DEER-SHOOTING. 287 



deer, but as he had sat down and laid down his rifle, 

 of course he was not ready till the deer was out of 

 sight. 



The next beat was lower down the hill. I was told 

 to walk quietly down a path through the jungle, 

 keeping a little ahead of the beaters. I did so, and for 

 a long time saw nothing, till, turning a corner, I came 

 face to face with a buffalo. My first idea was to jump 

 behind a tree, as my weapon was of course useless for 

 such an animal. I immediately remembered, however, 

 that at such an elevation it could only be a tame buff, 

 so stood still. So did the buffalo. Finally, hearing 

 the beaters going on above, I passed a few yards above 

 it, keeping an eye upon it as it did on me. The 

 beaters did not come quite so far down. 



After the beat I mentioned the fact, but was- 

 surprised to hear there were no tame buffaloes any- 

 where near. I should have said it was a cow, and 

 a wild one would hardly have stood so still. Besides, 

 I have never heard of them in Ceylon except within at 

 most 1,500 feet above the sea-level, and this was over 

 5,000. I can only conclude it was a feral one, and 

 that, having at some time escaped from captivity in 

 one of the Cingalese villages, it had taken to the 

 jungle. 



In the third beat a hind sambur was killed by one 

 of the others. We then went home to breakfast. 



These beats only took place on Sundays, the day 

 on which we could get the coolies. (Of course we 

 were at least fifty miles from a church.) A few days 

 after it was suggested that we should try the dogs. 



