income is under two thousand. The system of
"capping," i.e. the huntsman's touting for a
cap, has fallen into disuse, and would he winked
at but by very few masters: certainly no
huntsman would be permitted to "cap" a
stranger joining the meet, save in such places
as Brighton, where, the meet is attended by
very many and where a "half-crown
cap" is  the regular thing.

Such are some few particulars of the cost of
the noblest of British field-sports, a pastime
which lasts from youth to age, and, if we may
credit the oft-quoted anecdote, becomes the
ruling passion strong in death, for it is related
that on its being broken to two sporting squires,
who were at sea, that the vessel must
inevitably founder, one of them turned to the
other, and said with a sigh, "Ah, Bob! no more;
Uckenby Whin!" the name of a never-failing
cover.

MORE TRIFLES FROM CEYLON.

IT is the last watch of the night, and Venus
and the least scrap of a moon are still shining
in the east as I drive out of my gate in an
"American waggon," and start on a six days'
tour through the district. Almost every one in
Ceylon affecis what is called here an American
waggon, although Americans proper, that is,
men from the States, ignore the vehicle, and say
that they never saw anything like it in their
own country. I believe Canada is where it was
first "riz."

As I go on, the natives are beginning to bestir
themselves: the " coffee and hopper" woman is
washing her cups on the verandah of her hut,
thatched with the leaves of the cocoa-nut palm.
Presently she will take some rice-flour, which was
the previous night soaked in cocoa-nut water and
a little toddy to cause fermentation. Then she
will add the milk of the cocoa-nut, for that useful
and wonderful fruit, like the cream-jugs on
our tables, contains a supply not only of milk,
but also of water, with this advantage on the
side of the nut, that the two are unmixed, and
are both clean. For that, as I look at it, is the
hardship; not that there is water in our milk,
but that it should also be dirty water, so that
insult is added to injury. After our dusky
friend lhas completed the arrangements aforesaid,
and added a little salt to the mess, she
will, with a spoon made of the shell of the cocoa-
nut, pour some of it into a chatty or earthenware
vessel, which is being heated over a fire;
in a few minutes a commotion takes place
within the chatty, the shapeless mass assumes
a form; it has not only " a local habitation,"
but also "a name"—that name is "hopper"—
and, if you dip the delicious morsel, while hot
and succulent, into your coffee, you will find
that it is anything but an "airy nothing," but,
on the contrary, it will stick to your ribs for
many a mile on your morning's march. Green
be the sod upon the grave of the man who first
composed a curry, and of the woman who
invented the "hopper"—which last word is a
villanous corruption of the Singhalese "aappe."
And now the imbibers in prospective of coffee
and the masticators in futuro of hoppers, begin
to pursue their way, looking in the early gloaming,
wrapped in their while cloths, like so many
resuscitated corpses. When that plucky old
dame, Madame Pfeiffer,  visited Ceylon, and
drove through the outskirts of Colombo one
morning very early in the Kandy mail-coach,
she saw a number of sleepers in white lying
about the verandahs, and took it into her head,
or was hoaxed into believing, that these were
the dead bodies of persons who in this deadly
climate had died within the houses during the
night, and who had been placed without for
removal and burial before the sun was up! So
much for the impressions of a rapid voyage,
given either by Pfeiffer, Drummer, or any other
circumferentor of the world. He who runs may
read, but he should not write.

This is the hot season of the year, but by a
merciful provision the nights are cool, and at
this hour the breeze is refreshing. After a few
miles' drive I reach a broken bridge, where my
horse is waiting for me, and mount.

And now the morn in russet mantle clad,
Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill.

Soon after, the rude sun, with his red face,
takes a peep over the shoulders of the bashful
morn. Then up come his whole head and
shoulders, next his body, and the eastern day
has fairly begun.

Our way lies through the late reaped
ricefields. The cattle are now pasturing amongst
the stubble, closely attended by the white storks,
which relieve them of the ticks and other insects.
There is a good deal of mutual accommodation
of this kind in Ceylon. It may be seen
constantly at noonday in the verandah of the
native's hut, where, stretched at full length, with
dishevelled locks, he reposes his head upon the
lap of his tender spouse, while she, kind soul,
does the office of the white stork for him. The
same benevolent act is sometimes performed by
a mother on her infants; it is one of endearment,
corresponding to our stroking a child's
head. The Buddhist priest—forbidden to
take life of any kind, how minute soever,
who strains the very water he drinks lest
there be any living creature in it, ignorant
of the existence of animalculæ invisible to the
eye—how is he to do? He gets over the difficulty
by shaving his head, face, and eyebrows,
and so steals a march on his enemies. The crows
are of great assistance to cows and sheep, and
I saw one very earnestly recommending himself
to a pig, on whose back he was making strenuous
efforts to maintain his seat, but piggy would not
be thus assisted on any terms whatsoever. He
started off at full gallop, protesting, by loud
and angry squeaks, against being ridden. The
crow kept his seat gallantly for some time, but
found the paces of a pig rather uncomfortable,
so he got off, quoting the following lines from
Spenser: