3io 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
their own barley in the Ouva district, about 13 
miles from the sanatorium. 
The destruction of forests in the lower ranges 
which surround Newera Ellia should have greatly 
increased the number of sambur on the highest 
mountains, which remain untouched. Nothing 
can compare in the present day with our game 
list of olden times; the hunting of the pack is 
confided to a native, and although I saw some 
fine hounds, the whole style is differently 
arranged. We always turned out regularly three 
times a week, and I hunted the pack myself. 
Occasionally we gave the neighbourhood of 
Newera Ellia a rest, and took the hounds for 
a few weeks either to the Horton Plains, 18 
or 20 miles distant, or to the Elephant Plains in 
the opposite direction. 
The country offers many advantages, none 
of which have been as yet developed. The 
highlands of Ceylon form an irregular series 
of plateaux at varying levels. When Newera 
Ellia is reached, although 6200 feet above 
the sea, it is not a mountain top, neither 
is it, like those horrible places Simla and 
Darjeeling, a mere ridge, girded by frightful 
precipices, without a level spot the size of an 
ordinary dining-room, unless scarped artificially 
from the hillside, but you can drive for miles 
upon more or less level roads in various direc¬ 
tions. There are many plains, some at the same 
altitude, others at a much higher level; for 
