A Few Miles Beyond This Village The Wild Country Begins, And
Hambantotte Is The Next Station, Nearly Ninety Miles From Yalle.
The
country around Hambantotte is absolutely frightful-wide extending plains
of white sand and low scrubby bushes scattered here and there; salt
lakes of great extent, and miserable plains of scanty herbage,
surrounded by dense thorny jungles.
Notwithstanding this, at some
seasons the whole district is alive with game. January and February are
the best months for elephants and buffaloes, and August and September
are the best seasons for deer, at which time the whole country is burnt
up with drought, and the game is forced to the vicinity of Yalle river
and the neighbouring pools. In the wet season this district is nearly
flooded, and forms a succession of deep marshes, the malaria from which
is extremely unhealthy. At this time the grass is high, and the
elephants are very numerous.
When I was in this part of the country the drought was excessive; the
jungle was parched, and the leaves dropped from the bushes under the
influence of a burning sun. Not a cloud ever appeared upon the sky, but
a dazzling haze of intense heat spread over the scorched plains. The
smaller streams were completely dried up, and the large rivers were
reduced to rivulets in the midst of a bed of sand.
The whole of this country is a succession of flat sandy plains and low
jungles contiguous to the sea-coast. The intense heat and the glare of
the sun rendered the journey most fatiguing.
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