30 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. ir. 



by those who are unaccustomed to it. The horses 

 may, in these instances, be available, but as a rule 

 they are perfectly useless in elk-hunting, as the plains 

 are so boggy that they would be hock-deep every 

 quarter of a mile. Thus no person can thoroughly 

 enjoy elk-hunting who is not well accustomed to it, as 

 it is a sport conducted entirely on foot, and the 

 thinness of the air in this elevated region is very trying 

 to the lungs in hard exercise. Thoroughly sound in 

 wind and limb, with no superfluous flesh, must be the 

 man who would follow the hounds in this wild country 

 — through jungles, rivers, plains and deep ravines, 

 sometimes from sunrise to sunset without tasting food 

 since the previous evening, with the exception of a 

 cup of coffee and a piece of toast before starting. It 

 is trying work, but it is a noble sport : no weapon 

 but the hunting-knife ; no certainty as to the charac- 

 ter of the game that may be found ; it may be either 

 an elk, or a boar, or a leopard, and yet the knife and 

 the good hounds are all that can be trusted in. 



It is a glorious sport certainly to a man who 

 thoroughly understands it ; the voice of every hound 

 familiar to his ear ; the particular kind of game that is 

 found is at once known to him, long before he is in 

 view, by the style of the hunting. If an elk is found, 

 the hounds follow with a burst straight as a line, and 

 at a killing pace, directly up the hill, till he at length 

 turns and bends his headlong course for some strong- 



