HZ THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. i. 



The country in which he is hunted is in the moun- 

 tainous districts of Ceylon. Situated at an elevation 

 of 6,200 feet above the sea is Newera Ellia, the sana- 

 torium of the island. Here I have kept a pack and 

 hunted elk for some years, the delightful coolness of 

 the temperature (seldom above 66° Fahr.) rendering 

 the sport doubly enjoyable. The principal features 

 of this country being a series of wild marsh, plains, 

 forests, torrents, mountains and precipices, a peculiar 

 hound is required for the sport. 



A pack of thoroughbred fox-hounds would never 

 answer. They would pick up a cold scent and open 

 upon it before they were within a mile of their game. 

 Roused from his morning nap, the buck would snuff 

 the breeze, and to the distant music give an attentive 

 ear, then shake the dew from his rough hide, and away 

 over rocks and torrents, down the steep mountain sides, 

 through pathless forests ; and woe then to the pack of 

 thoroughbreds, whose persevering notes would soon be 

 echoed by the rocky steeps, far, far away from any 

 chance of return, lost in the trackless jungles and 

 ravines many miles from kennel, a prey to leopards 

 and starvation ! I have proved this by experience, 

 having brought a pack of splendid hounds from 

 England, only one of which survived a few months' 

 hunting. 



The hound required for elk-hunting is a cross be- 

 tween the fox-hound and blood-hound, of great size 



