The heat in the narrow paths cut through dense
jungles is extreme; and after a journey of seventy or eighty miles
through this style of country the eye scans the wild plains and
mountains with delight. Some districts, however, are perfectly devoid of
trees, and form a succession of undulating downs of short grass. Other
parts, again, although devoid of heavy timber, are covered with dense
thorny jungles, especially the country adjoining the sea-coast, which is
generally of a uniform character round the whole island, being
interspersed with sand plains producing a short grass.
Much has been said by some authors of the "capabilities" of Ceylon; but
however enticing the description of these capabilities may have been,
the proof has been decidedly in opposition to the theory. Few countries
exist with such an immense proportion of bad soil. There are no minerals
except iron, no limestone except dolomite, no other rocks than quartz
and gneiss. The natural pastures are poor; the timber of the forests is
the only natural production of any value, with the exception of
cinnamon. Sugar estates do not answer, and coffee requires an expensive
system of cultivation by frequent manuring. In fact, the soil is
wretched; so bad that the natives, by felling the forest and burning the
timber upon the ground, can only produce one crop of some poor grain;
the land is then exhausted, and upon its consequent desertion it gives
birth to an impenetrable mass of low jungle, comprising every thorn that
can be conceived. This deserted land, fallen again into the hand of
Nature, forms the jungle of Ceylon; and as native cultivation has thus
continued for some thousand years, the immense tract of country now in
this impenetrable state is easily accounted for. The forests vary in
appearance; some are perfectly free from underwood, being composed of
enormous trees, whose branches effectually exclude the rays of the sun;
but they generally consist of large trees, which tower above a thick,
and for the most part thorny, underwood, difficult to penetrate.
The features of Ceylon scenery may, therefore, be divided as follows:-
Natural forest, extending over the greater portion. Thorny jungle,
extending over a large portion.
Flat plains and thorny jungles, in the vicinity of the coast.
Open down country, extending over a small portion of the interior.
Open park country, extending over the greater portion of the Veddah
district.
The mountains, forming the centre of the island.
The latter are mostly covered with forest, but they are beautifully
varied by numberless open plains and hills of grass land at an altitude
of from three to nearly nine thousand feet.
If Ceylon were an open country, there would be no large game, as there
would be no shelter from the sun. In the beautiful open down country
throughout the Ouva district there is no game larger than wild hogs,
red-deer, mouse-deer, hares, and partridges. These animals shelter
themselves in the low bushes, which generally consist of the wild
guavas, and occupy the hollows between the undulations of the hills. The
thorny jungles conceal a mass of game of all kinds, but in this retreat
the animals are secure from attack. In the vicinity of the coast, among
the `flat plains and thorny jungles,' there is always excellent shooting
at particular seasons. The spotted deer abound throughout Ceylon,
especially in these parts, where they are often seen in herds of a
hundred together. In many places they are far too numerous, as, from the
want of inhabitants in these parts, there are no consumers, and these
beautiful beasts would be shot to waste.
In the neighbourhood of Paliar and Illepecadewe, on the north-west
coast, I have shot them till I was satiated and it ceased to be sport.
We had nine fine deer hanging up in one day, and they were putrefying
faster than the few inhabitants could preserve them by smoking and
drying them in steaks. I could have shot them in any number, had I
chosen to kill simply for the sake of murder; but I cannot conceive any
person finding an enjoyment in slaying these splendid deer to rot upon
the ground.
I was once shooting at Illepecadewe, which is a lonely, miserable spot,
when I met with a very sagacious and original sportsman in a most
unexpected manner. I was shooting with a friend, and we had separated
for a few hundred paces. I presently got a shot at a peafowl, and killed
her with my rifle. The shot was no sooner fired than I heard another
shot in the jungle, in the direction taken by my friend. My rifle was
still unloaded when a spotted doe bounded out of the jungle, followed by
a white pariah dog in full chase. Who would have dreamt of meeting with
a dog at this distance from a village (about four miles)? I whistled to
the dog, and to my surprise he came to me, the deer having left him out
of sight in a few seconds. He was a knowing-looking brute, and was
evidently out hunting on his own account. Just at this moment my friend
called to me that he had wounded a buck, and that he had found the
blood-track. I picked a blade of grass from the spot which was tinged
with blood; and holding it to the dog's nose, he eagerly followed me to
the track; upon which I dropped it. He went off in a moment; but,
running mute, I was obliged to follow; and after a chase of a quarter of
a mile I lost sight of him. In following up the foot-track of the
wounded deer I heard the distant barking of the dog, by which I knew
that he had brought the buck to bay, and I was soon at the spot.
