other ball followed. The little animal began to cry and screech, and the feelings of the mother-so true to nature, even in the brutecaused the old elephant to leave her victim on the instant, and to rush to the aid of her offspring! This lucky thought of the "old hand" saved the life of G. The elephant returned to its calf, licked its wounds, and the next moment was shot dead by the same hand that had so well executed what a brain-never at fault in danger-had so happily devised. G was still lying senseless when he was reached by the rest of the party; and a couple of hands having been sent back to the fort for a surgeon and a palanquin, he was removed to the barracks, where he was found to have sustained only the damage of two broken ribs, which rest and the doctor soon put to rights, and in a short time he was again able to take command of the D Now this story happened before half a dozen witnesses, all of whom are alive; and should any one tell it as a thing that had occurred to himself, it would be thought to be rather Munchausenish. Comparisons are odious certainly, but I have seen sport in most quarters of the world, and I must say I have never seen sportsmen at home come anything near, in a practical point of view, to the man whose education has been gained in the mountains of Ceylon or the jungles of India. I may be considered a very " amiable youth" for making this gratuitous assertion, but when people say " O, he's only an Indian sportsman," they little think what it is that makes an Indian sportsman; they little think that in each adventure, of which he must encounter an infinity to even be ranked as the commonest Indian sportsman, his life must be perilled against brutes a hundred times his strength, to say nothing of "coup de soleil," junglefevers, and all the thousand and one ills that flesh is more especially heir to in India. I don't quarrel with English sports at all-I have had as good hunting and shooting as is to be had in England, but the feeling of going out after woodcocks, partridges, and hares, is "rayther" different to that which a person experiences as he rams home his bullet which is to be directed against the head of an elephant, or the breast of a Bengal tiger, before half an hour is over! A narrower escape, if possible, than the above narrated one happened some few years ago to a Mr. M'Kenzie, in Ceylon, but in a different part of the island. Mr. M'K. went out with a party, of which the governor of the island at that time formed one; and after a day's shooting, whilst the sportsmen were returning to their bungalo, they fell in with a herd of elephants, among which was a "tusker, as those animals carrying tusks are denominated. These tuskers are very scarce, being about one in two thousand, and they are duly appreciated by the untusked portion of the "genus elephas;" for, as soon as danger is scented, the tusker is invariably surrounded by the rest of the herd, as a commanding officer is by his men on "forming square," and every elephant will allow itself to be shot down before it allows the body of the privileged tusker to be conspicuous to the aim of the hunter. In the present instance, the herd did not consist of more than six or seven in all; and these, as far as was in their power, converted themselves into shields for their "ivoried" comrade: But against old, experienced hands they could make but little stand. One after the other was shot down as he stood in his position, and the tusker was left with a single "coverer," when he began to think that it was high time for him to show fight; and, like a Sardanapalus, although he luxuriated in the devotedness of his slaves whilst there was no occasion for action, he soon made it apparent that he could "come to the scratch" as well or better than the best of them when required to do so. M'Kenzie was the nearest person to the couple that were still alive; and, as no one thinks of firing at an elephant until within ten paces, his approximation was "too near to be pleasant," and nearer than there was any absolute occasion for. But what will not a man do to kill a tusker-to walk off with a pair of tusks about eight feet long, and worth in absolute value about sixty pounds?-a sum that will well equip the sportsman in two most undeniable fowling-pieces. But the kudos of the thing, of course, is the chief excitement in such cases. At the distance of six paces, M'K. pulled his trigger at the elephant's forehead; it was his last loaded barrel, and the cap missed fire! The brute at once laid hold of him round the body with his proboscis, fixed him to the ground, and endeavoured to transfix him with his tusks. These, by a miracle, went on either side of his body, and he lay pinned to the earth, like a rat between the prongs of a pitchfork, but without either tusk even having grazed his flesh. The rest of the party were precisely in the same predicament as in the other case, being afraid to fire for fear of shooting M'K. Finding that his victim was still alive, and writhing under him, the animal tried to go on his knees on his body-a very favourite way of putting their enemies out of existence; but, from having him so securely pinned to the ground between his