Should he happily effect this, the
boar falls stone dead; but if not, he repeats the thrust, keeping a good
look-out for the animal's tusks.
If the dogs were of not sufficient courage to rush in and seize the boar
when halloaed on, no man could approach him in a thick jungle with only
a hunting-knife, as he would in all probability have his inside ripped
out at the first charge. The animal is wonderfully active and ferocious,
and of immense power, constantly weighing 4 cwt.
The end of nearly every good seizer is being killed by a boar. The
better the dog the more likely he is to be killed, as he will be the
first to lead the attack, and in thick jungle he has no chance of
escaping from a wound.
CHAPTER III.
Minneria Lake--Brush with a Bull--An Awkward Vis-a-vis--A Bright
Thought--Bull Buffalo Receives his Small Change--What is Man?--Long Shot
with the Four-ounce--Charged by a Herd of Buffaloes--the Four-ounce does
Service--The 'Lola'--A Woman Killed by a Crocodile--Crocodile at
Bolgodde Lake--A Monster Crocodile--Death of a Crocodile.
THE foregoing description may serve as an introduction to the hill
sports of Ceylon. One animal, however, yet remains to be described, who
surpasses all others in dogged ferocity when once aroused. This is the
'buffalo.'
The haunts of this animal are in the hottest parts of Ceylon. In the
neighbourhood of lakes, swamps, and extensive plains, the buffalo exists
in large herds; wallowing in the soft mire, and passing two-thirds of
his time in the water itself, he may be almost termed amphibious.
He is about the size of a large ox, of immense bone and strength, very
active, and his hide is almost free from hair, giving a disgusting
appearance to his India-rubber-like skin. He carries his head in a
peculiar manner, the horns thrown back, and his nose projecting on a
level with his forehead, thus securing himself from a front shot in a
fatal part. This renders him a dangerous enemy, as he will receive any
number of balls from a small gun in the throat and chest without
evincing the least symptom of distress. The shoulder is the acknowledged
point to aim at, but from his disposition to face the guns this is a
difficult shot to obtain. Should he succeed in catching his antagonist,
his fury knows no bounds, and he gores his victim to death, trampling
and kneeling upon him till he is satisfied that life is extinct.
This sport would not be very dangerous in the forests, where the buffalo
could be easily stalked, and where escape would also be rendered less
difficult in case of accident; but as he is generally met with upon the
open plains, free from a single tree, he must be killed when once
brought to bay, or he will soon exhibit his qualifications for mischief.
There is a degree of uncertainty in their character which much increases
the danger of the pursuit. A buffalo may retreat at first sight with
every symptom of cowardice, and thus induce a too eager pursuit, when he
will suddenly become the assailant. I cannot explain their character
better than by describing the, first wild buffaloes that I ever saw.
I had not been long in Ceylon, but having arrived in the island for the
sake of its wild sports, I had not been idle, and I had already made a
considerable bag of large game. Like most novices, however, I was guilty
of one great fault. I despised the game, and gave no heed to the many
tales of danger and hair-breadth escapes which attended the pursuit of
wild animals. This carelessness on my part arose from my first debut
having been extremely lucky; most shots had told well, and the animal
had been killed with such apparent ease that I had learnt to place an
implicit reliance in the rifle. The real fact was that I was like many
others; I had slaughtered a number of animals without understanding
their habits, and I was perfectly ignorant of the sport. This is now
many years ago, and it was then my first visit to the island. Some
places that were good spots for shooting in those days have since that
time been much disturbed, and are now no longer attractive to my eyes.
One of these places is Minneria Lake.
I was on a shooting trip accompanied by my brother, whom I will
designate as B. We had passed a toilsome day in pushing and dragging our
ponies for twenty miles along a narrow path through thick jungle, which
half-a-dozen natives in advance were opening before us with bill-hooks.
This had at one time been a good path, but was then overgrown. It is now
an acknowledged bridle road.
At 4 P.M., and eighty miles from Kandy, we emerged from the jungle, and
the view of Minneria Lake burst upon us, fully repaying us for our day's
march. It was a lovely afternoon. The waters of the lake; which is
twenty miles in circumference, were burnished by the setting sun. The
surrounding plains were as green as an English meadow, and beautiful
forest trees bordered the extreme boundaries of the plains like giant
warders of the adjoining jungle. Long promontories densely wooded
stretched far into the waters of the lake, forming sheltered nooks and
bays teeming with wild fowl. The deer browsed in herds on the wide
extent of plain, or lay beneath the shade of the spreading branches.
Every feature of lovely scenery was here presented. In some spots groves
of trees grew to the very water's edge; in others the wide plains, free
from a single stem or bush, stretched for miles along the edge of the
lake; thickly wooded hills bordered the extreme end of its waters, and
distant blue mountains mingled their dim summits with the clouds.
