They
will run at top speed over hard ground upon an elephant's track which is
barely discernible even to the practised eye of a white man.
Fortunately, the number of these people is very trifling or the game
would be scarce.
They hunt like the leopard; noiselessly stalking till within ten paces
of their game, they let the broad arrow fly. At this distance who could
miss? Should the game be simply wounded, it is quite enough; they never
lose him, but hunt him up, like hounds upon a blood track.
Nevertheless, they are very bad shots with the bow and arrow, and they
never can improve while they restrict their practice to such short
ranges.
I have often tried them at a mark at sixty yards, and, although a very
bad hand with a bow myself, I have invariably beaten them with their own
weapons. These bows are six feet long, made of a light supple wood, and
the strings are made of the fibrous bark of a tree greased and twisted.
The arrows are three feet long, formed of the same wood as the bows. The
blades are themselves seven inches of this length, and are flat, like
the blade of a dinner-knife brought to a point. Three short feathers
from the peacock's wing are roughly lashed to the other end of the
arrow.
The Veddah in person is extremely ugly; short, but sinewy, his long
uncombed locks fall to his waist, looking more like a horse's tail than
human hair. He despises money, but is thankful for a knife, a hatchet,
or a gaudy-coloured cloth, or brass pot for cooking.
The women are horribly ugly and are almost entirely naked. They have no
matrimonial regulations, and the children are squalid and miserable.
Still these people are perfectly happy, and would prefer their present
wandering life to the most luxurious restraint. Speaking a language of
their own, with habits akin to those of wild animals, they keep entirely
apart from the Cingalese. They barter deer-horns and bees'-wax with the
travelling Moormen pedlers in exchange for their trifling requirements.
If they have food, they eat it; if they have none, they go without until
by some chance they procure it. In the meantime they chew the bark of
various trees, and search for berries, while they wend their way for
many miles to some remembered store of deer's flesh and honey, laid by
in a hollow tree.
The first time that I ever saw a Veddah was in the north of the country.
A rogue elephant was bathing in a little pool of deep mud and water near
the tank of Monampitya, about six miles from the 'Gunner's Coin.' This
Veddah had killed a wild pig, and was smoking the flesh within a few
yards of the spot, when he suddenly heard the elephant splashing in the
water. My tent was pitched within a mile of the place, and he
accordingly brought me the intelligence.
Upon arrival at the pool I found the elephant so deep in the mud that he
could barely move. His hind-quarters were towards me; and the pool not
being more than thirty yards in diameter, and surrounded by impenetrable
rattan jungle on all sides but one small opening, in which I stood, I
was obliged to clap my hands to attract his attention. This had the
desired effect; he turned slowly round, and I shot him immediately. This
was one of the Monampitya tank rogues, but in his muddy position he had
no chance.
The largest elephant that I have ever seen was in this neighbourhood. I
had arrived one afternoon at about five o'clock in a fine plain, about
twelve miles from Monampitya, where the presence of a beautiful lake and
high grass promised an abundance of game. It was a most secluded spot,
and my tent and coolies being well up with my horse, I fixed upon a
shady nook for the tent, and I strolled out to look for the tracks while
it was being pitched.
A long promontory stretched some hundred yards into the lake, exactly
opposite the spot I had fixed upon for the encampment, and, knowing that
elephants when bathing generally land upon the nearest shore, I walked
out towards the point of this projecting neck of land.
The weather was very dry, and the ground was a mass of little pitfalls,
about two feet deep, which had been made by the feet of the elephants in
the wet weather, when this spot was soft mud and evidently the favourite
resort of the heavy game. The ground was now baked by the sun as hard as
though it were frozen, and the numerous deep ruts made walking very
difficult. Several large trees and a few bushes grew upon the surface,
but for the most part it was covered by a short though luxuriant grass.
One large tree grew within fifty yards of the extreme point of the
promontory, and another of the same kind grew at an equal distance from
it, but nearer to the main land. Upon both these trees was a coat of
thick mud not many hours old. The bark was rubbed completely away, and
this appeared to have been used for years as a favourite rubbing-post by
some immense elephant. The mud reached full twelve feet up the trunk of
the tree, and there were old marks far above this which had been scored
by his tusks. There was no doubt that one of these tank rogues of
extraordinary size had frequented this spot for years, and still
continued to do so, the mud upon the tree being still soft, as though it
had been left there that morning.
