ELK HUNTING 



in the open was one of the prettiest incidents in elk 

 hunting. 



In these latter days many of the good hunting centres 

 have been so harried by gangs of coolies with guns, that 

 elk no longer face the open in the gallant manner they used 

 to. They will dodge and turn back, and often allow them- 

 selves to be pulled down in a thicket or a mud wallow, rather 

 than seek their safety by fighting the battle out in some 

 pool in the open. So long, however, as the large forest- 

 clad plateaux of the Ceylon Highlands are preserved from 

 the devastating hand of man, and so long as the beautiful 

 grassy downs, known as patnas, are not invaded by the 

 deadly rifle, this finest of all manly sports may be carried 

 on for all time. The miles upon miles of dense forests 

 which surround the Horton Plains and Newera Eliya are 

 now a perfect sanctuary for the noble sambhur, and if only 

 the pursuit of them be confined to the hound and the 

 hunting-knife, this will ever remain so. 



Note. Writing to Mr. Farr for some figures as to a year's bag, he has 

 given me the following list of kills during the year 1895, which may be 

 taken as a fair average : 



Head. 



Stags . . - . -. * '. v .29 

 Hinds . , \ ; , v * >*, ?;' * II 

 Fawns . . . . . N . . -, . i 

 Boars 2 



43 

 EDITOR. 



203 



