262 The Rijie and Hound in Ceylon. 



at which our coolies turned up their noses when I ad- 

 vised them to lay in a stock before starting. 



There was no time to be lost, and we determined to 

 push on as fast as the coolies could follow, as they had 

 only two days' provisions ; we had precisely the same, 

 and those could not be days of feasting. We we're, in 

 fact, like sailors going to sea with a ship only half vic- 

 tualed ; and, as we followed our little guide, and lost 

 sight of the village behind us, I foresaw that our stom- 

 achs would suffer unless game was plentiful on the path. 



We passed through beautiful open country for about 

 eight miles, during which we saw several herds of deer ; 

 but we could not get a shot. At length we pitched the 

 tent, at four o'clock p. m., at the foot of " Gunner's 

 Coin," a solitary rocky mountain of about two thousand 

 feet in height, which rises precipitously from the level 

 country. We then divided into two parties — W. and 

 P., and V. B. and I. We strolled off with our guns in 

 different directions. 



The country was perfectly level, being a succession 

 of glades of fine low grass divided into a thousand 

 natural paddocks by belts of jungle. 



We were afraid to stroll more than a mile from the 

 tent, lest we should lose our way ; and we took a good 

 survey of the most prominent points of the mountain, 

 that we might know our direction by their position. 



After an hour's walk, and just as the sun was setting, 

 a sudden crash in a jungle a few yards from us brought 

 the rifles upon full cock. The next moment, out came 

 an elephant's head, and I knocked him over by a front 

 shot. He had held his head in such a peculiar posi- 

 tion that a ball could not reach the brain, and he im- 

 mediately recovered himself, and, wheeling suddenly 



