turned out to be the case; we were soon relieved from
the burning sun by the shade of as splendid a forest as I have ever
seen. A few hundred yards from the spot at which we had entered, Yalle
river rolled along in a clear stream. In the wet season this is a rapid
torrent of about 150 yards in width, but at this time the bed of the
river was dry, with the exception of a stream of about thirty paces
broad, which ran directly beneath the bank we were descending.

An unexpected scene now presented itself. The wide bed of the river
was shaded on either side by groves of immense trees, whose branches
stretched far over the channel; and not only beneath their shade, but
in every direction, tents formed of talipot leaves were pitched, and
a thousand men, women, and children lay grouped together; some were
bathing in the river, some were sitting round their fires cooking a
scanty meal, others lay asleep upon the sand, but all appeared to be
congregated together for one purpose; and so various were the castes
and costumes that every nation of the East seemed to have sent a
representative. This was the season for the annual offerings to the
Kattregam god, to whose temple these pilgrims were flocking, and they
had made the dry bed of Valle river their temporary halting-place. A few
days after, no less than 18,000 pilgrims congregated at Kattregam.

I was at this time shooting with my friend, Mr. H. Walters, then of the
15th Regiment. We waded up the bed of the river for about a mile, and
then pitched the tent under some fine trees in the open forest. Several
wild buffaloes were drinking in the river within a short distance of
us; but thinking this a likely spot for elephants, we determined not to
disturb the neighbourhood by firing a shot until we had first explored
the country. After a walk of a couple of hours through fine open forest
and small bushy plains, we came to the conclusion that there were very
few elephants in the country, and we devoted ourselves to other game.

After a day or two spent in killing deer, a few wild buffaloes, and only
one elephant, I felt convinced that we should never find the latter, in
the dry state of the country, unless by watching at some tank at night.
We therefore moved our encampment inland about twenty-five miles from
Yalle. Here there is a large tank, which I concluded would be the resort
of elephants.

A long day's journey through a burning sun brought us to Sitrawelle.
This is a small