CHAPTER XXIII. 



MULLAITIVU. 



An Unwholesome Village Site. — Dirt and Discomfort. — Crocodile Hunting.— 

 Cannibalism and Leprosy among Crocodiles. — Flying Foxes. — A Big 

 Haul. — A Heronry. — Hot Jungle. — Death of Mr. Leys by Sunstroke. — 

 Mammals. — A live Manis and its Doings. — On Short Rations. — Exasperat- 

 ing Failure to Receive Supplies. — Tropical Hunger. — A Gloomy Proposi- 

 tion Strangely Refuted. — A Delicious Beverage. — Journal of a Trip into 

 the Interior. — Monkey-shooting. — Character of the Jungle. — Joseph Em- 

 erson. — Elephant Skeletons. — Self-buried Frogs. — Two Hundred Monkeys 

 in Four Hours. — Their Fleetnessin the Tree-tops. — Deer. — Overland Jour- 

 ney to Jaffna. — Elephant Pass. — Return to Colombo. 



Just half-way between Point Pedro and Trincomalee is the village 

 of Mullaitivu, with the sandy shore and clear blue waters of the 

 Bay of Bengal in front, and a deadly fever-breeding lagoon at the 

 back, a most ill-chosen site truly. As villages go, it is quite a pre- 

 tentious one, and contains a rest house, a well-appointed hospital, 

 which, thanks to the site of the village, is also well filled, and a 

 court presided over by an European ofiicial — an Assistant Govern- 

 ment Agent, I believe. I was much disappointed in finding the 

 rest house a very miserable affair, small, barren of furniture, iU- 

 ventilated, and with a floor composed of finely pulverized plaster, 

 three inches deep. 



Its one small room was to be my home during my stay there, 

 but the condition of the floor was such that I could not Hve in the 

 room at all, and was fain to content myself with occupying the ve- 

 randah, which opened into a nice back yard. Even at this distance 

 I shudder to think of the dirt and discomfort I endured at that 

 place, and but for the pleasure I found in my work it would have 

 been insupportable. 



Needing a coolie to accompany me as a game-carrier when I 

 went hunting, and for other purposes as well, I hired a poor deaf 

 fellow, a young man in years and stature, but a timid boy in spirit. 



