Adam's Peak. "Where'er we gaze, around, above, below, What rainbow tints, what magic charms are found! And bluest skies, that harmonize the whole: Beneath, the distant torrent's rushing sound Tells where the volumed cataract doth roll Between those hanging rocks, that shock yet please the soul,” BYRON. CHAPTER VI. PALA BADDALA. -MOUNTAIN RANGES. - KALUGANGA BRIDGE. GETANETUL-GALA. DIYABETMA. — IDIKATUPA'NA.- DHARMA-RA'JA-GALA. AFTER performing our morning ablutions in the presence of a number of persons, who watched our proceedings intently, if not admiringly, we took, from a stand point near the vihára, and while waiting for coffee, a rapid survey of the scenery around. To the north of Palábaddala rises Kunudiya-parvaté, the monarch of all the mountain ranges within view. Running south and shouldering against it, as it were, is a range consisting of the Kondagala, Nílihela, and Kekillagala mountains. To the southwest are the mountains Dewanagala, Morangala, Nawemeneagala, and Kanugala-kanda. In the distance, southwards, beyond Ratnapura, are the two high mountains Ambuldeniakanda and Kanugala-kanda;* and through the valley between them, is scen another high range one of the mountains of which appeared to have a double summit, not unlike that of the Béna Samanala. Our path lay up by Kondagala and over Nilihela. Passing out of Palábaddala by the east, a glimpse of the top of the Peak is caught above the mountains, and is hailed with shouts of "Sádhu!"t by all true pilgrims, both going and returning. As the crow flies, the distance between the two points is not more than three and a half miles; but the height to be surmounted was still 6,250 feet above where we stood; and by the pilgrims' path, the distance to be traversed was at least eleven miles. The intervening country forms a part of what is known as the "wilderness of the Peak." A walk of a furlong and a half, partly through paddy fields, brought us to an upper branch of the Kalu-ganga, which is crossed. by a well-constructed rustic bridge, about thirty feet in span, and three feet wide, floored with short mopas (sticks an inch in Quære "Gallenakanda." It is sometimes difficult to catch the exact names of places when spoken in a language not familiar to the listener. † 'Sádhu!—a joyous exclamation. Well-done! Good! In a religious sense, equivalent perhaps to Hallelujah! diameter). The river here runs down a steep and somewhat gloomy looking rocky ravine, and from this point, about a hundred feet higher than Palábaddala, the difficulties of the journey may be said to begin. Immediately after passing the bridge, the ascent is by a steep climb up the mountain side, here called Pawaneli-hela; after half an hour of this work, and passing a huge overhanging rock, we came to the village Uda Pawan-ella, consisting of a few bungalows on narrow plateaux, rising one above another. They belong to the Bandára family; and are of essential service to pilgrims, who generally halt at them for a while. Just below, there is a small plantation of coffee, growing under the shade of tall forest trees, among which some specimens of the cotton. family are conspicuous. This is the last regularly inhabited. station, the elevation being about 1,500 feet above the sea. When we first passed it, the bungalows were crowded, and as we did not care to stop, we pushed along up the path, which is simply the not always dry rocky bed of a mountain torrent, with here and there a few ladders of jungle sticks to assist the traveller up a more than ordinary precipitous piece, elsewhere with notches cut in the rock to afford a foot-hold; and for the rest an ascent on and over gnarled and "The walk from Gilímalé to Palábaddala is by no means an easy one, although much inferior in difficulty and steepness to that immediately succeeding...... This part of the road is by far the most difficult and precipitous; in fact, much more so considering the extent, than anything I could have supposed possible. I had ascended Ben Lomond and interlacing roots of trees, and stones and steps of every size. and shape, from three inches to three feet in height, the average gradient being one in two--some parts of which can scarcely be overcome otherwise than by crawling up on all fours. Two wearying miles of this kind of toil brought us to the Nílihela ambalama, a welcome halting place on a level of a few yards length; and a station celebrated for the loud and reiterated echoes thrown back from its surrounding mountain walls and stupendous precipices. Here we rested, and while partaking of a roughly prepared breakfast, entered into conversation, through our interpreter, with some of our fellow-pilgrims. One old man, leading his family, told us this was his 51st trip; another, that he was returning from his 52nd; and a third, whom we subsequently overtook, old, feeble, and tottering, and supported by son and grandson, was making his 56th journey. Not far from the ambalama, near a bend of the path, a small patch of cleared jungle leads to the ledge of a terrible. precipice; where it is said a fair and sprightly girl having carelessly stepped aside, fell over and was dashed to death in the abyss below. Her name was Nílihela, and her fate is Snowdon, the latter after a hard day's walk, which I considered no ordinary achievement; but anything like the ascent from Palábaddala to Diyabetma, I had never before dreamt of. It was a constant succession of the most precipitous hills to be climbed, one after the other, with wearisome uniformity and unvarying difficulty."-History of Ceylon, by W. KNIGHTON, 1845, p. 391. commemorated by the place being named after her. It is customary accordingly for the pilgrims as they pass to shout out Nílihela akké! "sister Nílihela!" and in a second a distinct double echo comes back,-a voice they think, from the spirit of the girl, in answer to their call; the fancied answer being 'eññá!'-coming. The elevation here is about 2,700 feet. "The precipice is almost hidden by the vegetation which grows on its face. Looking over it you view a valley of immense depth, all filled with lofty forests, and on the opposite side of the chasm you are fronted by the long lofty precipice visible to us the previous evening from Palábadalla. Here we had a splendid view of the [8] waterfalls, which now ran full and strong, from the effects of the night's heavy rain. One was a broad deep stream, which leaped at two long bounds into the chasm below, where its roar was deepened by the reverberations reflected from the surrounding walls. Others were thin gauzy films of foam, others long drawn threads of silver, and each had a tone which contributed to the loud deep harmony of the whole."* "The evening mists, with ceaseless change, Now left their foreheads bare, * "To show how these streams depend on the immediate rains, I may here mention, that on visiting the same place the next day, on our return, we saw that nearly all of the falls had disappeared, and the place of the largest one was now only marked by the bare dry rocks over which it roared on the preceding day." |