The Heavy Rifle Fortunately
Turned But Did Not Kill Him, And He Escaped In Thorny Jungle, Through
Which I Did Not Choose To Follow.
On my way to the main road from Trincomalee to Kandy I walked on through
the jungle path, about a mile ahead of my followers, to look out for
game.
Upon arriving at the open country in the neighbourhood of
Cowdellai, I got a shot at a deer at a killing distance. She was not
twenty yards off, and was looking at me as if spellbound. This provided
me with venison for a couple of days. The rapid decomposition of all
things in a tropical climate renders a continued supply of animal food
very precarious, if the produce of the rifle is alone to be depended
upon. Venison killed on one day would be uneatable on the day following,
unless it were half-dressed shortly after it was killed; thus the size
of the animal in no way contributes to the continuation of the supply of
food, as the meat will not keep. Even snipe killed on one morning are
putrid the next evening; the quantity of game required for the
subsistence of one person is consequently very large.
After killing the deer I stalked a fine peacock, who gave me an hour's
work before I could get near him. These birds are very wary and
difficult to approach; but I at length got him into a large bush,
surrounded by open ground. A stone thrown into this dislodged him, and
he gave me a splendid flying shot at about thirty yards.
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