Chap. I.] 



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 Grooneratne. 

 D 2 



