XXV 
THE SAME UR 
315 
any number of hours that we might be employed. 
I never ate anything, but according to my own 
feelings I could work more satisfactorily upon simple 
coffee, with my belt tightly drawn and buckled. I 
never by any chance took anything for lunch, and I 
made a point of never drinking until I returned 
home; this was sometimes, but rarely, after dark. 
This system was excellent training for the work 
required. Upon ordinary occasions I was either 
alone, excepting my huntsman (a discharged soldier, 
15th Regiment, Benson), or I was accompanied by 
my brother, or some other friend. During the fine 
season, when Newera Elba was full of visitors, we 
had large parties, including many ladies. On those 
occasions every one was mounted, and I invariably 
reserved certain localities where horses would be of 
service, and the sambur would most probably break 
across the open. 
It was a delightful feeling in those days of 
activity, when starting in early morning I opened 
the kennel-door. A charming pack was created 
after several years of crossing special breeds to 
produce all that was required. 
For hunting sambur in such a country as de¬ 
scribed, the pack must be mixed. We commenced 
by a mistake, in taking a small pack of foxhounds 
from England. They were fine young hounds; 
some from Lord FitzHardinge’s pack, others from 
the Duke of Beaufort’s. 
I discovered immediately that a pack of 
thoroughbred foxhounds was a• fiasco in a wild 
