322 
WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WA YS 
CHAP. 
numerous ravines upon the mountain side, but 
it was of no avail; not a sound could be heard. 
We then went up the Newera Ellia pass; nothing 
could be heard in that direction. The whole 
morning passed away in fruitless search. It was 
2 p.m., and the wearied visitors to the hunt had 
long since returned to their respective homes in 
despair. The day was hot, and we dropped 
into Machel’s house and had a draught of beer 
previous to climbing the steep mountain at the 
back of the barracks, in the hope of hearing 
something of the lost pack upon the hill-top. 
Making a circuit on reaching the summit, we 
descended by the Cutcherry, and not having 
heard even a chirp, we determined to go towards 
‘ Rest and be thankful,’ where I had sent 
Machel to look out. Upon our arrival on the 
top of the hill on the Wallapane road, where the 
path branches off to ‘ Rest and be thankful,’ 
we saw Machel, who was sitting on the patina, 
having returned from his post without success ; 
but a proof of the direction which the pack had 
taken, now appeared in Lizzie (a foxhound bitch), 
who had just joined him from the Wallapane road. 
“ There was no longer a doubt; the elk had 
gone towards the Matturatta Plains, and without 
a moment’s delay we galloped thither (having now 
obtained our horses). After a sharp ride of 
a mile, we met some village people, who reported 
that two dogs had passed them at full speed 
along the path in the direction of the Matturatta 
