This is the commencement of the
south-west monsoon, which usually sets in with great violence.
The remaining portion of what is called the wet season, till the
end of November, is about as uncertain as the climate of England
- some days fine, others wet, and every now and then a week of
rain at one bout.
A thoroughly saturated soil, with a cold wind, and driving rain
and forests as full of water as sponges, are certain destroyers
of scent; hence, hunting at Newera Ellia is out of the question
during such weather. The hounds would get sadly out of
condition, were it not for the fine weather in the vicinity which
then invites a trip.
I have frequently walked ten miles to my hunting grounds,
starting before daybreak, and then after a good day's sport up
and down the steep mountains, I have returned home in the
evening. But this is twelve hours' work, and it is game thrown
away, as there is no possibility of getting the dead elk home.
An animal that weighs between four hundred and four hundred and
fifty pounds without his insides, is not a very easy creature to
move; at any time, especially in such a steep mountainous country
as the neighborhood of Newera Ellia. As previously described, at
the base of the mountains are cultivated rice-lands, generally
known as paddy-fields, where numerous villages have sprung up
from the facility with which a supply of water is obtained from
the wild mountains above them.
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