chap. viii. THE HORTON PLAINS. 177 



bounded by a few insignificant hill-tops. There is a 

 peculiar freedom in the Horton Plains, an absence 

 from everywhere, a wildness in the thought that there 

 is no tame animal within many miles, not a village, 

 nor hut, nor human being. It makes a man feel in 

 reality one of the ' lords of the creation ' when he first 

 stands upon this elevated plain, and, breathing the 

 pure thin air, he takes a survey of his hunting-ground : 

 no boundaries but mountain tops and the horizon ; no 

 fences but the trunks of decayed trees fallen from old 

 age ; no game laws but strong legs, good wind, and 

 the hunting-knife ; no paths but those trodden by the 

 elk and elephant. Every nook and corner of this 

 wild country is as familiar to me as my own garden. 

 There is not a valley that has not seen a burst in full 

 cry ; not a plain that has not seen the greyhounds in 

 full speed after an elk ; and not a deep pool in the river 

 that has not echoed with a bay that has made the 

 rocks ring again. 



To give a person an interest in the sport, the 

 country must be described minutely. The plain 

 already mentioned as the flat table-land first seen on 

 arrival, is about five miles in length, and two in breadth 

 in the widest part. This is tolerably level, with a 

 few gentle undulations, and is surrounded, on all sides 

 but one, with low, forest-covered slopes. The low 

 portions of the plains are swamps, from which springs 

 a large river, the source of the Mahawelli Ganga. 



