On reaching the bungalow, I found the other chasseurs home before me, pretty well tired with the day's work; so having washed our guns, we commenced hostilities again on less harmless opponents, to wit, potted meats, pale ale, and cheroots. The next day was marked by an accident that one never can guard against in the Ceylon jungles; one of our cooleys or beaters who accompanied us, having ventured too far into the jungle, we were soon alarmed by the most horrid yells imaginable. Thinking it to proceed from his fright at sight of some elephants, we hastened to the spot, and I just arrived in time to find him rolling on the earth, with a buffalo goring him to death. His abdomen was laid entirely open, and he was all but dead. For a second I considered whether I should put a ball first through his head, to put him out of pain, or through the buffalo's, but the simultaneous report of six barrels saved me the trouble of doing either, for the buffalo had died before its victim. Having made a bier of branches, we carried the poor fellow's corpse to the bungalow, and having dug a pit close to the river, we laid him in it" uncoffined, unaneled." To give a detailed statement of each day's sport would be of little interest to the reader; but although, from the account I have given of the sport that I have seen, he may think it tame and inglorious work, I grieve to say, that it is not long since I lost a very good friend who fell, in combat with an elephant, in consequence of his gun missing fire, when the elephant immediately rushed on him, then knelt on him, and finished by thrusting its tusks through his body. The brute, however, only survived three days, for on the account of the accident reaching Colombo, Captain G--, of the 90th regiment, and Mr. S, of the Royal Irish, gallantly vowed to avenge poor W.'s death, which vow was fulfilled to the letter, after a pretty severe fight with the monster foe. Major H-, of the 97th regiment, was in like manner killed by an elephant, who tore him limb from limb, not leaving two joints together. I have seen a gallant sportsman lying on the ground with an elephant's tusks on either side of his head, and holding him in that position, trying all the time to kneel on him and crush him; whilst three or four of us standing around were unable to fire, as it would have caused his death, by the elephant falling upon him. Captain R——, who has killed some hundreds of elephants with his own hand, has had many a run, with an elephant's trunk half round his loins. In short, to enumerate half the accidents which have happened would take up too much space; one might think, however, that they would throw cold water on such daring deeds as have been performed in combat with these animals, one of which I will mention, on another occasion, as being something novel as well as desperate. RAMBLES IN DEVONSHIRE. THE RIVER TEIGN. "Well, Charles, what shall we do to-day?" said young William Deynton to his friend Charles Edwards; "where shall we go? You know I promised you a little fishing, and I want to see how you handle your new rod." C. E. Can we not go to the Teign? I have often heard you mention it as a good river for salmon-peel and lastspring; and, indeed, my curiosity is excited, as you know I am fond of visiting strange streams. W.D. Do you know, Charles, I was thinking about this same river this morning, at breakfast; but I thought you would not like to travel so far. C. E. How far is it? W. D. At least fifteen miles, and a very hilly road. If you think it would not be too far, however, I could borrow a famous rough pony for you, and I can ride my own horse. We will take a few necessary things with us, sleep the night at Chudleigh, and ride home the next day in the cool of the evening. What say you? C. E. I shall be delighted to go; and as for the ride, I shall be entertained with your amusing stories both of fishing and shooting. W. D. I wish, Charles, before we go, you would tie me a couple of blue duns, No. 12 hook-the same we used to use in the Wye, in Herefordshire. The little cockwing with the pale yellow body, made of bright yellow floss silk, softened down with blue squirrels fur. I have so many things to prepare, I am afraid I shall not find time. C. E. Certainly, I will make what you require; and what, in my opinion, is of much more importance, I will look over the maggot-pot, for I esteem them a sine quâ non. W. D. Well, do so. In the mean time I go to prepare. ready at twelve o'clock, it is now half-past ten. Vive valeque! * * Be C. E. Here I am, William, punctual to a minute. I have made three flies-two blues and a red, but I am sorry to say I can find but few maggots. W. D. Never mind; I dare say we shall be able to obtain some in Chudleigh. If not, we must hope for the best. Now we will ride quietly away. C. E. What a lovely day! not a cloud to be seen: we shall have a broiling ride; but never mind, in the evening the fish will rise. Do you remember the sport we had in the Arrow, in the evening after just as hot a day as this? W. D. Ay, that I do: I pulled those eighteen trout out pretty quick, and astonished our friend, John Bainard. C. E. We had a sharp contest that evening for the two hours we fished ; and you beat me hollow-18 to 11, but they were fine trout. W. D. In a few moments we shall arrive at the bottom of Great Haldon Hill, from the top of which is one of the finest views in England. C. E. Oh! what a tremendous hill: we are not half way up yet. I am well repaid for my trouble to view the sea, "So deeply, darkly, beautifully blue!" That majestic river, the Ex, is beautiful. You can trace its course for miles, and I declare I can almost see the fine old cathedral towers rearing their heads above the rest of the city. Certes, William, if we catch no fish, I am repaid for my journey by the finest view I ever saw. W. D. When you have finished with this side of the hill, we will go to the other, and as we descend I will describe where the Teign lies. Č. E. With reluctance I leave this spot; but, as time flies, we must be on the move. But what hills are those before us? W. D. That ridge of hills is the beginning of Dartmoor; but although they look so near, they are at least twenty miles off. Do you see that valley to the right? We shall proceed up it till we come to Ugbrooke Park, the seat of Lord Clinton, and fish down as far as we can for a couple of hours. C. E. Let us ride a little