Mahaiyawa 1,725 feet Katugastota 1,534 feet Wattegama 1,620 feet CHAPTER VI THE MÁTALÉ LINE IN the railway system the Mátalé line begins at Peradeniya Junction, Kandy being served by it. The distances of the stations given in the following itinerary are therefore reckoned from Peradeniya Junction. MAHAIYAWA (4m. 71c.).-This station as will be seen from our map is practically in Kandy itself, being only one mile. from Kandy station. KATUGASTOTA (7m. 25c.).-Katugastota (three and a half miles north of Kandy) is a picturesque and flourishing suburb of Kandy situated on the Mahaweliganga at the point where the Mátalé carriage road crosses it by an iron bridge. It is much frequented by visitors who have no time to make more distant excursions. One of the attractions consists of a considerable stud of elephants belonging to the Kandyan chief Dunuwilla whose walawwa is on the bank of the river. They frequently engage in river sports under the direction of their keepers to the amusement and delight of passengers who pay a flying visit to the mountain capital. WATTEGAMA (11m. 33c.).-Wattegama is famous for its flourishing cacao and tea estates which contribute considerable freight to the railway. The village is provided with a resthouse containing four bedrooms; and it is generally possible to hire a carriage and pair of horses at the rate of one rupee per mile. Hackeries are always available. 116 Near the station a road connects Wattegama with the Mátalé Line Panwila road. It is the station for the districts of Panwila, Hunasgiriya, Madulkele, Kelebokka and Knuckles. UKUWELLA (17m. 52c.).—Ukuwella is a small village about Ukuwella three miles to the south of Mátalé. The railway station that 1,292 feet takes its name from the village serves a large number of important estates. 1,208 feet MÁTALÉ (21m. 9c.).—Mátalé is the terminus of this branch Mátalé of the broad gauge railway. It is a place of considerable importance as the chief town of a large planting district containing nearly a thousand square miles, the most northerly in which Europeans have opened up estates; it is under an Assistant Government Agent, and is divided into three subdivisions, Mátalé South, East and North, each under a Ratemahatmaya. Upon arrival we find a comfortable rest-house fitted with The rest-house every convenience for the traveller and well provisioned. The town contains one of the largest purely native bazaars in The bazaar Ceylon, extending for almost a mile in one long street shaded by a fine avenue of rain trees, so called from the circumstance that at night the leaves fold into a kind of sac in which the moisture condenses and at sunrise when the leaves open is discharged in quite a shower. Here are to be seen the necessaries and luxuries for the supply of the native community throughout the large and important planting district of which Mátalé is the centre. All the shops are after the fashion of open stalls, and the traders, their goods and transactions, from one end of the street to the other, are open to the gaze of passers-by. The barber, the tinker, the merchant of gay-coloured cloths, and the curry-stuff vendor, are all doing a roaring trade. The mellifluous tones of Ramasamy's voice are unceasing, and the stranger will not fail to be struck with surprise at the inordinate amount of talking required by every trifling bargain. The scenery has the same characteristics as the Kandyan Scenery of district, and is especially beautiful in its wealth and variety Mátalé of tropical foliage. The hills rise to an altitude of five thousand feet, and are wooded to the summits, save where clearings have been made for the cultivation of coffee, cacao, and tea; they exhibit fine specimens of some of the most remarkable trees in Ceylon, including many ironwood trees, with crimson-tipped foliage and delicate flowers. The northern division of Mátalé reaches to Nalanda, on the main road to the famous rock temples of Dambulla; SO that the large number of visitors who now journey to Dambulla pass through the heart of this district and see the fine tea, cacao and rubber estates for which it is famous. Their total extent is about sixty thousand acres, of which Mátalé Line nearly half is cultivated. The elevation being from 1,200 to 4,000 feet, mixed planting is popular; and we find, in addition to tea and cacao, cardamoms, coconuts, areca nuts, annatto, kola, rubber, cinchona, vanilla, pepper, sapan, and sago. There are thousands of acres of rich forest which contains much ebony, satinwood, halmilla, and palu. Of climate, scenery, and products Mátalé affords great variety. It has its lowlands, with their coconut, vanilla and cacao groves, and the warm glow of tropical sunshine; hills of moderate elevation, in some parts cultivated, in others wild and forest-clad; lofty mountains, with their cool and invigorating