ON THE KAMBUKENAAR RIVER. 183 



swarmed with fish, so that, although we were not 

 expert anglers, we generally managed to have fish for 

 dinner. At first we used to bathe in the stream, till 

 Will bagged a fine alligator not a great way from 

 camp. After this we fell back on the usual chatty 

 (native water-pot). 



This camp continued to be our head-quarters for 

 over a fortnight, though on two occasions we ourselves 

 with one cart slept a few miles away. Elephants were 

 not forthcoming the first few days of our stay there, 

 and our bag varied between buffalo and spotted deer ; 

 sambur were not plentiful. Sometimes we went out 

 separately, and sometimes together. 



A few days after our arrival I heard a great dis- 

 turbance in camp ; before I could leave the tent my 

 boy came running up : 



" Sir, sir, trackers catch one wild man." 



Sure enough between the two men was a most 

 curious object. It was one of the veddahs, or 

 aboriginal inhabitants of Ceylon. The manikin was 

 not five feet high, and quite naked save a filthy rag 

 round his waist. In his hand he carried a long bow, 

 and some half-dozen arrows, which the servants said, 

 and I believe truly, were poisoned. Will addressed 

 him in Cingalese, which he spoke fluently, but got no 

 answer. The trackers, themselves half wild, made him 

 understand somehow, and understood him. They had 

 found him in a tree, and with great difficulty persuaded 

 him to come to camp. We presented him with a 

 broken table-knife, greatly to his delight. In return 

 for this he exhibited his skill in archery, which was not 



