to concentrate their powers and overwhelm us wheresoever they list. To strengthen one post is to weaken another, and immediately an advance is made, the enemy take advantage of it to move towards the weakened position." The government appears to be taking prompt steps to correct this error; troops were pouring into Beloochistan and Upper Scinde; no less than 10,000 men, it is said, being on the march thither, and the Madras army has been indented upon for a supply.

In the north of Affghanistan, affairs are in statu quo. Dost Mahomed, who has escaped from Bokhara, had opened negociations with Sir Wm. Macnaghten, who has sent Dr. Lord to the Dost at Khoolum, with propositions which will probably secure his quiet neutrality in the coming campaign.

The affairs of Khiva cease to possess much interest since the official declaration from St. Petersburgh of the settlement of the differences between Russia and the Khan.

The news from the Punjab, so late as the 17th September, received at Bombay, just on the departure of the mail (p. 268), are of great importance. It would appear that the Maharaja is on his death-bed, and that the most active preparations for war were going on under the direction of the parties who rule that state.

Our relations with Nepaul are still in an unsettled condition. The Nepaulese troops have evacuated the villages on the frontier; but it is understood that other and far greater causes of dissatisfaction with the Court of Katmandoo exist, and there is reason to believe, from the orders which have heen issued for the movement of troops in the direction of the Nepaul frontier, that our Government meditates calling the Nepaulese to account. Much will depend upon the course which affairs may take in China; that state exercises a powerful influence over the Court of Katmandoo, and if the latter receive a mandate from Pekin to march into the British territories, with a promise of being backed by a Chinese or Tartar army, the antipathies of the Goorkhas will not suffer treaties to restrain them.

The domestic incidents of British India are few and unimportant. The affair of the Union Bank, which is now exhibited in plain day, is highly deserving of notice. If an attempt had been made in this country to save the pecuniary interests of a bank by compounding a felony (which is the description of the transaction given by a barrister of the Supreme Court), it would have excited an outcry of execration. In Calcutta, however, the impunity of a delinquent, self-convicted of the commission of frauds, for four or five years, to the amount of £12,000, has been characterised asa mea. sure judiciously taken."

From our Straits' settlements and Ceylon, as also Burmah and Dutch India, there is a dearth of news. Some interesting discussions have taken place in the Legislative Councils in Australasia and at the Cape of Good Hope, of which full reports are given in our Asiatic Intelligence. Col. Gawler, the Governor of South Australia, has been recalled, and Capt. Grey substituted in his stead.

RAMBLES IN CEYLON.

BY AN OFFICER.

CHAPTER II.

THE houses in the fort of Trincomalee are exclusively occupied by the military. The officers' quarters are at the base of the high ground, already spoken of, and on that account more salubrious than the buildings that crown the heights. In India, the summits of hills are proverbially unhealthy, as they get the benefit of the malaria arising from the low country around them, which continues to envelop them long after the valleys are freed from its presence. This fact appears to have escaped the attention of the authorities who sanctioned the building of barracks on the hilly ground within the walls of Fort Frederick. In consequence of this violation of all sanitary rules, Trincomalee has always formed an exception to the general salubrity of the military stations in Ceylon. When the writer resided there, the mortality among the European troops was little less than that of the West-Indies, which is usually estimated at twelve per cent. annually. Yet there were at that time few or no cases of cholera; a disease which appears more rarely in Ceylon than on the Indian continent. Fevers and dysentery, the maladies chiefly incidental to tropical climes, were the principal causes of the mortality. Neither the officers of the garrison, nor the civilians resident in the immediate vicinity of the fort, suffered in proportion. No casualty from sickness occurred amongst them. This medical enigma can only be solved by attributing superior salubrity to sites on level ground; for although exposure to night air, and the want of the luxuries which are so indispensable in the East, usually cause a greater mortality among European troops in India than among those of their countrymen moving in a higher sphere of society, the wide distinction observable at Trincomalee cannot be accounted for by these general

causes.

Were it not that this station has obtained a character of extreme insalubrity, there are advantages belonging to the place that would render it à quarter rather popular than otherwise. To the lover of aquatic excursions, the noble harbour to which Trincomalee gives its name, unites all the charms that the most fastidious could require. Within its broad expanse are many romantic islets, on one of which a bungalow has been built by the officers of the squadron in the East-Indies, of which Trincomalee is the head-quarter station. The bungalow is the favourite resort of the officers of the men-of-war lying in the harbour, and also of parties of pleasure from the garrison and the station. A more delightful spot than the island on which the building stands could scarcely be found even in the romantic land of Ceylon. The house itself, and the garden attached to it, are in keeping with the character of the surrounding scenery. With the exception of the ground in the immediate vicinity of this sylvan villa, the island is unreclaimed from its state of nature, and teems with all the rich and luxuriant vegetation peculiar to the tropics. Through the tangled labyrinth of jungle, a narrow path has been opened to the summit of a lofty hill that crowns the isle, and is the highest ground in the neighbourhood of Trincomalee. With great difficulty, a heavy gun has been dragged to this point, whence a fine and very extensive view of the harbour and surrounding country may be obtained.

