Instead of the surly and ferocious disposition of Smut, he was the most gentle and affectionate creature.It was a splendid sight to witness the bounding spring of Killbuck as he pinned an elk at bay that no other dog could touch.He had a peculiar knack of seizing that I never saw equalled; no matter where or in what position an elk might be, he was sure to have him.When once started from the slips it was certain death to the animal he coursed, and even when out of view, and the elk had taken to the jungle, I have seen the dog, with his nose to the ground, following upon the scent at full speed like a foxhound.I never heard him bark at game when at bay.With a bulldog courage he would recklessly fly straight at the animal's head, unheeding the wounds received in the struggle.This unguided courage at length caused his death when in the very prime of his life.Poor Killbuck! His was a short but glorious career, and his name will never be forgotten.
Next in rotation in the chronicles of seizers appears `Lena,' who is still alive, an Australian bitch of great size, courage, and beauty, wire-haired, like a Scotch deerhound.
`Bran,' a perfect model of a greyhound.
`Lucifer,' combining the beauty, speed, and courage of his parents, `Bran' and ` Lena,' in a superlative degree.
There are many others that I could call from the pack and introduce as first-rate hounds, but as no jealousy will be occasioned by their omission, I shall be contented with those already named.
Were I to recount the twentieth part of the scenes that I have witnessed in this sport, it would fill a volume, and become very tedious.A few instances related will at once explain the whole character of the sport, and introduce a stranger to the wild hunts of the Ceylon mountains.
I have already described Newera Ellia, with its alternate plains and forests, its rapid streams and cataracts, its mountains, valleys, and precipices; but a portion of this country, called the Horton Plains, will need a further description.
Some years ago I hunted with a brother Nimrod, Lieutenant de Montenach, of the 15th Regiment, in this country; and in two months we killed forty-three elk.
The Horton Plains are about twenty miles from Newera Ellia.After a walk of sixteen miles through alternate plains and forests, the steep ascent of Totapella mountain is commenced by a rugged path through jungle the whole way.So steep is the track that a horse ascends with difficulty, and riding is of course impossible.After a mile and a quarter of almost perpendicular scrambling, the summit of the pass is reached, commanding a splendid view of the surrounding country, and Newera Ellia can be seen far beneath in the distance.Two miles farther on, after a walk through undulating forest, the Horton Plains burst suddenly upon the view as you emerge from the jungle path.These plains are nearly 800 feet higher than Newera Ellia, or 7,000 feet above the sea.The whole aspect of the country appears at once to have assumed a new character; there is a feeling of being on the top of everything, and instead of a valley among surrounding hills, which is the feature of Newera Ellia and the adjacent plains, a beautiful expanse of flat table-land stretches before the eye, bounded by a few insignificant hill-tops.There is a peculiar freedom in the Horton Plains, an absence from everywhere, a wildness in the thought that there is no tame animal within many miles, not a village, nor hut, nor human being.It makes a man feel in reality one of the 'lords of the creation' when he first stands upon this elevated plain, and, breathing the pure thin air, he takes a survey of his hunting-ground: no boundaries but mountain tops and the horizon; no fences but the trunks of decayed trees fallen from old age; no game laws but strong legs, good wind, and the hunting-knife; no paths but those trodden by the elk and elephant.Every nook and corner of this wild country is as familiar to me as my own garden.There is not a valley that has not seen a burst in full cry; not a plain that has not seen the greyhounds in full speed after an elk; and not a deep pool in the river that has not echoed with a bay that has made the rocks ring again.
To give a person an interest in the sport, the country must be described minutely.The plain already mentioned as the flat table-land first seen on arrival, is about five miles in length, and two in breadth in the widest part.This is tolerably level, with a few gentle undulations, and is surrounded, on all sides but one, with low, forest-covered slopes.
The low portions of the plains are swamps, from which springs a large river, the source of the Mahawelli Ganga.
From the plain now described about fifteen others diverge, each springing from the parent plain, and increasing in extent as they proceed; these are connected more or less by narrow valleys, and deep ravines.Through the greater portion of these plains, the river winds its wild course.In the first a mere brook, it rapidly increases as it traverses the lower portions of every valley, until it attains a width of twenty or thirty yards, within a mile of the spot where it is first discernible as a stream.Every plain in succession being lower than the first, the course of the river is extremely irregular; now a maze of tortuous winding, then a broad, still stream, bounded by grassy undulations; now rushing wildly through a hundred channels formed by obtruding rocks, then in a still, deep pool, gathering itself together for a mad leap over a yawning precipice, and roaring at a hundred feet beneath, it settles in the lower plain in a pool of unknown depth; and once more it murmurs through another valley.
In the large pools formed by the sudden turns in the river, the elk generally takes his last determined stand, and he sometimes keeps dogs and men at bay for a couple of hours.These pools are generally about sixty yards across, very deep in some parts, with a large shallow sandbank in the centre, formed by the eddy of the river.
