I Had Not Remained A Minute At My Post Before I Heard A Crash In The
Jungle, As Though An
Elephant were charging through, and in another
instant, a splendid buck burst upon the plain at full speed, and away
He
flew over the level lawn, with the brace of greyhounds laying out about
fifty paces behind him. Here was a fair trial of speed over a perfect
bowling-green, and away they flew, the buck exerting his utmost stride,
and the greyhounds stretching out till their briskets nearly touched the
ground; Killbuck leading with tremendous bounds, and Lena about a length
behind him.
By degrees the beautiful spring of the greyhounds appeared to tell, and
the distance between them and the buck gradually decreased, although
both deer and dogs flew along with undiminished speed. The plain was
nearly crossed, and the opposite jungle lay within 200 yards of them. To
gain this, the buck redoubled his exertions; the greyhounds knew as well
as he did, that it was his chance of escape, and with equal efforts they
pressed upon him. Not fifty paces now separated the buck from the
jungle, and with prodigious bounds he sped along; he neared it; he won
it! the yielding branches crashed before him, but the dogs were at his
haunches as the jungle closed over them and concealed the chase.
I was soon up; and upon entering the jungle, I could neither hear nor
see anything of them, but, by following up the track, I found them about
fifty yards from the entrance of the bush. The buck was standing on the
sandy bed of a dry stream, endeavouring in vain to free himself, while
the greyhounds pinned his nose to the ground, each hanging upon his
ears. The knife finished him immediately. There never was a more
exciting course; it had been nobly run by both the dogs, and well
contested by the buck, who was a splendid fellow and in fine condition.
On my way to the tent I wounded a doe at full speed, which Lena followed
singly and pulled down, thus securing our coolies a good supply of
venison. The flesh of the spotted deer is more like mutton than English
venison, and is excellent eating; it would be still better if the
climate would allow of its being kept for a few days.
There is no sport in Ceylon, in my opinion, that is equal to
deer-coursing, but the great difficulty attending it, is the lack of
good greyhounds. The spotted buck (or axis) is an animal of immense
power and courage; and although most greyhounds would course him, very
few would have sufficient courage and strength to hold him, unless
slipped two brace at a time, which would immediately spoil the sport. A
brace of greyhounds to one buck is fair play, and a good strong horse
will generally keep them in view. In two weeks' coursing in the Park, we
killed seventeen deer with three greyhounds; at the expiration of which
time, the dogs were so footsore and wounded by the hard burnt stubble of
the old grass that they were obliged to be sent home.
When the greyhounds had left, I turned my attention to elephants. There
were very few at this season in the Park, and I therefore left this part
of the country, which was dried up, and proceeded to Kondawataweny, in
the direction of Batticaloa.*(*The jungles have now been cleared away,
and a plain of 25,000 acres of rice cultivation has usurped the old
resort of elephants.) Kondawataweny is a small village, inhabited by
Moormen, situated on the edge of a large lake or tank. Upon arrival, I
found that the neighbourhood was alive with game of all kinds, and the
Moormen were excellent hands at elephants. There was accordingly no
difficulty in procuring good gun-bearers and trackers, and at 4 P.M. of
the day of our arrival, we started to make a circuit of the tank in
quest of the big game. At about 5 P.M. we observed several rogues
scattered in various directions around the lake; one of these fellows,
whose close acquaintance I made with the telescope, I prophesied would
show some fight before we owned his tail. This elephant was standing
some distance in the water, feeding and bathing. There were two
elephants close to the water's edge between him and us, and we
determined to have a shot at them en passant, and then try to bag the
big fellow.
Although we stalked very cautiously along the edge of the jungle which
surrounded the lake, divided from it by a strip of plain of about 200
yards in width, the elephants winded us, and retreated over the patina*
(*Grassy plains) at full speed towards the jungle. Endeavouring to cut
them off before they could reach the thick cover, we ran at our best
pace along the edge of the jungle, so as to meet them at right angles.
One reached the jungle before us, but a lucky shot at a distance of
sixty paces floored the other, who lay struggling on the ground, and was
soon extinguished. Having reloaded, we went in quest of the large rogue,
who was bathing in the tank. This gentleman had decamped, having taken
offence at the firing.
Close to the edge of the lake grew a patch of thick thorny jungle of
about two acres, completely isolated, and separated from the main jungle
by about eighty paces' length of fine turf. The Moormen knew the habits
of this rogue, who was well known in the neighbourhood, and they at once
said, "that he had concealed himself in the small patch of jungle." Upon
examining the tracks from the tank, we found they were correct.
The question was, how to dislodge him; the jungle was so dense that it
was impossible to enter, and driving was the only chance.
There was a small bush within a few paces of the main jungle, exactly
opposite that in which the elephant was concealed, and we determined to
hide behind this, while a few Moormen should endeavour to drive him from
his retreat, in which case, he would be certain to make for the main
forest, and would most probably pass near the bush, behind which we lay
in wait for him.
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