But our interpreter and servants were not so well screened from the cold as we were, and it was not long before they sought out and obtained permission for us to occupy a two-roomed house on the southeastern slope of the mountain, to which we descended by some rough steps, which terminate the road to the Peak from the Kandian Districts-a route so comparatively easy, that a man may almost ride to the door of the building we now took possession of.* Here we found a Police Constable, and a Priest; the latter attached to the temple, and the former placed on duty to represent the majesty of the law, and to protect the offerings made to the Srí-páda from the depredations of a litigant party, who claim them on behalf of a former chief priest. This priest it seems had been deposed from office, and another elected in his stead; but the deposed, although he had vacated the office and allowed his successor to take possession, had been per suaded to dispute the validity of his deposal; and in the

* It was up this road that, in 1814, Molligoddé, the newly appointed first Adikar and Disáwa of Sabaragamuwa, entered the Province, when Eheylapola his predecessor, rebelled against the last king of Kandy. Upon receiving the order to suppress the rebellion, Dr. DAVY says "Molligoddé obeyed with alacrity; he entered Saffragam over the loftiest point of the island, and the most difficult pass-the summit of Adam's Peak. The hearts of the natives failed them on his approach; and he met with but little opposition. Eheylapola, with some of his adherents, fled to Colombo, and Molligeddé returned to Kandy with a crowd of prisoners, forty-seven of whom were impaled."-Account of the Interior of Ceylon, p. 321.

previous season, he, or his supporters, had made a foray upon the temple, and succeeded in carrying away the offerings, which are, in the aggregate, of considerable value. To prevent a similar procedure this season, the law had been appealed to, and by order of the District Judge, the value of all the offerings must be paid into Court, until the right to them of one or other of the claimants has been legally decided.*

Notwithstanding all our wraps and rugs, the cold was so intense that we shivered again, and our teeth rattled together like castanets: so that we joy fully welcomed the appearance of a fire, and watched with an unwonted interest the preparations made for boiling a caldron of rice conjee. Priest, policeman, pilgrims, interpreter, coolies, and all connected with our party, crowded into the small rooms, whose bare mud walls and low roof reminded one of an Irish cabin; a resemblance heightened in its effect by the crooning way in which, with coat collars turned up about our ears, and rugs drawn over our heads, we huddled together over the difficult-to-be-kindled and slow-burning embers, and stoically endured the eye-smarting, sneeze-exciting, larynx-irritating, cough causing smoke they emitted, for the sake of the warmth which gradually began to temper the biting keenness of the surrounding atmosphere.

*

Through the obliging courtesy of the learned Advocate of the Supreme Court, Mr. C. L. Ferdinands, one of the leading Counsel engaged in the case, I am enabled to give, in Appendix J, some interesting documents relating to the mode of appointment, and succession to the office of Chief-priest of the Peak.

The water for the cooking was brought from the well(some say spring, but I doubt the possibility of there being a spring at such an elevated point far above all immediate surrounding mountain tops)-a little distance northwest of, and about thirty feet below the terrace wall. This water is said to possess many and peculiar properties, and is held in as much repute by pilgrims as is the precious water from the holy well Zem-zem at Mecca by every hadji amongst the faithful and turbaned Islamites. In due course the conjee was ready and handed round: and what with it, and the fires, about which we sat and stood, and the smoke which filled the rooms, we at last regained something like our natural warmth, and began to feel ourselves again.

We had just resolved upon lying down, as best we might, for a sleep, when a messenger came to say that the house was wanted for the accommodation of the family of the Ratémahatmayá of Kuruwití Kóralé, who had just made the ascent; and out we had to turn, which we did willingly enough, for ladies, young and old, were now the parties to be accommodated. This Ratémahatmayá, an able, active and intelligent Kandian Chief, was educated at the Colombo Academy, and is believed to be a Christian, although his family are Buddhists; his presence therefore appeared more that of the natural protector of his family, than as a co-worshipper with them.* He offered to obtain for our use the

* An appu once told his master, apologetically, that he went on pilgrimage to the Kelani vihára and dágoba, "to please the womans."

priests' house on the Peak, but this we would not consent to. Returning therefore once more to the terrace, we stationed ourselves near the entrance at the southern angle, and watched the companies of pilgrims as they came up.

The ascent from the bambu shed at the Ehela-kanuwa is usually made without a pause; the peril appearing so great that any check, allowing a glance around or beneath, might bring on giddiness and result in fatal falls.* Many, if not most of the women were completely worn out with fatigue by the time they had attained this point; they had therefore to be assisted up the acclivity by their male companions, who hauled them on to the terrace, and bore them, faint and utterly exhausted, to the nearest shrine, where they bent them down and forced them to make the requisite prostrations, and then carried them, all senseless as they weresome in death-like swoons--to be recovered by the care and

* Under ordinary circumstances, weather permitting, any one with a cool head and steady nerves, may go up and down these cliffs with perfect safety. But accidents do sometimes occur, though happily but rarely. Major Forbes mentions, that in 1815, “several natives were blown over the precipice, and yet continued clinging to one of the chains during a heavy gust of wind; but in such a situation, no assistance could be rendered, and they all perished." And Dr. Davy was informed, that only a fortnight before his visit to the Peak, in April 1817, two natives looking down the precipice, " became giddy, and frightened, fell, and were dashed to pieces." In April, 1869, three natives were said to be blown down the precipice by the force of a fierce storm that then came on ; and it was alleged, that at the same time several others perished from fatigue, and the intensity of the cold to which they were exposed.

attention of their friends, wherever they could find a vacant space to go to.

The heavens above us were clear, the stars were shining bright, and the glorious full-orbed moon was scarcely past the zenith. From the Peak, ablaze with light, to the Heramitipána station, similarly lighted up, the whole of the pilgrims' path was filled as it were with a living chain of fire, connecting the two points together, and formed by the torches of the multitudes going to and fro. On our right, to the north, above, and beyond Heramitipána, towered Unudiya, the gigantic rocky Alp that crowns the Kunudiyaparvaté; to our left, and almost rivalling in height the mountain just mentioned, was the Béna Samanala. These, with the Peak on which we stood, sublimest of them all, rose sharp and distinct, from two to three thousand feet above the clouds, which like an immense plain of snow, with irregular rifts blown into fantastic shapes along the level, hid all below from view. The mother-of-pearl tint of the apparent plain, the moon-lighted tops of the fleecy rifts, the darkened shade of their caverned sides, and the shadows they threw upon the motionless mantle of cloud and mist thus suspended in mid-air, and spread westwards to an illimitable distance, was a spectacle that once seen can never be forgotten, and well illustrated the inspired assertion of the Royal Psalmist, that "the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth his handywork."

The wonderful beauty of this scenery of the skies did not however prevent us from noticing what was going on around.