The Horsekeepers Could Not Possibly Arrive That Night.
We Therefore Cleaned And Fed Our Own Horses, And Littered Them Down With
A Good Bed Of Paddy Straw; And, That Being Completed, We Turned Our
Attention To Curry And Rice.
The next morning at break of day we fed the horses.
Old Jack was as
fresh as a daisy. The morning was delightfully cloudy, but free from
rain; and we cantered on to Innamalow, five miles from Dambool. Here we
procured a guide to Minneria; and turning off from the main road into a
narrow jungle path, we rode for twenty miles through dense jungle.
Passing the rock of Sigiri, which was formerly used as a fort by the
ancient inhabitants of the country, we gradually entered better jungle,
and at length we emerged upon the beautiful plains of Minneria. I had
ordered Wallace to pitch the encampment in the exact spot which I had
frequently occupied some years ago. I therefore knew the rendezvous, and
directed my course accordingly.
What a change had taken place! A continuous drought had reduced the lake
from its original size of twenty-two miles in circumference to a mere
pool of about four miles in circuit; this was all that remained of the
noble sheet of water around which I had formerly enjoyed so much sport.
From the rich bed of the dry lake sprang a fine silky grass of about two
feet in height, forming a level plain of velvet green far as the eye
could reach.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 275 of 343
Words from 73156 to 73409
of 91283
