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

Their Noses Part 3 Chapter 12 (A Jungle Trip) Pg 106

When I Advised Them To Lay In A Stock Before Starting.

 

There Was No Time To Be Lost,  And We Determined To Push On As Fast As

The Coolies Could Follow,  As They Had Only Two Days' Provisions; We Had

Precisely The Same,  And Those Could Not Be Days Of Feasting. We Were,  In

Fact,  Like Sailors Going To Sea With A Ship Only Half-Victualled; And,

As We Followed Our Little Guide,  And Lost Sight Of The Village Behind

Us,  I Foresaw That Our Stomachs Would Suffer Unless Game Was Plentiful

On The Path.

 

We Passed Through Beautiful Open Country For About Eight Miles,  During

Which We Saw Several Herds Of Deer; But We Could Not Get A Shot. At

Length We Pitched The Tent,  At Four O'clock P.M.,  At The Foot Of

'Gunner's Coin,' A Solitary Rocky Mountain Of About Two Thousand Feet In

Height,  Which Rises Precipitously From The Level Country. We Then

Divided Into Two Parties--W. And P.,  And V. B. And I. We Strolled Off

With Our Guns In Different Directions.

 

The Country Was Perfectly Level,  Being A Succession Of Glades Of Fine

Low Grass Divided Into A Thousand Natural Paddocks By Belts Of Jungle.

 

We Were Afraid To Stroll More Than A Mile From The Tent,  Lest We Should

Lose Our Way; And We Took A Good Survey Of The Most Prominent Points Of

The Mountain,  That We Might Know Our Direction By Their Position.

 

After An Hour's Walk,  And Just As The Sun Was Setting,  A Sudden Crash In

A Jungle A Few Yards From Us Brought The Rifles Upon Full Cock. The Next

Moment Out Came An Elephant's Head,  And I Knocked Him Over By A Front

Shot. He Had Held His Head In Such A Peculiar Position That A Ball Could

Not Reach The Brain,  And He Immediately Re Covered Himself,  And,

Wheeling Suddenly Round,  He Retreated Into The Jungle,  Through Which We

Could Not Follow.

 

We Continued To Stroll On From Glade To Glade,  Expecting To Find Him;

And,  In About A Quarter Of An Hour,  We Heard The Trumpet Of An Elephant.

Fully Convinced That This Was The Wounded Animal,  We Pushed On Towards

The Spot; But,  On Turning A Corner Of The Jungle,  We Came Suddenly Upon

A Herd Of Seven Of The Largest Elephants That I Ever Saw Together; They

Must Have Been All Bulls. Unfortunately,  They Had Our Wind,  And,  Being

Close To The Edge Of A Thick Thorny Jungle,  They Disappeared Like Magic.

We Gave Chase For A Short Distance,  But Were Soon Stopped By The Thorns.

We Had No Chance With Them.

 

It Was Now Dusk,  And We Therefore Hastened Towards The Tent,  Seeing

Three Herds Of Deer And One Of Hogs On Our Way; But It Was Too Dark To

Get A Shot. The Deer Were Barking In Every Direction,  And The Country

Was Evidently Alive With Game.

 

On Arrival At The Tent,  We Found That W. And P. Had Met With No Better

Luck Than Ourselves. Two Of. Our Tins Of Provisions Were Consumed At

Dinner,  Leaving Us Only Two Remaining. Not A Moment Was To Be Lost In

Pushing Forward; And We Determined Upon A Long March On The Following

Day.

 

Nov. 25.--Sunrise Saw Us In The Saddles. The Coolies,  With The Tents And

Baggage,  Kept Close Up With The Horses,  Being Afraid To Lag Behind,  As

There Was Not A Semblance Of A Path,  And We Depended Entirely Upon Our

Small Guide,  Who Appeared To Have An Intimate Knowledge Of The Whole

Country. The Little Veddah Trotted Along Through The Winding Glades; And

We Travelled For About Five Miles Without A Word Being Spoken By One Of

The Party,  As We Were In Hopes Of Coming Upon Deer. Unfortunately,  We

Were Travelling Down Wind; We Accordingly Did Not See A Single Head Of

Game,  As They Of Course Winded Us Long Before We Came In View.

