99 



CHAPTEE I. 



POIXT DE GALLE. 



We landed at Galle on Saturday the 29tli of No- 

 vember 1845. No traveller ft-esh from Europe will 

 ever part with the impression left by his first gaze upon 

 tropical scenery, as it is displayed in the bay and the 

 wooded hills that encircle it ; for, although Galle is 

 sui-passed both in grandeur and beauty by places after- 

 wards seen in the island, still the feehng of admiration 

 and wonder called forth by its loveUness remains vivid 

 and unimpaired. K, as is frequently the case, the 

 sliip approaches the land at daybreak, the \"iew recalls, 

 but in an intensified degree, the emotions excited in 

 childhood by the slow rising of the curtain in a dark- 

 ened theatre to disclose some magical triumph of the 

 painter's fancy, in aU tlie luxury of colouring and all 

 the glory of light. The sea, blue as sapphke, breaks 

 upoii the fortified rocks which form the entrance to the 

 harbour ; the headlands are briglit Avith verdure ; and 

 the yellow strand is shaded by pahn-trees that inchne 

 towards the sea, and bend their crowns above the water. 

 The shore is gemmed with flowers, the hills behind are 

 draped with forests of perennial green ; and far in the 

 distance rises the zone of purple hills, above wliich towers 

 the sacred mountain of Adam's Peak, with its summit en- 

 veloped in clouds. 



But the interest of the place is not confined to tlio 

 mere lovehness of its scenery. Galle is by far the most 

 venerable emporium of foreign trade, now existing in 

 the universe ; it was the resort of merchant sliips at the 

 earhest dawn of commerce ^ and it is destined to be the 



^ For more copious details of the 1 Vol. I. Pt. v. ch. ii. p. 5Go. A con- 

 early commerce of Galle, see ante, \ densed Aiew of the trade of Ceylon 



u 2 



