HUNTING & SHOOTING IN CEYLON 



the skull. This may all have been caused by an old wound 

 on the head. We met a party of natives on the hunt a 

 little after that, and one of them said he had had two 

 shots at this same buck some days before. 



I have of course missed, and badly missed, more than 

 one buck, and good bucks too, during my hunting ex- 

 periences, but an account of such misses would hardly 

 interest my readers, so I naturally prefer to recount some 

 of my successes. I remember in my earlier days, when I 

 had only the " Paradox," how I used to toil, crawling, 

 creeping, and wriggling through the grass or bush to get 

 within the 100 yards distance if possible, though I have 

 used it with success at more than that distance, notably 

 during a trip with Wright some years ago. We had got 

 a long way ahead of our men, on the travel, and were rest- 

 ing under the bund of a small tank, which, the weather 

 being very dry, was empty but for a few puddles under the 

 bund near where we sat. Presently we saw two native boys 

 come over the bund with a gun, descend into the dry bed 

 of the tank and walk well out into the middle, where they 

 squatted down behind a small bush. They had been there 

 some minutes before they perceived us, upon which they 

 got up again and came across to our side, telling me, in 

 answer to my question as to their object in hiding in the 

 tank, that they were on the look-out for deer coming to 

 drink. This was quite a likely occurrence, as it was very 

 hot, getting on towards n A.M., and the tank was sur- 

 rounded by forest, and remote from any village or other 

 water. 



The boys then told us there was a big crocodile in one 

 of the pools, so off went Tom with them to look for it, 

 whilst I remained comfortably reclining under a shady 

 tree. 



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