chap. I. DEER-COURSING. 23 



and courage, with as powerful a voice as possible. 

 He should be trained to this sport from a puppy, and 

 his natural sagacity soon teaches him not to open 

 unless upon a hot scent, or about two hundred yards 

 from his game ; thus the elk is not disturbed until the 

 hound is at full speed upon his scent, and he seldom 

 gets a long start. Fifteen couple of such hounds in 

 full cry put him at his best pace, which is always tried 

 to the uttermost by a couple or two of fast and pitiless 

 lurchers who run ahead of the pack, the object being 

 to press him at first starting, so as to blow him at the 

 very commencement : this is easily effected, as he is 

 full of food, and it is his nature always to take off 

 straight up the hill when first disturbed. When blown 

 he strikes down hill, and makes at great speed for the 

 largest and deepest stream ; in this he turns to bay, 

 and tries the mettle of the finest hounds. 



The great enemy to a pack is the leopard. He 

 pounces from the branch of a tree upon a stray hound, 

 and soon finishes him, unless of great size and courage, 

 in which case the cowardly brute is soon beaten off. 

 This forms another reason for the choice of large 

 hounds. 



The next sport is ' deer-coursing.' This is one 

 of the most delightful kinds of sport in Ceylon. The 

 game is the axis or spotted deer, and the open plains 

 in many parts of the low country afford splendid 

 ground for both greyhound and horse. 



