y ideas when I first visited Newera Ellia, before I had
much experience in either people or things connected with the island.
My twelve months' tour in Ceylon being completed, I returned to England
delighted with what I had seen of Ceylon in general, but, above all,
with my short visit to Newera Ellia, malgre its barrenness and want of
comfort, caused rather by the neglect of man than by the lack of
resources in the locality.

CHAPTER II.

Past Scenes--Attractions of Ceylon--Emigration--Difficulties in
Settling--Accidents and Casualties--An Eccentric
Groom--Insubordination--Commencement of Cultivation--Sagacity of the
Elephant--Disappointments--"Death" in the Settlement--Shocking
Pasturage--Success of Emigrants--"A Good Knock-about kind of a Wife".

I had not been long in England before I discovered that my trip to
Ceylon had only served to upset all ideas of settling down quietly at
home. Scenes of former sports and places were continually intruding
themselves upon my thoughts, and I longed to be once more roaming at
large with the rifle through the noiseless wildernesses in Ceylon. So
delightful were the recollections of past incidents that I could
scarcely believe that it lay within my power to renew them. Ruminating
over all that bad happened within the past year, I conjured up
localities to my memory which seemed too attractive to have existed in
reality. I wandered along London streets, comparing the noise and
bustle with the deep solitudes of Ceylon, and I felt like the sickly
plants in a London parterre. I wanted the change to my former life. I
constantly found myself gazing into gunmakers' shops, and these I
sometimes entered abstractedly to examine some rifle exposed in the
window. Often have I passed an hour in boring the unfortunate
gunmakers to death by my suggestions for various improvements in rifles
and guns, which, as I was not a purchaser, must have been extremely
edifying.

Time passed, and the moment at length arrived when I decided once more
to see Ceylon. I determined to become a settler at Newera Ellia, where
I could reside in a perfect climate, and nevertheless enjoy the sports
of the low country at my own will.

Thus, the recovery from a fever in Ceylon was the hidden cause of my
settlement at Newera Ellia. The infatuation for sport, added to a
gypsy-like love of wandering and complete independence, thus dragged me
away from home and from a much-loved circle.

In my determ