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.
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