Fe 6 . I, 1898 .] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
Japanese work. It is a trailer, not much thicker 
than a lead-pencil and as toagh as whip-cord. It 
will give to any amount, but to break it is im- 
possible, unless worked backwards and forwards 
like a piece of wire between the fingers. It is 
on this that the sambur feeds, and we always ex- 
pected it. 
The stag kept moving on steadily, and we had 
now been on the run for several hours, and began 
to think it was time he turned to bay. Evidently, 
from the way he managed things, he was a stayer. 
Presently we struck an elephant path one ridge that 
seemed to carry us in the desired direction. As it 
turned out, nothing could have been better, and a 
quarter of an hour brought us to where we could 
hear the hounds away below us in some stream, at 
bay. The seizers I hold in leash knew what was 
the matter and tried to get away, but the moment 
had not arrived for the utilisation of their services. 
We hurried as quickly as we could, for we knew 
that if we delayed too long the stag would regain 
his wind and then, if he started afresh, it would be 
all up for that day, at any rate. We soon found 
ourselves in a perfect forest of nillu, which for a 
moment threatened to utterly bar our way. Draw- 
ing my knife, I slashed viciously, whilst W., think- 
ing he saw a clear passage, sheered off to the left. 
I went on chopping like a backwoodsman, crawling, 
jumping and advancing. All at once I discovered 
the stream running before me clear of obstructions. 
In a moment I was in it, and, running along it, 
came in view of the bay. 
In a little recess, backed by smooth, perpendicular 
rocks, stood a magnificient stag, his mane bristling, 
his head down, ready to beat back any attack. 
The pack stood round hi tu, raising a row that made 
the forest echo. I had at once slipped the seizers, 
and at the sight of them and at the sound of 
my voice, “ Yoicks, to him ! ” they made a frantic 
rush at the stag. 
At that moment W. appeared on the scene, and 
we advanced to the attack together. The stag was 
fighting for his life, and dangerous, and we knew 
that we could not touch hira unless he was well 
held. In a moment there was a confused mass of 
dogs and deer. With gigantic springs Grouach and 
Borap had covered the distance between them and 
the stag, and had seized him cleverly by the throat. 
How they evaded his antlers I cannot tell, for he 
was as quick as lightning; but they were quicker, 
and the other dogs piled in on top, and W. and I 
with them. Another moment, and, with a mighty, 
convulsive leap that threw off ail the dogs except 
Grouach, the stag fell forward dead, boih our Knives 
having gone into his heart ! 
It was over 1 There he lay, as magnificent a 
specimen of a sambur as ever I saw. But for 
the seizers we should have had a hard battle to 
conquer him, for he was full of fight and go. Had 
we left him much longer he would probably have 
broken bay and got off altogether* As it was, how- 
ever, we shouted like a couple of sctiool-boys, and 
the hours of toil we had endured seemed but minutes, 
and the fatigue all disappeared when we looked upon 
this splendid beast lying there. Presently we were 
joined by the rest of our party in various stages of 
exhaustion and dilapidation, but all revived at the 
sight of our success. We sat down on the mossy 
bank and pulling out such grub as we had brought 
with ns, ate it and washed .it down with the cold 
water of the stream, tempered, I might add, with 
a few drops of Scotch whiskey from a flask that 
somebody carried. We all drank, and then we gave 
the dog-boy a nip, for he would have to come back the 
next day with coolies and carry the stag home. 
CEYLON LIMITED COMPANIES IN 1897: 
A list of all the local “ Rupee ” Capital Com- 
panies incorporated during last year ; and also 
of the Sterling Companies registered in London, 
was published the other day in the Ceylon Observer. 
he former number a dozen and range from the 
569^ 
“Sinhalese Theatricals Company, Limited” with 
a capital of R5,000 to the Neboda, Oodoowerre, 
Gangawatte, Agra and Pitakandej lea Estate Com- 
panies each of tlie live named having a capital of 
K500,OUO. The total (nominal) capital represented 
in the twelve new Ceylon Companies is K3, 164,000. 
Turning to the Sterling Companies, we find no 
fewer than twenty registered, repre.senting a total 
(nominal) capital of no less than £3.392,500 ; butthis 
includes the Kanan Devan Hills Produce Com- 
pany, Limited, which is more properly an Indian 
Company, and has a capital of a million pounds 
to itself. So again the Indi.an & Ceylon Tea 
Trust Company (capital £250,000) cannot all be 
credited to this island, nor perhaps the Eastern 
and Ceylon Tea Estates and Trading Company 
w'ith its £*20,000 capital. Still the list for 1897 
shows .substantia! additions to the roll of Ceylon 
Plantation Companies. 
The following remarks from a contemporary 
are of interest in connection with this subject : — 
There has existed during the year a tendency to 
amalgamate local concerns and to issue them on a 
sterling basis. One such scheme has been accom- 
plished and the results are decidedly not encouraging- 
We refer to the Yaliyantota, Weoya, and others. The 
two former were amongst the oldest of Ceylon Com- 
panies and were always pointed to as the most pros- 
perous on the local share list, shewing 700 and 300 per 
cent premium respectively. These were placed on a 
sterling basis at near the rupee equivalent. Allowing 
for the issue of scrip at 50 per cent premium, the 
shares are now 20 per cent discount. Placing aside 
the cost of liquidation and reconstruction, even the 
most enthusiastic supporter of the schem. can scarcely 
look upon the venture with satisfaction. It is the 
popular idea that home investors are satisfied with 6 
per cent, for their money — doubtless they are as a 
minimum, but there are contingencies to provide for. 
1, Exchange ; 2, Prices of produce ; 3, War, famine, 
and disease. These are points that appeal to sound 
business men, who are the supporters we ought to en- 
deavour to attract. At present we are supported by out- 
side investors, ignorant of what they hold, and possibly 
first interested through advertisements and lured by 
the prosperity of old companies which have a splendid 
record, and which find a position in moat prospec- 
tuses issued at home as indicative of what can be 
done. This class, when disappointed, air their mis- 
fortunes with persistent energy. Speaking of “decoys,” 
perhaps the name and reputation of no Company 
have been of such service to promoters as those of 
the Ceylon Tea Plantations Company, whose splendid 
record has not been wasted when wanted to stimulate 
interest in the tea enterprise in Ceylon. The Lou- 
don Stock Exchange has been a weakness of some of 
our local financiers, but we think their affection was 
not reciprocated. During the boom a certain amount 
of interest was extended to Ceylon investments, but 
dealings were not a success ; sales were made without 
finding a cover ; and settlings ere far from satisfac- 
tory. The capital of ( ' inpanies in Ceylon was found 
far too small to command a ready market except on 
large margins, and the number of Companies entitled 
to a quotation was so small that it was not worth 
the attention required to investigate their merits. 
A point worth noting at the present time is that a 
number of local Companies are short of capital, and 
during the last few months this fact has been in evi- 
dence by the number of Companies making arrange- 
ments to borrow. This fact is of importance to in- 
vestors who base their calculations on the usual statis- 
tics that appear in the local share lists. As an in- 
stance in point, we see in the Gazette that the Udabaga 
Coy. propose to borrow a sum of £11,000 sterling on a 
capital of E170,000, Considering the depressed state 
of the local market, and the depreciated condition of 
stocks representing good properties floated on the 
local market it prices considered reasonable by practi- 
cal authorities and supported by local capital, we 
cannot but watch witinterest the future of a num 
