o'clock Tom and I said 'good-bye' to the rest of the party,
and went by train to Gampola, to take the coach to Neuera-ellia, where
we were to stay with an old friend. We went only a dozen miles in the
train, and then were turned out into what is called a coach, but is
really a very small rough wagonnette, capable of holding six people
with tolerable comfort, but into which seven, eight, and even nine
were crammed. By the time the vehicle was fully laden, we found there
was positively no room for even the one box into which Tom's things
and my own had all been packed; so we had to take out indispensable
necessaries, and tie them up in a bundle like true sailors out for a
holiday, leaving our box behind, in charge of the station-master,
until our return. The first part of the drive was not very
interesting, the road passing only through paddy-fields and endless
tea and coffee plantations. We reached Pusillawa about two o'clock,
where we found a rough and ready sort of breakfast awaiting us. Thence
we had a steep climb through some of the finest coffee estates in
Ceylon, belonging to the Rothschilds, until we reached Rangbodde. Here
there was another delay of half an hour; but although we were anxious
to get on, to arrive in time for dinner, it was impossible to regret
stopping amidst this lovely scenery. The house which serves as a
resting-place is a wretched affair, but the view from the verandah in
front is superb. A large river falls headlong over the steep wall of
rock, forming three splendid waterfalls, which, uniting and rushing
under a fine one-arched bridge, complete this scene of beauty and
grandeur.

We were due at Neuera-ellia at six, but we had only one pair of horses
to drag our heavy load up the steep mountain road, and the poor
creatures jibbed, kicked over the traces, broke them three times, and
more than once were so near going over the edge of the precipice that
I jumped out, and the other passengers, all gentlemen, walked the
whole of that stage. The next was no better, the fresh pair of horses
jibbing and kicking worse than ever. At last one kicked himself free
of all the harness, and fell on his back in a deep ditch. If it had
not been so tiresome, it really would have been very laughable,
especially as everybody was more or less afraid of the poor horse's
heels, and did not in the least know how to extricate him.

In this dilemma our hunting experiences came in usefully, for with the
aid of a trac