Chap. I.} 
THE BUFFALO. 
55 
rarely molests them, so huge a creature affording no 
worthy mark for his skill, and their wanton slaughter 
adds nothing to the supply of food for their assailant. 
In the Hambangtotte country, where the Singhalese 
domesticate buffaloes, and use them to assist in the 
labour of the rice lands, the villagers are much annoyed 
by the wild ones, that mingle with the tame when sent 
out to the woods to pasture ; and it constantly happens 
that a savage stranger, placing himself at the head of 
the tame herd, resists the attempts of the owners to 
drive them homewards at sunset. In the districts of 
Putlam and the Seven Corles, buffaloes are generally 
used for draught ; and in carrying heavy loads of salt 
from the coast towards the interior, they drag a cart 
over roads which would defy the weaker strength of 
bullocks. 
In one place between Batticaloa and Trincomalie I 
found the natives making an ingenious use of them 
when eno-aged in shooting 1 water-fowl in the vast salt 
marshes and muddy lakes. Being an object to which 
the birds are accustomed, the Singhalese train the 
buffalo to the sport, and, concealed behind, the animal 
browsing listlessly along, they guide it by ropes attached 
to its horns, and thus creep undiscovered within shot of 
the flock. The same practice prevails, I believe, in 
some of the northern parts of India, where they are 
similarly trained to assist the sportsman in approaching 
deer. One of these " sporting buffaloes " sells for a 
considerable sum. 
In the thick forests which cover the Passdun Corle, 
to the east and south of Caltura, the natives use the 
sporting buffalo in another way, to assist in hunting 
deer and wild hogs. A bell is attached to its neck, and 
E 4 
