Chap. V.] 
THE ELEPHANT. 
169 
into the town to drink at the wells. The soil is pro- 
lific in the extreme; rice, cotton, and dry grain are 
cultivated largely in the valley. Every cottage is sur- 
rounded by gardens of coco-nuts, arecas, jak-fruit and 
coffee; the slopes, under tillage, are covered with 
luxuriant vegetation, and, as far as the eye can reach on 
every side, there are dense forests intersected by streams, 
in the shade of which the deer and the elephant abound. 
In 1847 arrangements were made for one of the great 
elephant hunts for the supply of the Civil Engineer's 
Department, and the spot fixed on by Mr. Morris, 
the Government officer who conducted the corral, was 
on the banks of the Kimbul river, about fifteen miles 
from Kornegalle. The country over which we rode to 
the scene of the approaching capture showed traces of 
the recent drought, the fields lay to a great extent un- 
tilled, owing to the want of water, and the tanks, almost 
reduced to dryness, were covered with the leaves of the 
rose-coloured lotus. 
Our cavalcade was as oriental as the scenery through 
which it moved ; the Governor and the officers of his 
staff and household formed a long cortege, escorted by 
the native attendants, horse-keepers, and foot-runners. 
The ladies were borne in palankins, and the younger 
individuals of the party carried in chairs raised on' 
poles, and covered with cool green awnings made of 
the fresh leaves of the talipat palm. 
After traversing the cultivated lands, the path led 
across open glades of park-like verdure and beauty, and 
at last entered the great forest under the shade of 
ancient trees wreathed to their crowns with climbing 
plants and festooned by natural garlands of convolvulus 
and orchids. Here silence reigned, disturbed only by 
