Make one show fight, nor could I even get within three
hundred yards of them. I returned from the plain with disgust; but just
as I was quitting the shores of the lake I noticed three buffaloes in
the shallows about knee-deep in the water, nearly half a mile from me.
They did not look bigger than dogs, the distance was so great.
There is nothing like a sheet of water for trying a rifle; the splash of
the ball shows with such distinctness the accuracy or the defect in the
shooting. It was necessary that I should fire my guns off in order to
clean them that evening: I therefore tried their power at this immense
distance.
The long two-ounce fell short, but in a good line. I took a rest upon a
man's shoulder with the four-ounce rifle, and, putting up the last
sight, I aimed at the leading buffalo, who was walking through the water
parallel with us. I aimed at the outline of the throat, to allow for his
pace at this great distance. The recoil of the rifle cut the man's ear
open, as there were sixteen drachms of powder in this charge.
We watched the smooth surface of the water as the invisible messenger
whistled over the lake. Certainly three seconds elapsed before we saw
the slightest effect. At the expiration of that time the buffalo fell
suddenly in a sitting position, and there he remained fixed, many
seconds after, a dull sound returned to our ears; it was the 'fut' of
the ball, which had positively struck him at this immense range. What
the distance was I cannot say; it may have been 600 yards, or 800, or
more. It was shallow water the whole way: we therefore mounted our
horses and rode up to him. Upon reaching him, I gave him a settling ball
in the head, and we examined him. The heavy ball had passed completely
through his hips, crushing both joints, and, of course, rendering him
powerless at once.
The shore appeared full half a mile from us on our return, and I could
hardly credit my own eyes, the distance was so immense, and yet the ball
had passed clean through the animal's body.
It was of course a chance shot, and, even with this acknowledgment, it
must appear rather like the 'marvellous' to a stranger;--this is my
misfortune, not my fault. I certainly never made such a shot before or
since; it was a sheer lucky hit, say at 600 yards; and the wonderful
power of the rifle was thus displayed in the ball perforating the large
body of the buffalo at this range. This shot was made with a round ball,
not a cone. The round belted ball for this heavy two-grooved rifle
weighs three ounces. The conical ball weighs a little more than four
ounces.
While describing the long shots performed by this particular rifle, I
cannot help recounting a curious chance with a large rogue elephant in
Topari tank. This tank or lake is, like most others in Ceylon, the
result of vast labour in past ages. Valleys were closed in by immense
dams of solid masonry, which, checking the course of the rivers, formed
lakes of many miles in extent. These were used as reservoirs for the
water required for the irrigation of rice lands. The population who
effected these extensive works have long since passed away; their fate
is involved in mystery. The records of their ancient cities still exist,
but we have no account of their destruction. The ruins of one of these
cities, Pollanarua, are within half a mile of the village of Topari, and
the waters of the adjacent lake are still confined by a dam of two miles
in length, composed of solid masonry. When the lake is full, it is about
eight miles in circumference.
I had only just arrived at the village, and my horse-keeper had taken
the horse to drink at the lake, when he suddenly came running back to
say that a rogue elephant was bathing himself on the opposite shore, at
about two miles' distance.
I immediately took my guns and went after him. My path lay along the
top of the great dam, which formed a causeway covered with jungle. This
causeway was about sixty feet in breadth and two miles in length; the
lake washed its base about twenty feet below the summit. The opposite
shore was a fine plain, bordered by open forest, and the lake spread
into the grassy surface in wide and irregular bays.
I continued my course along the causeway at a fast walk, and on arriving
at the extremity of the lake, I noticed that the ancient dam continued
for a much greater distance. This, together with the great height of the
masonry from the level of the water, proved that the dimensions of the
tank had formerly been of much greater extent.
Descending by the rugged stones which formed the dam wall I reached the
plain, and, keeping close to the water's edge, I rounded a large neck of
land covered with trees, which projected for some distance into the
lake. I knew, by the position of the elephant, when I first saw him,
that he was not far beyond this promontory, and I carefully advanced
through the open forest, hoping that I might meet him there on his exit
from his bath. In this I was mistaken, for on passing through this
little belt of trees I saw the elephant still in the lake, belly-deep,
about 300 paces from me. He was full 120 yards from the shore, and I was
puzzled how to act. He was an immense brute, being a fine specimen of a
tank 'rogue.' This class are generally the worst description of rogue
elephants, who seldom move far from the lakes, but infest the shores for
many years.
