I Accordingly Settled Him, And
Returned To Have A Little Conversation With The Rascals Were
Still Perched In The Trees.
I was extremely annoyed, as these
people, if they had possessed a grain of sense, might have tied
their long comboys (cotton cloths about eight feet long)
together, and we might have thus secured the elephant without
difficulty by tying his hind legs.
It was a great loss, as he
was so tame that he might have been domesticated and driven to
Newera Ellia without the slightest trouble. All this was
occasioned by the cowardice of these villainous Cingalese, and
upon my lecturing one fellow on his conduct he began to laugh.
This was too much for any person's patience, and I began to look
for a stick, which the fellow perceiving he immediately started
off through the forest like a deer. He could run faster than I
could, being naked and having the advantage of bare feet; but I
knew I could run him down in the course of time, especially as,
being in a fright, he would soon get blown. We had a most
animated hunt through water, mud, roots of trees, open forest and
all kinds of ground, but I ran into him at last in heavy ground,
and I dare say he recollects the day of the month.
In the mean time, Palliser had heard the roaring of the elephant,
followed by the screaming and yelling of the coolies, and
succeeded by a shot. Shortly after he heard the prolonged yells
of the hunted villager while he was hastening toward my
direction.
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