n the neighbourhood of
Cowdellai, I got a shot at a deer at a killing distance. She was not
twenty yards off, and was looking at me as if spellbound. This provided
me with venison for a couple of days. The rapid decomposition of all
things in a tropical climate renders a continued supply of animal food
very precarious, if the produce of the rifle is alone to be depended
upon. Venison killed on one day would be uneatable on the day following,
unless it were half-dressed shortly after it was killed; thus the size
of the animal in no way contributes to the continuation of the supply
of food, as the meat will not keep. Even snipe killed on one morning
are putrid the next evening; the quantity of game required for the
subsistence of one person is consequently very large.

After killing the deer I stalked a fine peacock, who gave me an
hour's work before I could get near him. These birds are very wary
and difficult to approach; but I at length got him into a large bush,
surrounded by open ground. A stone thrown into this dislodged him, and
he gave me a splendid flying shot at about thirty yards. I bagged him
with the two-ounce rifle, but the large ball damaged him terribly. There
are few better birds than a Ceylon peafowl, if kept for two days and
then washed in vinegar: they combine the flavour of the turkey and the
pheasant.

I was obliged to carry the bird myself, as my two gun-bearers were
staggering under the weight of the deer, and the spare guns were carried
by my tracker. We were proceeding slowly along, when the tracker, who
was in advance, suddenly sprang back and pointed to some object in the
path. It was certainly enough to startle any man. An enormous serpent
lay coiled in the path. His head was about the size of a very small
cocoa-nut, divided lengthways, and this was raised about eighteen inches
above the coil. His eyes were fixed upon us, and his forked tongue
played in and out of his mouth with a continued hiss. Aiming at his
head, I fired at him with a double-barrelled gun, within four paces, and
blew his head to pieces. He appeared stone dead; but upon pulling him
by the tail, to stretch him out at full length, he wreathed himself in
convulsive coils, and lashing himself out in full length, he mowed down
the high grass in all directions. This obliged me to stand clear, as his
blows were terrific, and the thickest part of his body was as large as
a man's thigh. I at length thought of an expedient for securi