tusks, he was unable to effect this. For upwards of half an hour M'K. was in this fearful predicament; the others using every means in their power to take off the elephant's attention, by firing into his carcass and the tenderest parts about his thighs and belly; but it was all in vain. He appeared to be intent solely on revenge, by slaying his opponent. It was then that one of the party-perceiving that only a coup de main could save his friend's life, and utterly disregarding his own-approached the elephant's head so near, that the prostrate body of M'K. was within an inch of his own; and in this position, placing the muzzle of his gun to the elephant's forehead, he sent two ounces of lead into his brain, which made him sink lifeless to the ground by the side of his expected human prey. How he did not fall on and crush both parties is a wonder. Poor M'K. was perfectly senseless when picked up; but he had only fainted, and, with the exception of a few slight bruises, was in no way whatever injured. However, what the highest of all God's creatures could not accomplish the "Fever King" soon after did; for a month hence saw M'K. on his death-bed; and his last recollection, even in the delirious agony of death, was his position under the elephant! Whenever a person goes out elephant shooting, he is equally liable to be exposed to the same dangers; nevertheless, a friend of mine in Ceylon, who was long a brother officer in the same regiment, had actually shot-before I left the island, and that is five years agoa hundred elephants single-handed. Should this appear incredible, I can only say that the person I allude to-as staunch a sportsman as ever lived, and by whom I was initiated into many of the mysteries of jungle sport-is T. Rogers, Esq., Major in the Ceylon Rifle Regiment at this present moment. Whenever an elephant was playing its pranks within thirty miles of our station-whether he was amusing himself by rooting up the adigar's paddy (or rice) fields, or stopping the tappal (the postman), or tearing some poor labourer limb from limb, immediate intelligence was brought to Major R.; and I would much rather, for my own part, have booked my place in the aerial machine, all the way from Greenwich to New South Wales, than have taken the elephant's chance of being alive in twenty-four hours' time. This gentleman once made a bet that he would kill two elephants with one bullet, and he actually accomplished this unparalleled feat. He managed it in this wise: an elephant, on being hit, always falls to the side it receives the bullet; and Major R., having come upon some animals in company with their young ones-which, when very young, are not bigger than a Newfoundland dog-got an old lady in such a position that, in falling, she could not avoid falling on and crushing her calf. The trigger was no sooner pulled than, tumbling like a house on the little one, it was squeezed to a pancake's flatness, whilst the bullet had sped the life of the old one for ever. Think of this-" mark and inwardly digest it"-ye cognoscenti, who got a company of a regiment of guards to slaughter an elephant at Exeter 'Change, and who only gained your end after two hundred bullets had been lodged in his body, when the veriest tyro in Ceylon sporting could have saved you one hundred and ninety-nine cartridges, and have spared the animal six hours of horrible torture! A hundred elephants are not to be killed without risk, of course, and the hundreds of escapes that have happened to R. would fill a volume. One of the last specimens of "unpleasantness" that had occurred to him whilst I was under his command, was having had to run for near one hundred yards with an elephant after him, who every other step got his proboscis half round R.'s body; but so active was the chassée, that the elephant turned from him at last in despair, and hid himself again in the jungle. Major Rogers had a native "sporting servant" in his retinue, who was so confident in his master's prowess, that he would at any time walk up to a herd of elephants, and pull the tail of the nearest one, to make it look round, and thereby expose the vulnerable part of its head for R. to fire at-when down it dropped, as sure as the gun exploded. Most extraordinary bets used to be made at messes, and elsewhere, on what might be done to these animals; but the most daring of all was a bet made by a general officer -a very great and deserved favourite in the island, and who was unfortunately killed in the affair at Gwalior two or three months back. It was to walk into a herd of wild elephants, without any weapon but a large knife, and to cut off the tip of the tail of any elephant that might be pointed out to him. He was, of course, accompanied by persons armed in case of need, and he accomplished his undertaking at Neilgalla, in Ceylon; where elephants literally swarm at some seasons of the year. It is impossible to imagine the ferocity of the elephant when he is excited to revenge. The melancholy end of Major Haddock, of the 97th regiment, was horribly illustrative of this; he had fired his last barrel when an elephant gave chase, and Haddock made the best of his way to a small patch of jungle close by, hoping