Mission at St. Sebastian de Maldm. 369 



As we mounted into our veliicle again, after a short halt at 

 Bentotte, in order to resume our journey to Colombo with a 

 fresh horse, we perceived that our driver, a negro, had been 

 too free of his visits to the brandy-bottle, and occasionally 

 took to rolling on the box. In the hope that he might become 

 sober by the way, we ventured to proceed, but ere long 

 he lost his balance, and fell to the ground, compelling us, to 

 avoid further mishap, to retrace our steps on foot to the 

 nearest village — thus reversing the order of matters, and, 

 so to speak, escorting our horse, coach, and driver. This 

 occurrence, unimportant and hardly worth mentioning in 

 itself, was the occasion of an interesting adventure. As it was 

 only with much difficulty that we could make ourselves 

 intelligible to the natives, we resolved to apply to the 

 authorities in the very first place we came to. It turned out 

 that we were in the vicinity of the Catholic mission of 

 St. Sebastian de Makun, whose superior was a Benedictine 

 from Eome. The church is situated amid the rich vegetation 

 of the primeval forests, the gigantic trunks of whose trees, 

 supporting a huge diadem of luxuriant foliage, are arched 

 into a natural dome of the most graceful proportions. With 

 curiosity whetted to the uttermost, we advanced along a 

 beautiful path, beneath cocoa-palms, cabbage trees, bread- 

 fruit trees, screw pines, tree-like ferns, and broad-leaved 

 bananas, till we reached the dwelling-house of the Mission, 

 and introduced ourselves to the missionary. Forthwith the 

 latter, a tall, stately figure, with handsome features and 



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