BEARS & WATER-HOLE SHOOTING 



elk and a spotted doe, exhibiting nothing like as much 

 caution as the bucks, going to water with very little hesi- 

 tation. At their departure we descended, skinned our 

 bears, and tramped back to camp. Tom had drawn a blank, 

 and seen nothing at his watching-place. 



The above experience must not be taken as typical of 

 all water-holes : this one was exceptionally remote and un- 

 visited even by the natives, hence the early arrival of all the 

 animals ; but in any case the spotted deer will always drink 

 in the daytime and not at night, whereas the elk are more 

 in the habit of drinking in the small hours of the morning, 

 or just before daybreak. Spotted deer also prefer if possible 

 an open pool to drink at, and will not come to a forest pool 

 if an open tank is available near their haunts, whilst the elk 

 seem actually to prefer to drink at these remote forest 

 pools, or rock-holes. 



I remember many years ago, during one of my " pack- 

 bullock " trips, having to stay the night in the great stretch 

 of forest between Elahera and Kukuruwampotawe. We 

 camped on the Attanakada-ela, a jungle river dry at the 

 time, and our only water was a filthy little puddle at the 

 roots of a big kumbuk tree. I was hot, tired, and dirty, 

 and determined to have a bath somehow, so set off and 

 actually tramped two miles through the forest, down the 

 sandy river-bed to the Ambanganga, a fine perennial river, 

 for that purpose. Round a corner, just where the Attana- 

 kada-ela joins the " ganga," I found, to my surprise, a 

 native camp consisting of four men, who, in answer to my 

 inquiries, told me they were there to shoot elk ; and on my 

 asking where they did the shooting, they showed me a 

 foul muddy puddle just inside the embouchure of the Atta- 

 nakada-ela, within 20 feet of the clean water of the 

 ganga, and not more than 20 yards from their camp. 



285 



