chap. vi. LAST DAY AT MINNERIA. 135 



the shot-gun, which I had received as the double- 

 barreiled ball-gun that I knew was carried by a gun- 

 bearer. How I did thrash him ! If the elephant had 

 charged instead of making off I should have been 

 caught to a certainty. 



This day's shooting was the last day of good sport 

 that I ever had at Minneria. It was in June, 1847. 

 The next morning I moved my encampment and 

 started homewards. To my surprise I saw a rogue 

 elephant drinking in the lake, within a quarter of a 

 mile of me ; but the Fates were against his capture. I 

 stalked him as well as I could, but he winded me, and 

 came on in full charge with his trunk up. The heavy 

 rifle fortunately turned but did not ' kill him, and he 

 escaped in thorny jungle, through which I did not 

 choose to follow. 



On my way to the main road from Trincomalee to 

 Kandy I walked on through the jungle path, about a 

 mile ahead of my followers, to look out for game. 

 Upon arriving at the open country in the neighbour- 

 hood of Cowdellai, I got a shot at a deer at a killing 

 distance. She was not twenty yards off, and was 

 looking at me as if spellbound. This provided me 

 with venison for a couple of days. The rapid decom- 

 position of all things in a tropical climate renders a 

 continued supply of animal food very precarious, if the 

 produce of the rifle is alone to be depended upon. Veni- 

 son killed on one day would be uneatable on the day 



