ON THE KAMBUKENAAR RIVER. 185 



memory with regret. The trackers went out to look 

 for game and I strolled out alone. I had not been 

 out an hour when I made out a herd of spotted 

 deer, and watching them from behind some bushes was 

 a specimen of that very rare and beautiful animal, the 

 black panther. The range was only some hundred and 

 twenty yards, but I was so desperately anxious to get 

 him that I decided to approach nearer. To do so I 

 had to cross a small hollow. Just as luck would have 

 it, two peahens ran swiftly over the brow at my 

 approach. With sinking heart I hurried on, but as I 

 expected deer and leopard were gone. I spent the 

 whole morning looking for him, but of course never 

 saw him again. To show how rare the animal is I may 

 say that I only twice, during a seven years' residence in 

 Ceylon, met men who had ever seen one. Of these, 

 one had possibly seen the same specimen, as it was 

 also near the Kambukenaar. The other man had 

 seen his specimen in the Madras Presidency, but neither 

 had bagged one. 



I had some compensation next day. It was a very 

 rainy morning, and I left camp late with my tracker. 

 As we had no knowledge of game, I had one big rifle 

 and one Express with me. We got on a ridge 

 overlooking a large extent of jungle. The first thing 

 I picked up with the glass was a large herd of spotted 

 deer, but it was early in the day to rest content with 

 those. When shortly after I made out five sambur I 

 decided to go after them, as we had not seen many that 

 trip. Accordingly I started off, but half-way I saw 

 some buffaloes, and again changed my mind. Game 



