274 J'ME RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. xi. 



low countries, and again ascending through precipitous 

 jungles, I returned home in the evening, having only 

 recovered two dogs, which I found on the other side 

 of the range of mountains, over which the buck had 

 passed. No pen can describe the beauty of the scenery 

 in this part of the country, but it is the most frightful 

 locality for hunting that can be imagined. The high 

 lands suddenly cease ; a splendid panoramic view of 

 the low country extends for thirty miles before the 

 eye ; but to descend to this, precipices of immense 

 depth must be passed ; and from a deep gorge in the 

 mountain, the large river, after a succession of falls, 

 leaps in one vast plunge of three hundred feet into the 

 abyss below. This is a stupendous cataract, about a 

 mile below the foot of which is the village of Perewell6. 

 I passed close to the village, and, having ascended the 

 steep sides of the mountain, I spent hours in searching 

 for the pack, but the roaring of the river and the din 

 of the waterfalls would have drowned the cry of a 

 hundred hounds. Once, and only once, when halfway 

 up the side of the mountain, I thought I heard the 

 deep bay of a hound in the river below ; then I heard 

 the shout of a native ; but the sound was not repeated, 

 and I thought it might proceed from the villagers 

 driving their buffaloes. I passed on my arduous path, 

 little thinking of the tragic fate which at that moment 

 attended poor Merriman. 



The next day all the dogs found their way home to 



