14 THE OUT-STATION; OR, 



CHAPTER II. 



THE VEDDAH; OR, WILD MAN OF THE JUNGLE. 



ALTHOUGH not strictly catalogued amongst jungle 

 game (inasmuch as they are human beings), I must 

 indulge the reader with my introduction to the Ved- 

 dah ? and the first interview with this wild man of the 

 jungle. 



Not quite a century ago, when this tribe who 

 may be said to constitute the gipsies of Ceylon 

 became rather too numerous and predatory in any 

 particular locality, leave was always granted by the 

 reigning monarch to his subjects inhabiting the over- 

 run district, to have a month or six weeks' shooting 

 among these poor wretches (making game of them 

 with a vengeance); and even within the last dozen 

 years, a similar request was made to the then governor 

 of the island, Sir R. W. Horton, by a deputation from 

 the interior, and his refusal to support the " vested 

 rights" of these amiable niggers caused no small de- 

 gree of dissatisfaction amongst them. 



