BEARS & WATER-HOLE SHOOTING 



dry up in a long drought, others holding water all the year 

 round. Most of them seem to be natural, but some are 

 certainly artificial, showing tool-marks on the inside, whilst 

 some even have inscriptions cut in the rock above or near 

 them. How the natural ones were formed I cannot say, 

 though the rock in which they lie is often flaky, cracking 

 off in great slabs ; and in many cases this may have been 

 the process of forming them, whilst the ancient natives may 

 have helped the process by lighting fires on the rock and 

 dousing with water when very hot. It is more than prob- 

 able that these water-holes have from time immemorial 

 afforded an easy and certain way of killing game during 

 three or four months of the year, even in the days of bows 

 and arrows. 



On some of these rocks, not connected in the remotest 

 way with rivers or streams, I have found regular pot-holes, 

 such as are found in the rocks of river beds, many being 

 several feet deep, but not more than 2 feet or so wide, 

 and some of them penetrate the rock at an angle instead of 

 straight down. 



In the ancient days these rocks were often made the 

 sites of temples, and then the natural water-holes came in 

 handy for the use of the priests, and it is in these places 

 where holes have been artificially made, or at least enlarged, 

 to add to their storage capacity. Every water-hole, no 

 matter how remote, is known to the local natives, and the 

 knowledge has been handed down from father to son for 

 generations. 



Regular animal tracks lead to them from the surround- 

 ing forest, in some cases for miles, but usually dying away 

 in the jungle a few hundred yards from the pool, and the 

 wonder is, considering the unlimited possession and use of 

 firearms by natives, that all the game in Ceylon has not 



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