atmosphere so inviting to Europeans; and to the north it stretches away in spurs which gradually decrease amidst a vast wilderness of forest and scrub, the haunt of the elephant, leopard, buffalo and bear. Big game is to be found in proximity to estates, and is still more plentiful a day's march to the north. Sambur, barking deer, and pig Sport afford good hunting, while the leopard, bear, and buffalo are available as victims for the sportsman's gun. Few planting districts can boast of sporting grounds at once so good and so accessible. But Mátalé has also its antiquarian interest, for here is Aluwiharė situated the ancient rock temple Aluwiharé, which claims our attention both as an extremely picturesque spot and one to which is attached considerable literary interest. We proceed for two miles past the town upon the Mátalé-Anurádhápurá road, then turn aside to the left following a jungle path till we come upon a flight of stone steps which lead to what appears to have been originally a cleft in the rock (Plate 132). On the left side runs a verandah, a modern tiled erection, which conceals the entrance to a cavern sacred as the scene of King Walagambahu's convention of monks in the first century B.C., at which were transcribed the sayings of Buddha hitherto preserved only by tradition. Prior to 1910 Mátalé was the starting point for the mail coach service to Dambulla and Trincomalee, but in July of that year a motor mail service, under the control of the railway, was inaugurated from Anurádhápurá (on the northern section of the railway) to Trincomalee, and the mail coach service from Mátalé to that place was discontinued. The traveller, therefore, who wishes to visit the rock temples Dambulla of Dambulla and the ancient rock fortress of Sigiri (a trip which is strongly recommended) should either engage a motor car at Kandy or a waggonette and pair of horses which can be hired in Mátalé. The first stage of the journey reaches Nálandá fourteen and a half miles from Mátalé. Here will be found a Nálandá Dambulla Rock temples Sigiri Kasyapa good rest-house, standing in picturesque grounds and embowered in remarkably fine tamarind trees. It is neatly furnished and comfortable, and will serve as a convenient halting place for refreshment. Upon leaving Nálandá we shall notice that habitations become less frequent and dense forest begins to take the place of cultivated lands. Dambulla is reached at the twenty-ninth mile from Mátalé. The village consists of a double row of mud huts, which do duty as native shops, and extends for about two hundred yards at the foot of a solitary mass of rock which rises from the plain to a height of about five hundred feet and is about a mile in circumference. Near the summit is a series of five caverns which in their natural state were selected as hiding places by King Walagambahu upon his being driven by the Tamils from his throne at Anurádhápurá in the first century B.C. After fifteen years of exile he regained his throne, and in gratitude for the protection they had afforded him, transformed them into temples. These caverns are entered from a ledge near the summit of a huge boulder of dark gneiss five hundred feet high and two thousand in length. The ascent is made by a steep but picturesque stairway cut in the natural rock. At the top of this rock bursts into view a landscape that apart from the interest of the temples would well repay a more toilsome climb. Ranges of mountains stretch away over the Kandyan province in the dim grey distance; the rock of Sigiri rises in solitary grandeur from the dense forest to the east; and beneath us lie the rice fields granted by the ancient kings as the endowment of the temples. At Dambulla there is a spacious and comfortable resthouse where, if we are travelling by horse conveyance, we shall find it convenient to put up for the night and equip ourselves with information about Sigiri, whither we should proceed at dawn. There is excellent accommodation for the traveller at the small rest-house quite near the rock, but it is desirable to notify the rest-house keeper beforehand of the intended visit as there are only two bedrooms, and food supplies have also to be arranged. For those travelling by motor car, it is recommended that they should go straight on the same day to Sigiri after visiting the Dambulla rock temples. The historic interest which attaches to this lonely crag centres in the story of the parricide King Kasyapa, who, after depriving his father Dhatu Sen of his throne and life, sought security by converting this rock into an impregnable fortress. Although it has been said that Sigiri was a stronghold in prehistoric times, we have no account of it earlier than the fifth century, the time of Kasyapa, the particulars of whose reign related in the Mahawansa are considered specially reliable |