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.
It was a lovely scene which we enjoyed in silence, while our ponies
feasted upon the rich grass.
The village of Minneria was three miles farther on, and our coolies,
servants, and baggage were all far behind us. We had, therefore, no
rifles or guns at hand, except a couple of shot-guns, which were carried
by our horsekeepers : for these we had a few balls.
For about half an hour we waited in the impatient expectation of the
arrival of our servants with the rifles. The afternoon was wearing away,
and they did not appear.
