The Rifle And The Hound In Ceylon(Fiscle Part-3), Sir Samuel White Baker [most inspirational books .txt] 📗

By A

Pocket Compass.

 

There Was But One Objection To The Plan,  And This Hinged Upon The

Shortness Of V. Baker's Leave. He Had Only Ten Days Unexpired,  And It

Seemed Rash,  With So Short A Term,  To Plunge Into An Unknown Country;

However,  He Was Determined To Push On,  As He Trusted In The Powers Of An

Extraordinary Pony That Would Do Any Distance On A Push. This

Determination,  However Destroyed A Portion Of The Trip,  As We Were

Obliged To Pass Quickly Through A Lovely Sporting Country,  To Arrive At

A Civilised,  Or Rather An Acknowledged,  Line Of Road By Which He Could

Return To Kandy. Had We,  On The Contrary,  Travelled Easily Through This

Country,  We Should Have Killed An Extraordinary Amount Of Game.

 

We Agreed That Our Route Should Be This. We Were To Enter The Veddah

Country At The North And Strike Down To The South. I Knew A Bridle-Path

From Badulla To Batticaloa,  Which Cut Through The Veddah Country From

West To East; Therefore We Should Meet It At Right Angles. From This

Point V. Baker Was To Bid Adieu,  And Turn To The West And Reach Badulla;

From Thence To Newera Ellia And To His Regiment In Kandy. We Were To

Continue Our Direction Southward,  Which I Knew Would Eventually Bring Us

To The 'Park.'

 

Nov. 22.--We Moved Our Encampment,  Accompanied By The Headman And His

Followers; And After A Ride Of Fourteen Miles We Arrived At The Country

Of Hengiriwatdowane,  A Park-Like Spot Of About Twelve Square Miles,  At

Which Place We Were Led To Expect Great Sport. The Appearance Of The

Ground Was All That We Could Wish; Numerous Patches Of Jungle And Single

Trees Were Dotted Upon The Surface Of Fine Turf.

 

Part 3 Chapter 12 (A Jungle Trip) Pg 104

In The Afternoon,  After A Cooling Shower,  We All Separated,  And Started

With Our Respective Gun-Bearers In Different Directions,  With The

Understanding That No One Was To Fire A Shot At Any Game But Elephants.

We Were To Meet In The Evening And Describe The Different Parts Of The

Country,  So That We Should Know How To Proceed On The Following Day.

 

I Came Upon Herds Of Deer In Several Places,  But I Of Course Did Not

Fire,  Although They Were Within A Certain Shot. I Saw No Elephants.

 

Everyone Saw Plenty Of Deer,  But V. Baker Was The One Lucky Individual

In Meeting With Elephants. He Came Upon A Fine Herd,  But They Winded Him

And Escaped. There Was Evidently Plenty Of Game,  But V. B. Having Fired

At The Elephants,  We Knew That This Part Of The Country Was Disturbed;

We Therefore Had No Hesitation In Discharging All The Guns And Having

Them Well Cleaned For The Next Morning,  When We Proposed To Move The

Tent A Couple Of Miles Farther Off.

 

Nov. 23.--A Most Unfortunate Day,  Proving The Disadvantage Of Being

Ignorant Of The Ground. Although I Knew The Whole Country By One Route,

From Minneria To The North Of The Veddah Country,  We Had Now Diverged

From That Route To Visit This Particular Spot,  Which I Had Never Before

Shot Over. We Passed On Through Beautiful Open Country Interspersed With

Clumps Of Jungle,  But Without One Large Tree That Would Shade The Tent.

 

A Single-Roofed Tent Exposed To The Sun Is Perfectly Unbearable,  And We

Continued To Push On In The Hope Of Finding A Tree Of Sufficient Size To

Afford Shelter.

 

Some Miles Were Passed; Fresh Tracks Of Elephants And All Kinds Of Game

Were Very Numerous,  And The Country Was Perfection For Shooting.

 

At Length The Open Plains Became More Contracted,  And The Patches Of

Jungle Larger And More Frequent. By Degrees The Open Ground Ceased

Altogether,  And We Found Ourselves In A Narrow Path Of Deep Mud Passing

Through Impenetrable Thorny Jungle. Nevertheless Our Guide Insisted Upon

Pushing On To A Place Which He Compared To That Which We Had

Unfortunately Left Behind Us. Instead Of Going Two Miles,  As We Had

Originally Intended,  We Had Already Ridden Sixteen At The Least,  And

Still The Headman Persisted In Pushing On. No Coolies Were Up; The Tents

And Baggage Were Far Behind; We Had Nothing To Eat; We Had Left The Fine

Open Country,  Which Was Full Of Game,  Miles Behind Us,  And We Were In A

Close Jungle Country,  Where A Rifle Was Not Worth A Bodkin. It Was Too

Annoying. I Voted For Turning Back To The Lovely Hunting-Ground That We

Had Deserted; But After A Long Consultation,  We Came To The Conclusion

That Every Day Was Of Such Importance To V. Baker That We Could Not

Afford To Retrace A Single Step.

 

Thus All This Beautiful Country,  Abounding With Every Kind Of Game,  Was

Actually Passed Over Without Firing A Single Shot.

 

I Killed A Few Couple Of Snipe In A Neighbouring Swamp To Pass The Time

Until The Coolies Arrived With The Baggage; They Were Not Up Until Four

Part 3 Chapter 12 (A Jungle Trip) Pg 105

O'clock P.M.,  Therefore The Whole Day Was Wasted,  And We Were Obliged To

Sleep Here.

