At the village of Monampitya there was no rice procurable, as the
natives lived entirely upon korrakan* (*A small seed, which they make
into hard, uneatable cakes.), at which our coolies turned up their noses
when I advised them to lay in a stock before starting.
There was no time to be lost, and we determined to push on as fast as
the coolies could follow, as they had only two days' provisions; we had
precisely the same, and those could not be days of feasting. We were, in
fact, like sailors going to sea with a ship only half-victualled; and,
as we followed our little guide, and lost sight of the village behind
us, I foresaw that our stomachs would suffer unless game was plentiful
on the path.
We passed through beautiful open country for about eight miles, during
which we saw several herds of deer; but we could not get a shot. At
length we pitched the tent, at four o'clock P.M., at the foot of
'Gunner's Coin,' a solitary rocky mountain of about two thousand feet in
height, which rises precipitously from the level country. We then
divided into two parties--W. and P., and V. B. and I. We strolled off
with our guns in different directions.
The country was perfectly level, being a succession of glades of fine
low grass divided into a thousand natural paddocks by belts of jungle.
We were afraid to stroll more than a mile from the tent, lest we should
lose our way; and we took a good survey of the most prominent points of
the mountain, that we might know our direction by their position.
After an hour's walk, and just as the sun was setting, a sudden crash in
a jungle a few yards from us brought the rifles upon full cock. The next
moment out came an elephant's head, and I knocked him over by a front
shot. He had held his head in such a peculiar position that a ball could
not reach the brain, and he immediately re covered himself, and,
wheeling suddenly round, he retreated into the jungle, through which we
could not follow.
We continued to stroll on from glade to glade, expecting to find him;
and, in about a quarter of an hour, we heard the trumpet of an elephant.
Fully convinced that this was the wounded animal, we pushed on towards
the spot; but, on turning a corner of the jungle, we came suddenly upon
a herd of seven of the largest elephants that I ever saw together; they
must have been all bulls. Unfortunately, they had our wind, and, being
close to the edge of a thick thorny jungle, they disappeared like magic.
We gave chase for a short distance, but were soon stopped by the thorns.
We had no chance with them.
