CHAPTER XIII. 



DUCK-SHOOTING IN THE EAST INDIES. 



THE first place in the Indies, to use an old-world 

 phrase, with which I became familiar, was the Island 

 of Ceylon, which, as everybody knows, lies at the 

 extreme south of the great Indian peninsula, and 

 only a few degrees north of the equator. In this 

 lovely island, with its then unequalled facilities for 

 sport, I passed six years, devoting all my spare time 

 to the gun, the rifle, and the hound. 



Half this period had elapsed before I had any 

 chance of duck-shooting. I was then residing at 

 Point de Galle, an old Dutch fort, almost at the 

 extreme south of the island (now dismantled), to 

 which I have referred before in the chapter on snipe- 

 shooting. 



I had been tied to my work for nearly seven 

 months, so I was delighted to be able to get away 

 for three days' leave, so as to carry out a long- 

 devised plan of teal-shooting with my old friend, 



Jim G , then employed as Police Magistrate at 



Matara, some score of miles further down the coast. 



Accordingly, one morning's sunrise found me 

 ensconced on the box-seat of the Royal Matara Mail 