 

We Had Ridden About Eight Miles,  When We Suddenly Came Upon The Fresh

Tracks Of Elephants,  And,  Immediately Dismounting,  We Began To Track Up.

The Ground Being Very Dry,  And The Grass Short And Parched,  The Tracks

Were Very Indistinct,  And It Was Tedious Work. We Had Followed For About

Half A Mile Through Alternate Glades And Belts Of Jungle,  When We

Suddenly Spied A Veddah Hiding Behind A Tree About Sixty Yards From Us.

The Moment That He Saw He Was Discovered,  He Set Off At Full Speed,  But

Two Of Our Coolies,  Who Acted As Gunbearers,  Started After Him. These

Fellows Were Splendid Runners,  And,  After A Fine Course,  They Ran Him

Down; But When Caught,  Instead Of Expressing Any Fear,  He Seemed To

Think It A Good Joke. He Was A Rather Short But Stout-Built Fellow,  And

He Was Immediately Recognised By Our Little Guide,  As One Of The Best

Hunters Among The Northern Veddahs. He Soon Understood Our Object; And,

Putting Down His Bow And Arrows And A Little Pipkin Of Sour Curd (His

Sole Provision On His Hunting Trip),  He Started At Once Upon The Track.

 

Without Any Exception He Was The Best Tracker I Have Ever Seen: Although

The Ground Was As Hard As A Stone,  And The Footprints Constantly

Invisible,  He Went Like A Hound Upon A Scent,  At A Pace That Kept Us In

An Occasional Jog-Trot. After Half An Hour's Tracking,  And Doubling

Backward And Forward In Thick Jungle,  We Came Up With Three Elephants.

V. B. Killed One,  And I Killed Another At The Same Moment. V. B. Also

Fired At The Third; But,  Instead Of Falling,  He Rushed Towards Us,  And I

Killed Him With My Remaining Barrel,  Palliser Joining In The Shot. They

Were All Killed In About Three Seconds. The Remaining Portion Of The

Herd Were At A Distance,  And We Heard Them Crashing Through The Thick

Jungle. We Followed Them For About A Mile,  But They Had Evidently Gone

Off To Some Other Country. The Jungle Was Very Thick,  And We Had A Long

Journey To Accomplish; We Therefore Returned To The Horses And Rode On,

Our Party Being Now Increased By The Veddah Tracker.

 

After Having Ridden About Twenty Miles,  The Last Tight Of Which Had Been

Through Alternate Forest And Jungle,  We Arrived At A Small Plain Of Rich

Grass Of About A Hundred Acres: This Was Surrounded By Forest.

Unfortunately,  The Nights Were Not Moonlight,  Or We Could Have Killed A

Deer,  As They Came Out In Immense Herds Just At Dusk. We Luckily Bagged

A Good Supply Of Snipe,  Upon Which We Dined,  And We Reserved Our Tins.

Of Meat For Some More Urgent Occasion.

 

Part 3 Chapter 12 (A Jungle Trip) Pg 107

Nov. 26.--All Vestiges Of Open Country Had Long Ceased. We Now Rode For

Seventeen Miles Through Magnificent Forest,  Containing The Most

Stupendous Banian Trees That I Have Ever Beheld. The Ebony Trees Were

Also Very Numerous,  And Grew To An Immense Size. This Forest Was

Perfectly Open. There Was Not A Sign Of Either Underwood Or Grass

Beneath The Trees,  And No Track Was Discernible Beyond The Notches In

The Trees Made At Some Former Time By The Veddah's Axe. In One Part Of

This Forest A Rocky Mountain Appeared At Some Period To Have Burst Into

Fragments; And For The Distance Of About A Mile It Formed The Apparent

Ruins Of A City Of Giants. Rocks As Large As Churches Lay Piled One Upon

The Other. Forming Long Dark Alleys And Caves That Would Have Housed

Some Hundreds Of Men.

