Topari villagers, and had been perfectly aghast at the idea of one
person, with only a single-barrelled rifle, attacking a tank rogue in
the open plain. The sequel had turned their fear into astonishment. They
now had the laugh at me, however, as they swam fearlessly up to the dead
elephant to cut off his tail, which I would not have done for any
reward, for fear of crocodiles, which abound in the tank. The ball had
struck the white mark exactly in the centre, which pleased these natives
exceedingly, and they returned in safety with the tail.

I have frequently tried these long shots since, but I never succeeded
again except once, and that was not satisfactory, as the elephant did
not die upon the spot, but was found by the natives on the following
day.

On my return to the village I took a shot-gun and strolled along the
banks of the lake. The snipe were innumerable, and I killed them till my
head ached with the constant recoil of the gun in addition to the heat.
I also killed several couple of ducks and teal in addition to
twenty-eight couple of snipe. This was the Paradise for sport at the
time of which I write. It had never been disturbed: but it has since
shared the fate of many other places.

The open forest in the vicinity of the lake abounded with deer. Grassy
glades beneath the shady trees give a park-like appearance to the scene,
and afford a delightful resort for the deer.

In strolling through these shady glades you suddenly arrive among the
ruins of ancient Pollanarua. The palaces are crumbled into shapeless
mounds of bricks. Massive pillars, formed of a single stone, twelve feet
high, stand in upright rows throughout the jungle here and there over an