THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [June I, 1904. 
To the Editor, 
■5 _ 
STALKING IN THE HILLS. 
A REPLY TO MR. N. C, DAVIDSON. 
North Cove, Bogawantalawa, April Idth. 
Sir,— la dealing with Mr. N C Davidson's letter 
it would be well to give you as near as may be tlie 
■Vvhole history of this bone of contention that he 
says has been dug up again. Some five or six 
yeas ago it was becoming very apparent to all 
observant frequenters ot the chief hunting centres 
of the uplands of Ceylon that sambur were being 
killed ofi to an alarming extent. Licenses to shoot 
were being issued broadcast to coolies, kanganies 
and native squatters in and around Nuwara Eliya, 
and gangs of coolies were to be seen weekly on the 
Bopatalawa patanas driving the jungles with doga 
-and guns. The inevitable result of this was the 
threatened extinction of the time-honoured and 
glorious sport of "elk hunting." Action was, 
tortunately, promptly taken and, I believe, a few 
;keen sportsmen approached H E Sir West Kidgeway 
on the subject. The Game Protection Society 
also took the matter up, and on the representations 
of this latter body the Governor made a rule pro- 
hibiting the shooting of sambar and deer in the 
Hill Reserves above 4,000 feet. This was during 
my absence from Ceylon and whilst Mr. N 0 
Davidson was Hon. Secretary of the G P S, 
When I returned and relieved that gentleman 
of the Secretaryship I found feeling on the subject 
running very high amongst a small section of the 
community. Certain sportsmen in L'va had been 
in the habit of shooting above 4,000 feet, where 
registered packs were not being hunted, and this 
new rule put a stop to it. It was a great oversight 
on the part of these gentlemen that they had not 
opposed the rule before it became law or had not, 
as members of the C G P Society, assisted in the 
framing of it. However, in my capacity of Hon. 
Secretary I took the matter in hand at once, 
called meetings of the Society at which the subject 
was well discussed and eventually thoroughly 
threshed out, and a resolution was ultimately 
passed asking Government to permit the stalking 
of sambur with the rifle above 4,000 feet. 
This appeared to satisfy everyone and the C G P S 
was instructed by Government to draw up a set of 
conditions to be attached to future game licenses 
that would be acceptable to the members of the 
Society. In due course a copy of the conditions 
proposed by the Society was submitted to Govern- 
ment and duly approved of, subject to certain 
alterations by the Governor himself. The condi- 
tion ultimately read as follows and at a p'eneral 
meeting held on September 16th, 1903, received the 
full approval of the C G P S :— 
This license does not aathorise the holder to shoot 
or attempt to shoot sambnr or spotted deer at any 
place where registered packs are hunted otberwiae 
than by stalking with the rifle and when the holder 
has obtained permission in writiai; from the Govern- 
ment Agent for that purpose. 
It thus appeared to the members of the Society 
and to all concerned that the matter had now been 
settled to the satisfaction of all parties, but it will 
be noted that the ' condition ' above-quoted con- 
tains the following clause, ' and when the holder 
jjas obtained permission,' &c, This appears to me 
to point to a tacit reservation by Government of its 
light to refuse in certain cases a stalking lieense 
altogether, And I would ask does it follow because 
Government permits the use of the rifle to kill 
game aV' -o * O^iG feet that all the Hill Reserves 
above ■ a are to be immediately thrown 
open ti jus shooting? To my mind.it 
would ladiiess to have no restrictions, 
and G was, I consider, more 
than j . reserving to itself the right 
to say • iliuo far shalt thou go and no farther.' 
Then comes the final stage of this business. It 
appear- to have been pointed out to the A.G.A., 
Nuwaia Eiiya, and very properly too, in my 
estimation, that a small portion of the Horton 
Plains should be protected from the rifleman and 
reserved for hunting with knife and hound. 
Accordingly, at a general meeting of the 
G, P. S. held in Nuwara Eliya on the 10th, the 
business of which was duly published 10 days 
beforehand in four daily papers, a resolution was 
carried as tollows : — 
"That it is desirable that the G. A. C. P. shall Bx 
a limit to the stalking area on the Horton Plains 
reserving a certain portion for hunting to the knife 
only." 
I may add here that license to shoot sambur on 
the Horton Plaius hnd been refused for many 
years prior to the agitation referred to in the 
commencement of this letter. The Naboth's 
Vineyard that Mr Davidson seems so anxious to 
wrest from his "butchers" and "slaughterers" is 
a tiny bit of patana land infinitesimal in area 
compared with the vast open plains scattered over 
the length and breadth of this Islaad where the 
rifleman may roam and shoot to his heart's content, 
but where the good old hound and the trusty 
knife are of no more use than a butterfly net. 
" Live and let live " seems to be an unknown 
quantity in Mr Davidson's philosophy and yet in 
his younger days he used to be reckoned a sports- 
man. He says he wants to stalk sambur in the 
Gallagamuwa Valley of the Horton Plains, but 
any one who knows that pretty little valley must 
know that it is nowhere near being a stalking 
country. It should be borne m mind that I no 
longer keep a pack of "elk hounds" myself, but, 
having enjoyed this finest and manliest of all sport 
in Ceylon for the past 26 years with such good 
sportsmen as Messrs DownaU, Murray-Menzies, 
Geo. Wighton, Bagot, Roper, Lutyens, the 
Jacksons, Beck, Cathcart, Leaf, and others, I 
am strongly in sympathy with all those who will 
go to the expense ot keeping a pack of hounds 
whereby the younger generation of sportsmen 
may have their opportunities of seeing and 
tackling a gallant stag at bay. — Yours, &c„ 
T. FARR, 
II. 
Amherst, Udapussellawa, April 19. 
Sir,— I challenged any one to give ua sound 
reasons why the masters of elk packs should 
have a monopoly from Government to kill 
gcame in the Hill Reserves ahove 4,000 ft., 
and Mr. Farr and Mr. J. C. Kennedy have 
taken up the cudgels in defence of the mono- 
poly. Mr. Farr says that he found feeling; 
running high against this monopoly on his 
return from England and he at once set 
about righting it, the result being that at 
the last September meeting a resolution 
permitting of stalking under certain con- 
