ON THE WEST COAST OF CEYLON. 87 



to catch the monthly Colonial Government steamer 

 which would bring us home. Leave having been 

 obtained from our respective chiefs, we proceeded to 

 get our tents and other equipment together. 



A few days before our start which, by the way, 

 was to be made on Christmas Eve a letter came to 

 Will from a native, or rather half-caste subordinate, in 

 the Government Agent's Office at Negombo, who, 

 hearing we were coming, wrote to offer to arrange a 

 drive for us on the day after our arrival. Will had 

 been stationed at the place some years before this, 

 and was of opinion that the writer was a sporting 

 chap, and would probably get us some shooting, so 

 we accepted the offer. This involved sending tents 

 and servants on the day before with instructions to 

 pitch the camp near the spot where the drive was to 

 take place. 



At last all was ready, and early on the day fixed 

 we drove down through the unsavoury native town 

 to the jetty in the river. The steamer, a little ram- 

 shackle affair with wheezy engines, was crowded with 

 natives, but a place was soon cleared for us, and we 

 started. The first part of the route is up the Kelani- 

 ganga river. Before we had gone a quarter of a mile 

 we ran aground on a sand-bank. The crew and 

 several of the passengers jumped overboard, and after 

 unheard-of exertions got her off. When the steamer 

 was at last got off the screw refused to move, a rope 

 having fouled it. It took another ten minutes to cut 

 this away, and I began to think we should never get 

 fairly started. At last, however, we sighted the Leper 



