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historic value, and of singular interest from the strange and unexpected position in which it is found. On it, sculptured in bold relief, are two figures, about half the size of life. They represent the closing event of a mortal combat between a Portuguese, armed cap-à-pie, and a Sinhalese warrior. Conquered in the encounter, the latter has been stricken down; his sword and shield are cast despairingly aside; and his antagonist, trampling under foot his prostrate form, is now with one final blow about to deprive him of his life. The inscription below, partly in Roman, and partly in Sinhalese characters, is so much effaced as to be only very partially readable; some portions of the figures are also damaged, seemingly from the action of the weather upon the stone. The whole is, however, most spiritedly executed, and enough of the inscription remains to shew that the name of the Portuguese soldier was Gomez. The Sinhalese say, the prostrate warrior was their champion, one Kuruwița Bandára, a dreaded enemy of the Portuguese, whose soldiers he had repeatedly cut off, and that some fifty had fallen by his hand ere he himself was slain. The sculpture was no doubt executed in Europe by royal or vice-regal command, and sent hither to do honor to the soldier whose valorous deed it commemorated.

At the north and south sides of the outer courtyard are raised platforms, with high canopies, which are profusely decorated during the pilgrim season. The backgrounds are then filled with paintings of the gods, and in front of these, gazed at by admiring multitudes, the dancing girls

in the service of the temple, perform their parts in the annual festival in honor of Saman. On such an occasion one can realize the description given by Srí Ráhula of similar scenes in honor of Vibhíshana at the temple at Kelani, four centuries and a half

ago.

Yet linger for awhile and note the dancing fair

Whose charming, handsome ears, bright shining gold plates bear;
Whose eyes, long, lustrous, dark, wash'd with collyrium, seem
With deeper, darker lustre, beneath their lids to gleam;
Whose tresses, twined with flowers their beauty to enhance,

And fragrant odours flinging, beholders' hearts entrance.
Upon their dancing stages, in gala garb array'd,

Each vestment strew'd with jewels, gems dazzlingly display'd,
At every agile motion and lissom action light

They scintillate in splendour, seem lambent lamp-flames bright:
Aloft, alow, their arms, tossing, waving in the dance
And around them casting many a swift-sped sidelong glance,
Their narubaras'* end-falls they from their broad hips fling,

The full-folds op'ning, closing, at each elastic spring,

While bells from zones gem-spangled their slender waists girt round
In unison chime sweetly, as o'er the scarce touch'd ground
They clink their golden anklets and flash their lotus feet
And step in time responsive to music's measured beat.f

A flight of fifty steps leads up from the river to a path in the outer temple grounds; and on the sides of the quadrangles,

* The narubara is a graceful kind of waist cloth, the wide end of which, about a foot in length, falls from the girdle over the hips in a number of thickly gathered folds or plaits.

Sela-lihini Sandése.

Bó, Temple,* and other trees spread their umbrageous branches over the enclosing walls. Kapurálas and temple officers and tenants perform a daily service within the walle, with the harshest of pipings and the noisiest beatings of tama-tams. A dozen or more elephants are attached to the place, their chief duty being to take a leading part in the annual processions. The temporalities are large, and the revenue is collected, and all the affairs of the temple regulated by the Kandian Chief Iddamalgoda Abayakón Atapattu Mudiyanse, himself a Buddhist, but the Basnayaka Nilamé, or lay incumbent of the great Hindu Déwálé, which, with a kind of mutual toleration, Buddhists and Hindus alike agree to consider one of their most notable places of holy resort.†

* The Ficus religiosa, and the Michelia Champaca.

Saman is generally believed to be an incarnation of Vishnû, (see ante, p. 13). With reference to this deity I am indebted for the following note, to the learned Tamil Advocate, Mr. C. BRITO, "During the domination of the Tamils, the elastic faith of the Sinhalese had to be extended so as to include a large number of the gods of the rulers. And every vihára had to receive a number of images of these uncouth gods. But they were not received indiscriminately. And if I do not greatly err, Vishnu was the only god who was received without reluctance. His shrine is the Déwálé we meet with everywhere attached to Buddhist temples." The adoration of Vishnû under the forms of Rama and Lakshamana, or Saman, was the old traditionary religion of the Sinhalese before the Vijayan invasion. Buddhists moreover believe that this god is the tutelary divinity of the island; that he is a candidate for Buddhahood, and will, in some future kalpa, be manifested as a Buddha; hence the readiness with which they allowed his worship at the time referred to. But at the same time many Hindus maintain that Buddha himself was only an avatár or incarnation of Vishnû.

Adam's Peak.

"Amidst the grove that crowns yon tufted hill
Which, were it not for many a mountain nigh
Rising in lofty ranks, and loftier still,
Might well itself be deemed of dignity,
The convent's white walls glisten fair on high:
Here dwells the caloyer, nor rude is he

Nor niggard of his cheer; the passer by

Is welcome still; nor heedless will he flee

From hence, if he delight kind Nature's sheen to see."

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MALE. ELLAPITA TOTUPOLA, GURULUWAN, KALU, AND

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FERRY.-MASKELIYA GANGA.- - BRIDGE AND FORD. ALI

HANTENNE. "ESTUARY OF REEDS."

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BATAPOLA.

ROCK

CAVE. MAPANAN-ELLA WATERFALL. -PALA'BADDALA.

THE city of Ratnapura, like the "lang toun o' Kirkaldy,” consists principally of clustering rows of houses on either side of the main road. On the left of the road, approaching from Awissawela, picturesquely situated in an arborescent dell, is the residence of the Assistant Government Agent of

the District, near to which is the small episcopal place of worship, called by courtesy, the church.

On the right of the road is the gaol; beyond which, receding towards the bank of the river, are the resthouse and the Government Hospital. These are both newly erected, commodious buildings; and at the back of the former, fringing the high river-bank, is a luxuriant grove of nutmeg trees. Within the walls of the small fort, surmounting a rocky hillock, about 114 feet above the level of the sea, are the Government Kachchéri, in which a meteorological observatory has lately been established, the District Court, and other official buildings. This fort was formerly a military station; but the troops have been withdrawn; and the Police, who have a station and barracks further on, now guard the Kachchéri, and discharge the duties formerly entrusted to soldiers. The situation of the city is considered healthy; there is an excellent bazaar; and a Roman Catholic chapel in a very central position. In the suburbs there are many pleasantly detached bungalows, the residences of the Judge, the lawyers, and other leading inhabitants. An ancient mosque, indicates that the faith of Islam is no very recent profession amongst a section of the community, the majority of whom it may be presumed, from the neighbouring viháras, and the great Saman Déwálé, are Buddhists and Hindus. Strings of bullock bandies continually pass up and down the road; either on their way to planting districts Badulla-wards, or with coffee to Colombo; or to and from the stores of an enterprising British Colonist, the depôt for the traffic on the river, the southward rival of

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