 

The Effect Was Perfectly Fairylike,  As The Faint Silver Light Of The

Sun,  Mellowed By The Screen Of Tree Tops,  Half-Lighted Up ,These Silent

Caves. The Giant Stems Of The Trees Sprang Like Tall Columns From The

Foundations Of The Rocks That Shadowed Them With Their Dense Foliage.

Two Or Three Families Of 'Cyclops' Would Not Have Been Out Of Place In

This Spot; They Were Just The Class Of People That One Would Expect To

Meet.

 

Late In The Afternoon We Arrived At The Long-Talked-Of Village Of

Oomanoo,  About Eighteen Miles From Our Last Encampment. It Was A

Squalid,  Miserable Place,  Of Course,  And Nothing Was Obtainable. Our

Coolies Had Not Tasted Food Since The Preceding Evening; But,  By Good

Luck,  We Met A Travelling Moorman,  Who Had Just Arrived At The Village

With A Little Rice To Exchange With The Veddahs For Dried Venison. As

The Villagers Did Not Happen To Have Any Meat To Barter,  We Purchased

All The Rice At An Exorbitant Price; But It Was Only Sufficient For Half

A Meal For Each Servant And Coolie,  When Equally Divided.

 

Fortunately,  We Killed Four Snipe And Two Doves These Were Added To Our

Last Two Tins Of Provisions,  Which Were 'Hotch Potch,' And Stewed

Altogether. This Made A Good Dinner. We Had Now Nothing Left But Our

Biscuits And Groceries. All Our Hams And Preserved Meats Were Gone,  And

We Only Had One Meal On That Day.

 

Nov. 27.--Our Horses Had Eaten Nothing But Grass For Many Days; This,

However,  Was Excellent,  And Old Jack Looked Fat,  And Was As Hardy As

Ever. We Now Discharged Our Veddah Guides,  And Took On Others From

Oomanoo. These Men Told Us That We Were Only Four Miles From The

Batticaloa Road,  And With Great Glee We Started At Break Of Day,

Determined To Breakfast On Arrival At The Road.

 

The Old Adage Of 'Many A Slip `Twixt The Cup And The Lip' Was Here Fully

Exemplified. Four Miles! We Rode Twenty-Five Miles Without Drawing The

Rein Once! And At Length We Then Did Reach The Road; That Is To Say,  A

Narrow Track Of Grass,  Which Is The Track To Batticaloa For Which We Had

Been Steering During Our Journey. A Native But In This Wilderness

Rendered The Place Worthy Of A Name; It Is Therefore Known Upon The

Government Maps As 'Pyeley.'

 

From This Place We Were Directed On To 'Curhellulai,' A Village

Represented To Us As A Small London,  Abounding With Every Luxury. We

Obtained A Guide And Started,  As They Assured Us It Was Only Two Miles

Distant.

 

After Riding Three Miles Through A Country Of Open Glades And Thick

Jungle,  The Same Guide Who Had At First Told Us It Was Two Miles From

'Pyeley,' Now Said It Was Only 'Three Miles Farther On.' We Knew These

Fellows' Ideas Of Distance Too Well To Proceed Any Farther. We Had

Quitted The Batticaloa Track,  And We Immediately Dismounted,  Unsaddled,

And Turned The Horses Loose Upon The Grass.

 

Having Had Only One Meal The Day Before,  And No Breakfast This Morning,

We Looked Forward With Impatience To The Arrival Of The Coolies,

Although I Confess I Did Not Expect Them,  As They Were Too Weak From

Want Of Food To Travel Far. They Had Only Half A Meal The Day Before,

And Nothing At All The Day Before That.

 

We Had Halted In A Grassy Glade Surrounded By Thick Jungle. There Were

Numerous Fresh Tracks Of Deer And Elk,  But The Animals Themselves Would

Not Show.

 

As Evening Approached,  We Collected A Quantity Of Dead Timber And

Lighted A Good Fire,  Before Which We Piled The Rifles,  Three And Three,

About Ten Feet Apart. Across These We Laid A Pole,  And Then Piled

Branches From The Ground To The Pole In A Horizontal Position. This Made

A Shed