slightest puncture in the world makes the victim aware when each young blood-sucker has set to work.

As to detaching them at the time, that, not constituting one of the new drill mancuvres, is totally impracticable; and often have I, on reaching the bungalow, after smarting for an hour or two under their tender mercies, rushed into

my

bedroom and removed from one hundred and fifty to two hundred of the bloated rascals from my neck, arms, and legs, which of course were streaming with blood. However, as the district surgeon consoled me with the information that they tended in a great measure to regulate the corporeal thermometer, I made up my mind, after a time, to bear all their blood-thirstiness patiently ; although when some fellow, presuming on my forbearance, gave a nip that made me start again, I own it was not without “malice prepense” that I inflicted such a kick on the particular spot of my leg on which I supposed him to be located, with the heel of the other leg, that almost sent me on my knees in the midst of some very complicated light infantry tactics.

But during all this interesting interlude, we will suppose yourself, my dear reader, to be charitable enough to be cleaning our guns, and cutting chops out of the murdered pig that hangs in the verandah, whereon we may enjoy a late dinner, and secure ourselves the moral certainty of such a nightmare as will cause us no want of inclination to jump out of bed next morning with the first peep of daylight, and to see if we cannot vary the day's “ carte" by a venison dinner, although you must excuse its being unattended by its customary confectionary satellites ; had the interior economy of the "genus cervus” been left to our simple construction, I dare say we certainly should, by a special dispensation of our own, have endowed each animal with a receptacle for currant jelly among some of its other numberless, and to all culinary intents, useless, interior appendages.

There is no such variety among any one tribe of animals in the whole brute creation, that I am aware of, as there exists among the deer of Ceylon. First and foremost, we have the noble and beautiful elk, standing fourteen hands in height, its antlers branching some six feet above its front, its dark full eye and bright silky coat, the exceeding elegance of its long and taper understandings, the fine drawn tenuity of which you would imagine that the weight of its carcase in its bounding leaps from rock to rock would snap like a reed ! To see one of these noble creatures in its own peculiarly wild and almost inaccessible lair, is one of the finest sights in nature ; and it is singular that an animal endowed with such strength and fleetness, living in such a state of savage hardihood as the elk does, and defending itself, when attacked, with such determined courage and resolution, should be the last animal in the jungle to act on the offensive, and the first to take to flight on the approach of man.

Taking it for granted that our first day's excursion over the mountain has not entirely passed away from the reader's recollection, we will once more make it the scene of action, and if between us both we do not bring down a noble elk (although we may go a hundred times over the mountain and not see one) to end his mortal career in the inglorious precincts of a stew-pan, there will be numberless wild minor commodities to fill our game-bag, and to amply repay—if not our disappointmentat least our toil.

But we will not be disappointed this time, at all events, for, although

it only once fell to my good fortune to bring down an elk, I will proceed to shoot him over again in the companionship of the reader, for his special (the reader's, not the elk's) gratification.

Summer or winter, there is little difference in the hour that it is necessary for one to sally out in the morning to enjoy the best part of the day, being that one immediately preceding sunrise ; although it is by no means an uncommon occurrence to be awakened considerably earlier by the sound of an elephant pulling and tugging away at one of the verandah posts, the denouement to which amusement there is every reason to believe that five minutes more industry will most satisfactorily (on his part), accomplish. This may be more exciting than agreeable ; for, if one remains in bed, the chances are twenty to one that the whole roof will incontinently come down upon him ; and should he summon courage to go out in the dark in hopes of a random shot, the chances are just as great that he takes the place of the before-mentioned persecuted verandah-post, or perpetrates a nocturnal elopement to the jungle in an elephantine embrace.

There is a peculiar wildness of fragrance about the jungle at the first break of day, the heavy dew of the night standing in large drops on every atom of foliage seems to distil the very essence of the herbage on which it has alighted, and as the sun evaporates the dew, the fragrance it has absorbed is let loose on the atmosphere; the lemon-grass is particularly oppressive in this way, being more like essence of verbena than any thing else I can just now remember.