The circumference of the harbour may be about nine or ten miles, and when thus viewed from an elevated position, the large and placid sheet of water,

with its numerous indents-the wooded isles that seem to float on its surface -the men-of-war lying motionless at their anchorage-and the rich and tropical aspect of the forests that cover the whole of the inland country—form a landscape, in surveying which the eye never tires, and which must be seen to be appreciated.

The other islands that stud the surface of this liquid mirror are generally smaller than that already described, and being for the most part clad with dense and almost impervious jungle, are uninhabited, and rarely visited. Here and there on the surrounding shore may be seen a native hut, but these are few, and, being hidden by the trees around them, are hardly distinguishable from any distance. The general appearance of the country is, therefore, that of a wild and unpeopled land, and this adds much to the peculiar charm and fascination of the scene.

This station entirely owes its importance to the harbour, for the country in the vicinity is extremely poor and unproductive; the population chiefly subsisting by fishing. But such a port as that of Trincomalee would redeem the character of the most valueless island; and in India, where no harbour worthy of the name is to be found between Bombay, on the western coast, and Calcutta, on the eastern, the value of a port centrically situated, as that of Trincomalee, is infinitely great. It has, indeed, been said that, at the close of the late war, Ceylon, as well as Java, would have been restored to its former possessors, the Dutch, had it not been for the paramount importance so justly attached to this harbour, which is equally secure against the violence of the wind, and, as far as natural defences can avail, the insults of an enemy.

The entrance is between two projecting head-lands, which approach within seven hundred yards of each other, leaving barely sufficient width to allow of the ingress and egress of large line-of-battle ships. Fortunately, the entrance faces the south-east, so that the anchorage is perfectly secured from the influence of the prevailing winds; and when all the ports on the Coromandel coast are abandoned on account of their insecurity, this fine harbour affords a sure and constant refuge, which can be approached during the prevalence of either monsoon.

In the vicinity of Trincomalee, abundance of game, from the lordly elephant downwards, is to be found; and this, in the opinion of many, more than counterbalances the disadvantages under which the station labours on account of its unhealthiness and complete isolation from the rest of the colony. Deer and elk are often shot within a mile of the fort; and within an hour's ride every kind of animal that exists on the island may be met with. Elephants, however, are rarely encountered in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, but within a few miles they frequently congregate in large herds. As these leviathans of the earth abound more in Ceylon than in any other part of the world, an account of the battues formed for their destruction may prove interesting, even to those who have long resided in India, for in no part of the Indian continent is elephant-shooting regarded as in Ceylon-an every-day and ordinary amusement.

Many Anglo-Indians, indeed, are sceptical as to the fact of a single bullet being sufficient to deprive an elephant of life, and are much inclined to doubt the truth of the accounts of elephant-shooting in Ceylon, which occasionally reach them through the medium of their public journals. Some of these infidels are wont to assimilate in their darkened minds the deeds of arms done by the sportsmen of Ceylon with those performed by one Falstaff against certain men in buckram. If, then, the facility with which an elephant may be

killed, astonishes the dwellers in the Carnatic, although so near the scene of action, it can, perhaps, be scarcely expected that implicit credence will be yielded to the ipse dixit of an anonymous writer by the British public; but as the facts are notorious to all who have visited the island, I will, even at the risk of being considered a romancer, "a round unvarnished tale deliver" touching the feats of arms performed against the monsters of the jungles of Ceylon.

In all parts of the island elephants are met with, but in the south-eastern provinces they chiefly abound. The face of the country in that direction is less covered with jungle than any other part of Ceylon, and the elephants come forth from the recesses of the forests into the large grass plains that frequently occur. Here is the usual rendezvous of sportsmen in search of elephants. Each individual of the party, who are seldom less numerous than three or four, provides himself with at least two double-barrelled guns, the bore of which is, or ought to be, made to throw two-ounce balls. Some sporting authorities consider this large calibre unnecessary, and assert that a common musket-bullet, if well-directed, will answer every purpose. But it is generally thought unsafe to trust to any but the heaviest metal, because a heavy ball, even should it not prove fatal, has the effect of staggering and disconcerting an elephant, and of thus affording time for a second discharge.

