I seldom or never fire at hog in those
districts, as their number is so great that there is no sport in
shooting them. They travel about in herds of one and two hundred,
and even more. These are composed of sows and young boars, as
the latter leave the herd when arrived at maturity.
CHAPTER VII. Curious Phenomenon - Panorama of Ouva - South-west
Monsoon - Hunting Followers - Fort M'Donald - River - Jungle
Paths - Dangerous Locality - Great Waterfall - Start for Hunting
- The Find - A Gallant Stag - "Bran" and Lucifer" - "Phrenzy's"
Death - Buck at Bay - The Cave Hunting-box- "Madcap's" Dive - Elk
Soup - Former Inundation - " Bluebeard" leads off - " Hecate's"
Course -The Elk's Leap - Variety of Deer - The Axis - Ceylon
Bears - Variety of Vermin - Trials for Hounds - Hounds and their
Masters - A Sportsman "shut up"- A Corporal and Centipede.
>From June to November the south-west monsoon brings wind and
mist across the Newera Ellia mountains.
Clouds of white fog boil up from the Dimboola valley like the
steam from a huge cauldron, and invade the Newera Ellia plain
through the gaps in the mountains to the westward.
The wind howls over the high ridges, cutting the jungle with its
keen edge, so that it remains as stunted brushwood, and the
opaque screen of driving fog and drizzling rain is so dense that
one feels convinced there is no sun visible within at least a
hundred miles.
There is a curious phenomenon, however, in this locality. When
the weather described prevails at Newera Ellia, there is actually
not one drop of rain within four miles of my house in the
direction of Badulla. Dusty roads, a cloudless sky and dazzling
sunshine astonish the thoroughly-soaked traveler, who rides out
of the rain and mist into a genial climate, as though he passed
through a curtain. The wet weather terminates at a mountain
called Hackgalla (or more properly Yakkadagalla, or iron rock).
This bold rock, whose summit is about six thousand five hundred
feet above the sea, breasts the driving wind and seems to command
the storm. The rushing clouds halt in their mad course upon its
crest and curl in sudden impotence around the craggy summits.
The deep ravine formed by an opposite mountain is filled with the
vanquished mist, which sinks powerless in its dark gorge; and the
bright sun, shining from the east, spreads a perpetual rainbow
upon the gauze-like cloud of fog which settles in the deep
hollow.
This is exceedingly beautiful. The perfect circle of the rainbow
stands like a fairy spell in the giddy depth of the hollow, and
seems to forbid the advance of the monsoon. All before is bright
and cloudless; the lovely panorama of the Ouva country spreads
before the eye for many miles beneath the feet. All behind is
dark and stormy; the wind is howling, the forests are groaning,
the rain is pelting upon the hills.
The change appears impossible; but there it is, ever the same;
season after season, year after year, the rugged top of Hackgalla
struggles with the storms, and ever victorious the cliffs smile
in the sunshine on the eastern side; the rainbow reappears with
the monsoon, and its vivid circle remains like the guardian
spirit of the valley,.
It is impossible to do justice to the extraordinary appearance of
this scene by description. The panoramic view in itself is
celebrated; but as the point in the road is reached where the
termination of the monsoon dissolves the cloud and rain into a
thin veil of mist, the panorama seen through the gauze-like
atmosphere has the exact appearance of a dissolving view; the
depth, the height and distance of every object, all great in
reality, are magnified by the dim and unnatural appearance; and
by a few steps onward the veil gradually fades away, and the
distant prospect lies before the eye with a glassy clearness made
doubly striking by the sudden contrast.
The road winds along about midway up the mountain, bounded on the
right by the towering cliffs and sloping forest of Hackgalla, and
on the left by the almost precipitous descent of nearly one
thousand feet, the sides of which are clothed by alternate forest
and waving grass. At the bottom flows a torrent, whose roar,
ascending from the hidden depth, increases the gloomy mystery of
the scene.
On the north, east and south-east of Newera Ellia the sunshine is
perpetual during the reign of the misty atmosphere, which the
south-west monsoon drives upon the western side of the mountains.
Thus, there is always an escape open from the wet season at
Newera Ellia by a short walk of three or four miles.
A long line of dark cloud is then seen, terminated by a bright
blue sky. So abrupt is the line and the cessation of the rain
that it is difficult to imagine how the moisture is absorbed.
This sudden termination of the cloud-capped mountain gives rise
to a violent wind in the sunny valleys and bare hills beneath.
The chilled air of Newera Ellia pours down into the sun-warmed
atmosphere below, and creates a gale that sweeps across the
grassy hilltops with great force, giving the sturdy rhododendrons
an inclination to the north-east which clearly marks the
steadiness of the monsoon.
It is not to be supposed, however, that Newera Ellia lies in
unbroken gloom for months together. One month generally brings a
share of uninterrupted bad weather; this is from the middle of
June to the middle of July. This is the commencement of the
south-west monsoon, which usually sets in with great violence.
The remaining portion of what is called the wet season, till the
end of November, is about as uncertain as the climate of England
- some days fine, others wet, and every now and then a week of
rain at one bout.