 

Nov. 24--This Being Sunday,  The Guns Were At Rest. The Whole Of This

Country Was Dense Chenar Jungle; We Therefore Pushed On,  And,  After A

Ride Of Fourteen Miles,  We Arrived At The Rhatamahatmeya's Residence At

Doolana. He Insisted Upon Our Taking Breakfast With Him,  And He

Accordingly Commenced His Preparations. Borrowing One Of Our

Hunting-Knives,  Two Of His Men Gave Chase To A Kid And Cut Its Head Off.

Half An Hour Afterwards We Were Eating It In Various Forms,  All Of Which

Were Excellent.

 

We Had Thus Travelled Over Forty-Four Miles Of Country From Minneria

Without Killing A Single Head Of Game. Had We Remained A Week In The

District Through Which We Had Passed So Rapidly,  We Must Have Had Most

Excellent Sport. All This Was The Effect Of Being Hurried For Time.

 

In The Neighbourhood Of Doolana I Had Killed Many Elephants Some Years

Ago,  And I Have No Doubt We Could Have Had Good Sport At This Time; But

V. Baker's Leave Was So Fast Expiring,  And The Natives' Accounts Of The

Distance Through The Veddah Country Were So Vague,  That We Had No Choice

Except To Push Straight Through As Fast As We Could Travel,  Until We

Should Arrive On The Batticaloa Path.

 

We Took Leave Of Our Friend The Rhatamahatmeya; He Had Provided Us With

Good Trackers,  Who Were To Accompany Us Through The Veddah Country To

The 'Park'; But I Now Began To Have My Doubts As To Their Knowledge Of

The Ground. However,  We Started,  And After Skirting The Doolana Tank For

Some Distance,  We Rode Five Miles Through Fine Forest,  And Then Arrived

On The Banks Of The Mahawelle River. The Stream Teas At This Time Very

Rapid,  And Was A Quarter Of A Mile In Width,  Rolling Along Between Its

Steep Banks Through A Forest Of Magnificent Trees. Some Hours Were

Consumed In Transporting The Coolies And Baggage Across The River,  As

The Canoe Belonging To The Village Of Monampitya,  On The Opposite Bank,

Would Only Hold Four Coolies And Their Loads At One Voyage.

 

We Swam The Horses Across,  And Attending Carefully To The Safety Of The

Cook Before Any Other Individual,  We Breakfasted On The Opposite Bank,

While The Coolies Were Crossing The River.

 

After Breakfast,  A Grave Question Arose,  Viz.,  Which Way Were We To Go?

The Trackers That The Headman Had Given Us,  Now Confessed That They Did

Not Know An Inch Of The Veddah Country,  Into Which We Had Arrived By

Crossing The River,  And They Refused To Go A Step Farther. Here,  Was A

'Regular Fix!' As The Americans Would Express It.

 

The Village Of Monampitya Consists Of About Six Small Huts; And We Now

Found That There Was No Other Village Within Forty Miles In The

Direction That We Wished To Steer. Not A Soul Could We Obtain As A

Guide--No Offer Of Reward Would Induce A Man To Start,  As They Declared

That No One Knew The Country,  And That The Distance Was So Great That

The People Would Be Starved,  As They Could Get Nothing To Eat. We Looked

Hopelessly At The Country Before Us. We Had A Compass,  Certainly,  Which

Might Be Useful Enough On A Desert Or A Prairie,  But In A Jungle Country

It Was Of Little Value.

 

Just As We Were In The Greatest Despair,  And We Were Gazing Wistfully In

The Direction Which The Needle Pointed Out As The Position Of The

'Park,' Now Separated From Us By An Untravelled District Of An Unknown

Distance,  We Saw Two Figures With Bows And Arrows Coming From The

Jungle. One Of These Creatures Bolted Back Again Into The Bushes The

Moment He Perceived Us; The Other One Had A Fish In His Hand,  Of About

Four Pounds Weight,  Which He Had Shot With His Bow And Arrow; While He

Was Hesitating Whether He Should Run Or Stand Still,  We Caught Him.

 

Of All The Ugly Little Devils I Ever Saw,  He Was Superlative. He

Squinted Terribly; His Hair Was Greyish And Matted With Filth; He Was

Certainly Not More Than Four Feet And A Half High,  And He Carried A Bow

Two Feet Longer Than Himself. He Could Speak No Language But His Own,

Which Throughout The Veddah Country Is Much The Same,  Intermixed With So

Many Words Resembling Cingalese That A Native Can Generally Understand

Their Meaning. By Proper Management,  And Some Little Presents Of Rice

And Tobacco,  We Got The Animal Into A Good Humour,  And We Gathered The

Following In Formation.

 

He Knew Nothing Of Any Place Except The Northern Portion Of The Veddah

Country. This Was His World; But His Knowledge Of It Was Extremely

Limited,  As He Could Not Undertake To Guide Us Farther Than Oomanoo,  A

Veddah Village,  Which He Described As Three Days' Journey From Where We

Then Stood. We Made Him Point Out The Direction In Which It Lay. 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.

 

At The Village Of Monampitya There Was No Rice Procurable,  As The

Natives Lived Entirely Upon Korrakan* (*A Small Seed,  Which They Make

Into Hard,  Uneatable Cakes.),  At Which Our Coolies Turned Up