XIX.] TEMPLES IN CEYLON. 715 



cliildren are ornamented with metal bracelets and with a metal 

 chain round the waist, from which a little plate hangs down 

 between the legs. This plate is often of silver or gold, and is 

 looked upon as an amulet. 



The huts of the working men are in general very small, built 

 of earth or cabook-hvicks, and are rather to be considered as sheds 

 for protection from the rain and sunshine than as houses in the 

 European sense. The richer Singhalese live in extensive 

 " verandas " which are almost open, and are divided into rooms 

 by thin panels, resembling in this respect the Japanese houses. 

 The Japanese genius for ornament, their excellent taste and 

 skill in execution, are however wanting here, but it must also 

 be admitted that in these respects the Japanese stand first 

 among all the peoples of the earth. 



In the seaport towns the Singhalese are insufferable by their 

 begging, their loquacity, and the unpleasant custom they have of 

 asking up to ten times as much, while making a bargain, as they 

 are pleased to accept in the end. In the interior of the country 

 the state of things in this respect is much better. 



Among the temples which I visited in order to procure Pali 

 books w^as the so-called "devil's" temple at Ratnaj^oora, the 

 stateliest idol-house I saw in Ceylon. Most of the temples 

 were built of wood ; all were exceedingly unpretentious, and 

 without the least trace of style. The numerous priests and 

 temple attendants lived in rather squalid and disorderly dwellings 

 in the neighbourhood of the temj^le. They received me in a 

 friendly way and showed me their books, of which they occa- 

 sionally sold some. The negotiation several times ended by the 

 priest presenting me with the book I wished to purchase and 

 positively refusing to receive compensation in any form. On 

 one occasion the priest stated that he himself was prevented by 

 the precepts of his religion from receiving the purchase-money 

 agreed uj^on, but said that I might hand At over to some of the 

 persons standing round. At two of the priests' houses there was 

 a swarm of school-children, who ran busily about with their 

 jDalm-leaf writing books and writing implements. 



The temples were very different in their arrangements, pro- 

 bably on account of the dissimilar usages of the various Buddhist 

 sects to which they belonged. A temple near Colombo contained 

 a large number of wooden images and paintings of gods, or men 

 of more than human size. Most of them stood upright like a 

 guard round a sitting Buddha. I could not observe any dislike 

 on the part of the priests to take the foreigner round their 

 temples. The key, however, was sometimes wanting to some 

 repository, whose contents they were perhaps unwilling to 

 desecrate by showing them to the unbeliever. This was, for 

 instance, the case with the press which contained the devil's 



