Although The Number Of These Animals Is Still So Immense In
Ceylon, They Must Nevertheless Have Been Much Reduced Within The
Last Twenty Years.
In those days the country was overrun with
them, and some idea of their numbers may be gathered from the
fact that three first-rate shots in three days bagged one hundred
and four elephants.
This was told to me by one of the parties
concerned, and it throws our modern shooting into the shade. In
those days, however, the elephants were comparatively
undisturbed, and they were accordingly more easy to approach.
One of the oldest native hunters has assured me that he has seen
the elephants, when attacked, recklessly expose themselves to the
shots and endeavour to raise their dead comrades. This was at a
time when guns were first heard in the interior of Ceylon, and
the animals had never been shot at. Since that time the decrease
in the game of Ceylon has been immense. Every year increases the
number of guns in the possession of the natives, and accordingly
diminishes the number of animals. From the change which has come
over many parts of the country within my experience of the last
eight years, I am of opinion that the next ten years will see the
deer-shooting in Ceylon completely spoiled, and the elephants
very much reduced. There are now very few herds of elephants in
Ceylon that have not been shot at by either Europeans or natives,
and it is a common occurrence to kill elephants with numerous
marks of old bullet wounds.
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