110 THE OUT-STATION; OR, 



all my jungle excursions among the brute creation, I 

 have invariably seen the connecting link between ani- 

 mals of an entirely different species, and most perfectly 

 pourtrayed from man downwards ; that is to say, I 

 have frequently met men (the Veddahs, for instance, 

 mentioned in the second chapter of the " Jaunts"), 

 that I should not have known from monkeys, and 

 monkeys that more closely resembled men. 



The reptile link has an immediate connexion with 

 the quadruped in the crocodile, and so one can go 

 on, ad infinitum. Where reason ceases, and mere 

 instinct begins, I leave to metaphysicians, who have 

 more spare time on their hands than I have, to deter- 

 mine. 



The principal scene of my hostilities against the 

 hog-deer was among the magnificent passes on the 

 road from Kandy to Newera Ellia, near a place 

 called Pusilarva, where I happened to have a brother- 

 officer stationed in charge of a company of Caffres 

 engaged in road-making. 



The climate here was delicious, nor did its sultri- 

 ness entail a turning out in the middle of the night, 

 in order to comfortably enjoy the sport of the morning, 

 but it enabled one to lay in a substantial breakfast 

 before undertaking whatever might be the order of 

 the day. 



Furnishing ourselves with a long, stout, pole a piece, 

 to help us through the ravines and over the cataracts, 

 we set out, accompanied by two couple of dogs (a 