The route that we take to-day differs from our previous one up the same mountain, for, being in search of elk, we must explore the more precipitous and craggy localities; therefore, diverging at once from the ghost of a path we have been following, we are immediately afterwards crawling and scrambling as best we can, up sharp and almost perpendicular rocks, our gun slung over our shoulders by a leather strap, whilst we employ both hands in holding on at every diminutive tuft of verdure that pops

its unsuspecting little existence out of the fissures of the precipice ; till

, reaching an inviting-looking apex, we probably find we have to slide down a declivity equal in length to the one we have surmounted, with another and more difficult ascent on the opposite side. These places swarm with hares (which, by-the-by, are much more like rabbits), and innumerable are the jungle fowl that get up on all sides of us ; these birds resemble in a great degree our domestic fowls, excepting that they possess a remarkably wild

gamy flavour, and their plumage is considerably handsomer ; that of the jungle cock is magnificent. I used to constitute these the chief article of my larder, and the way I always managed to secure a fowl-curry when I wanted it, was in this wise--"foul" play, I dare say you will call it, reader !) I had a perfect trump of a little bantam-cock that I used to tether about ten yards from the skirt of the jungle, about dusk in the evening, and ensconcing myself in the boughs of some sturdy tree about twenty yards distant, I waited patiently the result. The decoy would forthwith set up a most determined bullabaloo, at which the hens, overcoming their maiden modesty, would sally forth to offer their services; whilst the cocks, than whom a more pugnacious race never existed, had only to hear the crowing of one of their brethren, than they would, with brotherly love, immediately corne to a pitched battle with him. Of this part of the fun, I disappointed them, however,

un

by taking the fighting part of the business on myself ; for, as soon as they were well clear of the jungle, I sent a load of shot at them, and rarely ever missed so inviting an object. In this manner I have shot upwards of twenty jungle-fowl of an evening, or by moonlight, and I really believe the decoy at last understood and enjoyed the sport as much as myself, except when he came in now and then for a stray pellet of shot in a tender part. To describe

every minutiæ of the perilous ascents and descents over the mountain after elk, however exciting they may be in reality, when we are one moment swinging our bodies over ghastly-looking bottomless pits, scraping the bark off our shins, and carrying away all the “behind” of our hint-at'em-ables,” in undertaking a gradual descent on the broad-guage principle, by bringing the broadest portion of our entity to bear on the greatest possible surface of rock, is a very tame piece of work when merely transcribed on paper to be read and "“ pooh-ed” and “pshaw-ed" by some jolly fat old gentleman in a morocco arm-chair, as void of sympathy (the occupant, not the chair) and compassion for our perils, as he is of contempt for our fool-hardiness, or of delight at the prospect of our broken collar-bone. However, it happened one fine day, after I had spent about half-a-dozen hours in scrambling over the hardest rocks that I ever came in contact with in my life, that on reaching the summit of my ambition, I was met face to face by the most magnificent elk I had ever encountered, standing on the same ridge of rock as myself—so sudden and so electrifying was his noble appearance, that we stood gazing in mute astonishment at one another for a very considerable time ; how long, it is impossible to say. Every idea of having a gun in my possession, and of the “mission” on which I was engaged, had oozed out of my composition, and which was the most astonished of the two is not a matter that can ever be very satisfactorily proved, but the elk was the first to regain his reasoning faculties. Throwing up his head into the air, he gave a half-neigh, half-scream, like that of a frightened horse, which also had a revivifying effect on myself in making me upship the double-barrelled rifle, still slung behind me, and take advantage of the instant left to commence the fight.

In a second he had made a bound to an adjoining ledge of the precipice, to gain which, he must, at the very least, have cleared ten yards of space, when without taking aim, or even having time to bring the gun to the shoulder, I pulled the trigger, determined not to let him off without a random shot, and in this instance it was as efficacious as a more deliberate one would have been, for the ball striking him in the back bone, I could see his spring was broken before he reached the ridge he sprang for. His fore legs alone reached the rock, and his hind legs would even then have found a leverage below to have carried him on had not his hind quarters become perfectly powerless. Clinging on by his two fore hoofs, he struggled for upwards of a minute with most desperate energy, till, slowly and by degrees, the little hold he had got gradually became less and less, till he had receded to the very edge of the rock, there hanging on for a moment in agony, he lifted up his head as if in one imploring look for help from heaven, and nature relinquishing the struggle, the next moment saw him bounding from crag to crag into the ravine below, his whole frame appearing at each bound to crash into a pulp, or a million fragments !

But he was gone! irredeemably lost to me and my heirs for ever! What would not I have given for his antlers, and for his skin! If ever I felt inclined to the melting mood (except the perspiring one) it was at that identical moment. To have squatted down then and there, and, digging my knuckles into the corner of my eyes, to have given way from sheer vexation and rage to the influence that is said to possess such magic effect on the overwrought feelings of the softer sex on far more trivial occasions, would indeed have been a luxury; but I did not do so-at least, if I remember rightly, I did something much more irreligious, if I did not, Echo did it for me, and another more distant Echo, like a kindhearted, sympathising fellow, immediately manifested that he entirely coincided with my sentiments, and the mode of expressing them.

