His ear
flapped forward just as his head was at a proper angle for a shot. The
mark shone brightly along the sights of the rifle as I took a steady
aim; the answer to the report of the gun was--a dull splash!
He had sunk upon his knees stone dead. I could hardly believe my eyes.
The sight of so large an animal being killed at such a distance by one
shot had an extraordinary effect. I heard a heathenish scream of joy
behind me, and upon turning round I perceived the now courageous
gun-bearers running towards me at their best pace. They were two of the
Topari villagers, and had been perfectly aghast at the idea of one
person, with only a single-barrelled rifle, attacking a tank rogue in
the open plain. The sequel had turned their fear into astonishment. They
now had the laugh at me, however, as they swam fearlessly up to the dead
elephant to cut off his tail, which I would not have done for any
reward, for fear of crocodiles, which abound in the tank. The ball had
struck the white mark exactly in the centre, which pleased these natives
exceedingly, and they returned in safety with the tail.
I have frequently tried these long shots since, but I never succeeded
again except once, and that was not satisfactory, as the elephant did
not die upon the spot, but was found by the natives on the following
day.
On my return to the village I took a shot-gun and strolled along the
banks of the lake. The snipe were innumerable, and I killed them till my
head ached with the constant recoil of the gun in addition to the heat.
I also killed several couple of ducks and teal in addition to
twenty-eight couple of snipe. This was the Paradise for sport at the
time of which I write. It had never been disturbed: but it has since
shared the fate of many other places.
The open forest in the vicinity of the lake abounded with deer. Grassy
glades beneath the shady trees give a park-like appearance to the scene,
and afford a delightful resort for the deer.
In strolling through these shady glades you suddenly arrive among the
ruins of ancient Pollanarua. The palaces are crumbled into shapeless
mounds of bricks. Massive pillars, formed of a single stone, twelve feet
high, stand in upright rows throughout the jungle here and there over an
extent of some miles. The buildings which they once supported have long
since fallen, and the pillars now stand like tombstones over vanished
magnificence. Some buildings are still standing; among these are two
dagobas, huge monuments of bricks, formerly covered with white cement,
and elaborately decorated with different devices. These are shaped like
an egg that has been cut nearly in half, and then placed upon its base;
but the cement has perished, and they are mounds of jungle and rank
grass which has overgrown them, although the large dagoba is upwards of
a hundred feet high.
