This he
did, after looking for some moments at the sun; and, upon comparing the
position with the compass, we were glad to see it at south-south-east,
being pretty close to the course that we wished to steer. From Oomanoo,
he said, we could procure another Veddah to guide us still farther; but
he himself knew nothing more.
Now this was all satisfactory enough so far, but I had been completely
wrong in my idea of the distance from Doolana to the 'Park.' We now
heard of three days' journey to Oomanoo, which was certainly some where
in the very centre of the Veddah country; and our quaint little guide
had never even heard of the Batticaloa road. There was no doubt,
therefore, that it was a long way from Oomanoo, which village might be
any distance from us, as a Veddah's description of a day's journey might
vary from ten to thirty miles.
I certainly looked forward to a short allowance of food both for
ourselves and coolies. We had been hurrying through the country at such
a rate that we had killed no deer; we had, therefore, been living upon
our tins of preserved provisions, of which we had now only four
remaining.
