I once saw an interesting proof of his reasoning powers during a
long and difficult hunt.
I was hunting for a few days at the Augora patinas, accompanied
by Palliser. These are about five hundred feet lower than Newera
Ellia, and are situated in the district of Dimboola. They are
composed of undulating knolls of fine grass, with a large and
deep river flowing through the centre. These patinas are
surrounded by wooded hills of good open jungle.
We had found upon the patina at break of day, and the whole pack
had gone off in full cry; but the whereabout was very uncertain,
and having long lost all sound of the hounds we wandered here and
there to no purpose. At length we separated, and took up our
stations upon different knolls to watch the patina and to listen.
The hill upon which I stood commanded an extensive view of the
patina, while the broad river flowed at the base, after its exit
from the jungle. I had been only a few minutes at my post when I
observed, at about six hundred yards distant, a strong ripple in
the river like the letter V, and it immediately struck me that an
elk had come down the river from the jungle and was swimming down
the stream. This was soon proved to be the case, as I saw the
head of a doe elk in the acute angle of the ripple.
Pages:
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275