viii PREFACE. 



animal. Mr. Holland is now experimenting in the 

 conversion of a Whitworth-barrel to a breech-loader. 

 If this should prove successful, I should prefer the 

 Whitworth projectile to any other for a sporting rifle 

 in wild countries, as it would combine accuracy at 

 both long and short ranges with extreme penetration. 



The long interval that has elapsed since I was in 

 Ceylon, has caused a great diminution in the wild 

 animals. 



The elephants are now protected by game laws, 

 although twenty years ago a reward was offered by 

 the Government for their destruction. The ' Rifle 

 and Hound ' can no longer be accepted as a guide- 

 book to the sports in Ceylon ; the country is changed, 

 and in many districts the forests have been cleared, 

 and civilization has advanced into the domains of 

 wild beasts. The colony has been blessed with pros- 

 perity, and the gradual decrease of game is a natural 

 consequence of extended cultivation and increased 

 population. 



In the pages of this book it will be seen that I 

 foretold the destruction of the wild deer and other 

 animals twenty years ago. At that time the ener- 

 getic Tamby's or Moormen were possessed of guns, 

 and had commenced a deadly warfare in the jungles, 



