colombo to this pretty little place, 

 ostensibly for the purpose of snipe-shooting, though I 

 cannot say our bags were ever very heavy. (They 

 certainly ought to have been if there is anything in a 

 name, for hasivatuiva is Cingalese for a snipe.) It 

 was, however, a sufficient pleasure to walk through 

 the fields, getting, at all events, occasional shots, 

 and in the meanwhile admiring, without injuring, the 

 many beautiful birds with which the Ceylon low 

 country abounds. The commonest kingfisher of 

 Ceylon is a homely - looking black and white bird, 

 but there is another with a huge red triangular bill, 