quicker: already I feel as if I was hard at work. My little blue duns will do some execution. W. D. Doubtless; but we have not much further to ride, for lo! there is Chudleigh, and there is our inn where we will put up; and let me tell you you will find our host-your namesake, by-thebye-a civil man, and the Plymouth in a good resting-place for man or beast. Holloa, there! can you put us up for the night? Host. Yes, sir; you can have anything you like, sir. W. D. Put up the horses, and let us have some of those freshlooking mackerel, and a few mutton-chops, for supper at eight. Now, Charles, let us be off: we will go about three miles up the river, and fish down. C. E. What a very pretty stream! I had no idea I should meet with such a river: and, see! there are swarms of fish rising. Let us begin. W. D. Yes and if you do not catch a dish of fish, it will be your own fault. I will meet you about two miles below. C. E. Trust me: as I intend to wade I hope to realize my expectations. Au revoir. W. D. Well, Charles, what sport? I have only caught seventeen lastspring. C. E. I am rather disappointed: no trout-only twenty-seven lastsprings. W. D. To-morrow, below the bridge, we will kill a few trout, and perhaps a salmon-peel or so; but as we go homewards, I wish you would give me some account of these lastspring. C. E. With all my heart: what I know that will I tell you, as plainly as I can. The lastspring are known by the several names of skirling, salmon-pink, lastspring, hoppers, pink, fingerlings, and others which I do not exactly remember. They are undoubtedly, however, proved to be the young of the Salmo feriox, or common salmon. Salmon come up the rivers to spawn in the months of September and October, and deposit their spawn in the gravel; which, in the appointed time, becomes young fry about an inch long. This is in May and June. These in the June following become lastspring, and which we are now catching. Next March and April they lose the finger marks on their bodies; become more handsomely shaped, and very silvery. They are now two years old, and weigh from two to three ounces, about eight inches long. On the first flush of water they go down to sea, and in a few months enter the rivers in which they were hatched, varying in weight from three to six pounds. These are salmon-peel-what in Scotland are called grilse, and in Wales botchers. The next summer they attain the growth of salmon, though their growth is not so rapid; and though in three years they may weigh eight pounds, it will be many before they are twenty pounds. W. D. Do you mean to say that these little fish in three years will grow to a salmon ? C. E. Yes, I do; and if you will read " Scrope's days of salmonfishing," or "Shaw on the salmon-fry," I doubt not you will be fully convinced. W. D. I will, certainly, when I have an opportunity. I am obliged to you for your explanation. We are now at our inn, with good appetites too for our supper, or I mistake. What ho! Let us have supper directly. C. E. I am indeed hungry, and I see our host has amply fulfilled your commands. We will just take a glass of rum and water each, and tumble into bed, in readiness for our morrow's excursion. W. D. Yes, and I will give orders for some maggots: I think I shall be able to get some. A very civil man lives hard by, named Trewman, a tailor, the best fisherman on the Teign: he will tell us what flies to use. We will breakfast at nine, so goodnight. * C. E. Come, William Deynton, wake up, man! 'Tis nine o'clock, and you not out of bed, for shame! I am off. While you are dressing I will look after the person you mentioned last night, as likely to give us some information..... Well, I have been to Trewman. He has given me a box of maggots, and I have bought a few neat flies of him. He says the cockobondhu is the fly-a dark furnace hackle, over a peacock herl body. W. D. I have one or two: but now to breakfast; and after seeing how our horses are, we will strap our baskets on, and be off, C. E. A kind master will always look after his horse. I have seen them, so allons.....Trueman told me to begin at the leat, or millstream; and as we are here, take some maggots, and commence. W. D. What very fine ones! We will, Charles, with those do wonders. There, I have one, hooked safe: ah! another, and another: but they are merely skip-jacks. Holloa! you seem to have got a good one: shall I help you? But I see you can master him; and a good trout it is too-in splendid condition. C. E. Yes, pretty well, about a pound I should say; but look! that was a fish. I will throw just five inches above where he rose ; let my fly float gently down-and here he is! Whiz! Whiz! "Hark to the music of the reel! We listen with devotion; There's something in that magic wheel That wakes the heart's emotion." He has it firm in his tongue-a real Limerick. Whew! how my little rod bends! Copham's wood, however, is well seasoned, no fear. W. D. Why he is off! What a pity! C. E. Oh! no, you need not be afraid, he is sulky, and gone down to the bottom. Large fish will do this sometimes. Just throw in two or three of those large stones. There, that moves him. Here he comes. What a somersault ! He, however, begins to be tired. That was his last rush: he is getting weak. I will land him. See here. "A whirr, a whirr, a fish is out! Give line, give line, and measure; But now he turns. Keep down his head, And land him at your leisure!" There, now all is over, and a very fine salmon-peel of three pounds good weight. W. D. That was well managed. You handled your rod very like an artiste. I will now fish the other side, and meet you below in a few hours. C. E. Well, what have you done, William? W. D. Thirty-four lastspring, three trout, and one salmon-peel of about one and a half pounds. I hooked one other, but he took my end-fly off. C. E. I have forty lastspring, or, as they are here called, hoppers, two trout and two salmon-peel; the last a small one-not quite a pound. Now let us homeward trudge, have a little dinner, and ride away. It is past three o'clock. Had it not been for that soaking rain just now, we should not have done much. Farewell, thou pretty river Teign. I hope soon to pay thee another visit, and try my fortune again. W. D. Yes, we must be off: I have spent two very pleasant days, * The writer a few days afterwards caught sixty lastspring and one trout in a few hours, with three red flies and maggots. D D |