Chap. L] 
JACKALS. 
35 
down a deer. The small number of hares in the dis- 
tricts they infest is ascribed to their depredations. In 
the legends of the natives, and in the literature of the 
Buddhists, the jackal in Ceylon is as essentially the type 
of cunning as the fox is the emblem of craft and ad- 
roitness in the traditions of Europe. In fact, it is more 
than doubtful whether the jackal of the East be not 
the creature alluded to, in the various passages of the 
Sacred Writings which make allusion to the artfulness 
and subtlety of the " fox." 
These faculties they display in a high degree in their 
hunting expeditions, especially in the northern portions 
of the island, where they are found in the greatest num- 
bers. In these districts, where the wide sandy plains are 
thinly covered with brushwood, the face of the country 
is diversified by patches of thick jungle and detached 
groups of trees, that form insulated groves and topes. 
At dusk, or after nightfall, a pack of jackals, having 
watched a hare or a small deer take refuge in one of 
these retreats, immediately surround it on all sides ; and 
having stationed a few to watch the path by which the 
game entered, the leader commences the attack by 
raising the unearthly cry peculiar to their race, and 
which resembles the sound ohkay ! loudly and rapidly 
repeated. The whole party then rush into the jungle, 
and drive out the victim, which generally falls into the 
ambush previously laid to entrap it. 
A native gentleman *, who had favourable opportunities 
of observing the movements of these animals, informed 
me, that when a jackal has brought down his game and 
killed it, his first impulse is to hide it in the nearest 
jungle, whence he issues with an air of easy indifference 
1 Mr. D. de Silva Gooneratne. 
D 2 
