HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



no stone unturned to find a lost hound ? Dog boys are all 

 very well in their way, but there is always the likelihood 

 that they may not penetrate far enough into jungles they 

 are unfamiliar with. 



It is weary work sometimes, that anxious search for 

 lost hounds. On rare occasions the whole pack, except 

 the seizers and a few shirkers, may be away after some 

 " straight-necked " young stag, found late, and perhaps 

 headed by some of the field, or coursed a short distance by 

 the long-dogs. Where the pack has got to, and how it got 

 there, is a puzzle no one can solve ; but away they are in 

 some deep valley of forest, and, for all the hunter knows, 

 baying a grand antlered " Monarch of the Glen," or silent, 

 save for an occasional angry growl or two, chewing up the 

 carcase of a hind. How they topped that long, high ridge 

 without a soul knowing it, or without our hearing Bounti- 

 ful or Columbia or deep-voiced Lifter, is a mystery ; but 

 no time is to be lost while leopards prowl hungrily along 

 the open game paths. 



Then the search begins, and the mournful note of the 

 horn may be heard re-echoing through the forests, and 

 echoing back twice and even thrice across deep ravines 

 from scarped precipices of rock or rugged peaks. 



Should the weather be fine and hunger stayed by a 

 hasty snack, this prowl through unfamiliar and perhaps 

 utterly unknown forest has a great charm and fascination. 



Along some ridge path, kept open for ages by the 

 mighty elephant, who in his herds has roamed these forests 

 for all time, it is a very simple matter, but pushing a way 

 along a game path, through the unyielding and close-grow- 

 ing "nilloo" or clinging and maddening bamboo, is quite 

 another thing. A path through which the elk forces his 

 way, the undergrowth bending and parting before his 



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