INTRODUCTION. xv 



With these feelings, sport is an amusement worthy 

 of a man, and this noble taste has been extensively 

 developed since the opportunities of travelling have of 

 late years been so wonderfully improved. The facility 

 with which the most remote regions are now reached, 

 renders a tour over some portion of the globe a neces- 

 sary adjunct to a man's education ; a sportsman 

 naturally directs his path to some land where civilisa- 

 tion has not yet banished the wild beast from the 

 soil. 



Ceylon is a delightful country for the sporting 

 tourist.. In the high road to India and China, any 

 length of time may be spent en passant, and the 

 voyage by the Overland route is nothing but a trip of 

 a few weeks of pleasure. 



This island has been always celebrated for its 

 elephants, but the other branches of sport are com- 

 paratively unknown to strangers. No account has 

 ever been written which embraces all Ceylon sports : 

 anecdotes of elephant-shooting fill the pages of nearly 

 every work on Ceylon ; but the real character of the 

 wild sports of this island has never been described, 

 because the writers have never been acquainted with 

 each separate branch of the Ceylon chase. 



A residence of many years in this lovely country, 