to dodge the elephant round it until it got tired of the fun, and sheered off; but before five minutes had elapsed he unfortunately ran round the very corner behind which the animal kept itself concealed, and in a moment he was laid hold of. He had no one with him but natives, who, at a pitch, are about the greatest fools ever born; the consequence was that the elephant having crushed poor Haddock to death by kneeling on him, began to dissect him; and so cleanly was it done that scarcely two joints were left together in the body of the victim. How an animal could have thus accomplished such a task by means of that unwieldy-looking instrument it possesses in the shape of a trunk, is utterly inexplicable. In the times of the Kandyan kings these animals were always used as executioners of culprits, an office they performed by kneeling on the criminals; in a green spot exactly before the king's palace, where the old brute used to look on and enjoy the sport! The last illustration that I shall give the reader of the "crack sport of Ceylon" will be one that happened, in my own time, to one of my most intimate friends in the island; and then, having given my lector's appetite an edge to "take a turn at an elephant," we will at some future time take an imaginary stroll together in the jungle, and see if we cannot defeat the huge behemoth of the woods. Poor W- (I do not like to mention names, as this account may meet the eye of some of the family, who may consider that by so doing I am taking an unwarrantable liberty), came out to Ceylon at eighteen years of age, having passed his examination at Sandhurst; and during the time that he had to wait for his ensigncy, he initiated himself into all the requisite qualifications for a Ceylon sportsman. Before he had been in the island many months he had killed a large number of elephants, and he had scarcely passed his first year when he fell a victim to his zeal. Having met a tusker in one of his rambles, he lost no time in commencing hostilities; and, sure of his aim, he allowed the animal to charge down upon him, in hopes of giving him his quietus when he had arrived at the distance of ten or twelve paces. He had only one gun, and was accompanied by but one native. The elephant was all but upon him, when his finger touched the trigger and the cap snapped! One chance was left; the second trigger was pulled as the elephant was upon him, and again the cap snapped! The poor boy's fate was soon sealed; he was seized by the elephant, trodden on, and then transfixed to the ground by his tusks; whilst his gun was broken by the enraged animal into splinters. W- was perfectly dead when found next day; and the news having reached Colombo, two volunteers immediately set off (in the persons of Captain G-, of the 90th regiment, and of the Royal Irish) to revenge the death of the sportsman. This was nobly accomplished; and in less than a week they returned to quarters, having left the dead carcass of the elephant nearly on the same spot as that on which poor W. met his melancholy end. Captain G himself had a very narrow escape, I believe, whilst out after this very elephant; which having come on him suddenly, G― threw himself on the ground, and firing directly up into the elephant as it was passing over him, brought it also to the ground. His gun was broken to shivers and his upper lip horribly lacerated, but how he did not get the whole body of the elephant on the top of him is the most wonderful part of the business. Such, my most sporting lector, are a few of the adventures and accidents that may befall us in our day's work in the Ceylon jungle, although, thank heaven! such accidents are few and far between. I know one man that saved his life by wearing loose boots; for being chased by an elephant, and just having reached a tree, he sprang up into it, and before he was out of reach the elephant caught him by the leg; when, to its utter amazement, it was left in possession only of a new wellington boot. In short, I could go on for ever telling anecdote after anecdote, had I not the fear of an editorial reprimand for my loquaciousness before my eyes. One thing which I wish the reader to bear in mind, is, that I have herein stated no one circumstance that is not a fact, and of which there are many people now alive who were witnesses. This will, I doubt not, meet the eyes of many who bore their part in the scenes described. If I have offended, by dragging their daring deeds to light, I must only hope they will forgive me, as it is but done from the intention of letting the English sportsman have a more perfect idea of what his Indian brethren really are; to show that, in point of daring, at least, they are inferior to none. What they are in the practical point of sport, I will endeavour to show in a future paper. RED DEER HUNTING IN DEVON AND SOMERSET. BY MASTER HESKET. "Craig and cliff, And faithless bog, and swollen impetuous flood, Scrope has detailed the glories of deer-stalking-right well has he done it, and afforded amusement to thousands; and why should not the surpassing pleasures of the stag-chase be recorded? I mean not that description of sport, which the queen's hounds usually follow, |