276 TWO YEARS IN THE JUNGLE, 



He said that a great many would come to him from the neighbor« 

 ing \'illages, but that the parents were afraid to send their children 

 through the jungle on account of the ' cheetahs ' (leopards), bears, 

 and wild elephants. He said there are elephants within two miles 

 of the village now. 



"Mr. Emerson told me he had just learned of the remains of an- 

 other elephant, which he assured me was a very large one, and had 

 died only a year previous, near a village called Padicodooirupu, 

 eight miles to the southeast. 



" This jaw-breaking name came very near intimidating me, but 

 after wrestling with it a few minutes I found I could pronounce it 

 from beginning to end without getting lock-jaw, so we came to an 

 about face and started for the place named. Joseph gave me his 

 blessing and a large yellow piimpkin, and having no j^resent in kind 

 to offer, I bestowed upon him two rupees. That pumjokin I would 

 not have bartered for a coat of arms. 



" After a hard drive over a rough road we reached Padicodooi- 

 rupu just at dark. The natives gave me a roof to sleep under 

 where I made myself as comfortable as I could in my hammock. 

 Joseph's pumpkin was sweet and good ; and, for the first time in 

 many days, I had a dish of curry and rice that I could eat with 

 relish. As I had nothing else, it was lucky for me that Henrique 

 made it fit to eat. How absurd to think that one's happiness 

 should hinge on a dish of pumpkin curry ! 



" The people of this village are rather mean, and ill-disposed 

 toward strangers. One man had fever, and I should not greatly 

 mourn if it became an epidemic. 



" Saturday, April 6fh. — Set off early in the morning with four 

 men from the village, and walked three miles through the jungle to 

 the spot on the sandy bank of the Parayan Ar, where lay all that 

 was left of a once mighty elephant. Bravo ! Treasure-trove, or 

 the next thing to it at all events. There lay the entire skeleton ex- 

 cepting the foot-bones and caudal vertebrae, of an old and very 

 large elephant, bleached clean and white. For a wonder the huge 

 skull was absolutely perfect, not even a tooth missing, for which I 

 am under obligations to native shiftlessness. Such teeth as those 

 sell readily for five rupees each, in Colombo and Galle. I sent off 

 at once for reinforcements, and in a short time had nine men on 

 the ground. First we cut a path through the jungle to the road, 

 and then I picked out what bones I wanted, almost the entire lot 

 except the pelvis. We got hoes and dug the sand over in a careful 



