nimal,
however ferocious, would come up to a light, and that we were safe so
long as we kept near a torch. This might be consolatory reasoning for
the musalgees, each of whom carried a light, but it afforded little
security to us, who, it was evident, would again be left in the dark
should an elephant cross our path a second time. The Admiral,
therefore, and by his desire all of us, made an attempt to carry the
torches ourselves. But we were soon so plaguily smoked and scorched
for our pains, that we rested contented with the risk, and the bearers
having gradually crept back to the palankeens, we once more moved on.
In spite of all that had passed, some of the party remained so
doggedly sceptical, from being habitually distrustful of all things
wonderful, that they declared the whole affair a mere matter of panic,
and dared to swear there could not be found an elephant within fifty
miles of us. Scarcely had this opinion, so injurious to the honours
and glories of our late adventure, been uttered, when the
commander-in-chief, who, as usual, was leading the way, snatched a
light from one of the men's hands, and waved it over what the
geologists call a "recent deposit," half the size of a wheelbarrow,
and out-rivalling in its column of smoke the muggiest torch in the
line.

"There!" exclaimed the Admiral, better pleased than if he had found a
pile of rupees, instead of so much recent Album Graecum. "Will that
evidence satisfy you? How many hundred yards off do you think can the
fellow be who left this trace of his proximity?"

It was past ten o'clock when we reached our tents, which had been
pitched in the morning on the borders of the celebrated lake we came
to visit. All the party were well fagged, and so ravenously hungry,
that we shouted for joy on seeing supper enter just as we came to the
ground.

"This," said our excellent caterer the collector, "is the dish upon
which we pride ourselves most at Trincomalee. It is the true Malay
curry--rich, as you perceive, in flavour, and more than half of it
gravy--which gravy, I beg you particularly to take notice, is full of
minced vegetables, while the whole is softened with some of the
youngest kind of cocoa-nut, plucked this very evening since the sun
went down."

These praises really fell far short of the merits of this glorious
supper; nor can I remember anything in the way of gourmandise in any
part of the world comparable to this exquisite midnight feast.

At the