716 



THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. 



[chap. 



bow and arrows, in the temple at Ratnapoora. The temple 

 vessels besides were exceedingly ugly, tasteless, and ill-kept. I 

 seldom saw anything that showed any sign of taste, art, and 

 orderliness. How different from Japan, where all the swords, 

 lacquer work, braziers,- teacups, &c., kept in the better temples 

 would deserve a place in some of the art museums of Europe. 



In the sketch of the first voyage from Novaya Zemlya to 

 Ceylon, a countryman of Lidner can scarcely avoid giving a 



STATUES IN A TEMPLE IN CEYLON. 



picture of "Ceylon's burned up vales." In this respect the 

 following extract from a letter from Dr. Almquist, sketching his 

 journey to the interior of the island may be instructive :— 



" Three hours after our arrival at Point de Galle I sat properly 

 stowed away in the mail-coach en route for Colombo. As 

 travelling companions I had a European and two Singhalese. 

 As it was already pretty dusk in the evening there was not much 

 of the surrounding landscape visible. We went on the whole 



