295 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. XII. 



way were we to go ? The trackers that the headman 

 had given us, now confessed that they did not know an 

 inch of the Veddah country, into which we had arrived 

 by crossing the river, and they refused to go a step 

 farther. Here was a ' regular fix ! ' as the Americans 

 would express it. 



The village of Monampitya consists of about 

 six small huts ; and we now found that there was 

 no other village within forty miles in the direction 

 that we wished to steer. Not a soul could we obtain 

 as a guide — no offer of reward would induce a man to 

 start, as they declared that no one knew the country, 

 and that the distance was so great that the people 

 would be starved, as they could get nothing to eat. 

 We looked hopelessly at the country before us. We 

 had a compass, certainly, which might be useful enough 

 on a desert or a prairie, but in a jungle country it was 

 of little value. 



Just as we were in the greatest despair, and we 

 were gazing wistfully in the direction which the 

 needle pointed out as the position of the ' Park,' now 

 separated from us by an untravelled district of an 

 unknown distance, we saw two figures with bows 

 and arrows coming from the jungle. One of these 

 creatures bolted back again into the bushes the 

 moment he perceived us ; the other one had a fish in 

 his hand, of about four pounds weight, which he 

 had shot with his bow and arrow ; while he was 



