44 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



others ; I had slaughtered a number of animals without 

 understanding their habits, and I was perfectly ignorant 

 of the sport. This is now many years ago, and it was 

 then my first visit to the island. Some places that were 

 good spots for shooting in those days have since that 

 time been much disturbed, and are now no longer at- 

 tractive to my eyes. One of these places is Minneria 

 Lake. 



I was on a shooting trip accompanied by my brother, 

 whom I will designate as B. We had passed a toil- 

 some day in pushing and dragging our ponies for twenty 

 miles along a narrow path through thick jungle, which 

 half a dozen natives in advance were opening before us 

 with bill-hooks. This had at one time been a good 

 path, but was then overgrown. It is now an acknow- 

 ledged bridle-road. 



At 4 p.m., and eighty miles from Kandy, we emerged 

 from the jungle, and the view of Minneria Lake burst 

 upon us, fully repaying us for our day's march. It was 

 a lovely afternoon. The waters of the lake, which is 

 twenty miles in circumference, were burnished by the 

 setting sun. The surrounding plains were as green as 

 an English meadow, and beautiful forest trees bordered 

 the extreme boundaries of the plains like giant warders 

 of the adjoining jungle. Long promontories densely 

 wooded stretched far into the waters of the lake, form- 

 ing sheltered nooks and bays teeming with wild fowl. 

 The deer browsed in herds on the wide extent of plain, 

 or lay beneath the shade of the spreading branches. Every 

 feature of lovely scenery was here presented. In some 

 spots groves of trees grew to the very water's edge ; in 

 others the wide plains, free from a single stem or bush, 

 stretched for miles along the edge of the lake ; thickly 



