HUNTING fif SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



sportsman was in his natural posture once more, not a dry 

 stitch on him, his hunting-knife lying at the bottom of the 

 pool, and a gallant stag lying dead in the middle of the 

 Slab Rock Falls. He carried a good head for a Ceylon 

 sambhur, measuring 27^ inches, with a spread of 27, and his 

 weight was 32 stone clean. 



The casualties among the hounds were serious that day, 

 Warfare, Ranger, and Wallace wounded by the boar ; 

 Hecate, Tip, Zulu, and Gossamer more or less badly 

 pounded by the stag. Hecate died a week after from in- 

 ternal injuries, and the rest recovered. The pack on this 

 occasion consisted of 5^ couple of fast fox-hounds, i J couple 

 of good English mongrels, 3 lurchers, and 5 seizers. It 

 was now nearly 1 1 o'clock, and all hounds were soon in 

 kennel. All wounds were attended to, and a stitch put in 

 here and there where needed. 



A well-entered hound that has been through a season or 

 two is of great value to a pack, for it must be remembered 

 that the elk hound is made, not born. He must be fast 

 above all things, and he must drive. A few good steady 

 line hunters are often a godsend on a bad scenting day, 

 or when some unaccountable check has occurred. A flat 

 swampy jungle after a heavy shower is sometimes partially 

 under water, a succession of pools interfering terribly with 

 scent ; but the clever hound in thick cover depends more 

 upon side scent, and will carry the line through at a good 

 pace. Then, again, when the stag has soiled, a cast forward 

 will often pick up the line with very little loss of time, and 

 here an old hound who knows his work well will astonish 

 the huntsman by owning the line half a mile ahead. I have 

 seen a stag go to soil with four or five couple of good 

 hounds at his heels. They have bayed him from the bank, 

 and he has dashed right through them across a piece of long 



188 