On perceiving a herd, the party and their numerous native attendants endeavour by shouting to irritate some individual to turn and charge them. This plan is usually attended with success. Some one of the elephants, provoked by the loud and insulting cries* of his persecutors, quits his fellows, and rushes towards the pursuers, who are always on foot, and somewhat dispersed, so as to effectually support each other by a flanking fire. The sportsman allows the charging brute to approach within a dozen yards, and then, aiming at that peculiar and deep depression of the skull which is observable immediately above the point where the upper surface of the trunk meets the head, delivers his fire. If the ball takes effect at the spot thus selected, it pierces the brain, which is easily reached through the honey-combed and thin bony substance in this part of the skull, and death instantaneously ensues. But should the bullet strike wide of this singular scoop in the forehead, the second barrel is immediately discharged, and the chances are, that the elephant either falls, or blinded with the smoke, and furious with pain, sheers off without injuring his antagonist, or wildly rushes past him. In this latter case, the rest of the party pour in a converging volley, which rarely fails to bring down the enraged and now impotent monster, whose dying agonies are speedily terminated by some humane bullet.

First-rate shots, however, seldom require the co-operation of their companions in arms. In the generality of cases, the advancing monster, pierced by a single bullet, falls dead at their feet; but it occasionally happens, that the elephant raises his trunk above his head in such a manner as to render it difficult, if not impossible, to aim at any vital spot. When this occurs, there is no alternative but to fire at this uplifted trunk, and under cover of the smoke to avoid his charge. When thus foiled by his wary enemy, the elephant vents his rage on the first object, animate or inanimate, that attracts his attention. Many native servants and bystanders have in this manner fallen victims to the infuriated animal, when thus excited by European sportsmen.

The defective sight of the elephant, however, gives to his human foes an *" Da! da!" is the usual cry of the natives on these occasions. The word corresponds with John Bull's "get out!"

advantage that almost invariably secures their escape. Whether it be from this cause, or from his natural timidity, it is certain that his charge rarely, if ever, proves fatal to any individual. During the last ten years, only two Europeans have lost their lives in these encounters. One of them, Major Haddock, of H.M. 97th regiment, attempting to dodge an elephant round a small patch of jungle, ran right into the jaws of the monster that he was endeavouring to avoid, and was immediately trampled to death. The other instance occurred

more recently, and the particulars are more generally known.

Mr. Wallett, a gentleman engaged in the civil service of the island, having heard of a tusker, went out, accompanied only by a native servant, to shoot him. From the rather confused statement of this native, it appears that his first ball merely grazed the elephant, who, in no degree checked, still continued his onward career. Mr. W. again attempted to fire, but his second barrel, from some unknown cause, did not explode, and having no time to reload or escape, he remained at the mercy of his gigantic enemy, who passed his tusks through the body of the unfortunate young man, and mangled his remains in a shocking manner.

These are the only instances of the triumph of brute force over the skill of man, and it is highly probable that the latter casualty would not have occurred if another sportsman had been present. Many have, however, been within an ace of destruction. Of these hair-breadth escapes, one that befel two officers, who had pledged themselves to avenge the last-mentioned catastrophe, is particularly worthy of mention.

Lieuts. G. and S, of the 90th Light Infantry and 18th Royal Irish regi ment, who had undertaken the pious duty of revenging the death of Mr. Wallett, were no novices in elephantine warfare. The former officer, in particular, was considered one of the best elephant shots that had ever appeared in the island. It was, therefore, confidently anticipated that the murdering tusker would ere long depart this life, and that the triumph of his assailants would be equally easy and glorious. The elephant, however, having discovered his powers of destruction, had no intention of descending to the infernal regions without a struggle. The success of his last engagement had, apparently, convinced him of the fallacy of the maxim, laid down by the conqueror of modern Europe, "That, in war, moral force is to physical strength as three to one." On the approach of his new enemies, he accordingly regarded them with the utmost sangfroid, and quietly advanced towards them. The scene of this second combat was the same as that of the former. Elephants, if undisturbed, frequently remain for weeks in the vicinity of some favourite spot, which unites the two principal objects of their ambition-good forage and abundance of water. In the present case, the tusker had doubtless reconnoitred the ground with a military eye, or perhaps, not pretending to greater intelligence than the human race, imagined that the site of his conquest was, somehow or other, connected with his good star, for he made no attempt to decamp from the place during the time that intervened between Mr. W.'s death and the appearance of his avengers. Having arrived within a few paces of their object, the sportsmen fired, but without any considerable effect. One of the bullets, however, struck the right eye of the tusker, and by this fortui tous circumstance the life of one of the officers was saved. Wrakened by loss of blood, the elephant fell just as he had overtaken this gentleman, and

An elephant with full-grown tusks is thus denominated. It is believed that the animal is subject to a disease which peculiarly affects the tusks, and causes their decay. The frequent occurrence of tusks shed in the jungle would seem to support this theory, which, however, requires further confirmation.