zo THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON. CHAP. I. 



even thirty paces a good smooth-bore will carry a ball 

 with nearly the same precision as a rifle ; but in a 

 country full of various large game there is no certainty, 

 when the ball is rammed down, at what object it is to 

 be aimed. A buffalo or deer may cross the path at 

 a hundred yards, and the smooth-bore is useless ; on 

 the other hand, the rifle is always ready for whatever 

 may appear. 



My battery consists of one four-ounce rifle (a 

 single barrel) weighing twenty-one pounds, one long 

 two-ounce rifle (single barrel) weighing sixteen pounds, 

 and four double-barrelled rifles, No. 10, weighing each 

 fifteen pounds. Smooth-bores I count for nothing, 

 although I have frequently used them. 



So much for guns. It may therefore be summed 

 up that the proper battery for Ceylon shooting would 

 be four large-bored double-barrelled rifles, say from No. 

 io to No. 12 in size, but all to be the same bore, so 

 as to prevent confusion in loading. Persons may suit 

 their own fancy as to the weight of their guns, 

 bearing in mind that single barrels are very useless 

 things. 



Next to the ' Rifle ' in the order of description 

 comes the ' Hound.' 



The ' elk ' is his acknowledged game, and an ac- 

 count of this animal's size and strength will prove the 

 necessity of a superior breed of hound. 



The ' elk ' is a Ceylon blunder and a misnomer. 



