It Is Intersected With A Countless Number Of Wave-Like Hills, Many Of Which Form Regular Terraces, And Are Planted With Rice Or Coffee.

Nature is here young and vigorous, and amply rewards the planter's toil.

The darker portions of the picture are composed of palms or other trees, and the back-ground consists partly of towering mountains, in a holiday suit of green velvet, partly of stupendous and romantic rocks in all their gloomy nakedness.

I saw many of the principal mountains in Ceylon - giants, 8,000 feet high; but, unfortunately, not the most celebrated one, Adam's Peak, which has an altitude of 6,500 feet, and which, towards the summit is so steep, that it was necessary, in order to enable any one to climb up, to cut small steps in the rock, and let in an iron chain.

But the bold adventurer is amply repaid for his trouble. On the flat summit of the rock is the imprint of a _small_ foot, five feet long. The Mahomedans suppose it to be that of our vigorous progenitor, Adam, and the Buddhists that of their large-toothed divinity, Buddha. Thousands of both sects flock to the place every year, to perform their devotions.

There still exists at Candy the palace of the former king, or emperor of Ceylon. It is a handsome stone building, but with no peculiar feature of its own; I should have supposed that it had been built by Europeans. It consists of a ground floor, somewhat raised, with large windows, and handsome porticoes resting upon columns. The only remarkable thing about it is a large hall in the interior, with its walls decorated with some rough and stiffly executed representations of animals in relief. Since the English deposed the native sovereign, the palace has been inhabited by the English resident, or governor.

Had I only arrived a fortnight sooner, I should have witnessed the mode of hunting, or rather snaring, elephants. The scene of operations is a spot on the banks of some stream or other, where these animals go to drink. A large place is enclosed with posts, leading up to which, and also skirted by stout posts, are a series of narrow passages. A tame elephant, properly trained, is then made fast in the middle of the large space, to entice by his cries the thirsty animals, who enter unsuspiciously the labyrinth from which they cannot escape, as the hunters and drivers follow, alarm them by their shouts, and drive them into the middle of the enclosure. The finest are taken alive, by being deprived of food for a short time. This renders them so obedient, that they quietly allow a noose to be thrown over them, and then follow the tame elephant without the least resistance. The others are then either killed or set at liberty, according as they possess fine tusks or not.

The preparations for capturing these animals sometimes last several weeks, as, besides enclosing the spot selected, a great many persons are employed to hunt up the elephants far and wide, and drive them gradually to the watering place.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 147 of 364
Words from 75698 to 76217 of 187810