But there is no peace for the wicked! I had scarcely discovered the loss of the elk than I had a very strong idea of the loss of myself ; not having the remotest idea of the way I had ascended, nor of north, south, east, or west; in short, about as small a notion at that particular moment of the cardinal points as I had of the cardinal virtues. “Always accommodating myself to existing circumstances, I at once commenced feeling for the softest rock on which I might pass the night, when the recollection of what a feather bed in such a predicament the elk's carcase would have formed, made my loss doubly mortifying ; in the next place, philosophically lighting a cigar, the clouds of discontent began gradually to disperse (much against my own inclination, however), until getting as fleecy as the fumes that befriended them, they took advantage of an unguarded moment to amalgamate, and to vanish (like all ghosts do), in a wreath of blue smoke.

Finding that three hours of daylight yet remained, I thought the best plan would be to gain the summit of the mountain, and then return on the next morning by the first day's route ; the first part of the work was at last accomplished, and having dedicated an hour to cutting all the grass I could find on the place to do duty for a mattrass on the top of a rock, I left the full moon standing sentry directly above me, and was soon transported to the paternal fireside at home in the midst of all I loved and left in Fatherland.

The following morning's work was easy.-At ten A.M. I had reached the bungalow at the base, loaded with a plentiful supply of feathered game, and never shall I forget the delight I experienced when in strolling over the space before what was once a door, now covered with jessamine and briars promiscuously, I pounced upon half a dozen over-grown beds of magnificent ripe strawberries !

(But on my hands and knees, reader, let me veil myself from your sight for an hour.)

The fact of the matter was, that the bungalow in question had been built as a country residence some years before by a gallant commandant of the district, who, taking advantage of the mildness of the climate, had laid out the grounds in as English a fashion as was possible ; but contending in vain against his forest neighbours, he at last relinquished gardens, house, and all, in despair. However, when the strawberries became invisible from being concealed by a complete covering of brambles and underwood, there was a chance of their escaping the ravenous maw of a pig, and the coveting propensities of a baboon; and thus, after many a long

year's waste of sweetness, they once more returned, like blushing prodigals, to the uses ordained to them at their first début into existence.

ADRIEN ROUX;

OR,

THE ADVENTURES OF A COURIER.

BY DUDLEY COSTELLO, ESQ.

CHAP. XXIII.

CONCLUSION OF LADY MALPAS'S STORY.

“ LORD MALPAS welcomed his friend with great empressement, and the reception which he met with from me was, if not warm, at least courteous. On the part of Monsieur d'Alibert, there seemed to be an earnest desire to establish himself on the best footing, and in the manifest solicitude which he displayed on all the subjects that interested me, he appeared to be actuated by no motive that could give cause for alarm. Besides, I had now, as I thought, the protection of a husband to rely on ; and, easy as the morality of Lord Malpas might be in the general view which he took of the obligations of society, and lightly as he treated the characters of other men's

wives, I could not for an instant imagine that he would fail in his respect to mine, or forget what was due to himself. The licence of speech in which he indulged, I looked upon only as the attribute of a man whose course of life had been one of unrestrained pleasure; I considered it a mere surface blemish, nor entertained an idea that all beneath was corrupt.

“ But it was not long after the arrival of Monsieur d'Alibert that I had convincing assurance of such being the fact.

“ The first indication I received that Lord Malpas was not likely to mar his happiness by the tortures of jealousy, was shown me, not only in the liberty granted to my personal movements, but in the careless way

in which he divested himself of his marital authority.

“I see no reason,' he was in the habit of saying, why people in married life should tie themselves down by restraints which, after all, are only conventional. If the system were universal—if we found the same laws in operation all over the world without regard to creed or climate, or if we could convince ourselves that prejudice, not reason, were not the groundwork upon

which the social relations are based in our own happy country, and in a few others, we might then naturally and cheerfully subscribe to the restrictive plan. But I, who have always been a cosmopolite, and have looked upon the broadest aspect of society, find nothing of this in those parts of the world where the enjoyments of life are to be had on the easiest terms, and where, consequently, nature is worshipped in the purest form. In this country- Italy--for example, set aside the distractions of politics, with which no wise man ought to trouble himself, and what do you see ? A social system, as regards the domestic economy, which makes every one happy. The strait-laced purists of the north object to its freedom, but are the consequences worse here than among themselves ? Depend upon it, the scandals caused by our suits in the ecclesiastical