56 The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon. 



threatened us, they suddenly wheeled to their left when 

 within twenty paces of the guns, and left us astonished 

 victors of the field. We poured an ineffectual volley 

 into the retreating herd from the light guns as they gal- 

 loped oft' in full retreat, and reloaded as quickly as 

 possible, as the two bulls, although floored, were still 

 alive. They were, however, completely powerless, and 

 a double-barreled gun gave each the coup de grace by a 

 ball in the forehead. Both rifle shots had struck at the 

 point of junction of the throat and chest, and the four- 

 ounce ball had passed out of the hind quarter. Our 

 friend of yesterday, although hit in precisely the same 

 spot, had laughed at the light guns. 



Although I have since killed about two hundred wild 

 buffaloes I have never witnessed another charge by a 

 herd. This was an extraordinary occurrence, and for- 

 tunately stands alone in buffalo-shooting. Were it not 

 for the two heavy rifles our career might have ter- 

 minated in an unpleasant manner. As I before men- 

 tioned, this part of the country was seldom or ever 

 disturbed at the time of which I write, and the buffaloes 

 were immensely numerous and pai'ticularly savage, 

 nearly always turning to bay and showing good sport 

 when attacked. 



Having cut out the tongues from the two bulls, we 

 turned homeward to breakfast. Skirting along the 

 edge of the lake, which abounded with small creeks, 

 occasioning us many circuits, we came suddenly upon 

 a single bull, who, springing from his lair of mud and 

 high grass, plunged into a creek, and, swimming across, 

 exposed himself to a dead shot as he landed on the op- 

 posite bank about a hundred paces from us. The four- 

 ounce struck him in the hind quarters and broke the 



