of the European and Native powers there joining each other on the principal route that led direct to the interior from Colombo.* On the top of a low but steep hill, a picturesque cantonment was formed by the British, of which the ramparts and surrounding ditch yet remain.† This is now the site of the house occupied by the resident Magistrate. Being almost isolated, extensive panoramic views of the surrounding mountain ranges are here obtained. The Court-house is at the foot of the hill near the Sítáwaka ferry. The jurisdiction of the Court extends over a considerable area of country; and a few lawyers, the leader of whom is a Sinhalese gentleman, ever on hospitable thoughts intent, seem

In his fifth volume, p. 352, VALENTYN mentions the escape of two Englishmen, after a captivity of twenty-two years, from the capital of Kandy to the Dutch fortress of Sítáwaca.”—PHILALETHES, p. 10.

In the Kandyan Campaign of 1803, the natives obtained possession of the place, and commenced building some rude fortifications; but they were speedily dislodged by a military party under command of Captain Hankey.

In the year 1851 the writer, while staying a few days at this house with the then resident Magistrate, Mr. N. Robertson, was witness to what seemed to him and others at the time an extraordinary phenomenon. About 5 P. M., there commenced to issue out of the wall, near the ceiling, from a hole not more than a quarter of an inch in diameter, countless myriads of flying ants; in a very short time they so completely filled the house that every one was compelled to leave it. A dozen large bonfires were lighted round the building; and attracted by the blaze, the ants poured into these in dense clouds for the space of two hours.

to have a fair amount of practice provided them by a people whose love of litigation is an all-absorbing passion. A walk of about 250 yards in the rear of the resthouse leads to a romantic glen, down which runs and leaps a brawling rivulet. Here is what is called by the natives Sítá's bath, and an adjacent cave, her dressing room; the popular belief being, that while the disconsolate wife of the hero of the Rámayana was confined in a neighbouring grove by Ráwana, she was permitted, as often as she desired, to come here with her attendants to bathe. It is also, we were informed, called Bisówala, or the Queens' bath, the King's consorts using it as a bathing place when the Court resided at Sítáwaka.

In the olden days Awissawela formed a portion or suburb of the adjoining city, Sítáwaka, Sítá's city on the winding stream-so named after Sítá, and the river on the banks of which it stood; the spot being rendered famous, according to Hindu traditions, because it was there that Indrajit the son of Ráwana, caused a magic figure of Sítá to be beheaded, in

When the flight was over, the servants collected from the rooms basket after basket full of ants' wings, as well as bodies, the former appearing to serve but the one purpose of aiding the insects to escape from the earth, since they drop from their bodies immediately after. It was not until nearly 8 o'clock, that the house was again habitable. The birds from the adjacent forests left their roosting places, and came in flocks to feed upon the ants that thus made their appearance. Their incredible numbers made it evident that the hill was an immense breeding place, of which they had held undisturbed possession for a length of time.

the hope that Ráma, who was waging a destructive war with Rawana for the recovery of his consort, would in the belief of her death be induced to return to India.

"Sítávaca was the ancient residence of kings or rájas. The kings of Sítávaca were rulers of all the low lands, and were of such paramount importance, that the kings and chiefs of the hill and wood country were their tributaries.* The kings of Sítávaca boasted that they were of nobler blood and finer descent than those of the high lands. They asserted themselves to be genuine descendants from the legitimate stock of a Prince of Tanassery, and a daughter of the royal race of Madura, whilst the Kandians kings were only bastards and of less honourable extraction, But it is certain, that when the king of Sítávaca was conquered by the kings of Kandy and U'va, they found it requisite to pay so much deference to the people, in favour of the high claims of the extinguished dynasty, as to undergo the

*"In more early periods, when the island was under the domination of no less than sixteen kings, the one who reigned at Sítáwaka was acknowledged as supreme, on account of his descent from the legitimate stock of a prince of Tanassery, in token of which he was presented every year with a gold arm ring, on which were engraved sixteen heads; and a meeting of the kings was also held at the capital to celebrate a great festival which lasted sixteen days corresponding with their numbers. In after times, however, this mark of homage on the part of the other kings fell by degrees into disuse, and a spirit of independence began to prevail among them, though they made no objection to the king of Sítáwaka bearing the nominal title of emperor."-S, C. CHITTY'S Ceylon Gazetteer.

ceremony of inauguration in the ancient palace of Sítávaca. This practice was still observed on the arrival of the Portuguese. Valentyn mentions, p. 229, that the palace at Sítávaca had been repaired by the Dutch, and that the gates, walls and architectural embellishments attested its original magnificence; though he adds, it was not to be compared with the ruins of the buildings left by Malabar sovereigns."*

From its proximity to the outposts of the Portuguese and Dutch, the city underwent a variety of vicissitudes; it was made a royal residence by Máya Dunnai, about 1534, and became the capital of the kingdom, under his warlike son, in 1581; but after its abandonment as the seat of government by Wimala Dharma A. D. 1592, it rapidly fell into decay; the inhabitants indeed seem to have forsaken it for the preferable situation of Awissawela. Its ruins are now overgrown with jungle, but can still be traced, as well as the foundation and walls of a Portuguese fort, on a projecting tongue of land formed by the confluence with the Sítáwaka-ganga of a small stream, in the bed of which rubies, sapphires, and other gems have been found. This fort was once a place of some strength, and is described by Dr. Davy, who explored the place in 1817, and visited it on two subsequent occasions in 1819.†

Situated on a commanding eminence on the right bank of the river, opposite the site of the Portuguese fort, are the

* PHILALETHES, n. p. 146.

† DAVY's Account of the Interior of Ceylon, pages 352-354.

very interesting ruins of the Beréndi-kówila,* a temple built, or commenced to be built, by the "lion-king," Rája Sinha I., so named by his father, the king Máya Dunnai, but known and execrated in Buddhist annals as "the Apostate Rajah." This king, renowned as a warrior from the time he was eleven years old, to the day of his death, when he had attained the age of 120 years, resolved upon the building of this temple, to be dedicated to the worship of Káli, as an atonement for some atrocious acts of cruelty committed in the course of his life. The approach of death seems to have terrified him. "Oppressed by the recollection of his monstrous barbarities, he sent for some of the leading Buddhist priests to attend him, and when they had come into his presence, he interrogated them as to the hope of pardon for his sins. The priests, whether emboldened by the sight of the sunken form of their aged persecutor, or

*

Berendi is the Sinhalese form of the Hindu term Bránḍi. The derivation of the term is doubtful; probably it is a corrupt form of one of the names of the goddess Káli, the consort of Siva; and assuming, with FORBES, the tradition to be correct which states that this kówila or temple was erected by Rája Sinha on the advice of the Aandiyás, who were worshippers of Sivá, the attributes of Brándi, or Káli, were such as would peculiarly attract and suit the constitutional temperament of the king. He would believe that by her aid he could destroy his enemies, since in sacrificing to her "An enemy may be immolated by proxy, substituting a buffalo or goat, and calling the victim by the name of the enemy through the whole ceremony, thereby infusing by holy texts, the soul of the enemy into the body of the victim: which will, when